Wisconsin teachers are taking a stand.

  Teachers, students, and union officials gathered  around a clock tower in a Wisconsin town one rainy tuesday afternoon. The purpose was to express some views regarding the recently proposed budget. Teachers are in fear of budget cuts stripping the security out of their job. Cuts will be felt through the whole human services field. People have had enough and are taking this matter to the streets and the court houses to get their voice heard.
   As a mentor I have people that I help become independent adults. It isn't always easy and can take quite a bit of time. Funding for events that mean the world to some of these people will be gone because of the budget cuts. Its nice to see that people care so much about this that they go out and make their voice heard come rain or shine. If you have thoughts on this please write your state representative and make your voice heard. 
   
" “Schools are falling apart,"said MoveOn.org representative Deirdre De Jardins."Universities are reducing the number of students at the same time Workers need to go back and retrain and figure how they're gonna fit into the new economy. We can't do this. The recently proposed Republican budget, if enacted, would mean firing 65,000 teachers, killing 700,000 jobs, and sending 10,000 veterans into homelessness.”"


  
   

What would I like to see in a teacher prep program?

   First would be classes for the person to gain background knowledge in the subject(s) they want to teach. This prepares future teachers for tough questions and also explores the subject you're going to teach.
   The second would be courses that open the world of diversity. As a teacher you will interact with many different people who have many different cultures, values, social norms, religion. Knowledge of these diverse topics will only help your interaction with these people who may be different from you.
   I would really like to see classes about communication that are designed for teachers to become comfortable with standing in front of a class. The class could teach people how to become a dynamic speaker and ways to get the class involved with the lesson. By giving people the chance to try standing in front of a class and direct will give them more confidence in themselves and their teaching methods.

3/15/11

   In SPED 200 today we watched a video about two schools in New York. One was an urban public school and the other was private school in a rather nice neighborhood. The urban school was struggling with a lack of funding resulting in a whole slew of problems. Finding qualified teachers that are affordable is not an easy feat so some teachers are forced to teach subjects that they haven't been trained in.
   The private school doesn't face that problem. Their funding is made possible by property taxes from a prestigious neighborhood and a tuition fee. The teachers are trained in the field they teach and are payed well.
   Leaders have debated ways to fund schools for quite some time now because of cases like this (where you have two schools in the same community and one is terribly under equipped). When things move as fast as the technology field does you need a pretty heavy check book to keep schools up-to-date with technology. So how do financially struggling schools get funding for supplies like teachers or computers?

Emersion programs in the US.

   Today in SPED 200 Mrs. Johnson showed the class a video about Spanish and Chinese emersion schools. The schools strictly teach all subjects in Spanish or Chinese. Schooling starts as early as kindergarten for some kids. The idea is that if a person is completely emerged in a language promotes healthier and quicker means of learning and understanding that language. The younger the student starts learning a second language will determine how quickly and efficiently the student retains the language.

   These schools would great paths for the way of the alternative teachers licensing. For example, an immigrant from China comes to the US, they could start teaching math or reading and spelling at a comfortable level at one of these schools.