8/26-9/9 Jaunt
To Skip or Not to Skip?
I found this article really humorous even though it applies more to college and high school then middle school. It seems that there is now a website that calculates if a student should skip class or not. It takes into account a great deal of questions the students must answer, but some include when the next major assessment is, the students' grade, and how many days they have skipped so far this year. There has been controversy for both love and hate the website in the collegiate world. Some people think it will help show students that they do need to attend class, but others see it as a reason to not attend. I agree with the pro-website side. Students need to see that attending class is necessary to their success in school. If they skip, then they will learn to attend next time they use the website!
Missouri schools take on cyber bullying with new law
I found it really interesting that a school system is taking on cyber bullying. I know that my school has had some trouble with cyber bullying, but we were always told that if it happens at home, we can do nothing. Sadly, that does not always help the student if the people they respect stand by and do nothing! It is about time that schools change with the times and realize that the internet plays a huge role in students lives for both the positive and negative!
Does technology help students' social skills or hurt them?
This was a poll that came up and I got sucked into reading the comments people left. Some people believe that technology does help students' to connect more with both their friends and families with websites like Facebook and Twitter, which makes them more social. Some people said that it hurts them because they only know how to communicate through other means instead being able to hold a face-to-face conversation. I feel like technology is helping those extremely shy people (me) have a social life that does not involve the embarrassments of stumbling over your words. Typing your thoughts makes you think more on the spot conversations that can lead to disasters. I can have a face-to-face conversation (I am a teacher!), but I am better at communicating with my friends and family through technology. Technology has brought me out of my shell!
9/10-9/23 Jaunt
Learning by playing: Video games in the classroom
This is a very lengthy article, so I only liked to the shortened version (originally 9 pages), but you can locate the full length article at the bottom of the page. The article discusses the Quest to Learn school in New York and how their pedagogy is based on video games. The school is run by a non-educator who supposedly is the master at Guitar Hero. The author of the article depicts an engaged classroom where the students are involved and devoted to school. I am not sure how I feel about this yet, but it is at least worth reading about. It makes you think about how schools and teachers feel about video games, be they positive or negative feeling.
School children face GCSE sex test...at the age of 11
The title is so shocking, I could not, not read this article when it appeared on my google reader! Having students (possibly as young as 11) study and pass a test on how to properly use condom and to identify sex organs took me back a little. I was so engrossed in reading the article, it was not until the end of it that I actually started thinking about what they were saying. It does make sense that our students are becoming sexually active at a younger age, so why shouldn't they learn important facts most parents do discuss with their children now instead of after they have a STD or pregnant? Read it and decide on your opinion, because this is very controversial and I do not think I can make a good decision until I do some more research.
9/24-10/7 Jaunt
For the youth raised on the web, bullying carries new dangers
This article grabbed my attention, because I am noticing more and more the drama created by students through the Internet. I know I have posted an article about bullying before, but it is very close to my heart. Even when the students leave the building, it does not mean that their lives are easy to deal with. This incident occured with a college student, but kids are starting to bullying one another at young ages. Teachers and parents need to be aware of these problems and try to help with children understand the ramifications. What you think is fun and games, might be the worst thing possible for another person.
Truancy board aims to keep kids in school, out of court
Since I had a student last year who was truant thoughout most of the year, I wanted to see what this article was about. I found it very interesting and very different from the process I went through last year. My Truant Boy, as I refer to him, missed over 20 days of school before we got any to help us (us as in the teachers). He had a SST (student support team), but it did nothing to improve his attendance. The only reason we found out he was truant and not sick was because his mother called one day asking if he was in school. It seems Truant Boy was bullying his mother at home to cover for him. We had to get the school social worker and police officer involved, because mom was scared of her son and there was not a dad in the picture. I think that if the laws mentioned in the article were put in place in Georgia, we might have had a different outcome. I still wonder if is coming to school this year or is repeating the pattern.
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