Applied Behavioral Analysis

By Seneca Barker 


As soon as I decided I wanted to become a Special Education teacher, I knew I also wanted to specialize in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). 

Picture source: www.cronkitenews.azpbs.org

As described on the Autism Speaks website, autism is range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech, and nonverbal communication. Signs usually appear between 2 and 3 years old, and because autism is a spectrum, no child is the same.

Because this is the area of my teaching focus, I wanted to learn a little bit more about the best way to teach a child with autism. 

While scrolling through a PDF from Autism Speaks, I leaned a lot about Applied Behavioral Analysis (ABA), which is one of the most common techniques. ABA is an approach that assess and evaluates behavior, then applies interventions to alter or end negative behaviors. The website said, "The principles of analyzing behavior to understand its function, controlling the environment and interactions prior to behavior, and adjusting responses by using positive reinforcement are all important ABA techniques." 

Studies have shown that approximately 50% of those with autism that receive ABA before the age of four show great increase in IQ, verbal skills, and social functioning. 

I had no idea the success rate for ABA was so high before I researched this topic. I hope to someday be able to use these techniques in  my classroom, and watch my students as they progress and achieve more and more. 

Maybe We Do Need Sleep?

By Seneca Barker


I'm sure we've all had a teacher that, at one time or another, said, "Make sure you get a good night's rest!" before a big test.

Which I never listened to, and most of the time I stayed up way too late on school nights. So I was usually in class like...

Picture source: www.buzzfeed.com

However, an article I stumbled upon got me thinking, maybe I really did need that sleep?

Scientists are now linking higher amounts of sleep to higher test scores. After an large study of 621 Freshmen at Ghent and KU Leuven University in Belgium, they found that student who generally got a good night's rest preformed better on exams.

The grades of students who slept seven hours or more each night had test scores of, on average, ten percent higher than those who didn't. That's huge, that could've meant the difference between a 4.0 and a 3.0 for some students.

But why is this? After reading this article I learned that new knowledge is integrated into our existing knowledge while we sleep, so the longer we rest, the more we soak up.

So I guess I'll be that teacher telling my class they better get some rest!

New Cultural Experience

By Seneca Barker


A few weeks ago I got the opportunity to sit down with Madeleine, an exchange student at MSU who is visiting from the Philippines. She is here to study nutrition and health, and hopes to apply her credits to a medical degree once she goes back home. While we were meeting we discussed many of the educational differences between the two of us. Here are some of the differences I found most interesting:

• She started school at 7 am and went until 4 pm
• In high school they have 8 classes a day, not 6 like I had
• Their program is not K-12, it stops at 10th grade then they graduate 
• They don't take the ACT or any equivalent
• To get into college they don't submit test scores, they take an entrance exam 
• She would take up to 11 tests each week
• Students don't have a job during the school year to make sure school is their top priority 
• Professors in the Philippines don't like technology used in their classrooms 
• All of her papers were hand written
• She shared that the dorm rooms in the U.S. are much nicer that the ones in the Philippines 

Picture source: www.wikipedia.com

I thought learning about a different culture was such a neat experience, especially one so opposite of my own. I also think that one of the coolest things about MSU is that people from all over, with different backgrounds, all end u at the same place with the same goal, to receive a great education.

As a future teacher, this was a fantastic learning opportunity. It made me realize that once I have my own classroom, it with be filled with a wide range of students. Every student has their own background and culture that they identify with, and as an educator, it is very important to take that into account. Diversity is what makes education great, being able to learn new things from the people around you. I hope to always promote that in my classroom. 

Music in the Classroom

By: Megan Ross 

I always find myself listening to music whenever I'm simply hanging out in room, walking to class, in the shower, at the gym, and doing homework. So basically, I listen to music for a good portion of the day. In middle and high school some teachers would play classical music in the classroom claiming that it helps the brain. Whenever I want to buckle down on a lot of school work, I usually reach for a coffee and my headphones, and I get to work. I certainly think it helps me to block things out and get all my work down so I decided to look further into it. 

I came across this article from Johns Hopkins, and what I found was really interesting. According to the article, music helps students to learn better because among many other things it creates a desired atmosphere, energizes learning activities, increases attention and improves memory. I agree with all these things because I know when I listen to music while doing my homework or studying, that I am more interested and focused. 

They also give suggestions about the best way to implement music in the classroom. The article suggests that the best times to play music in the classroom is during teaching new information and memorization. Furthermore, since music is a personal expression, it offers a pathway to creativity and reflection. The article goes further into depth about the orgins of music and learning, the science behind it all, and more ways to use this technique. 

I'm glad I looked into this topic a bit more because when I become a teacher I know there are going to be times when I play music in my classroom, and after reading I know it is a positive thing for many students. 

