Who is more at risk?

After reading the article from Newsweek by Stephanie Lindsley entitled "Autism and Education" I have begun to rethink my idea of students who are at risk and need help more. The article compares the needs of the author's autistic son and her gifted girl. She describes her son by mentioning that he reads well but "he speaks at a 3-year-old level, adores 'Blue's Clues' and is almost potty trained", something that most teachers would see as a child that needs the most attention. The author then talks about her gifted daughter that does not get much attention in school and is often bored in her regular classrooms. She even sneaks books into her desk to read when the teacher is not looking. When I would have looked at this before reading the whole article I would have instantly thought her son needs the help and attention because her daughter was doing well in school. But after thinking about it for a while, I realized that it is her daughter that is in dire straits because she is at risk of losing interest in school, something that she now loves and excels it.

This phenomena is common throughout the United States, and is slowing the progress of or growth. If we focus too much on the not so gifted children and ignore the needs of the gifted students as is the case in this article, our gifted students will not excel like they could. If we want our education system to turn out the most well prepared students as we can, we need to stop ignoring the needs of the gifted students and begin challenging them and pushing them further and further into the world of higher knowledge, a place where they seem more comfortable.

Studying Abroad in Chicago

Two representatives from the Chicago Center For Urban Life and Culture, Scott and Emily, came to our Monday night session to give us some information about the center. They used a phrase "it's basically studying abroad, but only 5 or 6 hours away", and from what they said, I believe them 100%. From what they described about the large diversity in the area and the contrast from where I went to school when I was growing up, it would be like traveling to a foreign country. In diverse and exceptional learners, we are taught to embrace the diversity in the classroom, but from what Scott and Emily told us, in parts of Chicago, it's the schools that are diverse from one another, not necessarily the students in the schools. Many of the schools are located in neighborhoods that are predominately one ethnic group, which results in the school in the area to be predominately made up of one ethnic group. They even told the joke of "Why did the chicken cross the road?... To see a new ethnicity...". This opportunity to "studying abroad" sounds like a very beneficial experience to get to learn about city public schools and the students and ethnicity groups that are in the education system.

Cell from Hell

Technology is great, it helps fight diseases, it allows for businesses to stay connected and make decisions from all over the world, but it also has its downsides. It has caused an epidemic among teenagers, one that has swept the nation and left many young adults regretting there past decisions. This craze is one where teenage boys and girls are engaging in "text sex" in which they send pictures of themselves naked and include text messages filled with explicit words.

Many parents are becoming very concerned with this epidemic, but what the article is trying to draw attention to is how it is form of sex prevention and that the number of teenage pregnancies and teenagers engaging in sex has gone down considerably. Also to finish up the article, the author comes to the conclusion that we, as parents and teachers, will allows be playing catchup to our kids and the ever evolving technology.

Quantity and Quality

A week after three "rookie" teachers came to talk to our class about their experiences thus far in their short careers, but what they did not have in their repertoire to talk about was their experiences after the first stage of their career. Mr. Chambliss had years and years under his belt and with those years came experiences that helped shaped his view of the educational system and how it should be run. He was a teacher, a guidance counselor, and a superintendent throughout his long and accomplished career. It was a pleasure listening to his stories of his career and the advice he had for us from those years in the business. His advice for a possible career path was very helpful, even if not everyone agreed with his exact path. I will definitely take his advice about the profession he knows very well into consideration in the years to come as I will soon face decisions about my career path.

Rookies

Last week, a panel of three "new teachers" came and held a question and answer session to give us an insider look into the profession. Having an experienced teacher that has years and years under their belt can be very beneficial to a new teacher, but what can they do about the fears and nerves that have built up in the students of Luther College that have yet to teach in a classroom for longer than a few months at most. Personally, I am very nervous because I have heard horror stories and also I do not want to negatively affect the lives of the young ones I plan to teach. But hearing what the "new" teachers had to say about the transition from college to the real world was very beneficial. The next week, Mr. Chambliss came to talk to us about his years of service in the education programs in Iowa, but I took more out of what the "new" students had to say because what I was worried about was what they had just gone through, the beginning stages of their careers as educators. Questions like, "How did you decide where you wanted to teach" and "what subjects you wanted to teach?" as well as "What where the biggest differences between student teaching and the real deal?" were all questions better answered by the "new teachers". The one thing I regret not asking was to the teacher who now teaches at St. Ben's in Decorah and her thoughts and experiences on the difference between teaching in a public school and a parochial school.

"Paper Clips"

It's hard to believe one kid who wanted to know exactly how much was 6 million, could start a project that would last years and influence the lives of millions. The children of Whitwell, Tennessee began collecting paper clips to represent the 6 million victims of the Holocaust to try to understand how big six million really was. But what they didn't plan was the impact this project would have on the students, the teachers, and the community.

The project was started as an optional class that was geared towards raising awareness about the Holocaust and diversity, something that was hardly present in the nearly homogeneous town of Whitwell, Tennessee. To develop the student's knowledge base the class watched movies but what were they, just pictures and boring historical facts that caused no emotional connection? To solve this the teachers had Holocaust survivors come in and talk to the class, giving the students a first hand recount of the horrors of this awful atrocity.

The Whitewell community and students had their eyes opened to the pains of the Holocaust all because of the extra efforts and passion that the teachers put into creating a project that really hit home with the students and taught them many life lessons and created a sense of awareness that had been missing in the community up until the creation of the Paper Clip Project. This is a sign of a A+ teacher.