Is everyone high ???

In the recent USA today article I read,” Budget omits grants for school drug programs,” talked about how President Obama’s first budget proposes to end state grants for school drug programs that he and Vice President Biden fought for as senators. Am I the only one who thinks this is a really bad idea? How can we as educators not be worried about the loss of funding for drug programs? I really must be out of the loop if I don’t understand this?
After reading this article I had to look up some facts and this is what I came up with: In the recent poll taken by the Bureau of Justice statistics, it asked these questions and got these results:
The Monitoring the Future Study asked high school seniors, "On how many occasions, if any, have you used drugs or alcohol during the last 12 months or month?"
Reported drug and alcohol use by high school seniors,

Used within the last:

Drugs
12 months* 30 days
Alcohol
66.4% 44.4%

Marijuana
31.7 18.8

Other opiates
9.2 3.8

Stimulants
7.5 3.7

Sedatives
6.2 2.7

Tranquilizers
6.2 2.6

Cocaine
5.2 2.0

Hallucinogens
5.1 1.7

Inhalants
3.7 1.2

Steroids
1.4 1.0

Heroin
0.9 0.4

These facts are unbelievable. Alcohol and Marijuana are at all time highs. How can we afford to make our youth miss out on the facts of drugs and alcohol, and what it can do to them? The article went into depth and discussed how the funding of $472 million wasn’t enough to help the 37 million children that the funding was suppose to “make a difference for.” The bottom line is we need more money on drug prevention, and less money on automotive bail outs. Right now, a Chrysler Mini Van is much more important then your son or daughters’ health and well being.
The article then went on to discuss how In Wisconsin, 22 small school districts have pooled their money since 1989. They have created an anti-drug website and course for rural schools, trained 1,274 educators in prevention strategies and presented 814 programs for parents. These people have taken the initiative, and ran with it. They are making do, with what they’ve got. If these little schools have found a way to make it work with the money they have, why can’t all the schools? Why can’t the U.S. government find a way to budget their money, and put it towards something really important, like drug prevention.
Growing up I was lucky enough to have surrounded myself with good people who didn’t do drugs. I was fortunate enough to have a great health class that discussed the importance of drug prevention. There are millions of kids out their, that aren’t me! Some kids come from really tough home lives, and are looking for a way to escape their problems. By not putting forth a good drug avoidance program, what will happen to these children? Will they turn out ok; will they make it through without drugs messing up their lives? I hope so. You can just add this to the list of many things we need to get back to basics on. If Mr. T says drugs are bad, then we all should listen up!!!

Alonzon Mourning Dunks On Janet Reno!!!!!!!!!

In the recent article I read in USA Today, “Alonzo Mourning beats Janet Reno as school name,” it discussed what I thought was the biggest joke I’ve ever heard. I really thought this was some kind of mistake or forward someone had sent out, but it is true. A new North Miami high school will be named after former NBA basketball star Alonzo Mourning, and not the first female U.S. Attorney General, Janet Reno.

Where has this country gone? One could sit their and ask themselves this for a year, and still not get a good answer. We have become society that praises athletics more then academic achievement. We are a country that just voted in our first black president, have never had a women serve a term, and we are naming schools after famous athletes. Unbelievable! When I see this, it makes me wonder what is next in store for us, are we going to rename George Washington University maybe Allen Iverson University, or maybe we can even rename all of our Hospitals after famous baseball players like Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, and Mark McGwire. They all were helped out immensely by pharmaceuticals.

Janet Reno had her ups and downs as Attorney General; one of the downs was when she angered a large Cuban-American population for returning 6 year old Elian Gonzalez to his father in Cuba. I didn’t really care for her politics either, but the fact still remains, she was our first ever women Attorney General. Her reward for crashing down a huge barrier is a simple, oh yeah, she was that lady that Will Ferrell made fun of on Saturday Night Live. Wow, you almost have to take a step back and just go what!!

Now don’t get me wrong, Alonzo Mourning was a great basketball player, and his charitable work he has done in the communities he has lived in is huge, but that is his job. As much as we don’t want to say, “Pro athletes are role models,” they are. Their job is one that will have young kids looking up to them, so if they have to donate a couple thousand dollars out of their million dollar contracts, it should be considered the norm. How is that more deserving of a schools name, then being the first women Attorney General. That’s like saying because Bill Gates donates a lot of money we should give him a holiday rather then Martin Luther King J.R. It’s absolutely Ludicrous.

I think we need to get back to the basics in our country. Celebrate the person who is the true role model. The one who knocks down barriers and helps our country move forward, not the one that takes far more then they give. We as educators should be furious that a school board would even consider voting for this. Schools should be named after teachers and leaders of our country. It’s not right that someone who just played a game could be remembered far longer then a person that helped break down a huge wall. It shows you the type of people that are making decisions in this world.

Does anyone know what a clairnet sounds like?

OK first of I think its not that hard to figure out what a clarinet sounds like. Come on people have a little culture in your life. In the recent USA today article I just read called, "Picture is unclear on art instruction in the classroom," discussed the lack of testing and defined instruction in the world of music and art.

