Public Meeting Post

Stress Management Workshop:

I went to a workshop at the La Quinta Inn about stress management. At this workshop, me and a group of other La Quinta residences discussed how we deal with stress, and the group leader also talked about how we are affected by stress. Stress, of course, is not healthy for anyone in large doses. In small doses, it can give us that extra boost that can help get something done on time. In large doses, it can make us very nervous and frazzled. She said that if we learn how to control stress, we can take more control of our busy lives. A key tool that is used to battle stress is relaxtion, and she said that we should all find time to relax in our lives to balance out the excess stress college students are exposed to. After the discussion, which everyone there took part in, she showed us some stretches that can help relax us. They were pretty basic yoga postures, but they still made me feel good after we were done. Next she showed us a breathing excercise, which was basically the same as the breath pattern for meditation. Then she gave us all a certificate that said we passed a stress management workshop.
This workshop was only somewhat helpful for me. Having ten classes this semester, I had to figure out pretty early on in the semester how to handle stress effctively. I went to this workshop thinking that it would be a lot more informative then it actually was. I picked up yoga over the summer, and combining that with some meditation every so often has been very effective in handling my own personal stress. This workshop went over everything I already was aware of, but the other residences there seemed to be getting a lot out of it. I was surprised that so many residences actually went to this workshop, mainly because I did not think they would be interested in it. But there were at least 20 people there, and they were all engaged in the activity.


Thanksgiving Day game at Freehold Township High School:

On Thanksgiving day, I went to my high school’s football game. The Thanksgiving game is always a popular game to go to, mainly because a lot of alumni go to this game. The stands were very packed, and it was impossible to see if people were in seperate cliques. It was just one giant mass of people sitting on the stands. Before the game started, everyone looked very happy to be there. But once the game started, and my high school threw two interceptions that led to two touchdowns in the first quarter, the crowd started to turn somewhat negative. But it was not the sorta of negative that is at a Giants game when they are down by 50 points. With the amount of alumni in the crowd, they were more interested in socializing than watching the less than stellar football team throw away a game. By the end of half time, the crowd diminished only slightly, seemingly only leaving the visiting almuni left. Though the home team was loosing, the crowd was positive. The Thanksgiving game at Freehold was entertaining for me as well, because I also got to see people I have not seen in a long time.

Video Games and Music

My Inquiry project will be on the effect of violent video games and music on student behavior, more specifically if there is a negative impact. I have been exposed to violent media since I was very young. When I was in the 4th grade, I was already playing Doom and Castle Wolfenstein, the two most violent video games out at the time. Personally, I think that they do not have a negative impact, because my exposure did not make me more violent I don't think. I never did anything malicious towards anyone, and I am an all around peaceful person. It has always made me mad to see Dr Dre and Doom get blamed for causing a school shooting, because to me that is just ridiculous. On the other hand, most of my sources support the argument that violent video games and music do have a negative impact on students, and that they are in fact to blame for the rise in violent student behavior. I need to do my own research when I observe a classroom, because just seeing who owns what type of violent media will give me insight into what kind of affect it really has on a student.

Education websites

I found some information on the education websites that were given to us in class last week. I found info about what the Abbott decision is, which was a case in New Jersey about funding in urban school districts. Essentially, the case was about equal education oppurtunity for every student that lives in an urban district. One thing that the Abbott decision that I got from the article is that the schools that are part of Abbott have to offer pre-school. Universal pre-school is a good thing for any school district, because it lets students start learning earlier rather than later.
The NCLB section of the ed.gov website was interesting. The government is trying to reauthorize NCLB, and they are hoping to make some improvements to it. They want to close the achievement gap, they want to better prepare students for post secondary education and the workforce, and they want to restructure underperforming schools and give parents more options. All of these things sound good, but I am not certain about how well this will be received. Our discussion last week in class about how idealist ideas about how to fix our education system sometimes don't pan out when it becomes policy. I believe a way more pragmatic approach to NCLB would make more sense, rather than throwing niceties at the reader and telling them "this will work".

Since I am not sure exactly what to post, since the main page of my classes blog page has not been updated for a month, I'll just put a reaction to last weeks class up here. I thought the reading that we went over was very informative and very useful. It lays out what a teacher should be doing in the classroom to engage students in active learning. When I read the reading on my own, I did not fully grasp the ideas presented, but in class everything was broken down and explained fully. The AEIOU concept is easy enough to understand that a teacher could remember it forever, and put it to use daily in their classrooms.

