Orientation Day

I was really pleased with the orientation on Thursday. I don’t know exactly what it was I was expecting, but I feel like it went better than expected. I think the way they organized everything was really well done. I felt like the staff at First Avenue school was really energetic and happy to be there, which is really reassuring. On top of that, they seemed really open to questions and were willing to answer everything from what districts pay the best to how to go about obtaining my substitute license. Each station they had was helpful and taught me something that I didn’t know about teaching, so I felt like I really took something from the whole experience.
I was also really excited about who I got from my shadowing. I have Miss Gonzalez and she facilitated for the whole orientation, and I liked her personality. She seems really dedicated to what she does and just seems like a genuinely nice person. I was really nervous as to who I was going to get to shadow, and she definitely seems like a good person to learn from.
The whole school was absolutely gorgeous. It was huge, but our tour guides were sure to show us ever y little thing about their school. It was nice to see kids take pride in their school; it makes me think that if they take such pride in it, the school must be doing something right. The faculty really seemed to be proud in their school as well. They had said that First Avenue School had had some really dark days, and now the school is doing very well. I’m really excited to be dealing with a school like this, and am really excited to start my shadowing.

Class Today..

I felt like in class today we had a lot of stuff thrown at us that made me feel a little more relaxed about this whole shadowing teachers thing. For one, I really had no idea exactly what kind of observations we needed to make. Now that we went over certain things, such as writing down strictly what we observe first, I feel a lot better. This way, I have some kind of evidence to back up what I'm interpreting from the actions. Watching the video of the board meeting showed me what things I need to look for, such as seating arrangements, eye contact, attire, etc.

I'm excited about going to First Avenue school next week. The only things I"m really worried about are the logistics of getting there, such as parking, if I'll make it in time, whatever. I really hope I get to shadow a teacher that I can enjoy working with. The more comfortable I feel with the teacher, the more I'm going to ask and ultimately learn.

I'm really passionate about being a teacher, but I never realized how low on the totem pole teachers are. I had no idea that there were so many layers of people above teachers. It's kind of scary to think about how many people I'll need to go through if I feel something needs to change in the curriculum or anything like that. Reading about all the failed attempt for education reform also made feel a little discouraged... why is it that there are so many good ideas brought up, but the way they are implemented is terrible. The fact that my job security could be based on how well my students work in a standardized testing environment is a very scary thing to think about. I really want to find out more about the "No Child Left Behind" act later on in the semester. See everyone next week!

Too Self Centered?

Last Thursday we had a discussion in class based off the CBS news article asking, "Are College Students More Self Centered?". I was really intrigued when I heard the article's title, so I really wanted to hear what the "study" had to say. 

One of the first things that really jumped out at me about how unreliable the study was going to be was seeing the small sample size. Not only did the researchers poll a couple of thousand college students out of hundreds of thousands of students, but the polls were in limited areas of the country. For instance, one of the statistics was from UCLA, a pretty well established university. It is likely that the students who go there are from a family with a steady income and the desire to see their child in college. These parents probably told their child that they were special and could achieve anything, in hopes of their child choosing to go to college. If the poll were to be taken in an inner city area, I'm sure that the answers would have been different from the answers of the UCLA students.

That was just my first problem with the article. Even if the statistics were completely accurate about most of the nation's college students, I don't see how it is a cause of concern. What is wrong with telling your child they are special? Don't we want to encourage our children and students to be the best they can be and to try as hard as they can? By telling them they our special and encouraging them, they see that they have someone who believes in them. This really makes a world of difference for some. I really don't think that a college student believing he is special is a negative in any way. 

Another example he used was the use of Myspace. Just because the name of the social networking site uses the words "my" and "space", that doesn't mean it is intended for the user to just talk about themselves endlessly. It's used as a way to find people with similar interests and hobbies. You can connect with people from high school once you go away to college in a way you never would have been able to before. It's not narcissism driving this website, just students looking for other students who are similar to them. 

I really didn't understand what this article was trying to accomplish. It didn't really seem to have much of a focal point, other than blurting out statistics that weren't even relevant to the scope of the study. I'm glad we got to read it in class though, because it got the discussion going and made people uncomfortable and angry, which I think is always a sign of an interesting class. See everyone Thursday. 

1st Blog !

Hey everyone. I'm Courtney, a junior here at MSU. The reason I'm taking this class is because I want to be a high school English teacher. I've always wanted to be a teacher since I was a little girl, so I never really had to deal with the whole, "What do I want to do with my life" dilemma. I picked English because reading and writing have always come easily to me and I just genuinely enjoy doing both. Since I've been taking education classes here at MSU I've really gotten a lot of great input and I'm sure that this class will be no different.
Other than all that, there are lots of things that I'd like people to know about me. I love music. After I have a bad day, my IPOD will immediately make me feel better. My favorite bands are probably The Beatles, Something Corporate, Nirvana, Sublime, and of course the incomparable Bob Marley :) His messages of loving everyone like they were your brother and not sweating the small things in life are so great. I also love meeting new people and making new friends. Even though I like people, I love dogs way more. Well I suppose I could go on forever, so I'm going to end it here. See everyone tomorrow!