Friday, December 9, 2011
Highly qulaified and effective teachers
In this world of pushing the requirements of No Child Left Behind including the idea of schools having 100% highly-qualified teachers teaching students, determining what highly qualified means can be a problem. In your opinion what does it mean for a teacher to be highly qualified and effective?
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Harassment and bullying
According to the 2011-2012 student handbook, harassment/bullying is "any unwelcome verbal or physical act from one person to another person that may cause either physical or emotional harm. Any conscious willful, repeated and deliberate activity intended to harm and/or induce fear through the threat of further aggression. An imbalance of strength/power; it is not about anger or conflict, it is about contempt; a powerful feeling or dislike towards a person considered to be worthless, inferior or undeserving of respect." These behaviors can be minor (eye rolling, laughing at someone) or major (threatening, hitting) or anywhere in between. What kind of bullying or harassing behavior occurs in our school? What is the difference between "I was just kidding" and harassment? How does a teacher tell the difference? What should be tolerated and what should be dealt with? Does the attitude of "some kids just need to toughen up" have a place in our school?
Cyberbulling
Because of the increase in teenage use of the computer, social networking sites, email and cell phones, cyber bullying is now a serious problem and is on the rise. Current estimates state that 13-30% of 14-17 year-old students have experienced cyber bullying (APA). What are your experiences with cyber bullying?
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Online classes
Read the article about training teachers to teach and use online courses. Could this be functional here? What courses would you take online?
Technology
The big push right now in education is incorporating 21st century skills many of which include the use of technology. So just what is technology? What programs, software, hardware and machines should we be using in school and teaching students to use in school? How?
PBIS- Is it working.
So this year the teachers and staff are learning about and implementing PBIS (Positive Behavioral Intervention Supports). We are rewarding the positive behavior with Pheasant bucks and referring problem behaviors and retraining teachable behaviors. Students who receive Bucks are rewarded through a drawing in which certain awards are selected. Is the program working or are students taking advantage of teachers just to receive Bucks? What are your thoughts? What behaviors are you seeing that you believe should be retaught correctly?
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
What teachers really want to say to parents
Interesting article. Do your parents do this? What do you think? What would happen if teachers really told parents what they think?
Homework or no homework- the great debate
So, this article deals with a controversial school issue- to assign homework or not. What are your supported opinions on this debate?
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Teacher Appreciation Day
An Open Letter From Arne Duncan to America's Teachers
In Honor of Teacher Appreciation Week
By Arne Duncan
I have worked in education for much of my life. I have met with thousands of teachers in great schools and struggling schools, in big cities and small towns, and I have a deep and genuine appreciation for the work you do. I know that most teachers did not enter the profession for the money. You became teachers to make a difference in the lives of children, and for the hard work you do each day, you deserve to be respected, valued, and supported.
I consider teaching an honorable and important profession, and it is my goal to see that you are treated with the dignity we award to other professionals in society. In too many communities, the profession has been devalued. Many of the teachers I have met object to the imposition of curriculum that reduces teaching to little more than a paint-by-numbers exercise. I agree.
Inside your classroom, you exercise a high degree of autonomy. You decide when to slow down to make sure all of your students fully understand a concept, or when a different instructional strategy is needed to meet the needs of a few who are struggling to keep up. You build relationships with students from a variety of backgrounds and with a diverse array of needs, and you find ways to motivate and engage them. I appreciate the challenge and skill involved in the work you do and applaud those of you who have dedicated your lives to teaching.
Many of you have told me you are willing to be held accountable for outcomes over which you have some control, but you also want school leaders held accountable for creating a positive and supportive learning environment. You want real feedback in a professional setting rather than drive-by visits from principals or a single score on a bubble test. And you want the time and opportunity to work with your colleagues and strengthen your craft.
You have told me you believe that the No Child Left Behind Act has prompted some schools—especially low-performing ones—to teach to the test, rather than focus on the educational needs of students. Because of the pressure to boost test scores, NCLB has narrowed the curriculum, and important subjects like history, science, the arts, foreign languages, and physical education have been de-emphasized. And you are frustrated when teachers alone are blamed for educational failures that have roots in broken families, unsafe communities, misguided reforms, and underfunded schools systems. You rightfully believe that responsibility for educational quality should be shared by administrators, community, parents, and even students themselves.