Inquiry Project Brainstorm

My inquiry project will be about the relationship violence in the media has on how students act. This is a very broad topic, and there are many specific questions that I could ask. In order to gather data from my observation day at arts high school, I plan on asking the students questions about what kind of media they pay attentions to. A few questions could be: Do you watch the news at least 5 times a week? Do you own (insert graphic videogame name here)? Have you seen (insert even more graphic movie name here)? I would also have to ask the teacher, who has hopefully been teaching for awhile, if he has noticed an increase in violence in the student body over the years. If a large proportion of the students are exposed to violent types of media, and if the teacher says that the student body has gotten more aggressive during his career, then it could be said that the violent media is to blame. I would have to also gather information on research already done on this subject, since violence in the media has been a topic of discussion for a very long time.
I think violence through movies gets across to the students more than any other type of entertainment or media. I know that in my town, the movie theater was the hang out spot for everyone in school. And I know that all of my friends in high school would watch movies when they were hanging out. Also, men and women go to see movies in equal numbers, unlike if my question was focused on video games, which is primarily a male dominated market. But asking the students about other types of violent media they are exposed to would not be wasted data, because I could always use that data as supporting facts to answering my question.

The promise for all of America

The urban school system is not viewed upon very positively. When I think of urban schools, I think of movies such as The Principal or Dangerous Minds, where the teachers need to start beating the crap out of their students in order to get them to pay attention. And of course, the schools are stereotypically run down shanty houses. I'm not the type of person who wants to teach gang bangers how to do addition, so the thought of me teaching in an urban school district would scare me. "The Promise of Urban Schools" is an article by the Annenberg Institute for School Reform, and it's purpose is to enlighten teachers on what the urban school systems are about, and how to teach prouctively in such conditions.
This article's tips for teachers can also be applied to teaching anywhere, since they are methods that can be used on any student. Thinking about the different guidelines that the article gives (the AEIOU acronym...so witty) is a good guide to thinking about the different aspects of teaching. It states that in order for a student to properly learn something, they need to "own" the material they are learning. In order for a student to own knowledge, they need to have it associated with something that they are actively interested in. Points like this are what make this article worth reading, and worth looking back over as somebody progresses through their teaching career.

Who are our students?

Parker’s reading about idiocy in our society, and how teachers can combat this dilemma, was very interesting. Teachers are suppose to be the soldiers on the front line battling idiocy, and they are suppose to be winning. It makes sense, because every child in America is suppose to go through the school system, who’s purpose is to help turn a person into an informed citizen. Teachers have to take the students that go through the schools and mold them into these model citizens. They have to recognize the complicated times that all of us live in, and that a students life is noticeably different today then just a few years ago. Danger has been imminent since 9/11, and since then everyone has felt less safe in their country. People are drawing lines between themselves and everyone else in an increasing rate, and doing this has a negative affect on society. Parker says that in order for learning to occur, a person has to go out and interact with the public. If people start fearing each other, they are going to be less likely to learn from each other. Parker says, “It is my right to do whatever I choose, goes the argument, with the added and supposedly selfless rationalization of protecting “my” family from dangers real and imagined” (Parker 2). If more emphasis is placed on the self than the public, people will be less concerned with democratic issues that involve everyone, and society will be negatively impacted by the idiocy of these citizens. What the teacher has to do is help the students understand society more clearly, and to pierce through the veil of fear that covers our society these days.

Thinking about teaching while being a student

Here I sit, 12:30 AM the day of class. I waited till the last minute to get this blog updated, and now I don't know what to put on this. I can't put a class reaction, because so much time has elapsed since the last class that I can't honestly put a reaction on here. All last class is to me now is an essay and the notes. I could say that if I was the teacher of this class, I would be dissapointed in me right now. I guess it's good that I realize that, because that is the first step towards making an improvement. My major is Music Education, and my major instrument is the classical guitar. The main reason I decided to come to Montclair was my potential guitar teacher, Dennis Cinelli. At the audition, he explained to me how he teaches his students. He teaches his students how to teach themselves, and how to play the guitar with the least amount of force possible. He is big in tai chi, and he uses similar principles in his teaching. All of his teaching is centered around focusing on every little aspect of what you are doing. It is an enlightening experience to be taught by him, and all of these principles that he is teaching me for the guitar applies to everyday life. For example, I'm thinking about how it is now 12:40 AM the day of class, and I am still not done with this Blog entry. I'm suppose to be learning how to teach myself. Focus is key, and there are too many distractions around me, too many classes mainly. But I suppose I wouldn't be signed up for the schedule that I have if it wasn't possible to do good in the classes. I can do better then I'm doing. I need to start being more aware of what I am doing every day, and manage my time better with my class work.