The article discussed how the US government gathered a group of 8Th graders, put in a CD, and asked them if they could define the instrument playing. First off, I could see how it would be very hard for any 8Th grader to tell the difference between a drum and a piano playing, if music isn't in their life. With the reduction of time allowed for the arts because of the emphasis put forth on Math, Reading, and science, its a miracle that any student knows what music is, or what paint is used for.

The bottom line with the testing and constant questioning of educators teaching their subjects, is that it is a farce. How can any teacher do a good job teaching their subject, if their time is constantly getting reduced to less and less. The USA today article talked about how many of these music students only have music two, maybe three times a week. How are students supposed to learn an adequate amount let alone remember what they have learned when you space it out, with a day in between each session. Its a sad thing to see art, music, and phys ed take a back seat to the big three.

If you are to look in any culutre that is successfull, you will find they have a rich past in the arts. We always look to Japan as being the role model for our students in education. No culture is as rich in the arts as Japan is. While looking around for examples I came across this website, that had a great article on Hanga. Hanga is the Japanese word for prints. Many of our greatest artists have learned how to make prints from the Japanese. The Japanese find a happy medium between the arts and core classes, allowing for them to use both sides of their brains.

I'm not saying the arts is what makes Japan's students #1 in the world, but it definatley doesnt hurt them. Until the US government extends class times for the arts, I don't think they will have a legitimate argument when it comes to testing students knowledge in the arts.

Are we ever going to see the stimulus?

I just finished reading the June 9, 2009 Education Week article: Dual Aims in Stimulus rise tension. This article discussed the different ways that we are possibly going to spend the aid of $100 billion in stimulus money. This is obviously a very sensative subject, with so many great answers, but which one is the right one?

I for one think there are two options for the use of the money that will get the nod from our leaders. The first option I believe is to use the money for school buildings. With the ongoing technology boom that we live in, it really seems like the only option. The money can be spent on tools such as smart boards, overhead projectors, and other technology based tools. The school option could also lead to some possible revamping of schools that are in dire need of a over haul. Our school is one that would definitely benefit from the money if it was spent that way. As with a lot of bigger schools, portables have become the name of the game. Though portables serve a quick fix, it would be nice to see the money spent on adding on to schools that maybe can’t afford it at this time.

The other option which will come to a shock to most everyone who decided to read my blog is, spending the money on teacher aids. Yeah I know I didn’t say adding it to our salary. There is a pretty good reason. I feel that teacher aids are the best kept secrets in schools across the United States. It stinks that a lot of schools are loosing the funding for aids to come into the classroom. As a teacher it is a great tool to have in your classroom. Teacher aids allow you to carry on with conversation or your lesson you maybe working on, but at the same time they help make sure that all of your students are being helped and understand what you are discussing.

As for the increase in payment, yeah I would love to make some more dough, but the bottom line is it will be a lot of talk that will lead nothing. We all would like to see higher wages for the work that we do, but the money they have in store would not be anywhere near the money they would need to increase our wages significantly.

In the USA today article “Teachers paid an average salary of $46,752, survey finds” said that even if teachers were to receive a 2.1% race it still wouldn’t keep up with inflation. What’s crazy about this article is that it is from 2005. Imagine what the rate is today. I think our dreams of big money in the teaching industry are really never going to come true, but if we have a chance at making our jobs easier and allowing our students to become the best that they can be, that all we can ever ask for.

It’s quite the pickle we have got ourselves into, and trying to find an answer seems like an uphill battle.

Powerschool or Parentschool

In the latest article I read labeled, “Web Site Lets Parents Track Data on Students” which was in the May 28, 2009 issue of the New York Times, it discussed how all schools will have an interactive student portfolio with everything from test scores, grades, and attendance rates. We currently use this at our school, its called Power School.

Aris is the name of the program that IBM came up with for the city of New York to implement in their classrooms. As with most computer products their have been some down sides to using the program that is suppose to be a power tool for parents. One of the biggest problems is the fact that sometimes the server goes down, or the program just isn’t working. This sounds very similar to the problems my school currently has with the Power School program.

Aris is said to be a revolutionary program that will find kids deficiency much sooner then tracking them in a regular grade book. Because the program is all online parents have no problem tracking their student’s attendance records. This makes for a great tool to check up on their kids and make sure they are getting to class on time, and not spending too much time just hanging out in the hallways.

After reading this article I just can’t help myself but express my frustrations with our version of the Aris software and the direction it has taken parent/teacher communication. I feel that being able to check your kids score anytime, is something that is taking away from making a child accountable. Students don’t have to worry about what is due, or when it’s due, their parents are now the ones who are accountable. It takes away the responsibility factor for a student to learn. I feel that having a interactive student portfolio is another headache for all teachers out their.

I had a student whose mom must have worked on a computer all day, because I received about 3 calls and 6 emails a week, discussing her sons grade and attendance for art class. ART CLASS!!! Could you imagine if it was a class like history, math, or science? Her son wasn’t taking any responsibility for turning in his projects on time, and seemed to just wait for his mom to call. I really think this has hurt him, as he ended up doing poorly in many of his other classes.

My ending thought on this whole idea of a voyeur life that we are all starting to become accustom to, is a dangerous thing for our youth. If we don’t need responsibility or the sense of being accountable, how can we move forward?