Parent Involvement

I believe that the younger the child is the more likely the parent is to be involved in their education. I know a lot of parents do not know and/or care whats going on with their children at the high school where I work. This is rather sad because these students need attention more than ever at this age. They then seek this much wanted attention through alternative methods such as drugs/alchohol, etc. Having a parent thatwants to be onvolved in their child's education is most definetely a positive thing. These kids need to be held accountable for their work, so have parents make them get their homework done before they can go play is a good thing to do. That is just one thing a parent can do for their childs educational well being. When it comes to school learning, I believe that if you meet the parents of these students, then you can get some much needed advice in how their child learns. This could save a lot of guess work for a teacher because it will create a good picture of where you can begin with a particular student. I know a lot more parents show up at elementary parent/teacher nights than at the high school level. I wonder if parents do not want to have to bother with their older childs education as much, I really do not know.

Educational Alternatives

The best practice that I can see for closing the achievement gap would have to be increasing funding for economically disadvantaged or limited English proficiency students. I chose this practice mainly because if you can not read what you are looking at, how can you even begin to learn. I have wintessed this first hand at my job as a para at a local high school. I help a lot of hispanic students take tests and the level of reading they have is very poor a lot of the time. I have to read a lot of the test questions to these students because they have not learned to read english very well. We only have one ESL teacher at our high school, which is kind of sad considering that 1/3 of Vally High School is hispanic. These students come from low-income homes and their parents most likely know very little English as well. By increasing the funding for new and inproved ESL-type programs, we could start to close this literacy gap.

Great Classroom Management

I would consider myself to have a foundation of basic Christian beliefs. These have helped me avoid a lot of hassle growing up I think. When it comes to being with students in a learning environment, having a genuine respect for each student and their background will help a lot. If a situation arises that might require some level of dicipline, I would just remind the child that he/she would not want this for themselves. I believe that remaining consistent will help big time because if you do not follow through on what you say you are going to do, that could possibly give a student a foothold for future incidents to occur. Also, if you have a serious desire and love as a role model, these qualities will come through and the students will definetely pick up on it. You do not need to try to "convert" students to your belief system, just be sure to maintain a level of respect that definetely create a much more positive learning environment.

Standards-Based Education and Assessment

One type of assessment that I remember very well was when I took the English and Math placement tests at Aims so I could enroll in classes here. I had not taken the ACT nor the SAT test in high school. The questions on the test started out being rather easy, and got harder and harder as the test went on. I felt that a lot of the questions tested your ability to remember what you have memorized in years past. I did not have to turn in any work because all the questions were multiple choice. The reading portion did test your ability to read on a upper elementary to middle school level, so I guess that was used to see if you read the text books that you would buy later on. So in asnwering the question of whether or not it really tested what I knew how to do, I really do not think so.

A Teacher's Responsibility

I think that if you are going to teach, especially in a large ethnically diverse setting, having some basic knowledge about a culture will give you a big leg up. When you show the students you respect their culture and way of life, it will make it a lot easier to bridge that gap. The teaching profession is a life long learning journey in which getting familiar with other cultures should definetly be a part of. Teaching overseas is something I could possibly be looking forward to do after graduation, so I will definetly have the responsibility to familiarize myself with the culture of the country I go to. Peoples beliefs and way of life differ throughout the world, so you can not approach any teaching situation the same as the one before. By being around different cultures, it will create a more rounded individual as well.

Reaching Out

When trying to reach out and teach students who might be in poverty or considered high risk, patience is the number one thing that will help. This will help break down some barriers that have been created by these kids back backgrounds and/or upbringing. These types of kids really want someone to listen to them because they are so used to being put down all the time. One thing that won't help is when you try to repramand them without any reason to why you are doing it. This can cause the situation to get tense and so this approach does not really work that well. After working with kids who are at risk and have behavioral problems, I have noticed the best thing to do to help them learn is explaining things very simply. The last thing you want to do though is belittle them by reminding them that they are indeed students who do need an extra hand in their learning experience.

Student Voice

The student's role in their own education is important up to a point. Student council and similar organizations at the high school level are very good outlets for this. It is here that kids get to vote for class presidents, and so on. This can provide real world experience for them. Hearing from the students directly can help some teachers to tailor their lesson plans. This would definetly be for the classes that are considered "boring" for a typical student.
With all the new technology these days, children need more visual stimulation at all grade levels to maintain their attention. Having students involved in areas of their education can also teach them valuble leadership skills for the future. As long as students don't dictate every area of their education, I don't see why having them involved somewhere in their school will be a bad thing. This input that they can give will be valuble because it will help teachers and administration to reach a ever changing group of young people.