suburbian sprawl- good or bad for future teachers? February 27, 2007

Ever wonder why it is talking a longer drive out of the city to get out into the country? Probably not if you live in Allendale, but that is not my point. The reality is that People who own large amounts of land in the “country” are selling out to developers who build sub-divisions of suburbian communities. What does this mean to future teachers? Well, it could mean a higher demand for teachers, or it could mean even more crowded classrooms!

It’s an issue that isn’t likely to be resolved soon; with a minimum of 2,500 new single-family houses slated for development in the Somers area — as many as half of which may have school-aged children, Wing said — the district could double within the next decade.

Currently, Somers community is faced with the question of what to do to accomedate the growth of the community. One option is to build a new facility, and the other is the rennovate the building they have. If it were me, I would have them build a new facility and hire more staff, to keep the class sizes small (which is a feature of their district they boast of).

“This building was not built for these class sizes,” Superintendent Teri Wing said.

A low student-to-teacher ratio always has been valued by rural schools such as Somers, she said, which is why classrooms weren’t built larger in the first place. But the valley’s tremendous growth is making it difficult to maintain those small class sizes.

However, financially this is not the smartest option. It, of course, costs a lot less to rennovate the building they already have.

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innovative thinking! February 27, 2007

Wow! This article sort of ties in with what we had been talking about in class!

This article is about a unique competition for middle schoolers (sort of an odyssey of the mind) that requires team work, creative thinking, a teacher, an adult engineer mentor, and a video game donated by Simms.

Basically, the students involved in Future City are creating their ideal city of the future. First, they create their city on the computer, then make models. What I found interesting was that all the schools participating get to use a video game donated by Simms. It seemed to fit into our previous class discussion about video games.

Future City, celebrating its 15th anniversary, asks middle school students to create cities of the future, first on computer and then in large tabletop models. Working in teams with a teacher and volunteer engineer mentor, students create their cities using the SimCity 3000TM videogame donated to all participating schools by Electronic Arts, Inc. of Redwood City, California. They write a city abstract and an essay on using engineering to solve an important social need—this year’s theme is using fuel cells to power a city of the future. Then they present and defend their cities before engineer judges at the competition. Some 30,000 students from more than 1,000 schools participated in 2006-07.

The pressure’s on for these middle schoolers to take home to the prize: a trip to Space Camp!

The Future City National Finals is hosted by Bentley Systems, Incorporated, a leading engineering software company, and chair of the competition’s Leadership Council. Bentley also provides the first prize for the St. Thomas More School team—a trip to US Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama. All regional winning teams received an all-expense-paid trip to Washington for the National Finals. Future City is sponsored in part by Engineers Week, February 18-24, a consortium of more than 100 engineering societies and major corporations, co-chaired in 2007 by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and Tyco Electronics Corporation. Shell Oil Company is a major contributor to the Future City National Finals and a primary funder of nine regional competitions. The 2007 Essay sponsor is The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-USA).

At first, it seems like this type of a competition would only be for people interested in science and math, but if an English teacher wanted to make a really cool interdisciplinary unit, they could read a science fiction story about the future, even The Giver, which has sort of a utopian society. Feed would obviously be too mature for middle schoolers, but other sci fi books would do just fine!

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Why not just skip Middle School all together? February 8, 2007

Over all, I had a relatively enjoyable middle school experience. I wasn’t popular, didn’t have many boyfriends, but I had a tight circle of friends who kept me busy and informed. My brother is going into sixth grade next year, and we want to make it as positive as an experience as possible. One parent in this article is thinking about homeschooling, as many I think probably do. I wouldn’t want to eliminate the Middle School years for anyone, but it seems that there are several ideas (not just homeschooling) to improve them for adolescents today. One idea is that of rearranging the builings that contain certain grades. For example, if you put sixth grade with elementary school, and seventh and eighth in high school, the older students could serve as a positive role-model for adolescents (pubescents). Another way to re-arrange the grades, is putting k-8 together, and allowing the older kids to positively influence the younger students, all the while cradling them from the adolescent world. Though these ideas are interesting, are they really the best for students in a stage of life that isn’t quite child, and not yet adult? This article suggests that grades 6-12 are a transition period for young people, and to skip the locker rooms and the rumers might not be what is best for them.

Between the ages of 10 and 15, pubescents’ feelings, bodies and brains shift their orientation from childhood to adulthood. Over time, kids let go of their childhood attachments and reattach — oh so awkwardly at first — to grown-up concerns. This transition is like turning an oil tanker. It’s tough and takes awhile. The process begins as kids start rolling their eyes at their families and virtually worshiping their friends. They insist on making My Choices and being Myself, but an act of bold individualism is to get the same T-shirt, or poster as all the other kids. None of this means they can’t learn or perform to rigorous standards. They can. But it does mean you’d better be very careful about what you try to teach them and how. There’s an enormous amount already on their minds. They’re working frantically to sort out the confusions and feelings. We could help them. Pubescents don’t need to be spared the locker room; they need counseling and advice on how to deal with it.