The teachers I have met are not afraid of hard work, and few jobs today are harder. Moreover, it’s gotten harder in recent years; the challenges kids bring into the classroom are greater and the expectations are higher. Not too long ago, it was acceptable for schools to have high dropout rates, and not all kids were expected to be proficient in every subject. In today’s economy, there is no acceptable dropout rate, and we rightly expect all children—English-language learners, students with disabilities, and children of poverty—to learn and succeed.
You and I are here to help America’s children. We understand that the surest way to do that is to make sure that the 3.2 million teachers in America’s classrooms are the very best they can be. The quality of our education system can only be as good as the quality of our teaching force.
So I want to work with you to change and improve federal law, to invest in teachers and strengthen the teaching profession. Together with you, I want to develop a system of evaluation that draws on meaningful observations and input from your peers, as well as a sophisticated assessment that measures individual student growth, creativity, and critical thinking. States, with the help of teachers, are now developing better assessments so you will have useful information to guide instruction and show the positive impact you are having on our children.
Working together, we can transform teaching from the factory model designed over a century ago to one built for the information age. We can build an accountability system based on data we trust and a standard that is honest—one that recognizes and rewards great teaching, gives new or struggling teachers the support they need to succeed, and deals fairly, efficiently, and compassionately with teachers who are simply not up to the job. With your input and leadership, we can restore the status of the teaching profession so more of America’s top college students choose to teach because no other job is more important or more fulfilling.
In the next decade, half of America’s teachers are likely to retire. What we do to recruit, train, and retain our new teachers will shape public education in this country for a generation. At the same time, how we recognize, honor, and show respect for our experienced educators will reaffirm teaching as a profession of nation builders and social leaders dedicated to our highest ideals. As that work proceeds, I want you to know that I hear you, I value you, and I respect you.
Arne Duncan is the U.S. secretary of education.
Vol. 30, Issue 3
What do you think?
In Honor of Teacher Appreciation Week
By Arne Duncan
I have worked in education for much of my life. I have met with thousands of teachers in great schools and struggling schools, in big cities and small towns, and I have a deep and genuine appreciation for the work you do. I know that most teachers did not enter the profession for the money. You became teachers to make a difference in the lives of children, and for the hard work you do each day, you deserve to be respected, valued, and supported.
I consider teaching an honorable and important profession, and it is my goal to see that you are treated with the dignity we award to other professionals in society. In too many communities, the profession has been devalued. Many of the teachers I have met object to the imposition of curriculum that reduces teaching to little more than a paint-by-numbers exercise. I agree.
Inside your classroom, you exercise a high degree of autonomy. You decide when to slow down to make sure all of your students fully understand a concept, or when a different instructional strategy is needed to meet the needs of a few who are struggling to keep up. You build relationships with students from a variety of backgrounds and with a diverse array of needs, and you find ways to motivate and engage them. I appreciate the challenge and skill involved in the work you do and applaud those of you who have dedicated your lives to teaching.
Many of you have told me you are willing to be held accountable for outcomes over which you have some control, but you also want school leaders held accountable for creating a positive and supportive learning environment. You want real feedback in a professional setting rather than drive-by visits from principals or a single score on a bubble test. And you want the time and opportunity to work with your colleagues and strengthen your craft.
You have told me you believe that the No Child Left Behind Act has prompted some schools—especially low-performing ones—to teach to the test, rather than focus on the educational needs of students. Because of the pressure to boost test scores, NCLB has narrowed the curriculum, and important subjects like history, science, the arts, foreign languages, and physical education have been de-emphasized. And you are frustrated when teachers alone are blamed for educational failures that have roots in broken families, unsafe communities, misguided reforms, and underfunded schools systems. You rightfully believe that responsibility for educational quality should be shared by administrators, community, parents, and even students themselves.
The teachers I have met are not afraid of hard work, and few jobs today are harder. Moreover, it’s gotten harder in recent years; the challenges kids bring into the classroom are greater and the expectations are higher. Not too long ago, it was acceptable for schools to have high dropout rates, and not all kids were expected to be proficient in every subject. In today’s economy, there is no acceptable dropout rate, and we rightly expect all children—English-language learners, students with disabilities, and children of poverty—to learn and succeed.
You and I are here to help America’s children. We understand that the surest way to do that is to make sure that the 3.2 million teachers in America’s classrooms are the very best they can be. The quality of our education system can only be as good as the quality of our teaching force.
So I want to work with you to change and improve federal law, to invest in teachers and strengthen the teaching profession. Together with you, I want to develop a system of evaluation that draws on meaningful observations and input from your peers, as well as a sophisticated assessment that measures individual student growth, creativity, and critical thinking. States, with the help of teachers, are now developing better assessments so you will have useful information to guide instruction and show the positive impact you are having on our children.
