Module 6

February 24, 2009

Dear -

My name is Amanda and I am currently a teacher in North Carolina. I have worked in Virginia for several years in a federally funded Head Start program; this is my first year as a More at Four teacher in North Carolina. From my standpoint, as an educator of at-risk preschool children, the No Child Left Behind Act is making tremendous strides toward ensuring that all children have the opportunity to start kindergarten on a level playing field. I have taught over 50 children who would not have been able to attend preschool if it were not offered to them free of charge. Nearly half of these children would have gone to kindergarten not knowing any English at all. I feel like after a year in either of these preschool programs they are off to a great start and they are ready to succeed in kindergarten.

Once children get to kindergarten and the yearly testing begins, I think there are some shortfalls to the No Child Left Behind Legislation. The testing required by this act takes time and when teachers feel pressured to perform they teach the minimum required to pass the test instead of teaching them to be problem-solvers and thinkers. Children need to learn to be analytical thinkers and learn to think outside the box. When schools fail to make adequate yearly progress (AYP) for two consecutive years they are labeled “underperforming” by the NCLB standards. These schools then receive support but are required to offer parents the option of sending their children to other “more successful” schools. When this happens, the school must pay to transport these children, which takes away from the financial assistance that could be going to hire more qualified teachers or buy new resources to help the children who did not perform well on the test. This seems to only doom the school. The students with high scores can then be removed from the school and receive the bulk of the funding. It seems to me that there should be a better solution to this. In addition, the legislation requires that all children be taught by “highly qualified teachers.” Highly qualified teachers are important, but we come with a price. While I don’t think teachers get into teaching for the money, it is necessary for teachers to make a living. Many of the schools who do not make AYP do not have the money to hire better teachers and this is unfortunate. It seems that more funding should be sent to lower performing schools in order to bring them up to the No Child Left Behind Standards.

Sincerely,

Amanda Kramer

Module 5

I work with kindergarteners in a public school and today a child called another child a “dummy head.” While this is certainly not the most offensive statement he could have said, it is not a statement that I think is acceptable. My students and I “live” across the hall from children with severe/profound disabilities. The student was frustrated with his classmate and this was his way of venting his frustration. In the future, where academics and grades are more important, it could be very upsetting for a child to be called a “dummy.” My concern, even more than what might happen in the future, was that a parent or teacher across the hall would hear the comment and not know who it was directed to. As the teacher, I viewed this as a learning opportunity and feigned offense. I was “offended” enough that I got their attention and they wanted to know what had happened. I told “David” that my feelings were very hurt by the comment because “Elijah” was my friend and I didn’t want anyone to call him a name. “David” was affected enough by my act that he came over and told me how sorry he was for saying it and that he hoped I would still like him because he didn’t mean to say it, he was “just mad.” I don’t generally make students apologize because then it’s not sincere and they’re just saying it because they have to. I told “David” that of course I still liked him and I appreciated his apology, but maybe there was someone else whose feelings were hurt. He went to “Elijah” and said he was very sorry because he didn’t think “Elijah” was a dummy head. If the situation was different and “David” had actually called one of the children across the hall a “dummy head” I would have had a more serious discussion and explained (again) that those children have different abilities than we do and different doesn’t mean bad.

Several years ago I worked in Virginia in a Head Start program. On our way to a field trip one year we passed the “Regional Correctional Center.” One of my little girls, just as happy as could be, pointed out the window and said she’d been there before. Trying to be a good preschool teacher, I asked her to repeat what she’d said, before I got worked up over a misspoken sentence. She repeated that she’d been there before. Staying calm, I asked why she had been there. She told me she’d been there on Saturday to see her dad, because he’s locked up. I listened to what she had to say about it, including all the not so nice things her mom had to say about her dad. I asked how she felt about it, if she was happy to see him, if she had missed him, etc. I listened to all she had to say and told her that I would always be here to talk to her about anything she wanted to say. I offered her the opportunity to talk to the counselor at the school and let her mom know how the visit and hurtful words about her dad had affected her daughter.

Module 4

Thinking back to elementary school, even to first and second grade, school was done sitting in a desk, reciting things. We were graded on neatness and punctuality and we said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning. Even from the beginning I think the goal was to prepare me to go to college, after I passed the standardized tests each year. I’m fine with all those things. I finished high school successfully, went on to college and finished that successfully, worked on my Masters’ Degree and then had the opportunity to teach for two years in a foreign country. I feel that the schools I went to growing up had strong beliefs and academic and social beliefs and it had a positive effect on me.