Media Sources: 
https://news.usc.edu/files/2014/12/studying.jpeg-824x549.jpg
http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/strategies/topics/Arts%20in%20Education/brewer.htm

I Don't Really Get My Summers Off?! (Prompt #1)

By Seneca Barker



After hearing different stories from people in the field of Special Education, watching teachers first hand, and listening to my peer's opinions, I wasn't exactly sure what I was in for. I, like any other student at Michigan State, had a few preconceptions of the major I was about to begin pursuing when I started my freshmen year of college. Some of which included:

I would have my summers off and they would be work free
I am the main person in charge of my students' education
Every student that needs services will get them

Picture Source: amazon.com

When I was first deciding my career, I thought being on the "teacher schedule" would be a large perk of the job. Being out of work by the late afternoon, weekends off, winter break, spring break, and a summer to do whatever I wanted. However, that is not the true "teacher schedule" at all. After reading the first few chapter of this book, I realized I was sadly mistaken. It depicted the vast responsibilities of being a teacher and the added tasks of a Special Education teacher. I quickly learned that teaching is not an 8-3 job that ends when you walk out of the door. It's grading assignments, forming lesson plans, contacting parents, writing IEPs (individualized education plan), and much more. The breaks are nice, but they are not as relaxing as I imagined. The first textbook I was assigned to read at MSU was Special Education by Marilyn Friend, and after digging deeper into it, I realize my preconceptions were not completely accurate. Chapter 4 of Friend's textbook is all about an incredibly important part of teaching, collaboration. That means working with parents and other professionals to ensure your students get the help and resources they need to succeed. Especially as a Special Education teacher, I am not the one solely responsible for my students' achievement. I'm a large part, but not the only part. It involves occupational therapists, speech therapists, general education teachers, paraprofessionals, and more. Student success also largely relies on parent involvement, their support is crucial. Students succeed when everyone on the team works together. I read a lot about IDEA (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act), IEPs, and 504 plans throughout this book, learning a lot of information I didn't know. I used to think that any child that seemed to be struggling in school, and was in need of Special Education, would be given the needed services. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. Achieving a diagnosis and obtaining services is not always as easy as it should be for some students. It's often a long process and can become quite frustrating to everyone involved. I'm very glad this was the first resource I was introduced to that applied to my major. I found each and every chapter of the textbook helpful and filled with information I didn't previously know. I would recommend reading this to anyone going into the field of Special Education, or teaching in general.

Issues Hurting the American Educational System

By: Jessica Lusky

I came across an article that discusses the three issues that are hurting the American educational system. I was shocked that someone would recognize the first topic as a problem considering how dreadful school can be for some students. First, they discuss the amount of time students spend in school. Thirty states require schools to have a 180-day calendar, two ask for more than 181 school days, and the rest ask for between 171 and 179 days on the official calendar. Only one state, Minnesota, has no minimum requirement. This means that in states with the lowest day requirements, students are out of school for more days they are in it. President Obama was in favor of more time in the classroom so it will be interesting to see what Trump thinks. There has been a lot of pushback since from two major groups. First, from parents who believe their children are already under too much pressure at school and need every single say off they are allotted. Second, from teachers unions who want to know how educators will be properly accommodated for the extra time spent in the classroom instruction.

The next issue affecting the American education system is the lack of respect individuals have for the

teaching profession. According to the Pew Research Center, Americans have a decreasing interest in education. The economy, job creation, and terrorism are the public’s top priorities which are all very important. However, what people do not realize is that some of these priorities are related to the quality of education. One interesting fact is that if the U.S. could boost its average PISA scores by 25 points over the next 20 years, it could lead to gaining $41 trillion for the U.S. economy. The lack of respect is not only deteriorating to the individuals trying to pursue a career in the education field, but also causing the U.S. economy to suffer.

The final issue is the lack of regard for arts education. An estimated six million children have no access to arts education, and another six million have minimal exposure. The arts are not always considered as important as math and science, but it is actually very important for student engagement and learning. A school in the lowest income district in all of New York participated in a four-year arts integration program that took students from almost no arts learning to multi-subject lesson plans with arts involved. After this, there was an 8% improvement in Language Arts scores and a 9% improvement in math scores.

Why You Shouldn’t Be Turned Away

Written By: Andrea Thanos


Now I know this is something we have talked about continuously throughout our blog, but I am going to touch on this topic as well. There are people in life who will listen closely after they ask your major and when you respond with “education” they will seem confused. They will claim it is so easy to do, and more oftentimes than not ask you “why?”

The first time I heard the saying “He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches.” was when I was in middle school. At first, I don’t think I fully understood the meaning of it, until well I did. It hit me and it kind of hurt because this was the first time I had heard someone publicly question the value of teaching. So many people throughout my life who have been my biggest motivators, and who have influenced my life in the greatest ways have been educators. Some of these people include my swim coach who has been my coach since the age of seven, my mom and my aunt and I was insulted for them after hearing this.

All of these people who have shown such a great light on my life are so capable and so respected. Not just anyone is able to put in the amount of patience, care, and passion in their professions as teachers are able to. To spend one's life dedicated to helping others isn’t something that young learners should build a learned negative connotation towards. It is something that should be looked at with great respect.