Working together, we can transform teaching from the factory model designed over a century ago to one built for the information age. We can build an accountability system based on data we trust and a standard that is honest—one that recognizes and rewards great teaching, gives new or struggling teachers the support they need to succeed, and deals fairly, efficiently, and compassionately with teachers who are simply not up to the job. With your input and leadership, we can restore the status of the teaching profession so more of America’s top college students choose to teach because no other job is more important or more fulfilling.
In the next decade, half of America’s teachers are likely to retire. What we do to recruit, train, and retain our new teachers will shape public education in this country for a generation. At the same time, how we recognize, honor, and show respect for our experienced educators will reaffirm teaching as a profession of nation builders and social leaders dedicated to our highest ideals. As that work proceeds, I want you to know that I hear you, I value you, and I respect you.
Arne Duncan is the U.S. secretary of education.
Vol. 30, Issue 3
What do you think?
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cheating's effeccts on learning
Studies Find Cheaters Overinflate Academic Ability
By Sarah D. Sparks
That time-honored anti-cheating mantra, “You’re only hurting yourself,” may be literal fact, according to new research.
Emerging evidence suggests students who cheat on a test are more likely to deceive themselves into thinking they earned a high grade on their own merits, setting themselves up for future academic failure.
In four experiments detailed in the March Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Harvard Business School and Duke University found that cheaters pay for the short-term benefits of higher scores with inflated expectations for future performance.
The findings come as surveys and studies show a majority of students cheat—whether through cribbing homework, plagiarizing essays from the Internet, or texting test answers to a friend’s cellphone—even though overwhelming majorities consider it wrong. The Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics, which has been tracking student character and academic honesty, has found that while the number of students engaging in specific behaviors has risen and fallen over the years, the number of students who have cheated on a test in the previous year has not dipped below a majority since the first biennial study in 1992. In its most recent survey, conducted in 2010, the study found that a majority of students cheat at some point during high school, and the likelihood of cheating increases the older students get.
Of a nationally representative sample of more than 40,000 public and private high school students responding to the survey, 59.4 percent admitted to having cheated on a test—including 55 percent of honors students—and one in three had done so twice or more in the previous year.
Cheating: Delusions of Success
Test 1- The first test involved a short 10-item quiz in which some participants had access to an answer key, which they were not supposed to use. This group had much higher mean scores than the control group, suggesting they cheated.
Test 2- After taking the test, both groups were asked to predict how well they would do on a second test on which there was no way to cheat. Those who cheated on the first test were overoptimistic about their performance on the second test, and saw a much bigger gap between their expectations and actual performance than those in the control group.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesIn addition, more than 80 percent of the respondents said they had copied homework, more than one-third had plagiarized an Internet document for a class assignment, and 61 percent reported having lied to a teacher about “something important” at least once in the past year. By contrast, only about 20 percent of students surveyed reported having cheated in sports.
“One of the sad phenomena is that, on average, one of the things they are learning in school is how to cheat,” John Fremer, the president of consulting services at Caveon LLC, a private test-security company in Midvale, Utah, said of students.
While most academic interest in cheating has focused on how students cheat and how to stop them, the Harvard-Duke study joins a pile of emerging research suggesting that the mental hoops that students must leap through to justify or distance themselves from cheating can cause long-term damage to their professional and academic habits. The findings also suggest that changes in both school climate and instructional approach can help to break the cycle of cheating and self-deception.
“We see that the effect of cheating is, the more we engage in dishonest acts, the more we develop these cognitive distortions—ways in which we neutralize the act and almost forget how much we are doing it,” said Jason M. Stephens, an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, who studies cheating among secondary school students.
Moreover, the more students learn to focus on grades for their own sake, rather than as a representation of what they have learned, the more comfortable they are with cheating.
Mr. Stephens, who was not involved in the Harvard-Duke study, quoted one high school student, “Jane,” who insisted that cheating on a test does nothing to lessen the value of the grade. “It says an A on the paper and you don’t go, ‘Oh, but I cheated.’ You’re just kind of like, ‘Hey, I got that A,’ ” she said.
That, said Zoë Chance, the lead author of the Harvard-Duke study, is where cheaters start lying to themselves.
Self-Deception
In the first of the four experiments by the Harvard-Duke team, researchers asked 76 participants on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus to take a short test of “math IQ” and score their own sheets. Half the tests had an answer key at the bottom of the page. After completing the test, all participants were asked to predict how many questions they would answer correctly on a second, 100-question test without an answer key.
