So I thought to myself recently, "I know what I want to go into career wise....but what kind of classes will I need to take to get said degrees and endorsements to teach?" well, I decided to do a little research and.... I'm not quite sure what to think.
I want to do a double major in college-- US history and German. Simple enough, right? For an endorsement to teach German, I need to obviously pass German. Apparently, according to this PDF file I found (it was created by the State of Iowa), the endorsement I need is
126 5‐12 German, whatever that means.
As for US History, I thought it would be cool to possibly teach an AP level class as well as a regular level.... meaning, I would need to be endorsed to teach both levels. AP level requires two endorsements in and of itself (158 5‐12 American History, 186 5‐12 All Social Sciences). On the list I found, there was no one 'full US history' course, it is instead broken down into Early and Modern US history... but it makes no sense. The requirements for both early and modern US history are 158 5‐12 American History, and 186 5‐12 All Social Sciences. Meaning, I take both classes, and I'm qualified to teach both an AP level and regular level AP class....weird. You would think with teaching an AP class, you would need to have a deeper understanding of the topic than just what is required for a regular level course.
All in all, I really don't understand these endorsement things, I'm not quite sure if they're classes I have to take, but I'm assuming so. Sooooo...if I sound like a complete fool, that's why. It's something I'm planning on looking into deeper before I start college.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Good Teachers ---> Good Schools?
As I was reading my book, I found out that generally speaking, newer (and less experienced) teachers are sent to worse schools in districts. I suppose this makes sense, seeing how for the most part, our teachers are pretty experienced (Note: I say experienced, experience doesn't always make for the best teachers). The idea the author of my book has is (from what I got out of it) to put new and inexperienced teachers into higher preforming schools, thus moving the older, more experienced teachers to lower level schools.
A good idea, I guess, but wouldn't that just create a teeter-toter effect? I think so....good schools would become crummy and crummy schools would out preform most. My idea is along the same line, transfer some teachers that are experienced in their career to underachieving schools across the country, and move some newer teachers to better preforming schools. Keep a balance between experienced and new teachers, and maybe the education gap would even itself out. Then there's the question of how to keep teachers in bad schools, new teachers want a job wherever they can get one...but experienced teachers don't have that problem. The author suggested pay raises, which isn't a bad idea. However, I think that the government should intervene-- make keeping the ratio the government's responsibility. The government could place the teachers, seeing how they wouldn't be able to find a better job in education somewhere else, the government would oversee all of it. With that idea in place, the balance would be kept in place.
A good idea, I guess, but wouldn't that just create a teeter-toter effect? I think so....good schools would become crummy and crummy schools would out preform most. My idea is along the same line, transfer some teachers that are experienced in their career to underachieving schools across the country, and move some newer teachers to better preforming schools. Keep a balance between experienced and new teachers, and maybe the education gap would even itself out. Then there's the question of how to keep teachers in bad schools, new teachers want a job wherever they can get one...but experienced teachers don't have that problem. The author suggested pay raises, which isn't a bad idea. However, I think that the government should intervene-- make keeping the ratio the government's responsibility. The government could place the teachers, seeing how they wouldn't be able to find a better job in education somewhere else, the government would oversee all of it. With that idea in place, the balance would be kept in place.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Rank and File
You want to know something I'm most certainly not going to miss when I'm out of school? Probably not, but I'll tell you anyway, the testing. I hated all those scan trons, the standardized tests that put you in rank with other students in your grade and made you feel like a fool when you did poorly. I never really did that badly I was always in top 5-20% in the nation when it came to the ITEDS and ITBS tests we've taken yearly since third grade, which I think gave me a blown-up ego. I know when my scores slipped when I hit 10th grade, I was devastated, I felt like dirt...It kind of makes me wonder how the kids who see those scores year after year feel. Surely it can't be a good feeling to see on that paper you did better than 20 kids out of 100. There are 80 kids out of every 100 that are smarter than you, is what it basically says.
I think the testing and ranking should be removed from school ritual. I know our school is named 'one of the best in the nation,' but really, the people who give our school those titles don't see what our school is like. I'm sure there are schools out there worse than ours as far as 'student character' what not goes, but....In my humble opinion, we're not as great as we make ourselves out to be. In my eyes, it's more of a mix between morals and academics that would make a school 'one of the best in the nation'.
Test scores and GPA and all that are only a statistical look at a school-- it doesn't give a personal view. If you want to really wanted to give the school an award (this goes for any school, not just ours) the representatives from those organizations who give the awards should spend a few weeks observing the school-- to get a feel for how things really are, don't just give us awards we earn on numbers alone!
I think the testing and ranking should be removed from school ritual. I know our school is named 'one of the best in the nation,' but really, the people who give our school those titles don't see what our school is like. I'm sure there are schools out there worse than ours as far as 'student character' what not goes, but....In my humble opinion, we're not as great as we make ourselves out to be. In my eyes, it's more of a mix between morals and academics that would make a school 'one of the best in the nation'.