So, when the next person asks you “Why?” I hope you can look them straight in the eye and say “Why not?” Why not care for others success in the way I care for my own? Why not put in extra hours every day perfecting lesson plans so that my students get the most out of each lesson? Why not teach?  

Disabled Student Opportunities

By Seneca Barker

While scrolling through the top stories on Facebook the other day, I came across an article that caught my attention.

This piece was written by Lauren Appelbaum, the communications director of Respectability, a nonprofit organization. Their aim is to fight stigmas and advance opportunities for people with disabilities.

Picture source: www.vanatgemobility.com

The article stated that the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of higher educational standards for children with a disability.

The case of Endrew F. v. Douglas County School District argued how much educational benefits public schools must provide to these students.

Appelbaum explained, "They ruled unanimously (8-0) that schools must do more than provide “merely more than the bare minimum” education for students with a disability and instead provide them with the opportunity to make “appropriately ambitious” progress."

Picture Source: thepolitic.org

Lauren went as far to call this, "One of the most important education cases in decades" I completely agree.

As someone that has a brother with a disability, as well as a cousin, this is so important to me. Everyone deserves the same, respect, attention, and education.

"There are roughly 6.4 million students with disabilities between ages 3 to 21. Roughly 13 percent of all American students are students with disabilities, making this case important for a wide group of students."

As a future Special Education teacher, it will be my main focus to provide the best education possible to these students.

I learned from this article that the number of students with disabilities is increasing, and as teachers, we need to be aware of that. There should be no reason for a student to receive poor education because of any disability.

What Type of Teacher Would You Like to Be?

By: Madison Brosky

Many people ask me “What is the type of teacher you want to be?” For awhile it was hard for me to answer that question until a few years ago when I saw this video of a Special Education teacher who starts every morning off by complimenting each student. Some of his compliments include “I love having you in my class. I think you’re very funny. You’re a great soccer player. Everyone in here loves you,” each comment is simple but makes each kid feel important and good about themselves. Chris Ulmer a special education teacher in Jacksonville, Florida has truly been an inspiration to myself.

Ulmer’s students have diagnoses ranging from autism to traumatic brain injury, and all arrived in his classroom after being segregated from general education students, Now, he says, “they’re participating in school activities, dancing in front of hundreds of other kids and in the debate club.” Not only does Ulmer make sure each of his kids knows how important they are he has also written a book about each and every one of their stories. Ulmer’s has had the same kids in his class for three years, which has really helped him build this unbreakable bond with them.

After reading about Ulmer I knew that I wanted to structure my classroom similar to his, I want to make sure each and every student I have knows how important they are to me and the world. I plan to implement this same type of starting off the day with a complement so that each and every day no matter what was wrong before the student walked in the room they always knew someone thought of them highly.

How Ryan Helped Me Find More Of Myself

By: Riss Willwerth

During my Junior and senior year of high school, I took a class called connecting. This class was a placement style course where we would spend four days in another classroom throughout the district and one day (usually Fridays) in the classroom learning about special education related topics. I worked in the high school classroom with a girl with a physical and mental disability for one trimester. I was unsure at first about how working with someone my own age would be but I ended up loving it and I think that experience was the first big step in getting me into special education.

First trimester my senior year in Connecting II, I struggled with finding a placement. My photography told me that there was a student in his Graphics class that was struggling and did not have a para-educator helping him when he should have one. Long story short, I ended up working in my favorite teacher’s classroom, helping with this student, Ryan.

When I first met Ryan, he was very shy. It took a few weeks for me to figure out how he worked and how to get him to respond to what I was saying. He has a lot of quirks so I quickly caught on to those as well. A lot of what the kids were doing in graphics, Mr. Rodriguez the teacher, and I quickly figured out that he would have a hard time doing. With his focus and slight autism, it made it hard for him to understand some of what the class was about and the purpose. I worked hard with Mr. Rodriguez and on my own to create new projects and lessons that would keep Ryan entertained and busy and learn something. We talked a lot about things Ryan liked, I pushed him to really think when he could not think of anything. We looked up photos of the things he liked and had him draw them similarly to how the other kids used a special computer software to draw things they liked. One of the big projects that Graphics does is make a t-shirt with a design the kids create on it. I worked with Ryan to come up with a design and draw it out together for his shirt. I had him trace the design once I got it printed out for him. I had a lot of fun with Ryan and we made a very goofy and unique connection. We would have fun days where we would go for walks when he got a little too talky and sometimes made popcorn together as a treat for behaving well and not disturbing the other working students.

We laughed a lot and I miss him endlessly. He taught me a lot about changing lessons to fit an individual student. He taught me that the connections I was building with these placements in Connecting were crucial to my future as an educator. Every experience is something I can take something away from and the more experience you have with kids, the more comfortable you’ll feel in a classroom. I am lucky that I had so much experience going into college because it will definitely help me in the future.