The other related experiments repeated the scenario with 345 students at the University of North Carolina, but required the participants to actually take the test after predicting how well they would do. In one variation, the participants were told they would receive money for the second test based on both the number correct and how close the participant’s predicted score came to the actual score.
Participants who had access to the test answers tended to use them. In the first rounds of testing in each scenario, mean scores were significantly higher among students who could sneak a peek at the answer key at the bottom. That fits with previous studies showing that, all else being equal, a majority of those who can cheat, do.
Yet the Harvard-Duke research also showed that cheaters lied to themselves.
In a preliminary experiment involving 36 Harvard students, participants were asked simply to imagine cheating on the first test and then taking the second without an opportunity to cheat. Those participants predicted that they would perform worse on the second test, without the opportunity to cheat.
When faced with the real situation, they weren’t nearly so objective. Across the board, cheaters tended to predict they would perform equally well on the next, longer test, though they knew they would not have a chance to cheat. In the experiment involving money rewards for the second test scores, cheaters missed out on getting money because their actual scores were so much lower than the predictions they made based on their first test scores. If participants received a “certificate of recognition” for scoring well on the first test, they became even more likely to be overly optimistic about their success on the second test.
“In our experiments, we find that social recognition reinforces self-deception,” said Ms. Chance, a Harvard doctoral student. If a student focuses on the high test score by itself, rather than cheating as the reason for it, she said, then “getting a high grade will lead ‘Alex’ to feel smart, and being treated as smart by the teacher will lead Alex to feel smarter still.
“Because Alex wasn’t conscious of cheating, there’s no reason to question the performance evaluation or the social feedback.”
That means students may feel they are getting ahead in class, but actually they are falling into a feedback loop in which they fall further and further behind, according to Mr. Fremer of Caveon, the test-security firm. His firm was not part of the Harvard-Duke study.
“If the test scores misrepresent what kids know, [teachers] may have the wrong sense of where they need help,” he said.
Moreover, such self-deception can lead to a “death of a thousand cuts” for a student’s honesty, Mr. Stephens of the University of Connecticut said.
“Kids start to disengage [from] responsibility habitually; cheating in high school does lead to dishonesty in the workplace as an adult,” he said.
Overwhelmed, Unengaged?
Not only does one instance of cheating lead to another, but the school environment can make it easier for students to mentally justify their dishonesty, research shows. Studies by Mr. Stephens and others that show students are more likely to cheat when they are under pressure to get high grades, uncertain about their own ability, unengaged in the material, or some combination of the three. In addition, students are better able to justify cheating in classes in which they feel the teacher is unfair or does not attempt to engage them in learning.
Yet the entirety of the studies also suggests that making students more aware of the importance of academic integrity and learning, not just grades, can make them less likely to cheat.
In a previous study, Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke and a co-author of the Harvard-Duke study, found test-takers became less likely to cheat if they were reminded of a school honor code, or if they saw someone they considered an outsider cheating.
Ms. Chance and Mr. Fremer said teachers and administrators should try to reduce opportunities for students to cheat, but should also help them establish classwide and schoolwide codes for academic integrity, and then reinforce the importance of that code before every assignment.
“When it comes to recidivism, question your assumptions about motivation to inform your decisions about punishment,” Ms. Chance said. “Try out the assumption that kids cheat because they are stressed out about college, and afraid they aren’t smart enough.
“Think about helping cheaters find alternative means to get what they want,” she said, “so that they don’t react by cheating more or giving up.”
Vol. 30, Issue 26
Is this true? What harm do students do when they cheat? Why do students cheat? How can teachers prevent cheating?
By Sarah D. Sparks
That time-honored anti-cheating mantra, “You’re only hurting yourself,” may be literal fact, according to new research.
Emerging evidence suggests students who cheat on a test are more likely to deceive themselves into thinking they earned a high grade on their own merits, setting themselves up for future academic failure.
In four experiments detailed in the March Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers from the Harvard Business School and Duke University found that cheaters pay for the short-term benefits of higher scores with inflated expectations for future performance.
The findings come as surveys and studies show a majority of students cheat—whether through cribbing homework, plagiarizing essays from the Internet, or texting test answers to a friend’s cellphone—even though overwhelming majorities consider it wrong. The Los Angeles-based Josephson Institute Center for Youth Ethics, which has been tracking student character and academic honesty, has found that while the number of students engaging in specific behaviors has risen and fallen over the years, the number of students who have cheated on a test in the previous year has not dipped below a majority since the first biennial study in 1992. In its most recent survey, conducted in 2010, the study found that a majority of students cheat at some point during high school, and the likelihood of cheating increases the older students get.
