Trend analysis #3

Clothing. I looked onto the Limited TOO website, the website of a clothing store that makes young adult clothing in children's sizes. What I saw was low cut v-neck tops, low rise jeans, and lacy underwear, and unlimited amounts of accessories and everything was over priced. I don't think I could have afforded one piece of clothing their if I would of saved a six months of allowance when I was in sixth or seventh grade. The marketing is genius, what sixth or seventh grader wouldn't want to dress the same as a high schooler or twenty year old? But what message are we sending kids? Materialism is a huge problem in middle schools along with general society today. Not to mention, the face we are dressing 12 and 13 year olds up to look 20. Children need a childhood, and sex issues, such as looking sexy is creeping into the minds of younger and younger kids. Is this line of clothing helping if not pushing it along? Definitely. Parents and schools need to keep students looking like students and not floozies. (Maybe a little exaggerated) Point being, students are growing up too fast and the clothing they wear are assisting that.

Trend #2

Decorah Middle School Cafeteria. Talking to middle school students as they are surrounded by their friends in their free time to socialize at lunch is quite a unique experience. Not only do you get to see the way sets up their lunch program with rules and regulations the students must follow, but also you get to see the social interactions. Here are a few things I found out. Only three students had cell phones (out of probably 30 I talked to ranging from grades five-eight). I think this is a positive. Many students responded that they didn't have one, but would be receiving on when they went to high school. With another question being "how do you communicate with your friends outside of school," most responded that they would either call on land lines or talk over msn or aol(mostly eighth graders). I think this is a positive. I don't believe any middle schooler needs a cell phone. Communication and interaction between parents and students should be quality enough that parents know where students are, what they are doing, and when they need a ride without having to have a cell phone. Second thing I observed and was told, was that students aren't allowed to switch seats after they first sit down. While I realize this was probably a tactic to save time with the limitations of the around 20 minute lunch 'hour,' I had to still laugh. The individual non-movable chairs instead of what I had, benches, in my middle school cafeteria made the choice seem more stressful, permanent, and exclusive to students. Only ten or twelve students could fit at each table. As anyone knows, all the 'clicks' have designated tables in middle school and sometimes high school. So you can see how this only ten spots per table could be quite a situation for the middle school social life. I watched as boys, all on the football team, and 'made up' girls sat down at a table together. I wondered when the girls and boys starting integrating tables, because in the seventh grade lunch this wasn't happening. I thought about the girls or boys who were then left with no seats at 'their' table when the girls or boys came together. Concluding, while the cafeteria seating may seem very minuet in the education of students, socially it can make a huge impact on their life and it is something to think about.

Judy Jeffery

As I walked into the CFL for the final of the three educational based topic lectures, I was feeling a little burnt out. It was as if we were at a teacher's conference but still had to go to class too. This was a lesson in itself. School work is not going to stop for us to have time to grow professionally, we have to make time. Making this time is what will put us up in the competitive teacher job market of the Midwest. While I may seem to be rambling on about an unconnected topic to what Judy Jeffery was speaking on, I'm not. Jeffery was lecture three. We heard the business side of education, we heard the far far educational side of education, and now we heard the government side of education. The way Jefferey tied in state programs and educational laws to the state of Iowa's economy and educational trends was a key point to see. Not much of what Jeffery said was new to me and most of the audience, but the combination of her and the other speakers last week made the impression. This two day series of lectures started so many conversations and thinking to happen here at Luther College, it is invaluable to us future educators. One speaker could never have the effects that the combination of these three had. It really showed me the importance of representation of all sides.

David Ferrero

David Ferrero, a chair person of the Gate's Foundation, came to Luther and addressed the audience with his speech Pluralism in Education. In a charismatic and lively way Ferrero took the educationalists and philanthropists views of education and goals of education and highlighted were 'good intention' beliefs of both parties clash with those of the opposite group. He also went over various beliefs of educational philosophy. By doing this he explained that all of the groups and all of these philosophies are trying to achieve the same goal, that goal is to create a better education system for the children. However, where it becomes complicated is in defining better and defining what is 'good' in education. Here is where he left us. There are no answers to these questions. Each one of us as future educators need to approach individual situations with our beliefs and the knowledge of other's beliefs. By doing this we can create a system that may better help students by picking practices and philosophies that show results with the students you have and create the person within the student.

