Class Update: 4/19/11

Today in SPED 200 group eight finished their presentation on chapter 10. They did a very good job on their presentation, and I thought it was very thorough.

Next, Professor Johnson discussed the budget cuts happening in the St. Cloud School District and how they are affecting the district.

Finally, we discussed hot topics going on in education right now, which are:
1.  Teacher Tenure
2.  Religion in Schools
3.  Corporal punishment

International News Article: Amid the Devastation Japan's Hardest Hit Colleges Struggle to Move Forward

http://chronicle.com/article/Amid-the-Devastation-Japans/126940/in
The campus of Kitasato University in northeast Japan was totally wrecked by the tsunami that followed the the earthquake that hit Japan. All 600 students will have to move to the private university's parent campus in Tokyo. Professors will have to relocate, and the main Sanriku building will probably be condemned.
I am still feeling very bad for the devastation in Japan.  Many people are trying to move forward, but it has to be hard when you see devastation all around you.  It is articles like this one that make you realize that they still have a long road back to recovery in Japan.

International New Article: Student suicides may force Elite South Korean University to Dilute Reforms

http://chronicle.com/article/Student-Suicides-May-Force/127155/
The president of South Korea's top science university is trying to save his job after a string of suicides sparked criticism against his controversial reform policies and a government audit showed financial and administrative violations. Nam Pyo Suh was forced to set up emergency committees from the university to deal with the university's worst crisis in its four-decade history. Mr. Suh started making poor performing students pay for their tuition, which was originally free if they passed a rigorous entrance exam.  Some of these students could not handle to pressure. A professor hung himself that was under investigation for misuse of funds.
Some people are calling for Mr. Suh resignation.  I think that I would be in favor of Mr. Suh resignation if he is indeed corrupt in his dealings with the university. 

Website Review: Studentsfirst.org

http://www.studentsfirst.org/
This website is the creation of Michelle Rhee, former Chancellor of the Washington D.C. school district, who formed this website to try and help in the fight to improve the education system in the United States.

I think one of the most important parts of Michelle Rhee's website is where she joins in the fight to try to eliminate a policy called "Last In, First Out." (LIFO)  The last teacher hired has to be the first teacher to lose their job, regardless of how good they are.  Their performance has nothing to do with the decision, it is strictly by seniority. Most of the time schools lose very good teachers because of  LIFO. LIFO protects adult seniority, but it hurts the district, the kids, and the teachers in the following ways:
1.  Research indicates that when districts layoff teachers based on seniority, they end up firing some of their most effective teachers.
2.  LIFO actually increases the amount of teachers that need to be laid off because junior teachers make less money so they actually have to lay off more of them.
3. LIFO hurts the highest need schools. On average schools in poorer districts, have the most new teachers, so they are the first to go, while higher income districts are more stable because they have less new teachers, and therefore are not as affected by the cuts.

I think that what Michelle Rhee is doing for education reform is amazing.  She is a strong woman who fights hard in the fight to better the public education systems. You can join the fight with her and sign up to help in education reform.  I love her website, and her cause, and I will recommend this website to anyone interested in keeping good teachers, and helping in the reform of public education.

Group Seven Presentation: Chapter Ten School Law

Group seven's presentation covered Chapter 10 from the text, Introduction to Teaching. Chapter 10 was titled: School Law: Ethical and Legal Influences on Teaching. This chapter is important to future teachers because we need to know the legal and ethical aspects of being a teacher. Licensure is one of the first things that future teachers need to obtain.  Licensure is a process, which a state evaluates the credentials of protective teachers to ensure that they have achieved satisfactory levels of teaching competence and are morally fit to work with young people. Once we obtain a job, we will have to sign a teaching contract, which is a legal employment agreement between a teacher and a local school board.

An important ethical point was addressed during this presentation about the private lives of teachers. Social networks such as Facebook have become an issue for some school districts. Should teachers be friends with their students on facebook? I do not think so, and there have been teachers fired for interacting with students on the Internet.  I think that is a very important thing to be aware of when you become a teacher, keeping your personal life seperate from students. I thought group seven's presentation was very informative, and they did a great job.

Group Six Presentation: Governance and Finance

Andrew, Kirsten, and myself presented our presentation on Chapter 9 : Governance and Finance: Regulating and Funding Schools. Andrew covered the topic of how schools are funded and where all the money comes from in a school district. I covered a new concept of school reform called Mayoral Takeovers. Mayors actually take over in the running of the school district.  This has been happening in big cities across the United States and it started as a reform effort for struggling urban schools. Kirsten covered the pros and cons of alternative schools such as charter schools, home schooling, KIPP, and vouchers systems. This was a complicated topic to discuss but I thought we did a good job covering the material.

Class Update: 4/14/11

Today in SPED 200 we talked about the documentary Finland Phenomenon and then discussed important key points as to how Finland teachers and their education system is different from the United States. We talked about some key differences and discussed if we thought they would work in the U.S.

Group 7 gave their presentation on chapter ten from the text Introduction to Teaching. Chapter 10 was titled School Law: Ethical and Legal Influences on Teaching. This was a very interesting chapter because it pertained to the laws and ethics of teachers, an area we need to know as future teachers. Group 7 ran out of time to finish their presentation, so they will finish it on Tuesday.