Of a nationally representative sample of more than 40,000 public and private high school students responding to the survey, 59.4 percent admitted to having cheated on a test—including 55 percent of honors students—and one in three had done so twice or more in the previous year.
Cheating: Delusions of Success
Test 1- The first test involved a short 10-item quiz in which some participants had access to an answer key, which they were not supposed to use. This group had much higher mean scores than the control group, suggesting they cheated.
Test 2- After taking the test, both groups were asked to predict how well they would do on a second test on which there was no way to cheat. Those who cheated on the first test were overoptimistic about their performance on the second test, and saw a much bigger gap between their expectations and actual performance than those in the control group.
SOURCE: Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesIn addition, more than 80 percent of the respondents said they had copied homework, more than one-third had plagiarized an Internet document for a class assignment, and 61 percent reported having lied to a teacher about “something important” at least once in the past year. By contrast, only about 20 percent of students surveyed reported having cheated in sports.
“One of the sad phenomena is that, on average, one of the things they are learning in school is how to cheat,” John Fremer, the president of consulting services at Caveon LLC, a private test-security company in Midvale, Utah, said of students.
While most academic interest in cheating has focused on how students cheat and how to stop them, the Harvard-Duke study joins a pile of emerging research suggesting that the mental hoops that students must leap through to justify or distance themselves from cheating can cause long-term damage to their professional and academic habits. The findings also suggest that changes in both school climate and instructional approach can help to break the cycle of cheating and self-deception.
“We see that the effect of cheating is, the more we engage in dishonest acts, the more we develop these cognitive distortions—ways in which we neutralize the act and almost forget how much we are doing it,” said Jason M. Stephens, an assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut, in Storrs, who studies cheating among secondary school students.
Moreover, the more students learn to focus on grades for their own sake, rather than as a representation of what they have learned, the more comfortable they are with cheating.
Mr. Stephens, who was not involved in the Harvard-Duke study, quoted one high school student, “Jane,” who insisted that cheating on a test does nothing to lessen the value of the grade. “It says an A on the paper and you don’t go, ‘Oh, but I cheated.’ You’re just kind of like, ‘Hey, I got that A,’ ” she said.
That, said Zoë Chance, the lead author of the Harvard-Duke study, is where cheaters start lying to themselves.
Self-Deception
In the first of the four experiments by the Harvard-Duke team, researchers asked 76 participants on the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus to take a short test of “math IQ” and score their own sheets. Half the tests had an answer key at the bottom of the page. After completing the test, all participants were asked to predict how many questions they would answer correctly on a second, 100-question test without an answer key.
The other related experiments repeated the scenario with 345 students at the University of North Carolina, but required the participants to actually take the test after predicting how well they would do. In one variation, the participants were told they would receive money for the second test based on both the number correct and how close the participant’s predicted score came to the actual score.
Participants who had access to the test answers tended to use them. In the first rounds of testing in each scenario, mean scores were significantly higher among students who could sneak a peek at the answer key at the bottom. That fits with previous studies showing that, all else being equal, a majority of those who can cheat, do.
Yet the Harvard-Duke research also showed that cheaters lied to themselves.
In a preliminary experiment involving 36 Harvard students, participants were asked simply to imagine cheating on the first test and then taking the second without an opportunity to cheat. Those participants predicted that they would perform worse on the second test, without the opportunity to cheat.
When faced with the real situation, they weren’t nearly so objective. Across the board, cheaters tended to predict they would perform equally well on the next, longer test, though they knew they would not have a chance to cheat. In the experiment involving money rewards for the second test scores, cheaters missed out on getting money because their actual scores were so much lower than the predictions they made based on their first test scores. If participants received a “certificate of recognition” for scoring well on the first test, they became even more likely to be overly optimistic about their success on the second test.
“In our experiments, we find that social recognition reinforces self-deception,” said Ms. Chance, a Harvard doctoral student. If a student focuses on the high test score by itself, rather than cheating as the reason for it, she said, then “getting a high grade will lead ‘Alex’ to feel smart, and being treated as smart by the teacher will lead Alex to feel smarter still.
“Because Alex wasn’t conscious of cheating, there’s no reason to question the performance evaluation or the social feedback.”
That means students may feel they are getting ahead in class, but actually they are falling into a feedback loop in which they fall further and further behind, according to Mr. Fremer of Caveon, the test-security firm. His firm was not part of the Harvard-Duke study.