Test scores and GPA and all that are only a statistical look at a school-- it doesn't give a personal view. If you want to really wanted to give the school an award (this goes for any school, not just ours) the representatives from those organizations who give the awards should spend a few weeks observing the school-- to get a feel for how things really are, don't just give us awards we earn on numbers alone!
The Termination of Homework
Well, as a student all I can say to that idea is, "please, do get rid of it!"
Students hate homework, it takes away from their free time-- their time to unwind. Again, this is a point that the author of my book brought up, and I must say, I have to agree, it's a wonderful idea! We go to school for just about as long as most adults work, and we need the same time in the evening to relax and do our own thing without the hours of homework put on us by our 6 different teachers (none of which seem to understand that the other classes are loading us down with homework just as hard as they are)....
Most students have after school activities (be it work related or school related) that keep them busy until maybe 7 or later (I know when I work during the week, I'm usually not home until 9-9:30PM). As soon as the students get home, they have to hit the books. This doesn't seem right to me.
All right, so we realize that there's a problem with homework overload, right? How do we fix it? It seems to be a circular pattern. Increase the length of the school day to integrate some time to serve as a study hall, where students should be able to get their assignments done. This leads me back to my old blog post about extending the school day. The more I think about it, the more benefits I see in a longer school day.
Students hate homework, it takes away from their free time-- their time to unwind. Again, this is a point that the author of my book brought up, and I must say, I have to agree, it's a wonderful idea! We go to school for just about as long as most adults work, and we need the same time in the evening to relax and do our own thing without the hours of homework put on us by our 6 different teachers (none of which seem to understand that the other classes are loading us down with homework just as hard as they are)....
Most students have after school activities (be it work related or school related) that keep them busy until maybe 7 or later (I know when I work during the week, I'm usually not home until 9-9:30PM). As soon as the students get home, they have to hit the books. This doesn't seem right to me.
All right, so we realize that there's a problem with homework overload, right? How do we fix it? It seems to be a circular pattern. Increase the length of the school day to integrate some time to serve as a study hall, where students should be able to get their assignments done. This leads me back to my old blog post about extending the school day. The more I think about it, the more benefits I see in a longer school day.
The Idea of Full Day Kindergarten :-/
So in the book I'm reading, Brian Crosby says that full day kindergarten would provide a foothold for better education. I honestly thought that school districts all ready had mandatory full day kindergarten-- I mean, I went to kindergarten all day. I did a little research into this and was pretty surprised by what I found.
this pdf file is pamphlet distributed by the Foundation for Child Development, and discusses the benefits of having students in full day kindergarten. Page 10 has a color coded map of the US saying which states have laws making full day kindergarten mandatory (Iowa isn't among them). Actually, only 18 states in the country do require students to attend full day kindergarten.
I'm honestly a little surprised that 32 out of the 50 states don't have laws for full day kindergarten-- yes, I realize that most school districts have integrated it into their districts anyway, but I'm still shocked. With laws so lax, I can see why our country is falling behind academically. My point here is that the United States should probably be a "little" bit stricter in its enforcing of academic standards. It's really quite simple-- you want children to become successful adults, you have to put the motivation in them while they're young. I know in kindergarten I was much more interested in learning than I am now, and I think most children are. If the desire to keep learning is instilled in them at a young age, hopefully it'd carry over into their high school life and beyond.
this pdf file is pamphlet distributed by the Foundation for Child Development, and discusses the benefits of having students in full day kindergarten. Page 10 has a color coded map of the US saying which states have laws making full day kindergarten mandatory (Iowa isn't among them). Actually, only 18 states in the country do require students to attend full day kindergarten.
I'm honestly a little surprised that 32 out of the 50 states don't have laws for full day kindergarten-- yes, I realize that most school districts have integrated it into their districts anyway, but I'm still shocked. With laws so lax, I can see why our country is falling behind academically. My point here is that the United States should probably be a "little" bit stricter in its enforcing of academic standards. It's really quite simple-- you want children to become successful adults, you have to put the motivation in them while they're young. I know in kindergarten I was much more interested in learning than I am now, and I think most children are. If the desire to keep learning is instilled in them at a young age, hopefully it'd carry over into their high school life and beyond.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Job security, student quality, and the kind of teacher I want to be
I think I touched on this in an earlier blog, but I think today I'm going to talk a little bit more about job security involved with teaching. I heard on the news that CRSD is going to drop some like 48 teachers going into the next school year. Normally, I wouldn't think twice about this, but seeing how I'm focusing on teaching as a career, it's a pretty big concern to me.
Usually teaching is seen as a career where you're pretty much there for life. From what I've seen lately, schools are dropping teachers like flies...this worries me. It seems like to me, that the education system is falling apart. A lot of the teachers I've had seem like they could care less about the student's learning and instead are worried about their salary.