When I worked with Ryan I had to show a lot of patience and attention. I didn’t originally think of myself as a para-educator when I worked with Ryan but so far after learning more about the real definition of it, I would say I fell under that category. A para-educator is defined as an educator who works under the direction of a teacher to help deliver services for a student with disabilities (Friend p.42). This is what I was doing with Ryan. The experience I had with him was one that really pushed me even farther to go outside my comfort zone and really try to change some curriculum to fit him and his learning style. It was a challenge I was excited to take on and from that, I learned a lot.

Blog Prompt #4

Written By: Andrea Thanos

One of the first blogs that came to my attention while beginning to formulate this blog was the blog titled “Edudemic.” Once I started scrolling through the blog so many different post titles caught my eye. There were ones titled “Which Learning Style Works for You”, “Don’t Weep For Public Education Just Yet”, and so many more enticing names. The article I chose to focus on was titled “10 Skills Modern Teachers Need.” As a future educator I immediately found myself scrolling through the blog post with curiosity. The post was so easy to maneuver through with its bolded point headlines that were numbered off one to ten. This blog post was aimed towards people similar to me, who are going into education, but also people who are already in the field. This blog itself is not only for educators, but for students as well. This blog teaches students about ways they can improve their learning experiences, as well as different outlets that will enhance their learning experiences.





The scholarly article I read was an article written by Geneva Gay of the University of Washington, Seattle and was a part from her book Culturally Responsive Teaching: Theory, Research, and Practice. This article is titled “Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching.” Here Gay discusses essential characteristics to being a culturally competent educator. Beneath the article there is an extensive list of sources that highlights the author's credibility. Each paragraph educates its readers on experiences necessary to teach in a way that is culturally responsive, and techniques to put into play while teaching.



Between the two they differ in many ways. One is a fun quick read that allows its viewers to just get the main jist of what one is saying, while the article goes way more in depth on the matter at hand. Both the blog and the article are very educational and fun to read, but I was definitely able to gain more from the article. Blogs are a great way to get information out quickly and are nice fun reads. If I was looking for a few pointers on education I would most likely go in the route of a blog if I was low on time. I would also trust the article with the long list of sources below it backing up all of its claims, rather than an opinion based blog post. Each of these sources of information are aimed at similar audience members, but it just depends on what the reader is looking for that day.

What Students with Learning Disabilities Want to Say to Their Teachers

By: Megan Ross

      
A few hours ago I was scrolling through my Facebook feed when I came across this video. Normally, I scroll past a lot of videos shared by my Facebook friends, but I saw that this one was a "message from students to their teachers" and I watched it. It was really interesting to me because I have not dealt with learning disabilities myself so it was intriguing to hear what the kids had to say. I've definitely been in a classroom where a teacher has told a student to stop rocking in their chair or slouching, or even given a long set of directions.
    
 I think it is a prominent issue in schools today because many kids have various learning disabilities. However, I think it is hard for teachers to recognize and individualize the struggles of various students, because every kid is dealing with something different from the next. For example, if one student can focus better in class when he is rocking in his chair, like a student in this video said, I'm sure a teacher would allow him to do so. But what if the rocking is creating a distraction for another student? What I'm trying to say is I believe it is a very difficult issue to try to cater to the needs of every student. I don't think it is dealt with very well in schools today.
    
 When I'm a teacher, I hope to do the best I can to try to accommodate my students. I want to be understanding and have strong communication with them so that I can understand each and every one of their strengths and weaknesses. If you haven't had much experience in the learning disorder field, I suggest watching this video because I definitely learned a lot from this short two minutes. I truly believe teaching is all about understanding, patience, and effort. When teachers come together to try to form bonds with their students, I think we can be one step closer to helping students with learning disabilities.

Bill 610 Introduced

By: Jessica Lusky

March 12th was a very significant and upsetting day for public education in the United States. The U.S. House of Representatives introduced Bill 610, which will effectively start the school voucher system to be used by children ages 5 to 17, and starts the de-funding process of public schools. The bill will eliminate the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA) of 1965 which is the nation's educational law and provides equal opportunity in education. It is a comprehensive program that covers plans for struggling learners, AP classes, ESL classes, classes for minorities such as Native Americans, Rural Education, Education for the Homeless, School Safety (Gun-Free schools), Monitoring and Compliance and Federal Accountability Programs. The bill also negates the Nutritional Act of 2012 (No Hungry Kids Act) which provides nutritional standards in school breakfast and lunch. The bill has no wording whatsoever protecting special needs kids, no mention of IDEA and FAPE. Some things the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESSA) of 1965 does for Children with Disabilities includes; ensuring access to the general education curriculum, giving access to accommodations on assessments, confirming concepts of Universal Design for Learning, includes provisions that require local education agencies to provide evidence-based interventions in schools with consistently underperforming subgroups, and requires states in Title I plans to address how they will improve conditions for learning including reducing incidents of bullying and harassment in schools, overuse of discipline practices and reduce the use of aversive behavioral interventions (such as restraints and seclusion). The results of the vote on this act will have an extremely remarkable affect on public education, hopefully they will not be too detrimental.