“If the test scores misrepresent what kids know, [teachers] may have the wrong sense of where they need help,” he said.
Moreover, such self-deception can lead to a “death of a thousand cuts” for a student’s honesty, Mr. Stephens of the University of Connecticut said.
“Kids start to disengage [from] responsibility habitually; cheating in high school does lead to dishonesty in the workplace as an adult,” he said.
Overwhelmed, Unengaged?
Not only does one instance of cheating lead to another, but the school environment can make it easier for students to mentally justify their dishonesty, research shows. Studies by Mr. Stephens and others that show students are more likely to cheat when they are under pressure to get high grades, uncertain about their own ability, unengaged in the material, or some combination of the three. In addition, students are better able to justify cheating in classes in which they feel the teacher is unfair or does not attempt to engage them in learning.
Yet the entirety of the studies also suggests that making students more aware of the importance of academic integrity and learning, not just grades, can make them less likely to cheat.
In a previous study, Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology and behavioral economics at Duke and a co-author of the Harvard-Duke study, found test-takers became less likely to cheat if they were reminded of a school honor code, or if they saw someone they considered an outsider cheating.
Ms. Chance and Mr. Fremer said teachers and administrators should try to reduce opportunities for students to cheat, but should also help them establish classwide and schoolwide codes for academic integrity, and then reinforce the importance of that code before every assignment.
“When it comes to recidivism, question your assumptions about motivation to inform your decisions about punishment,” Ms. Chance said. “Try out the assumption that kids cheat because they are stressed out about college, and afraid they aren’t smart enough.
“Think about helping cheaters find alternative means to get what they want,” she said, “so that they don’t react by cheating more or giving up.”
Vol. 30, Issue 26
Is this true? What harm do students do when they cheat? Why do students cheat? How can teachers prevent cheating?
Good News
I have stopped watching the news. I dislike that the only topics discussed are negative- flooding, tornadoes, death, killing, murders, rapes, abuse. You name a terrible event and the news will report it. I watch the weather on the computer, so I don't have to view the disturbing topics on the news broadcast. Why can't the news programmers have more that a two-minute segment on the scholar of the week or on someone paying it forward or doing good for others? The only good I have seen for the past week happened in another country- the wedding of William and Kate, but that is done with and now we see nothing. Even then, the broadcasters over analyze the subject and make predictions they have no business making. We see 25 minutes of negative and 2 minutes of positive. Why is that?
The Killing of Osama Bin Laden
Well, after 10 years, the US has finally managed to kill Osama. As an American, I am resigned to the fact that his death was necessary in order to exact vengeance for the 9-11 bombings and the killing of thousands of Americans then and in the last 10 years in the fight against Al Qaeda. The Christian in me finds the celebration and constant news footage a bit disturbing. After all, aren't Christians supposed to forgive and then let it go. He is dead and buried and the military is doing its job fighting the insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why do we have to celebrate the death of a man that we should just forget? Wouldn't the constant news footage of Americans cheering Osama's death just stir up those who would retaliate his killing and cause them to take revenge on the Americans on foreign soil, or here on our soil? Why can't we just state that he is dead, drop the subject, and finally, finish the job in the Middle East and bring the troops home? What do you think?
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Unmotivated students and teachers calling them on it
A Philadelphia teacher recently vented about her students in her blog and was then suspended. The topic of unmotivated and lazy students is discussed in this article. What do you think about what this teacher did? What is the cause of the unmotivated students?
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
bullies, aggression and social status
The following article discusses new research about bullies. What do you think?
Study Disputes Myth of School Bullies' Social Status By Nirvi Shah
In the movie “Mean Girls,” head plastic Regina George tortures her North Shore High classmates of all stripes, including her supposed best friends. At Springfield Elementary, where Bart Simpson goes to school, Nelson Muntz, the oversized dimwit with the distinctive laugh, is the cartoon series’ bully.
A new study
suggests that, in reality, neither of those students would be the aggressors on campus.
suggests that, in reality, neither of those students would be the aggressors on campus.Robert W. Faris, an assistant sociology professor at the University of California, Davis, spent several years surveying students at middle and high schools in rural and suburban North Carolina. The results of his research are published in this month’s edition of the American Sociological Review.
He found that students in the middle of the social hierarchies at their schools, rather than the most popular or the most socially outcast, are more likely to be bullies.
