This week we talked about citizenship and what it means to be a good citizen. According to Brighouse a model citizen has three criteria. They will follow the law, political participation (voting), and political participation (dialogue). We got into groups to discuss if we agree with this criteria. We thought that there should be another one added. We thought that respect was another criteria to being a good citizen.
I feel that there are many things that make a good citizen. Brighouse does state some of them, and I agree with the one we added in class. A good citizen does not have to be someone who is high in power, they can be anyone.
Today in class we took part of the citizenship test. This was eye opening for me. People that want to be considered citizen of the U.S. need to know this information to pass the test. In reality there are not many current U.S. citizen that could probably pass this test. I thought that this was really interesting.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
International Students
Today we had two international students come in and talk about their school experiences where they live and their experiences at Luther.
WOW, their schools sound way more strict than the school I went to. I went to a small town school and the most discipline we had was to leave the room and sit in the office. One student was from Ghana and he talked about how strict school was. They would be beaten if they were disruptive and not listening. It shocked me to hear him say that. As a teacher you would never do that to a student here.
Both students talked about how much they had to study when they were back home. They were studying six to seven hours a day outside of school. I never had that much studying when I was in high school. They both agreed that they do not have to do as much studying here at Luther. I am doing way more studying here at Luther than I have ever done before.
It was really interesting how their school experiences compared to my experiences. We have had way different experiences but we all ended up at Luther. I think this is interesting how they were way more disciplined than I was but were are at the same place. Is all the discipline really necessary? I agree that every school needs to have discipline or it would be chaos but not to the extent of physical punishment. I just find it interesting that our different school structures have lead us to the same place.
WOW, their schools sound way more strict than the school I went to. I went to a small town school and the most discipline we had was to leave the room and sit in the office. One student was from Ghana and he talked about how strict school was. They would be beaten if they were disruptive and not listening. It shocked me to hear him say that. As a teacher you would never do that to a student here.
Both students talked about how much they had to study when they were back home. They were studying six to seven hours a day outside of school. I never had that much studying when I was in high school. They both agreed that they do not have to do as much studying here at Luther. I am doing way more studying here at Luther than I have ever done before.
It was really interesting how their school experiences compared to my experiences. We have had way different experiences but we all ended up at Luther. I think this is interesting how they were way more disciplined than I was but were are at the same place. Is all the discipline really necessary? I agree that every school needs to have discipline or it would be chaos but not to the extent of physical punishment. I just find it interesting that our different school structures have lead us to the same place.
Friday, March 5, 2010
No Child Left Behind
Today in lecture we talked about No Child Left Behind. We addressed some of the background information. I feel that this is a touchy subject to talk about. Not everyone has the same views.
The general goal of NCLB, for everyone to be proficient, is good. The way that they are going about this goal is not the best. I feel that there is too much testing taking place. I have heard teachers say that because of NCLB they are teaching to the test. They need to get the good scores or the school will be hurt. There is a lot of pressure on the teachers as well as the students. The teacher have to help students so that they do good on these tests. The students have pressure on them to perform well on the tests.
For a lot of students the pressure of taking a test makes things worse. At lot of times when a students has to take a test they know is timed they may get worked up. It is hard to concentrate when you are worried about time and finishing.
I think that we need to find another way to measure proficiency besides testing. Testing should not be the only factor in NCLB. There should be another way for students to show proficiency since not all students are great test takers.
The general goal of NCLB, for everyone to be proficient, is good. The way that they are going about this goal is not the best. I feel that there is too much testing taking place. I have heard teachers say that because of NCLB they are teaching to the test. They need to get the good scores or the school will be hurt. There is a lot of pressure on the teachers as well as the students. The teacher have to help students so that they do good on these tests. The students have pressure on them to perform well on the tests.
For a lot of students the pressure of taking a test makes things worse. At lot of times when a students has to take a test they know is timed they may get worked up. It is hard to concentrate when you are worried about time and finishing.
I think that we need to find another way to measure proficiency besides testing. Testing should not be the only factor in NCLB. There should be another way for students to show proficiency since not all students are great test takers.
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