Jonathon Kozol

Kozol spent an hour talking about the injustices in American public schools. Growing up a privileged child and now dedicating his life to be an advocate to the education of minorities, he speaks of the underfunded, under trained, and out right ridiculous conditions of urban schools. He does this by integrating facts and personal observation in with humor. His sense of humor though was unprofessional, he used name calling and referred to government or corporate heads as stupid. While he had a lot of good points, that could cause significant conversations to begin about these attention deserving topics, I don't believe he used his talent and resources in the best way he could. By simply "playing" the game a bit more, I believe, he could get much further in his goals and efforts.
While I looked around in the auditorium I saw many eager and excited faces soaking in every word that came out of this frail man’s mouth. I, however, was not so convinced that his “martyrism” and charm would work on me. I went to his question and answer session in the afternoon and perceived him as an angry and bitter man that dealt with the injustices he saw by complaining and not taking action. While I am not saying he doesn’t take action, because he is a man that has obviously made improvements through his individual efforts on the American educational system, I am saying he didn’t seem to me to put every last effort into this cause he carried as so dear to him. These problems I had was first his interaction with David Farrero, a chairman of that Gate’s Foundation, he talked as though the Gate’s Foundation was just another all business donator that would not even look at a cause that would have slow and minuet progress. The Gate’s Foundation right now is helping intercity children and the fact that when asked if he wrote grant request, Kozol responded, “They wouldn’t give him money and he is too old to ‘beg.” If no one asks, how can Kozol expect people to help? If money is not donated how will we pay for these improvements that it is apparent these schools absolutely need?
In conclusion, Kozol opened the floor for conversation and spent his lifetime investigating the problem. Now it is our responsibility as future educators is to start where he left off and create solutions to the endless problems Kozol found; for without action and solution the problem will continue to grow, the gap continue to widen, and public schools will be no more apparent in this country as government official’s children are in them.

Melba Beals

Starting the year off with a speaker who had first hand experience with the civil rights movement and school integration was a wonderful start for students and faculty to think about where schools are today with integration and what action we need to take to move in positive directions. In Beals programs she talked about her own experience being one of the first to be integrated into Little Rock Central High School in 1957. From there she expressed her life since then, becoming a journalist and doing public speaking. Beals talked about the importance of caring in schools and in the classrooom. By simply caring issues of such prejudice can be corrected and justice can become closer to reality.

Trand Analysis #1

My Sweet Sixteen. This show should be renamed "My Sixteenth Birthday Party that Cost More than a Wedding and Makes the Society I Live in and Myself Look Ridiculous." This show not only gives teenagers unrealistic ideas about what is appropriate parent to child relationships, but also shows peers being self-centered, spoiled, and down right cruel to those around them.
First the attitude of the birthday girl or boy on this show is a horrible example to any American youth. They it believe it is their own right to have the car, entertainment, guest list, venue, not mentioning outfit, decorations, or preparations like invitations at their one and only sweet sixteen party. I am sure this causes arguments around the country about other children wanting their parents to bend every possible way so they can have the birthday party of the century that will set their parents back ONLY tens of thousands of dollars. For those in this country whose socio-economical class makes a birthday party like this out of the question it creates even a larger gap between the rich and poor in this country by highlighting the extravagant spending habits of the rich when it may be hard for some to make ends meet each month. Speaking of spending habits, spending ridiculous amounts of money on unnecessary and defiantly unpractical things is only going to cause our country's habit of wasting resources to worsen. Globally we must be more aware of what we are valuing as a community and how we are setting up our society to live in future generations. While many I'm sure will argue, My Sweet Sixteen has nothing to do about the nation's economy, I beg to differ. It is teaching children that money can be blown on anything desire that pops into your head and that as a sixteen year old you deserve to have that. Finally the behaviors that happen at the actual birthday party are unacceptable. Dancing is grinding on one another and then the ranting of vulgar language at guest who were uninvited to a party of literally hundreds of adolescents. The whole idea of the show is outrageous, granted that is probably one of the main reasons they get so good of ratings, the show shows a lifestyle that is so bizarrely out of the ordinary American's that people are intrigued and adolescents are fascinated.

Middle School Learner 1st Blog

1. Are middle school learners different than they were 15 years ago?
YES, what isn't different? The only things that aren't different are those we refuse to believe need changing due to our own stubbornness. Children today are introduced to technology before they are out of diapers, this change creates a global student that is able to multi task and employ technology for them in ways we can't even imagine.

2. Basic skills taught still needed?
I believe a lot that is taught in the elementary level is still needed for good foundation in education. While calculators can produce an answer to any mathematical problem it is given, if a student doesn't learn the operations that the calculator is performing they become reliant on that machine and lose the problem solving skills mathematics assist children in learning.