Of course, we can't pin everything on the teachers. So, let me place some blame on us-the students. There are a lot of students at this school-- and across the nation-- that could care less about their education. They're still in the mindset that they're going to be come famous and money will never be an issue (and in their eyes, their lack of an education will mean nothing). I find that attitude disgusting. Sure, i don't do my homework ALL THE TIME-- I'm not a candidate for Valedictorian by any means, but...I know that my education is important and something that I shouldn't take for granted. I could be living in an impoverished country where education isn't mandatory, or in a country where women aren't allowed to go to school.
We're lucky to be living in America, a modern country where everyone is given an opportunity to learn (whether or not some of us take it is another matter). I think that students should take advantage of the things that they're given, and those teachers who only care about the money they're making, should reconsider the career that they've chosen for themselves. To be a teacher, I think that you need to have a certain personality. You need to actually care about your students, you want to see them do well in life, not fail. I also understand that there are some students that you just can't help and need to give up on, but I'm referring to the students who actually would like to succeed-- teachers should be always willing to help their students, even if it causes them some inconveniences. I once had a teacher (in elementary school) who would come in at 7 something in the morning and pull me out of my daycare program at the school, just so he could teach me how to do long division-- because I was the only one in the class who didn't get it. It's that kind of teacher that I want to be like-- willing to cause myself inconvenience to see students do well.
Usually teaching is seen as a career where you're pretty much there for life. From what I've seen lately, schools are dropping teachers like flies...this worries me. It seems like to me, that the education system is falling apart. A lot of the teachers I've had seem like they could care less about the student's learning and instead are worried about their salary.
Of course, we can't pin everything on the teachers. So, let me place some blame on us-the students. There are a lot of students at this school-- and across the nation-- that could care less about their education. They're still in the mindset that they're going to be come famous and money will never be an issue (and in their eyes, their lack of an education will mean nothing). I find that attitude disgusting. Sure, i don't do my homework ALL THE TIME-- I'm not a candidate for Valedictorian by any means, but...I know that my education is important and something that I shouldn't take for granted. I could be living in an impoverished country where education isn't mandatory, or in a country where women aren't allowed to go to school.
We're lucky to be living in America, a modern country where everyone is given an opportunity to learn (whether or not some of us take it is another matter). I think that students should take advantage of the things that they're given, and those teachers who only care about the money they're making, should reconsider the career that they've chosen for themselves. To be a teacher, I think that you need to have a certain personality. You need to actually care about your students, you want to see them do well in life, not fail. I also understand that there are some students that you just can't help and need to give up on, but I'm referring to the students who actually would like to succeed-- teachers should be always willing to help their students, even if it causes them some inconveniences. I once had a teacher (in elementary school) who would come in at 7 something in the morning and pull me out of my daycare program at the school, just so he could teach me how to do long division-- because I was the only one in the class who didn't get it. It's that kind of teacher that I want to be like-- willing to cause myself inconvenience to see students do well.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Drop Out Rates
Recently our school newspaper did a thing about drop outs, following up on them at other places. That wasn't what interested me in this thought, by any means, but reading a chapter in my book reminded me of it. In my book it stated that 1/3 of seventeen and eighteen year olds drop out of high school. Along with that, it cited that we rank 11th in the world of students who complete high school, when we used to be 1st. That's not right. I don't know why students feel the need to drop out (the book says that they simply 'hate being there'). That 'i hate being here' complaint doesn't fly with me. I hate being at school, honestly. I don't like a lot of the people, the condition of our text books are pathetic, I detest being looked down on by most of my teachers.... I could go on a rant if I really wanted to. However, I recognize without this diploma which I'm getting in just a few short weeks, I won't become anything (much less a teacher).
The drop out rates in America disgust me- I just don't understand how people can say 'oh well screw this, I'm done' and walk out on their education like that. Maybe it's because I've only had one person graduate college in my family, ever....and I know I don't want to wind up like the rest of my family working for only ten dollars and some cents an hour.
Either way, my point is that I think there should be more enforcement regarding drop out rates, even if it required students to graduate (New Mexico has a law like this- mandatory graduation for all high school students).
I also have this video, it's basically a bunch of high school drop outs talking about their experiences post dropping out......:
The drop out rates in America disgust me- I just don't understand how people can say 'oh well screw this, I'm done' and walk out on their education like that. Maybe it's because I've only had one person graduate college in my family, ever....and I know I don't want to wind up like the rest of my family working for only ten dollars and some cents an hour.
Either way, my point is that I think there should be more enforcement regarding drop out rates, even if it required students to graduate (New Mexico has a law like this- mandatory graduation for all high school students).
I also have this video, it's basically a bunch of high school drop outs talking about their experiences post dropping out......:
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