Source:
King, Steve. "Text - H.R.610 - 115th Congress (2017-2018): To Distribute Federal Funds for Elementary and Secondary Education in the Form of Vouchers for Eligible Students and to Repeal a Certain Rule Relating to Nutrition Standards in Schools." Congress.gov. N.p., 23 Jan. 2017. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.

Artificial Intelligence Tutoring

By: Riss Willwerth

I recently read an article about the growing use of artificial intelligence in the classroom. This is a topic completely new to me. “Third Space Learning” is a company that is for online math tutoring. They are exploring the idea of AI with this. Traditionally a lot of classrooms go off of the one-size-fits-all teaching approach. But most students do not learn like this. Most learn at different paces and have different progress rates. Teachers seem to have difficulty with meeting the learning needs of all their students and all their learning styles. Now artificial intelligence has been proving its role in numerous fields and showing a lot of transformations, so why not education?

The Al project by Third Space Learning aims to find, ”positive teaching and learning patterns.” They want to give real feedback and help online tutors become better at teaching. It is said that the program would detect if a student’s reaction to a concept follows a pattern of misunderstanding. The program having feedback will help enable it to determine the best path for students to follow towards the mastery of the topic. 

I personally have not thought much about the use of AI in education, but it makes sense with the growth of use of programs with AI in other fields. I think that if the technology keeps progressing like it has been it will become something very useful to the field. I hope that one day it won't replace certain things in the classroom such as teachers. I think that human interaction in the classroom is necessary to learning and so I hope that that does not ever get taken away. I do think that AI can be helpful and useful in this situation and with tutoring so it is an interesting addition to the education world.

https://thenextweb.com/artificial-intelligence/2017/03/13/how-artificial-intelligence-enhances-education/#.tnw_5uGNA4So

Private Schools...They Aren't So Bad I Promise

By: Megan Ross  
     
Coming to a school like Michigan State, I've met a lot of new people. Through my experience, when I've met someone new they tend to ask about where you're from and what high school you went to. It's been a rarity to talk to fellow Michigan State students that attended a private school in high school. Many kids I've talked to have had huge graduation classes and much different high school experiences than I have. Furthermore, going into the field of education, you hear a lot of negativity surrounding private schools: the fact that only "rich kids" attend, underpaid teachers, spoiled students and many more stereotypes.
    
 I thought I would simply share my perspective on attending private school from kindergarten until graduation, because although there are some down sides to it, overall my school shaped who I am today and I think the positives of a private school education deserve to be heard.
    
 First of all, the small class sizes are actually pretty beneficial. I grew up with all of my classmates and they became my family. I know it was such a small environment, but honestly everyday when I went to school I was so comfortable and calm. I didn't have to impress anyone because they all knew me better than anyone. I could focus on school, sports, and friendships and not other petty high school things. Secondly, being a huge sports fan, being able to play four varsity sports and forming such strong bonds with my teammates meant everything to me. My high school would have been nothing without my teammates. Going to a small school, I could play every sport and get super personal instruction. Sports taught me so many valuable lessons that I carry into my life today.

 
 
Everyone at my small school knew me and was welcoming and friendly. Lastly, my education was strengthened because of how small the class size was and how personal my relationships with my teachers were. I knew every single one of my teachers and they knew me. They didn't care about just my grades, but they were there for me as a person.
     
Most importantly to me, I was able to strengthen my faith. I know everyone has their own beliefs and I'm not taking away from public schools and what they provide. I just want everyone to appreciate private schools and what they offer as well, instead of just bringing them down. I owe everything to my school and my community and I am who I am because of my family at Our Lady of the Lakes. Public Schools definitely have their pros, but next time you diss a private school, remember that there are probably many benefits to what they can offer too.

   

Make It Stick

By: Maddie Brosky

After reading this book in one of my education classes I decided to write a blog post explaining how this book changed my whole idea on the type of teacher I want to become. There are a few ideas that I connected with as I read. This book challenges the ideas of how teachers in today's society believe their teaching strategies work for every student, but in reality, each and every person best learns in different ways. The whole idea of learning comes from different theories, each presented throughout the book like The Memory Theory, Feedback Theory, and lastly the Cooperative Learning Theory.

In Make It Stick the authors talk about the idea that learning is deeper and more durable when it requires effort. This idea is explained in chapter four, which talks about where learning is desirable due to the idea that the brain encodes and consolidates learning when learning it’s ‘effortful’; is strengthened through mental representations associated with retrieval and making connections (pg. 73). Also, the idea that learners are susceptible to the ‘illusion of knowing’. It’s not uncommon for learners to ‘not know what they don’t know'. Being aware of what one still needs to learn, or what skill needs developing is known as metacognition, and it’s part of overcoming the illusion of knowing. Teachers play an important role in helping students overcome the illusion of knowing by providing constructive feedback (pg. 126). And finally, that learning requires a strong foundation of knowledge, which supports the idea that we do need to learn foundational concepts even in a world where we can “Google it’. It seems that when knowledge is deeply entrenched in long-term memory it supports the learner’s ability to make connections with other knowledge held in one’s memory (pg. 76). ‘Googling’ a fact or a concept will likely be stored in the learner’s short-term memory, and while useful in certain contexts, it does not replace a learner having a knowledge base to call upon when working on complex projects or initiatives.