Haiku

I rely on teachers
They get my mind working good
I stink at haikus


It may not seem like it, but I put about 15 minutes of thought into that last line. Though this may seem like a juvenile haiku written by a fifth grader, it is in fact very very deep! We all rely on teachers to get our mind working, because if I never had someone teach me anything I would still be trying to fit a square into a hole shaped like a triangle. Though you can infer by the last line that my teachers weren't all that good at teaching me, I wouldn't because I can be one lazy student (except in courses called 'Public Purposes of Education', I love that class!), and I think I just fell asleep on the day I was taught that. Oh how my addiction to late night programming haunts me!

Foundation

I enjoyed this reading. It gave a historical account of the start of the education system, and shows that the education system is a very important foundation of our American society. The people who started the school system thought educating citizens be the way to preserving the government and nation that was freshly formed. Education has been strongly encouraged to all citizens since the beggining, and I doubt without a strong education system the advancements that we have made to this day would be as bold as they are. The most interesting quote from this reading is from Thomas Jefferson, who wrote in a charter to the University of Virgina that it "will be based on the illimitable freedom of the human mind." I find this interesting because someone as prominent as Thomas Jefferson has the foresight not to base the education system around religion, but rather a human mind. It holds true to today, but it may be because of him. Civic education was such a genius idea, it could only come from the founding fathers time. I read this article and I am amazed that religious groups let the schools system be free of religion (for the most part *cough*pledge of allegiance*cough*). This article also highlights the importance of our education system, and how much weight a teacher has on their shoulders. It may not be as weighty as it was back in the day (I suppose someone could be socialized by wandering around the internet), but a teacher is the one profession where the primary goal is to prepare other people, just like yourself, for life and all of its uncertainties.

Demographics

This reading was very interesting. When I thought about demographics before, I didn't really put much weight into it. I figured, you either teach in a poor minority area or a middle class suburban area. I never took into consideration that even in the good suburban areas, there are still people of different cultures to take into consideration. I do owe some of that naiveness to my hometown. 88% of Freehold is white, with the next largest demographic being Asians with 5%. Pretty much everyone is in the same income bracket (most of my fellow Freeholdians fall between 50,000 to 150,000 dollars per year). These readings definitely give me a better perspective of what the education system looks like as a whole, and also makes me think about what kind of school setting I want to work in.

Dear Martian Teachers,

Question Number One,

Schools are seperated into local school districts, which there are over 14,000 in the US. They are funded by mostly state and local institutions, and get little money from the national level. Some schools are underfunded, depending on how well a district is funded by their local institutions. What a school is like varies depending on what school district you look at, because depending on how much money they have. Some schools are severely underfunded and don’t even have enough money for new textbooks, while others have enough money to buy whatever they want.

Question Number Two,

America as a nation is also known as, "the melting pot" of the world. Since the birth of our nation individuals from other countries have fled to this land in search opportunity. Because of this we have a created a nation full of diversity. One cannot classify a typical American under physical characteristics. Because of this, the students who fill our classrooms come from all parts of the world. They range in age, knowledge, language, and ethnicity. 53% of students are white, 24% are Latino, 15% African American, 6% multiracial, and 5% Asian. But all have one intended goal. America's students are a diverse population working towards an academic degree in the field of their choice.

Question Number Three,

most of our teachers are highly educated in their field, and are looking to be further educated. 9 out of 10 are white, and 8 out of 10 are female. The percentage of teachers who are African American is ever declining since the 1970’s. Teaching is a very important but highly stressful job, and 46% of new teaches leave within the first 5 years.

I hope this information is useful to you Martians. Please don't attack us.

Love,
Earth Teachers

Reaction to the first reading

I liked the first reading for the class. It gave a lot of useful information that teachers should know about the education system. It explained that the education system is not perfect, and there are many issues that teachers will have to deal with. The section about the amount of funding a school gets I thought was interesting.

I found a few things surprising in this reading:

The US has a decentralized education system, which is odd because the education system is an important foundation of our way of living

Policies are often made at a local level, not a national level

Fundamental aspects of eduction vary from state to state

Most the money is coming from the state or local level, even though it is getting more expensive to put kids through the school system, but the amount given to school systems hasn't changed.

A lot of education districts are severely underfunded, and is causing a problem for those districts

It is surprising that when we get older, statistically we would be less efficient in applying what we learned at school compared to other countries