Blog 11: School Voucher Position

Superintendent Tony Evers interested in the idea of expanding vouchers and virtual schools in December of 2010. He was in agreement with Governor Scott Walker’s stand that expanding them would be beneficial to the students. There has been no proof of the benefits being that great with voucher schools. Although virtual schools may be a thing of the future for our students, voucher schools are not something that is very effective in teaching our children. In the Badger Herald, it was reported that the cap was considering to be lifted for the number of students to attend voucher schools, which means that many more students will be attending private schools with government money.

            The Green Bay Press Gazette than reports that Tony Evers is now against expanding the voucher program while slashing budgets for education. This report came out in March, 2011. This change has come after Scott Walkers decision to make cuts to school funding, which is taking away from the teachers, mainly bargaining rights.

            I think that Evers is against agreeing with Walker because of the way he is budgeting in the schools. How can he take money away from public teachers to fund private schools? Why not take the money that would be given to voucher schools and make our public schools better? There is so much money that is needed for public schools to make them more efficient in teaching the students that it isn’t necessarily agreeable what Walker is proposing. Tony Evers wants to make the public schools a place for all children to get a meaningful education, and that means that public schools need money, and that more money shouldn’t be going to private schools.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 10: RTI

Response to Intervention (RTI) is an innovative curriculum that will intervene with students who struggle within their classrooms. Versus tagging students as a special education student, RTI will allow them to learn how to learn within a classroom with the help of teachers. Some students just aren’t as fast of a learner as other students, and RTI is a great way to ensure that all students are learning. Giving the students tailored activities in order to learn the lessons is a great way to help the student become a life-long leaner, instead of telling them that they are a special education student.

            RTI differs from Special Education because it isn’t just taking struggling students and putting them together in a separate room, and trying to teach them things that are below their learning level. I believe that Special Ed is needed in schools, but that it shouldn’t be place to send children that are just struggling in their classes. Students need to be helped, and giving them this tiered system to aid them into learning is a great!

            RTI seems to be a very useful system, and I would gladly use this type of instruction in my classroom. This seems to be a more elaborate use of differentiation learning when I would give lessons/assignments on differing tiers to accommodate different types of learners. It would be great to have the whole school behind that way of thinking, and more support from different teachers to come up with ideas of lessons or assignments for these struggling students.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 9: Multiple Intelligences

1.       Interpersonal

2.       Linguistic

3.       Existential

4.       Moral

5.       Logical

6.       Naturalist

7.       Bodily kinesthetic

8.       Intrapersonal

9.       Musical

10.   Spiritual

11.   Spatial

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 8: Single Gender Education

There are many pros and cons to educating boys and girls separately. Although there are claims that the girls are called on less in mixed sex classrooms, I think differently. I haven’t seen any sort of bias in any classes that I have observed. I do not recall being called on less in my classrooms because of my gender. In fact, I think that because I was a very good student, I was actually called on often when I raised my hand. And that is what I see happening. I see the students that are doing well in the classes get called on more than ones who are not (generally because the students who are not doing well in the classrooms tend not to raise their hands).

                Personally I don’t feel that single-sex schools would make much of a difference in education. Women may seem to be getting a better education when taught separate from boys, but I think that the social aspect of being in a mixed gender school is better for maturing students. Boys and girls go through different phases of puberty when they are in middle and high school, and I think that if they didn’t have the opposite sex around it would keep them from maturing properly. If they aren’t together in school, there may be this mind set of a taboo of being together, and may cause more rebellion.

                Schools get students ready for the real world. Keeping them separate from the opposing sex is not getting them ready for the real world. Women have to compete with men, and vice versa. Keeping them isolated from this wouldn’t make for a positive outcome.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 7: Diversity in Classroom

A lot of accommodating diversities in the classroom involves the teacher getting to know their students. Once a teacher is able to get to know the students, than they can become more aware of the students’ situations. Many of them may not even be too open about their own situations to avoid being made fun of. I think that by knowing your students will help in aiding the classroom to be a comfortable place for everyone.

                Students may not be very open about their own particular diversity, so teachers do need to be aware of things that may offend someone. One way to support language-minority students would be to learn a different language. Spanish is a very common language that is spoken in our schools today. Not only would learning the language be extremely helpful in teaching the children, it will also help in connecting to the students. I do not speak much Spanish, and I was helping two young boys with some assignments, and they decided to start talking to each other in Spanish. I was extremely frustrated because I had no idea what they were saying, and it would have been extremely helpful to know the language to keep the students on task. Even if a teacher weren’t able to learn the language in a classroom setting, it could be taking some time from the curriculum and having the students teach the teacher some of their language… Talk about making connections with the students!

                Helping students that are different ethnicities or religions in a language arts class could involve the students to do research on the different ethnicities or religions of the community. The students who are experts in each different subject could speak to the class to make everyone, including the teacher, become more aware of the ethnicity or religion. In Education 290 we read this article (and I forgot what it is called) but it was about a student who came to the US from Africa, and he found that his only friend he made here was one that got him into trouble. Only after the teacher took the time to listen to his stories about where he came from, and his mother came to talk about their hometown, did the whole class get a picture of who this child is, and he instantly became more comfortable! Accommodating students would be to learn about them and could easily be done while researching and writing (or doing a project) on the information they find!