This book takes the teaching skills that are taught each and every day and puts a twist on them. This twist allows us as learners and those as teachers to work less but makes it mean more. I know when I become a teacher I will use the skills like teaching long-term memory instead of short-term, cooperative learning in a group environment and use feedback as a main source of encouragement to my students. 

References

Morrison, ~. Debbie. "Make Teaching ‘Stick’ with Ideas from “Make It Stick: The Science of Successful Learning”." Online Learning Insights. N.p., 22 July 2015. Web. 26 Mar. 2017.

Should Common Core Be So Common?

Written by: Andrea Thanos

The Common Core Standards are defined as a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA), by the official website of the Common Core State Standards. In 2009 the state school chiefs and governors that compromised CCSSO (The Council of Chief State School Officers) and the NGA (National Governors Association) Center coordinated an effort to develop the Common Core Standards. These standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the “skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live” (Common Core State Standards Initiative). Currently forty-two states, the District of Columbia, four territories, and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) have adopted and are moving forward with the Common Core Standards.

In 2010 the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers released the “Common Core State Standards Initiative”, which is aimed to help teachers, parents, and students to understand what is needed for children to succeed in secondary schools and the workforce. This also allows states and school districts to collaborate on ways to close achievement gaps nationwide. This nationwide collaboration is aimed to increase our country’s academic progress of our nation’s students, since we have lost ground to our international peers in specific areas like mathematics. Many educators believe that the lost ground is due to there being an uneven idea of academic standards that vary from state to state and don’t agree on what students should know and be able to do at specific grade levels.

But, not everyone agrees with this initiative and its ability to help students. The four states of Alaska, Nebraska, Virginia, and Texas have not formally adopted the entire curriculum. These states claim that these standards do not guarantee higher test scores and is not tailored to meet all of the diverse needs of all the nation’s schools. In a video I viewed from a news report on understanding Common Core, an elementary school teacher explains to the news reporter how she teachers her students to solve the problem of nine plus six utilizing Common Core. Most people can recall back to their elementary school experiences, when they were first introduced to addition.



My experiences consisted of first grasping the concept of addition through apples and pennies, or some other tangible objects that would be used to mirror the problems. This allowed me to see that if I had, for example, two apples on my left side and five on my right, that when I pushed them all together I would have a total of seven apples. As I developed a greater understanding for addition and my teachers began increasing the numbers of our math problems, it became more about memorization verses making sure that I felt comfortable with why a number plus a number equalled the answer that it did. In the video the teacher explains the addition problem of nine plus six by first breaking up six into five and one. Next, the teacher circles the nine and the newly drawn one into a circle together. Below the circle of nine and one the teacher drew a ten and brought down the untouched five. She justifies this action by saying that the students are not comfortable with adding the numbers nine and six together, but instead they are able to respond better to a ten and a five being added to one another. I personally remember learning adding number to nine and my teacher taught my peers and I a “special trick.” This trick was to essentially do the same thing, to subtract a number from the other number being added to nine and then to add that to ten. A problem that the teacher from the video took about a minute to complete, took my classmates and I a few seconds. The question here is should the Common Core curriculum continue to be implemented in our schools?

The Privileged Sex in Education

By: Riss Willwerth

I recently read an article which discusses an interview by a feminist, philosophy professor named Christina Hoff Sommers. She works at the American Enterprise Institute. In the interview, she argues that girls and women are the more privileged sex when it comes to education and educational status. She says that overall women get better grades and win more awards, that schools have many programs to get females back on track with science, math and sports but not as much for males. It's said in the interview that she thinks men will stop graduating from college in the year 2068, which is shocking to think about. She also thinks that universities have an obsession with politics and in order to save themselves they must overcome that.

My personal opinion on this article is only what I know from my personal school experience. I disagree when it comes to girls are the privileged sex in education. I know that women have had to fight more in the past for education and rights but I do not think because of that we as women have more privilege now. Growing up in the schools I did, I never felt like I was given any special circumstances or help due to the fact that I was a girl. Any opportunities for help or improvement have always been available to all, not specific groups or sexes or individuals. As far as the politics with school, this directly applies to college, I'd say, more so than lower schooling. I have not seen much politics occur but I am sure it does exist. I do not necessarily agree with the idea that men will be officially out of college by the year 2068, it seems crazy to me that people will stop wanting to learn and be educated when education is such an important factor of income, lifestyle, and occupation. I think education will always be needed and worthwhile for both genders, and so in that way, I disagree with Sommers.

http://www.breitbart.com/tech/2017/03/01/christina-hoff-sommers-dartmouth-review-women-educational-privilege/

Standardized Testing

By: Jessica Lusky

I came across an article that discussed the pros and cons of standardized testing in America. I have never been a good test taker so these tests have always been very frustrating and difficult for me to preform well on. I have never believed that standardized tests are an accurate representation of an individuals understanding, but this article brought up a few things that I haven't thought about.


