Module 6

This is directed in general, but with wording it could go to Obama himself...

No Child Left Behind?
Have you ever wondered if we are going about education in the wrong ways? I have, and I have come to the conclusion that No Child Left Behind is a joke, at best. With this method a label is put on a student early on, either they help the school, could help the school, or hurt the school.
If a child passes there standardized tests then they are not worried about. No attention is given to them, they go through there school years undetected. If a child scores low, but has the possibility of improving enough to pass they are the one’s the school concentrates on. If a child scores low enough they are given the title ‘failure’. These students are the one’s who are hurt the most. Drop out rates are higher than ever, do you really wonder why?
When a child is placed at the low end of the scale and classified as a failure, what are they to do? The resources available for No Child Left Behind are for those that could pass, not those that wont pass.
What does the testing do for us? What does it tell us? That Bobby can pass his EOC, his science, his reading, his math? That he will succeed in the world because he can do this? Bobby is our future, but what about Grant? Grant didn’t pass his tests, in fact he probably never will, he doesn’t find a passion in the classroom. Outside of the classroom he has taught his dog how to sit, bow, stand, speak and a hundred other tricks, if you name it he can teach it. But Grant will never succeed in life, he will drop out because he ‘can’t’ he can’t pass the tests he can’t bring his grades up, he can’t understand why the school system failed him.
Why wont it fail? It’s doomed to. What happened to preparing our youth for the future? I’m so glad to know that our future can bubble in A, B, C or D on a form. This lets me sleep well at night. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs that do not require any math skills, or even reading skills, especially the type of reading and math taught in the classroom.
We do not need high stake tests to figure out who a student is as an individual, what do we need? We need qualified teachers with high morals and understanding, individuals ready and willing to help students be the best they can. From encouraging a dog trainer to the next rocket scientist, it doesn’t matter. A test should not determine who you are.
We are programming our young students to be robots, to obey and test test test. We should be programming them to ask questions, seek answers, be themselves. Strive to be the best they can, no matter what it is. Student’s need to think outside the bubbles! Think for themselves!
Some, like President Obama, says that the funding for the schools have gone to the wrong places. He says the way the schools are assessed is not fair, I think assessing the schools is not fair! He say’s that we need to look at the student as an individual (and I agree with this statement!), but he goes on to say that the student needs to be looked at as an individual to reach the goals that No Child Left Behind places on them. The goals that No Child Left Behind places are useless, and if the goal of No Child Left Behind is reached by 2014 it will be because that many students have dropped out and given up. Obama believes that every child can reach the goals, I don’t think this is practical. Some can’t, and that should be ok. There are other places in this world they can excel.
No child left behind? Lovely words with empty meaning. If we could strive to reach the true meaning of the words, to understand that not every student will do well at testing, to understand that some are happy not being doctors or lawyers or working at businesses… then, and only then will we be reaching for a No Child Left Behind goal.

Module 5

(This is hypothetical, I thought this would be an interesting way to respond!)

While teaching my fourth grade class I overhead one of the white males call a black student a ‘nigger’. I was horrified and shocked. I quickly explained to the class (who all had heard it) that this word is not appropriate to use, ever. I explained to them that it was used in a very degrading way during the times of slavery, and that the word is putting down a whole race of peoples. The boy chimed in and said, “Well, my father says it all the time!”

I told him that sometimes we have to be better than our parents, and rise above the past. I created a lesson plan for the next day and taught on slavery and racism. I tried to explain cultural diversity, and that we needed to be accepting of everyone because they had the same feelings as we did. I spent the day answering questions and reading short essays and stories wrote about slavery. I asked the students to write a short paragraph on why the word should not be used, and asked them if they had any more questions they didn’t want to ask they should see me after class.

I was happy to hear the white boy apologize for his wording.


Suppose the parents ‘just don’t care’. That’s the situation I would be most uncomfortable in. They were born in the slums, and that’s were they believe they will stay. (I remember a child like this in High School – which is why I’ve, chose it.) There child is going to school only because they ‘got to’. I remember the teacher, a friend of mine and a friend still, had a hard time trying to convince the student that he did in fact need to be in school. And that he could be better than his parents. It was a sad situation, what do you do when you are faced with it? He had been brought up his whole life thinking that all he will be is nothing. She tried to talk with the parents, with him; with other teachers… they did the best they could. Like them, I would offer extra help, get him counseling if he was willing… just try to get his mind set changed that he could do it. Show stories where others like him succeeded, show him it’s possible. I would be there for him to make it possible – do whatever it takes.

Module 4

I think that in my younger years I did not see the Goals for Schools being met. Not at all. I think that it was a get in, get out, and teach what we have to kind of a deal. There was no diversity in the school really, just whites and a few African Americas. Through middle school I remember it changing. The goals were not met enough, but we had more ‘opportunities’. I remember going places, having fun days where we would learn about different cultures. One day we brought in dishes that would be similar to what the pilgrims ate, then the next what the Indians would eat. In Spanish we always learned about that culture. It wasn’t where the learning should have been, but it was defiantly better.

I think that there are various schools for various children. Not everyone is the same, so there has to be accommodations made. All serve a purpose, to some extent. My brother has dyslexia, and went to a private school early on. He didn’t do well. He hated to go to school, and it got to the point where he had therapy. Then finally, my mother couldn’t take the 2-3 hours it took to literally drag him into the classroom, and decided to try homeschooling. That didn’t work either. He never graduated high school, never even attended high school. He is about to turn 18 at the end of this month. Obviously what was done for him didn’t work, and what he did for himself didn’t work.

When I am a teacher I will try to abide by the Goals for Schools, without making the children zombies. After watching that first video, it really was haunting to think how true that might be. Children need to be prepared to learn, expand, grow, think, etc on their own.