How can we, as adults, parents, families, and teachers help them? We can make Middle School a positive experience by guiding them through it. Talking about situations in their lives will eliminate some of the anxiety. Pubescents shouldn’t have to feel all alone in the world. They shouldn’t feel they have to hide their feelings. Even having one trusted adult, someone who is removed from the situation enough to guide them through the dark tunnel of adolescence and remind them that there is a light at the end.

But that means they’ll need trusted adults to talk to about that world. They need excellent instruction and strong academics to help them reattach to serviceable ideas, appealing pursuits and tonic people. In short, what they need is a terrific school.

Oh, yeah, academics should be a priority too! We could read books that deal with situations and talk about them in class. We would be relating to what they are going through, and yet talking about it without naming names. For example, reading “Perks of Being a Wallflower” might be a great conversation starter for people who feel lonely. Don’t all middle schoolers feel lonely?
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After school February 1, 2007

The amount of information students are learning right now is incredible. By the time we get out into the schools, it will have probably increased again. My brother in fifth grade is learning math that I didn’t learn until 10th. I haven’t spent time yet observing middle schools, but if they are learning what I learned in high school, in elementary school, what are they learning in middle school now? Are they already past us academically? I wouldn’t be surprised. Even though the capacity of their minds allows them to retain huge amounts of information, it is stressful trying to squeeze it all into a school day. I mean, they do have to allow time to walk from class to class, right? This article discusses one school facing this dillemma, and some of the options they are facing.

Let’s talk about how we get more class time for children. Middle schoolers begin the day at 8:45 a.m. and end at 3:30 p.m.Let’s start at 8, or at least 8:15. That doesn’t seem so drastic.
It will take a cooperative effort from the administration, teachers and parents to make it happen. It means more money for teachers and support staff.
There’s certainly a massive adjustment in logistics such as bus schedules and family routines.
But it’s worth it.Consolidating essential topics such as reading and writing is a sign – we need a bigger bucket.

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Death list February 1, 2007

For a while after the Columbine inccident, the nation took teenage threats seriously. I remember bomb threats in school, and even practicing drills to hone our plans of “just in case.” This is an article about two middle school boys that were found with identical “death lists” containing the names of several classmates and teachers. The final decision was that their was no threat to the students’/ teachers’ lives, and they got off with basically just a slap on the hand. They were suspended. No criminal charges were made. I don’t know about you, but this bothers me a little bit. Sure the “death list” writers didn’t follow through with anything more serious, but to me this seems like a cry out for attention. The same kind of cry out for attention used by the killers of Columbine. The difference? Only a couple of years.

I will finnish this one tonight at home as well. sorry

My First Blog Ever! January 22, 2007

Hi guys! Thank you for visiting my first blog. I’m not one hundred percent sure what direction I will be going, but as of right now I am leaning the most towards the topic of Middle School. Next year my little brother will be entering the doors of middle school for the first time, and being the job market the way it is, there is a good chance that middle school is where I may be teaching someday. I am also always interested in new innovative teaching strategies that keep learning fun!

I am currently subscribed to the following sources:
2 more KYW Headlines
Middle School
NPR TOPICS: Education
U.S. Department of Ed
Brian’s Education Blog

My philosophy of education is that learning should be fun! Some of us look back with fond memories of elementary school, great memories of High school, but a time that is for the majority of us dark, lonely, and a bit terrifying is middle school. How challenging it must be to get middle schoolers invested in their school work, especially when they have so much going on!

My first article is about a language arts class in Memorial Middle School that has caused some excitement even for the principal and other members of the staff. The teacher responsible for the enthusiastic learning is Lyudmyla Mayorska, who believes any book can be “turned into an interdisciplinary study.” While reading J.R.R. Tolkein’s “The Hobbit,” the students were costumed in hand-made regalia in order to get into character.

” Wednesday’s exercise saw the students breaking
into teams to complete required them to identify
characters, solve riddles and do a little “Hobbit” math —
determining what percentage of the hero troop was
elves, hobbits, wizards, etc.”

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The sixth graders were solving problems together, forgetting they were doing math, and just enjoying celebrating the book. Even the principal and Librarian dressed up like trolls. The day this article was written was to be the last day of the project, ending with an Hobbit obstacle course! Some day I hope to inspire my students (in whatever grade) to enjoy literature in this same way.