The first pro that stood out to me explains that standardized tests are inclusive and non-discriminatory because they are given in the same manner to all students and ensure content is equivalent. While creating alternate tests for students of minorities or with disabilities would not be fair, it is challenging for the creators to ensure that the equivalent content is taught to all students taking the exam in the same depth. The next pro that really caught my attention talks about how the tactic “teaching to the test” can actually be beneficial. Instead of leaving out information, it focuses the curriculum on essential content and skills. Lastly, these more strict standards and increased testing are preparing students for college better. In 1998, 66% of professors said that elementary and high school do not expect students to learn enough. After an increase in testing, that percentage was lowered to 47%(Standardized Test - ProCon.org).


A few specific cons caught my eye and really expressed some of my feelings towards the controversy. First, in May of 2011 National Research Council report found no evidence that standardized testing has improved student achievement. In fact, from 2002 to 2009 the United States math performance went from 18th to 31st place in the world, there was a similar drop in science, and no chance in reading. The next con I was focused on stated that standardized tests are not a reliable measure of student presentation. A study done in 2001 found that 50-80% of year-to-year improvements were caused by fluctuations that did not relate to any long-term changes in learning. Finally, the article noted that there is a sever increase in younger student stress levels because of standardized testing according to an education researcher(Standardized Test - ProCon.org).


Although many people have differing views and reasoning behind whether or not they support standardized testing, there is research behind both sides. I personally do not support standardized testing, but this article opened my eyes to a few pros I have not thought about in the past. I am curious to see if this issue will become an even larger topic of conversation in the future of the education field and if any changes will be made.



Source:
“Standardized Test - ProCon.org.” ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Mar. 2017.

Playing Catch-Up

By: Megan Ross

 I recently came across an article that opened up my eyes to some of the issues facing the education of children in America. This article discusses three main reasons that we are pushing kids in America to work hard in school in order to catch up to other countries. Not only are we behind as a country, but individual states are at different levels. Of course it's not only just the states that are staggered either, but the schools themselves. We need to work in order to even out not only our schools but our states and help us to advance the education of our children as a country as a whole.

     
This article suggests that we can help get a start on this huge issue a few different ways. The first is to help families that tend to move a lot. When a child is doing well in school and then his dad gets relocated at his job, it is likely that the child will be thrown into an unfamiliar school. What if he is already behind? Now this child is wondering what he has done wrong, and he is trying desperately to catch up. If extra assistance is offered to increasingly mobile families, this problem can become less important.
    
Secondly, We need to give U.S. students a fighting chance for jobs in their own country. Right now, it is hard to graduate in America to beat out graduates from other countries because of the flourishing educations elsewhere. Lastly, the article suggests that we need to fill in the need for 21st century skills. Some think that we need less focus is areas like English and Math and more focus on the skills like computer tech. However, this is a more radical idea that will likely need plenty of time to soak in.
      
Overall, I think this article makes some really good points. It really opened my eyes to how far behind this country is and how easily education can be overlooked.

Media Sources:

https://www.education.com/magazine/article/common-national-standards/

https://daily.jstor.org/works-keep-kids-school/

Recognizing Truth Prompt #10

By: Madison Brosky

Have you ever envisioned one of your teachers to be a tall, skinny, blonde with big breasts?Well if you answered yes to that question then sure enough you have had to of seen the movie Bad Teacher. As far as i'm concerned having teachers that sexualize the act of actually educating students is definitely very misrepresenting educators as a whole. Of course having a beautiful, or handsome teacher is one thing. But the way this movie represents teaching is to the next level.

The movie opens up with Miss Halsey (Cameron Diaz) having sex on her desk while her students are out for recess. As the movie progresses we see Miss Halsey passing time showing movies while she naps, drinking and doing drugs on her desk,  and of course her sexual choice of clothing she wears each and every day. Throughout the movie we can definitely tell that Miss Halsey has absolutely no interest in actually educating her students. The most beneficial thing she did was have her students raise money for kids in need by starting a carwash, where then later we view Miss Halsey in a skimpy bikini rubbing her body all over the wealthy businessmen who show up to donate. From beginning to end this movie misrepresents teachers, and teaching as a whole. Yes, there are certainly some educators that are very good looking to some of their students. But I am almost positive that if there was a student-teacher relationship like Miss Halsey it would be very frowned upon and end up in jail time. Also the amount of drugs and alcohol this movie connects with teachers is definitely not how it goes in the real world. Teachers are never allowed to have substances like that in school, let alone in class and doing them with his/her students.