“I think there’s kind of a simple explanation: These kids view aggression as one tactic for gaining or maintaining their social status,” Mr. Faris said. “This is not the only way that kids climb socially. There are a lot of other ways—much more effective ways: being good in sports, being pretty, being rich, if you’re funny, if you’re nice.”
“Our interpretation is, kids view this as a means to an end. Once they get to the top, they no longer need to be aggressive. Aggression could be counterproductive: It could signal insecurity,” Mr. Faris said.Mr. Faris and UC-Davis colleague Diane Felmlee mapped social networks, based on students’ responses to surveys about who their friends were and whether those students listed them in turn, allowing the researchers to discern which students were at the center of a particular school’s social web. Then they asked which classmates treated them aggressively, discounting playful teasing. The surveys showed that the students from whom the spokes of school popularity emanated were less likely to harass classmates verbally, spread rumors, engage in cyber-bullying, or use physical violence against their peers.
But, he added, “there are definitely some kids who were socially marginal and highly aggressive. There’s always going to be exceptions.”
The researchers, whose longitudinal study followed 3,722 students from 2002 through 2005, found that regardless of their backgrounds, race or ethnicity, or grade levels, the patterns of aggressors’ places in the social spectrum were the same.
“Traditionally, sociologists find these socioeconomic and demographic factors are the strongest predictors” of social behavior Mr. Faris said. “This is an exception.”
Born of Experience
He said the research was sparked, in part, by his own experiences as the victim of aggression.
“I’ve always had an interest in general terms in the relationship between power and violence. On a more personal level, in 4th grade, I used to come home with a bloody nose almost every day,” he said.
Two older students sought out the future sociologist, regardless of whether he changed bus stops or went out of his way to avoid them, looking to beat him up. He never knew why he was their frequent target. “I remember it being kind of a mystery.”
Mr. Faris and Ms. Felmlee’s findings jibe with what bullying-prevention and -support groups have found: Old stereotypes of school bullies are dangerous in the modern world.
We are very careful to teach our teachers that anyone can play any role. It’s what group you’re with and what the situation is,” she said.J. Marlene Snyder, the director of development for the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program, said her organization’s training makes clear that school employees shouldn’t have preconceived ideas about who might be aggressive at school.
The Olweus approach is used in more than 7,000 schools nationwide and is named after a Norwegian researcher who began studying bullying behavior in his country more than 40 years ago. In the United States, Ms. Snyder and the Olweus program are based at Clemson University in South Carolina.
“We have been very careful in our training not to spend too much time on who might be the aggressor or who might be the child who is being victimized,” Ms. Snyder said. “Some of the early stuff [in bullying prevention] talked about personal characteristics. You can be pretty. You can be smart—anything that is different from the group—that someone in the group decides is not OK.’’
And from one moment to the next, one scenario to another, Ms. Snyder said students’ roles as aggressor and target may reverse.
“We do not use the terms ‘bully’ and ‘victim’. We’re trying to get people to understand that this is a very complex issue and not to just constantly saddle one child with one label,” she said. “That’s not helpful.”
Changing the Culture
At schools in Allegheny County, surrounding of Pittsburgh, Jim A. Bozigar employs the Olweus approach to combat aggression, whether the behavior is triggered by a desire for popularity or by teenage sexuality—the latter of which he noted that Mr. Faris’ research did not directly address.
His work is supported by the Highmark Healthy High 5, a five-year, $100 million initiative of the Highmark Foundation in Pittsburgh to promote lifelong healthy behaviors in children and adolescents.
“If a child has any feature that can make them look or appear exceptional, that can make them a target,” Mr. Bozigar said. “The thing that we try to do is change the culture [of the school]. You have to empower the adults to empower students. They are the front line. They are the ones that are going to make the program succeed.”
What happened in the North Carolina schools Mr. Faris studied is also what Leigh Anne Kraemer, of The Ophelia Project, in Erie, Pa., has observed. The Ophelia Project is a nonprofit organization that works with youths and adults affected by relational and other nonphysical forms of aggression.
“It’s a myth that it’s just the popular kids that bully. It’s not the rich kids picking on the poor kids or the bigger ones picking on the little ones,” said Ms. Kraemer, the group’s education specialist. “If you’re looking to gain power and status by pushing others down, that’s where we really see a problem.”
Bullying, sexual harassment, and cyberbullying
Well, the presentation today was interesting. The prank made my heart race. I learned quite a few things during the talks. What did you think about the talk and did you lean anything? Did it make you realize anything about the bullying, harassment and cyber-bullying in our school.