                With the economy the way it is, I think that many students are going through socio-economic disparity. Although students may be somewhat embarrassed of their own situation, they may not know how many others are going through the same sort of thing. Teaching the class about the economy and letting them know about the statistics of unemployment, people losing their homes, etc, may aid them to be more comfortable with speaking about their own situation.

                Sexual orientation is generally something that many students would keep private. There is a fear of being made fun of. I think that just letting your students know that you are an open-minded person and that you are accepting of everyone, will make them feel more comfortable in your classroom. I don’t think that teachers need to have their students necessarily come and tell them their own sexual orientation, but just to let them know that you are there for them, and encourage them to be themselves.  Students that are at-risk will also need someone that is there for them. These students may have no one to turn to, and it is important that teachers be open and ready for their students to come to them with problems. Teachers should also, in turn, be open with their students. Let them know about their own lives. Follow a positive lifestyle, and show students how to make good choices while be true to yourself!

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 6: Video Response

In the video, Ms. Mossman assigned a presentation for her students to research and ‘follow’ the lives of different writers throughout history. When coming up with an assessment for the presentations, she asked her students how they thought they should be assessed. They gave her ideas as to what they found very difficult and what ways they should be graded. I think that by involving the students in writing the rubric, it gives them a sense of being a part of their grade. It gives them a part of control, in knowing that they worked really hard on a certain part of their project and now they will for sure get graded on it. Also, if they struggled on a part of the project, if that is made known to the teacher, than it may be a small (if any) percentage of the final product. She also allowed the students to grade each other. Getting the students involved, again, gives them a sense of control over their grades. Sometimes students are able to give great opinions to other students that the teacher was unable to think of herself. Students are also able to interpret things on the same level as other students versus the teacher. Taking into account all of the extra opinions that the teacher has to work with on assessing students, he/she will have a better way to grade a student than if it is just them listening to the presentation. Also, if you are giving the student something to do during presentations, it will keep them engaged in the activity, thus learning occurs!

                To do this type of grading for smaller children wouldn’t be ideal. It would depend on how young you are teaching. Kindergarteners, I don’t think should be grading each other because I think they do not understand the concept of giving someone a grade. But I think once students are able to form opinions about ones work, than they should be involved in the grading process.

                For this particular assignment, Ms. Mossman could very well have just assessed the presentations on her own. She, more than likely, knows the information that is being presented and would be able to give a grade on how accurate the research was. But this would 1)Not keep the other students engaged, 2)Make a lot of work for Ms. Mossman, and 3)It wouldn’t be utilizing all the teaching opportunities available. Ms. Mossman could also have taken the information from the projects and combined them into a quiz to ensure the students were paying attention. But then again, 1)More work for Ms. Mossman, and 2)The students wouldn’t know what they key points are and they wouldn’t know what to look for (that would be on the quiz).

                I like what Ms. Mossman did in her class. I think that integrating students into the grading process is a very useful idea. I think that the students are learning more by having to listen to the presentations and formulate opinions on what and why they should earn a certain grade. And the students who are presenting are getting more feedback. Getting feedback from the teacher is one thing, but when you have feedback from numerous people, who are at the same level as you, it is easier to comprehend.

-Korri M. Kraemer

Blog 5: Education Legislation

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) was made in order to provide public schooling to all, regardless of the families’ income. The ESEA provided financial assistance to the poorest schools and communities. The ESEA helps schools by providing: early-childhood education, tutoring services, after-school centers, computer labs, dropout prevention, job training, parental education, and professional development for teachers.

The ESEA is extremely important for students and teachers today. Although, the act was passed in 1965, schools are still receiving funding because of the reauthorization of the act, which means that students are getting an education even if the live in poverty. Because of this act, the schools will have access to computers, and books that may not be available to the schools if they didn’t receive funding.

Title IX is part of the Education Amendments of 1972, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex. It protects both females and males in sports, financial aid, employment, counseling, and school regulations and policies. If Title IX was never passed, education would probably have been left for just males. Although, women were going to school during this time, I believe that a fair amount of attention and resources went to take care of male students’ need over female students’ needs. Females weren’t given much for a choice of education in the past, but after Title IX, schools couldn’t discriminate against girls.

The Individuals with Disabilities Act (IDEA) was a revision of the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, in 2004. This act was passed in order to give students with disabilities a fair chance at getting a good, fair education. After this act was passed, student with disabilities were starting to be included with the general students in some or all of their classes. This has its positives and negatives. I think that it would be very helpful to the students. It will give the students with disabilities a chance to learn the things that they should be learning, not watered down materials. On the other hand, it may be slowing the class down because the student may not be able to learn at the same pace. It also gives the general population of students to have interactions with the students with disabilities, so they will see that they aren’t different and should be treated just like anyone else.

-Korri M. Kraemer