3. Society changing faster than schools?
Yes, society will always be changing and trends will come and go, while schools have to prepare students for their futures, some say that the jobs they may be doing are not even thought of yet. Therefore, there is value in teaching students the basic well, which then they can build off that information later in life to better fit their career choice. We must also remember that education is not only about fitting one to a career, yet educating our youth to be well rounded, enlightened individuals.

Barack

I went to see Barack Obama speak in Dubuque, IA. I listened as several questions were brought up about education and if he was elected what changes would we might see as the general public. This is one quote I found very relevant to ed psych: "Our public education system is the key to opportunity for millions of children and families. It needs to be the best in the world. Of particular concern is the growing achievement gap between middle and low-income students, which has continued to expand despite some overall national achievement gains." Throughout the semester we have discussed this growing gap in our nation and by not addressing it on a national level we are greatly hurting our nation. While the Busch administration has tried to answer this with No Child Left Behind. I found Obama to have more realistic answers that start on small scales and work towards the larger goal to continue to be the best, while Busch has everything happening right now. I am a supporter of Obama and with an change in office, changes will take place. I conclude with hope that Obama will be successful in his attempts to become president and then more successful in his attempts to clean up our education system for our future generations.

Gustar

I attended the April 10 Gustar concert. This was a soft-rock group that attacked hundreds of Luther students, friends, and roadies. I thought how this event might connect to school. First, it creates a culture of students who follow bands, driving hours on school night and not meeting their beds until the morning hours. Thus, creating an even tired student body. Next, I thought about the time and money some parents put into these concerts. Yes, parents were standing in the crowd dancing right along with 14 and 15 year old, attempting to be the "cool" mom or dad. Would it be possible that students would be more excited about school if parents took off work to be at academic events? Or get just as excited about their child's good grades? Our society needs to re-exam family structures and ask ourselves if pushing education to the back burner for a chance to jump around intoxicated college students and then drive home staying up until possibly three am and then being tired the rest of the school week, if the parents even makes the student go to school the next day.

Ethnic Arts Festival

The Ethnic Arts Festival had a variety of booths with "experts" at each, explain about the country. This was a useful experience because it not only educated me about unfamiliar countries, but it also gave me the awareness of all the diversity in our world and made me think how I could possibly bring that to a school. Listening to foreign exchange students, or Luther students who have studied abroad to these countries, I realized this first hand experience it truly creates a sense of appreciation of the respected cultures. These students eyes lit up when talking about their experience or home. While I will try my best to bring my own passion and excitement for different cultures into my classroom, I will always look for those who have more experience then I do, so my students can hopefully get a taste of how, when, and where others live.

Hair

Luther College's production of Hair was phenomenal. Hair brought up issues that have to deal with giving into societal norms and conforming or in this case resisting it. After watching Hair, my thoughts of connecting it to Ed psych were based around two general ideas. First, Hair had me thinking about students and the pressures of teachers, other students, and the whole entire system that are put on them. This creates groups like the main group in Hair, that are pressuring students to fight it, "damning" the man. This attitude can cause students to fail in the system, and while the system is obviously not perfect, failing in it causes a person's life to be a lot harder in getting ahead at all, because our society is run by those people who run the school systems. Secondly, I thought about teacher's contributions to education. With so many guidelines set up by the national government, the state government, the local government, and then local administrators; teachers often feel they have no room for individual classroom pace. Teaching off of what the students need, is a concept that is so simple, but can hardly be done because teachers are told what they have to teach and when they have to do it. Taking individual steps and being strong enough to stand up for students' rights and needs to learn, is what the passion in every teacher needs to produce to create a successful learning environment.

Freedom Writers

This movie did not not relate to Educational Psychology in anyway. Everything the teacher did was inspiring to pre-service teachers. In the movie the main character pushes every envelop with the school to provide a better education for her students. While doing this she is faced with personal challenges of trying to figure out how to connect to the students given her completely different background. Attending college in Decorah and growing up in a small town, if I am to teach in an intercity school I believe I would have these same challenges. This movie especially connects to ed psych by showing an example for a teacher to go above and beyond to get the material to relate to the students. That's what I believe, as teachers, we are called to do.

