Jamie

Jamie's Classwork
** Middle School Students and Service Learning: ** ** Developing Empowered, Informed Citizens ** I currently teach junior high emotional support. Within the program, the students are required to take a social skills class. We do service learning projects in the social skills class. Our project this year is maintaining the vending machines in the faculty room. It may sound silly, but there are huge benefits to this service. All proceeds from the machines go towards scholarships for graduating seniors. Last year, we were able to give away several scholarships. This is in essence helping the overall community by providing someone with the desire to go to college a small financial break. It benefits the faculty by providing them refreshments during the day. The students maintain the stock for the machines. They learn how to rotate the stock, presentation of the items, quantity merchandising, figuring best deal prices, teamwork, not to mention the math skills—unit pricing, bulk pricing, amount of profits, collection and counting of money, completing deposit slips, etc. I have seen the most difficult students thrive when doing a service learning project. They enjoy getting out of the traditional classroom and doing something positive for someone else. (I will not mention that sometimes they get a bonus from the machine!) Service learning activities are definitely based on differentiated instruction. I expect more from the “more abled” students. I currently use a rubic. There are categories for social interaction, accuracy in task, teamwork, and honesty. I expect all of my students to be honest. I remind them each time we do the service learning project about the importance of honesty. I feel that if it is not constantly reminded, some may be tempted to do something counterproductive and inappropriate. If students are able to communicate politely and effectively towards one another, they get the full amount of points. There is a specific way that each machine needs to be filled. If the task is done by following the directions, they earn the full amount of points. If they help each other (goes along with communication to some extent) and show teamwork, they again score the maximum amount of points. I really do not feel that all service learning projects should be graded. I think that it all depends on the dynamics of the group of students. If they are mature and will take the task seriously, I am not sure that I would grade the project. I also feel that if only one party benefits from the project, it is not a true service learning project. I do feel that it is important for everyone to give back to the community, but to issue a grade for doing so is not always realistic. With the student group that I have now, I do not grade each time we do the project.  ** Building a Community in Our Classroom: The Story of Bat Town, USA ** Just taking a look at some of the younger members of my family and comparing them to what I went through at their age is incredible. Today’s elementary students are expected to perform at a much higher level than what was expected of me. Kindergarteners now need to know sight words and to read simple sentences. This was not even considered until at least first grade for me! I also think that societal pressures are higher now than ten or twenty years ago. More and more testing is being required of the younger students. If you consider the PSSA test, there are at least 3 “wasted” educational opportunity days, not mentioning the pre-coaching that goes on for a few weeks prior to the test. These educational opportunities should be utilized more productively. It is an absolute shame that PSSA testing takes so much time out of the school year. Drug and alcohol abuse is on the rise. I have read articles where even fourth graders are beginning to experiment. Also, parental drug and alcohol abuse is on the rise. This is downright appalling! I think that there are many societal issues as well as educational issues that cause these problems. Kids now have to deal with both parents working outside of the home. The students may come home to an empty house or have a babysitter until one of the parents return from work. How is this time spent? More than likely, it is spent in front of the television, computer, or game stations. This is also contributing to childhood obesity and other health issues. When I was growing up, it was very rare in my community to have a single-parent home. Now, it seems that it is the norm. It is important for a child to see the roles that both parents have in raising a child. Parents need to show consistency, which is imperative for young children to have in order to grow into responsible citizens. With all of the expectations of school to teach our children, I think that these challenges need to be addressed in other outlets (i.e., church, social clubs, family, etc.). I feel that the schools do need to provide some assistance in the form of guidance for the families that do request assistance. The schools should be able to make recommendations as to where the family can go. If the child is not fully stable, he or she will not perform to their best.  I had an awesome teacher in fifth grade. Being that age, science was my favorite subject. This teacher gave us so many opportunities to do hands-on experiments and other fun activities. While at the time I did not realize the relevance of the activities, in reflection as I am older, she gave us freedom to explore our learning styles. We would always have choices in science class; if the experiment did not interest someone, they could do a research paper instead. The one thing that impeded my growth was a biased teacher in third grade. This teacher blatantly favored some students while targeting the unlucky children whom she did not like. I was unfortunate and not one of her favorites. Progress across the curriculum was always charted and displayed in the classroom. I was not the best in the class and those charts were a constant reminder. While I tried hard to be the best, I just could not reach the level a few of my peers reached. Because of this experience, I strongly disliked school until I reached junior high school (except for the fifth grade science class!). If I do not like something, I do not put forth effort. This caused some behavioral issues for a couple of years that, luckily, I was able to overcome. I do try to give my students choices as much as possible throughout the day. They are developing into young adults and need to be able to make choices for themselves in a sheltered way. Practice makes perfect and you only learn from mistakes. What better way to experiment than in the classroom?! While some teachers may think that I am strict, they do not see the big picture. I have high expectations of my students and expect nothing less than their very best. Every single one of my students has potential to be and do great things in life if they have a little guidance and opportunities to make and learn from decisions. If I allow them to settle for mediocre work, that is not going to help them aspire to be great adults. I absolutely refuse to display charts of any kind in my room. Thinking back to my third grade experience, I never want to have anyone feel the way that I felt then. I do have the students chart their behaviors, but this is kept in private binders where only the student and I can have access and view. If a student chooses to display their work, I encourage it. If they choose not to display, I do not criticize, but rather provide some words of encouragement and move on with the next task.  ** Why Is Kindergarten and Endangered Species? ** With increasing pressure to achieve higher scores on standardized testing, more academics are being incorporated into the kindergarten classroom. To compensate for the time being used for he added academics, other key skills and factors are placed to the side. Kindergarten should be a time to discover school. I never went to preschool and did fairly well in school overall. I remember kindergarten being a small amount of academics with many, many opportunities to develop social skills. What ever happened to the idea that playing was a way of learning, especially for early learning? I think that parents should be the ones held accountable for first grade readiness, not kindergarten teachers. It is up to the parents to provide a nurturing and informative environment across all of the ages of development. Putting a child in front of the television to watch Sesame Street is not enough. Parents need to stimulate children’s minds and thinking with other resources and strategies. I think that the basic skills that kindergarteners should know include the primary colors, counting to 100, essential reading skills (recognizing a stop sign, restroom symbols, etc.), and a basic knowledge of getting along with others/social skills. The social skills are so vital to any type of education. If a child is unable to get along with others or ask for help, they will not be able to acquire the basic level of education. If the social skills are not developed, the child most likely will be labeled as a child in need of specialized services, i.e. special education. I am not trying to say that all primary special education students lack social skills. Rather, I am saying that there is a trend that I have seen in younger students that lack social skills. Academics need to be stressed, but not as much as the social skills.
 * 1) ** How might you incorporate service learning into the curriculum with which you are most familiar? **
 * 1) ** How should teachers assess students’ learning as a result of their participation in service learning activities? **
 * 3. What are some of the challenges that children face today that were unknown or little known to their parents or grandparents? To what extent can (or should) these challenges be addressed in childhood education? **
 * 1) ** Reflect on your experiences as an elementary student. What curricular experiences enhanced your growth and development? Impeded your growth and development? What implications do your reflections have for your curriculum planning activities, regardless of the level of education which interests you the most? **
 * 1) ** Why do the authors say that kindergarten is becoming an endangered species? What has changed in the curriculum to make such a transformation? **
 * 1) ** What do you think is the appropriate balance of academic skills and social skills for kindergarteners? Why? What is it that kids of this age really need to learn? **