This movie is called Bad Teacher, the idea behind the whole movie is in the title. One doesn't even have to watch it to understand what happens. It is very sad especially for educators to see how popular this movie became with all of its false realities. Teachers will be compared to this movie and the techniques used in her way of educating. Teaching does not happen like it does in the movie, and teachers certainly do not act like Miss Halsey. Today education is taken very seriously for most, and there are certain rules to protect from student-teacher relationships.

You Live & You Learn

Written By: Andrea Thanos

What were you able to take away from 2016? Were you able to stumble upon an epiphany on how you wish to live your life? Did you learn something in school that completely changed your outlook on things? Did you learn to take more chances, and regret less? Or did you not come to a realization that made you want to alter something about the way you live your life?

Yes, I know that that is a lot to absorb. It might take you a hot second to think about each and every one of them. For some of you, 2016 might not have been a very influential or “life changing” year. For others, 2016 may have been a tremendously life altering year of learning who you were, and what you want from life.



For me personally, 2016 was a year of learning. Okay yes I know, each and every year since before I can even remember I have been in school learning, but I am talking about learning more than math and science, but about myself. A lot of the time we, as students, are so constantly wrapped up in learning through the memorization of facts, and equations that we forget to take time to learn about ourselves. As a college freshman, this past year was able to shape me in ways a year of high school never could have.

As we go through life we learn through a series of lessons, and not just the lessons we are taught in school. With each experience, whether it is positive or negative, we are able to take something away from it. Life is a learning experience, and we are able to learn through the mistakes we make. College is your time for personal growth and self development, let no lesson go unrecognized. So embrace each year of your life, make mistakes, take chances, and learn from everything. The best life lessons aren’t always learned in a classroom.

Communication in the Education Field (Prompt #3)

By: Jessica Lusky

I interviewed my mom who works in the education field in regards to the way she communicates with other individuals at work. Most of her responses were what I expected, but the few that surprised me were very interesting and helped further my understand of the education field. I began by asking her why she chose to pursue a job in the education field and she replied with “I always knew I wanted to work with children, specifically special education. I have a bit of a ‘servant leader’ mindset in which I truly gain the most joy helping others. My passion is to empower children to build their own identity and agency”. I thought it was very interesting how closely I could relate to her response, while going into a similar field with a very different goal. I then asked her what she finds the major

misconceptions of her field to be before getting into the communication aspects. She has found that individuals think teachers only work during the scheduled school day, teachers have their summers off, and that they teach all children the same, which are all inaccurate. Also, she has heard that teachers all teach subjects when in reality they teach human beings making their work more challenging. Next I began to ask her the communication related questions. I asked my mom what she uses writing for in her field and she responded with many more situations than I would have expected from a speech therapist in a high school. She explained that she uses writing to “log interactions with our students to document how and when we worked with the individual or group of students, observe and document student learning and thinking as feedback, to share narratives of student’s learning and growth, communicate with parents, share ideas, create lessons for students, create presentations for professional development, and for publications including books, magazines, etc.”. All of the situations that she uses writing for make complete sense, I just would not have thought about writing for publications, sharing narratives of student’s growth and learning, or sharing ideas off the top of my head. I followed up by asking how she writes in these situations to better understand the necessary circumstances for writing that I did not think of myslef. She described the way she writes in different situations which includes a variety of formats such as hand written and digital logs, commenting/noting alongside student documents while observing, emailing, social media in order to gain and share ideas, blogging, specifically Weebly, to learn as an educator, and lastly on google slides for presentations. Lastly, I asked my mom how she uses these communication techniques to address the misconceptions she has noticed since working in the education field. The main thing she does is attend and connect with educators at professional learning opportunities “as a means to collaborate, communicate, and give back to our profession”. Along with that she continues to share her stories of learning as an educator on social media and works to build relationships with parents and community members(Lusky).

Source:
Lusky, Erika. Personal Interview. 3 March. 2017.

Losing Students, Losing Money

By: Riss Willwerth

This article refers to Trumps recent travel ban and the effects of this ban on higher education. The number of international students that will be affected is over 8,000 but could expand to a million with the inclusion of just a few other countries in this ban. Universities are a great system of learning but also contribute a great deal to the economy. “International students account for one-third of the PhDs earned in the US” says the Star-Ledger Editorial Board. Millions of dollars every year stream in and out of each university and provide millions of jobs for people. Losing students means you're losing money and this indirectly will affect the economy. A degree from an American university is considered a prized export to most other countries. They want to send their kids to our schools and this ban stops that.

My personal opinions on this is that education is universal. Everyone in all countries has the capacity to learn and it is a part of all cultures. Therefore, I think that learning with people of other cultures can sometimes be invaluable. You learn things you only would if you perhaps traveled to different countries. I have a lot of opinions about this ban but I think its particularly wrong in the way it’ll affect education. Looking at politics and the leaders of the US it is clear that power and money are the two biggest demons. Everyone wants more money, all the time. I know Trump is no exception. I think that the amount of students we would lose with the ban hurts not only the spread and increase of funding and money through the economy but also the cultural knowledge we can learn from others.

http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2017/03/trumps_travel_ban_hurts_higher_education_editorial.html