Inconvenient Truth

Tonight, I watched Al Gore's documentary The Inconvenient Truth. This movie was an eye opener to me. While, I have always believed in global warming and knew it was a large scale problem that needed to be address long ago and still is worsening while few people do anything; I did not know the scale or the effects this problem is having each and everyday. After watching the explanations of the large scale natural disasters and how global warming is having the effect of making them worse and more frequent by warming the temperature of the ocean; this problem struck closer to home. It is no longer something that is happening to the other side of the world, global warming is happening to the world. We are not just affected by the problem, yet a major cause. Being responsible for the problem it is now our turn to answer this problem. At the end of the documentary Al Gore came back with a view of hope. He presented ways in which we can use technology that we already have to lessen the amount of carbon dioxide that we are putting into the atmosphere to the point that earth will be back to having "normal" levels of carbon dioxide in the air. If we can do it, what is stopping us? This is a large scale problem that can be controlled and fixed if people start acting as a world community instead of individuals. For now though, as individuals we need to make choices that benefit the environment and spread the word of action.

The Internet in Education

The Internet is called the World Wide Web, and it is just that. Anyone in the world can put anything and view anything on it. Is this a tool or a weapon for education? Like most things it is not clear. The tool side of the Internet is having endless information, points of view, and mass media at the tips of your fingers. It can also be accessed from virtually anywhere in the world. The Internet has turned all night running from floor to floor in the library into hours sitting in a chair at a computer printing off the information that may or may not be in books. Convenience is one thing the Internet has brought to education. Another positive would be the added communication. Points of view can be found everywhere on the Internet. Chat rooms and programs like AOL and MSN allow students to connect with people in the next class or someone half way around the world. Pen pals can now be in an instant message, allowing students to receive immediate answers to questions they have. The problem side of all this is that students are exposed to everything anyone puts onto the Internet. Not only inappropriate content, but also inaccurate and non-supported information students may see as fact. Sources are endless on the Internet; therefore, distinguishing between "good" and "bad" sources is a must. Teaching students how to do this and then how to accurately site their sources is something that every teacher in this day of age must make sure they are doing. Thus, teaching students how to use the Internet responsibly and in a positive manner.

If I could change one thing...

While I believe that I had a wonderful education that guided me to furthering my education here at Luther. I don't know if I was properly prepared for the transition between high school in college curriculum. I realize that one attribute to senior year is "senioritis," which causes most students, like myself, to feel it is ok to take "easy A" classes and not do homework. This is a result of already being accepted into college and simply not caring anymore about this because it is the end of their high school education. What I am getting at is that senior year each student should be taking their most challenging classes because they are not only the most educated when it comes to students in the building, but they are also the closest to the next step which is full of uncertainties and obstacles. College is hard, yet can be made easier if students are use to working. In high school, every student should take four years of math, science, and a foreign language. Not requiring this is saying, "Ok, we give up and it is ok to not keep up with the rest of the world in education." With four years completed of these subjects and English, students can start at higher levels in college, allowing for more educational opportunities and advancement for students. If we want to compete on a global level and want to continue being a super power we must educate the next generation to know more, stretch themselves further, and be excited to be educated.

Why WeTeach

'Why do we teach?'
Teaching is an unconcious action most of the time; though, some of us are called to deliberlately teach and reteach information. I am one of those people. While I have not yet been given a classroom filled with students and told to educate them, I have been a teacher. I feel I teach to share my knowledge with whoever I come across, in hopes that they will use that to better their own lives and share the knowledge I left with them and the knowledge they already had with all they come in contact with. Teaching is about awareness. Bringing awareness to all creates a better life for everyone. Simplying opening ones eyes to problems or successes, shows them they need to take action to better the situation or gives examples to them of what they can do better to improve their life and others' lives around them. While our society has made teaching a profession, I choose to view teaching as a way of life. Being the way of life I chose, I choose to always do my part in making sure that my students, young and old alike, not only have a sense of the world around them, but use that knowledge to learn about themselves.

'What is the difference between school "work" and student "learning?"'
School work is the actions that students go through to memorize information or practice methods they have learned at school. Student learning on the other hand requires growth within the student, teacher, and classroom. When student learning takes place, the students acquire life skills. Student learning includes discovery of self, environment, community, social skills, awareness, communication skills, and the ability to be assertive.

'What makes for good teaching?'
Good teaching is the ability to connect with each of the students. Without making the effort, even though it may be difficult, to get to know your students, their background, and their future goals a teacher can not know the best way to prepare the students to fulfill their goals and reach their potential. A passion and devotion to students, curriculum, and self is also needed to be a good teacher and produce good teaching. Teaching is a day by day battle that does not pass quietly. It takes effort to prepare a classroom and learning environment for students, and more energy to motivate and teach students. Knowing oneself and values and placing that on the table with the education also for a deeper connection with students and a greater chance to reach them.