I think it would be great if every public school in America had the resources and teachers it needed to be a good school. This is not the case, and until it is I think people will always have various types of schools. In areas with good public school systems I think there are fewer children attending an alternative type of school. I don’t think that there is anything wrong with the various types of schools, except that it pulls out children who could benefit the public school.

I think to make my school effective for the students I will need to find a balance. A balance between work and play, discipline and self-regulation, and the necessity to learn and the desire to learn. There are some things that are just not fun to learn, but we have to learn them anyway. Maybe there is a fun way to do it, but maybe there is not. I think that if I can find the right balance and remember that each child is an individual and everyone doesn’t learn the same way, it will be effective.

Module 2

I feel that schooling can help or interfere with children's personal growth, depending on how schooling is presented. I do not think that a sit down and copy this method of preschool is helping personal growth, but not going to preschool at all can interfere with personal growth. I believe that schooling helps personal growth by providing an environment where children can interact with peers and age appropriate materials and activities. I also believe that if children are not given the opportunity to interact, it can interfere with the development of social skills, leading to problems later.

Like adults, children learn in many ways. There are visual learners, auditory learners, and kinesthetic learners, in children as well as adults. I believe that young children learn a lot from hands on activities, whether they grow up to be kinesthetic learners or not. I think they learn by doing, whether it works or not the first time. The more opportunities a child is presented with, in my opinion, the more he/she will learn. Children, being quite literal beings, do not have the same experiences and vocabulary that we as adults have and I think this makes auditory learning difficult at a young age. Last week I did a listening experiment with my class of 5 year olds. I asked them to tell me how to make a sandwich. I told them I was going to following their directions exactly and I could not think of anything on my own. By the time I had spread peanut butter on a closed package of bread I think the point was made. Giving oral instruction assumes that the person listening knows what it is that you’re talking about and has some general knowledge of the topic. To explain reading to a child who doesn’t know that letters make sounds is very difficult, no matter how many times you sound out ten, they won’t really get it.

I am a visual learner and once I’ve written something down, I won’t forget it. Thankfully, I can write a grocery list and remember what’s on it even if I forget to take it to the store. I’m sad to say that happens often! If I don’t write it down it’s much more likely that I will forget.

I hope that in nine years of teaching someone has learned something! Professional teaching aside, I recently taught a 13 month old to sign “thank you.” I started by using the sign for thank you whenever I said thank you or wanted him to say thank you. Next, I moved his hand to his mouth and then down, saying thank you out loud while making his hands sign it. As this progressed, I would wait a second after saying thank you, before I signed it, giving him a chance to do it. In a matter of days he was signing thank you every time the word was used in his presence. At 13 months I don’t know if he knows what thank you means, but he does seem to understand that it should come after mommy gives you food!

Module 1

Why do I want to be a teacher? Sometimes I wonder! I want to be a teacher because I want to provide children with opportunities to explore and develop a passion for learning that they will carry with them their entire lives. When children's early education experiences are positive ones I believe that they will want to go to school, they will want to learn more, and they will seek opportunities to learn new things. I like school, I like learning new things, and I attribute this to experiences I had early in my education.

I remember the names and faces of all my teachers, from Montessori preschool all the way through to Bible College and my graduate classes. I don't have any traumatic memories caused by my teachers and I don't think that I could say that I had a "worst" teacher. The worst teacher I can imagine would be one who not only did not encourage learning and creativity, but crushed it. A teacher who controlled his/her classroom by instilling fear in the students. A teacher who believed that is was his/her job to stand up and talk and my job as a student to sit down and shut up. A teacher who hated his/her job and made it known to the students that they were there because they had to be and not because they cared about the students.

Equally difficult is deciding which of my teachers was "the best." There are specific things that I remember about each of my teachers and classes and why each one was the best I could have had that year. I remember always liking my teachers and always thinking that my teacher was "the best" of all the teachers for that grade. My preschool teacher was very encouraging and always seemed convinced that I could do anything. I don't remember her ever telling me that I couldn't do something, rather I was told that if I tried, she was sure I would succeed. My ninth grade social studies teacher managed to turn American History into the most fascinating subject ever. I don't remember the tests, the homework, or the reading associated with the class; but I do remember the projects. I remember setting up an entire Lego train set in his classroom to go with my project on the Transcontinental Railroad and bringing in a huge "field of cotton" to go with my project on the cotton gin. I think that I remember these teachers because they came to class with an attitude of wanting to be there and wanting the students to get the most they could out of the class, without ever realizing what was happening! There is a place, of course, for textbook learning, tests, and homework, but I think that there is much more than that to teaching and "the best" teachers will figure out how to balance those things.