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Video cameras in the classroom
Many schools are putting video cameras in the classrooms for a variety of reasons: to monitor teaching, to monitor interactions and behaviors, to help teachers with lesson presentation. Read the article and comment about how you feel about being on camera all the time.
Because the article is blocked at school, I have copied it here.
Advantages of Using the Video Camera in the Classroom
An increasing number of schools and teachers are using video cameras in the classroom. Whether it's recording a lesson to monitor student behavior, or assigning students to watch a podcast, video helps students learn. This article details some of the advantages of having a video camera in the classroom.
Expert Insight
Using technology, including video cameras, in the classroom can improve the way students learn, according to a recent U.S. Department of Education report. "By leveraging technology, schools can customize instruction and ensure that children who need extra help get it," the report states.
The department's Office of Educational Technology supports this idea. It examines U.S. schools' technological needs and the teaching trends taking place in schools. One type of technology helping teachers educate their students is the video camera.
Significance
Video is growing in popularity, and more students are using the medium as a research tool for their schoolwork. Whether kids are looking for facts about frogs or help in writing a book report, there is often a video on the Internet that provides them with the information they need.
The website YouTube is the second most-used search engine, after Google. According to recent figures, Americans conducted about 2.8 billion searches on YouTube---about 200 million more than on Yahoo, according to comScore.
Examples of Video in the Classroom
Videoconferencing is one way students benefit from use of video in the classroom. About 25 percent of U.S. public schools use videoconferencing to supplement its curriculum, according to Alan Greenberg, video communications expert. The medium allows students to connect with and learn from people they may not otherwise have access to. For example, some schools use videoconferencing to connect with NASA astronauts.
Video podcasts, audio and video clips that can be recorded and uploaded to the Internet, are another format in which students use to learn.
Benefits
Video helps kids learn. Use of a video camera in the classroom can boost students' test scores. New York college students given access to video podcasts of a psychology lecture averaged 9 percent better on tests than students without access. One advantage to the video podcasts was that students could replay sections of the lecture they didn't understand. One teacher in Oklahoma dresses up like a librarian and records video podcasts to teach her students about the importance of reading.
Potential
Use of a video camera in the classroom can help teachers to teach better and students to behave better. Teachers may use a video camera to document important lessons throughout the school year. They can also play back those recordings during parent-teacher conferences.
Finally, teachers can use video cameras to record themselves to learn how to improve their teaching methods.
Because the article is blocked at school, I have copied it here.
Advantages of Using the Video Camera in the Classroom
An increasing number of schools and teachers are using video cameras in the classroom. Whether it's recording a lesson to monitor student behavior, or assigning students to watch a podcast, video helps students learn. This article details some of the advantages of having a video camera in the classroom.
Expert Insight
Using technology, including video cameras, in the classroom can improve the way students learn, according to a recent U.S. Department of Education report. "By leveraging technology, schools can customize instruction and ensure that children who need extra help get it," the report states.
The department's Office of Educational Technology supports this idea. It examines U.S. schools' technological needs and the teaching trends taking place in schools. One type of technology helping teachers educate their students is the video camera.
Significance
Video is growing in popularity, and more students are using the medium as a research tool for their schoolwork. Whether kids are looking for facts about frogs or help in writing a book report, there is often a video on the Internet that provides them with the information they need.
The website YouTube is the second most-used search engine, after Google. According to recent figures, Americans conducted about 2.8 billion searches on YouTube---about 200 million more than on Yahoo, according to comScore.
Examples of Video in the Classroom
Videoconferencing is one way students benefit from use of video in the classroom. About 25 percent of U.S. public schools use videoconferencing to supplement its curriculum, according to Alan Greenberg, video communications expert. The medium allows students to connect with and learn from people they may not otherwise have access to. For example, some schools use videoconferencing to connect with NASA astronauts.
Video podcasts, audio and video clips that can be recorded and uploaded to the Internet, are another format in which students use to learn.
Benefits
Video helps kids learn. Use of a video camera in the classroom can boost students' test scores. New York college students given access to video podcasts of a psychology lecture averaged 9 percent better on tests than students without access. One advantage to the video podcasts was that students could replay sections of the lecture they didn't understand. One teacher in Oklahoma dresses up like a librarian and records video podcasts to teach her students about the importance of reading.
Potential
Use of a video camera in the classroom can help teachers to teach better and students to behave better. Teachers may use a video camera to document important lessons throughout the school year. They can also play back those recordings during parent-teacher conferences.
Finally, teachers can use video cameras to record themselves to learn how to improve their teaching methods.
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