Cheating on Exams

According to the article, "Survey Finds Growing Deceit Among Teens" (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/30/AR2008113001906.html) by the Washington Post, 64% of U.S. high school students have cheated on tests. The article also mentions that it is highly doubtful that students are any less honourable than in the past, but that, instead, todays standards are just too high and strenuous, to which I agree completely. The bar just continues to be set higher and higher causing more and more students to panic and involve themselves in unethical practices like cheating.

Going off to College

This New York Times article talks about American students are deciding to go overseas a lot  for colleges.  This is due to the increase in recruiters for foreign universities within the United States.  This increase is not subtle in anyway shape or form.  St. Andrews University says that to date 1,230 out of about 7,000 students enrolled are American.  10 years ago there were only 200 American Students enrolled.  Recruitment is up because Americans pay a lot more in tuition versus native students.  It is like living in Vermont or Canada and going to a SUNY school compared living in New York and going to a SUNY school.  The tuition rates are entirely different.  This is not to say that it is just about gaining more money.  American students say that they gain worldly knowledge from going overseas and to them it is worth it.  I agree but at the same time disagree.  The article mentions that there are pros and cons.  There are no alumni networks making the transition from school to work a little harder.  It is more expensive and your family is further away.  I mean there are pros and cons, I all comes down to what your prerogative is.

Writing Skills Are Life Skills

I think that making writing fun for students is very important because it allows them to be creative. Giving them options for writing also allows them to have more of an open mind to what they would like to write. Parents play a big roll in how productive their children can be. Giving them the tools to succeed in becoming a better writer can assure them that they have support they need in order to accomplish many things in writing.

"The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Schools"

This article by Kathleen Kingsbury of Time Magazine speaks of how author, Stephen Covey's new book The Leader in Me is helping struggling schools become more successful as principals across the nation are applying it to their own educational settings.
The book focuses on the A.B. Combs Elementary school in Raleigh, N.C. and how the seven habits of his first book, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" became a value system in this school. These seven habits include:
1. Be proactive.
2. Begin with the end in mind.
3. First things first.
4. Think Win/Win.
5. Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.
6. Synergize.
7. Sharpen the Saw.
Test scores in reading increased from "57.4% to 89.7% after one year and math went from 77.4% to 100%". Stephen Covey states that the 7 Habits applies social skills that children need to learn in order to understand and absorb what they are learning as opposed to be taught just to perform well in testing.
I feel that the 7 Habits are those that are applicable to any subject and any type of person who is wanting to do well. The Habits Covey expresses are timeless and are not strict rules for one to follow, merely normal values that are useful in many situations, including the classroom.

Time Spent Online A Good Thing?

http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.4773437/

"Results from the most extensive U.S. study on teens and their use of digital media show that America’s youth are developing important social and technical skills online – often in ways adults do not understand or value."

I find this to be true to the extent that the generation of most of our adults were not surrounded by this digital frenzy at a young age. I didn't get my first computer until I was 14, and I see more often than not, children as young as 4-5 years old using computers for educational games and activities. It is true, teens spend a great deal of time socializing via the Internet, but there needs to be a balance between interacting digitally and personally. If teens spend more time IMing than having personal contact, it depletes their understanding of speech and the physical gestures associated with it. Feelings and emotions are harder to portray through an e-mail than through a hand written letter, as well as having a simple IM conversation that doesn't employ natural sights, sounds associated with physical contact. I've had one too many IM conversations be misconstrued. However, it doesn't mean I wish to completely rule out this theory of teens using the Internet for supplementary purposes. I do believe it adds to their social networking skills and helps them to explore another world at the click of their mouse. But most of us have seen both sides to this coin and the dangers that the Internet presents. I feel that most everything can be done in moderation and with careful consideration...

Charter Schools out doing traditional schools in poor students' success

In the state of California charter schools have shown great success teaching inner-city poor population. Ben Chavis gives surprizing statements saying that poor children are easier to teach because they have a good reason to work hard. This is a surprising viewpoint to many because most research shows and opposite feeling.
Since I am interested in working with underprivileged students in the future, I enjoyed this article. I believe that it takes a certain kind of teacher to successfully teach poor or underprivileged students; even though I do believe that all teachers should be prepared to, I don't think they always are. I believe Ben Chavis demonstrates a good attitude towards teaching as a whole. Your find students' energy and encourage them to work at something good for their lives.

Children's book remains on shelves

And Tango Makes Three, a book by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell has been getting a lot of negative attention lately. The book, written with child-oriented illustrations, tells the story of two male penguins who raise an egg together. Some parents in the Chico Unified School District found this idea offensive, and tried to get the book banned. The book ended up staying on the shelves in the library, citing that "First Amendment rights apply to children as well as adults."

The fact that this book was even brought up for discussion to a banning board is ridiculous. It just goes to show how homophobic the world truly is. There are homosexual undertones to the story, but that's not the point of the story. It's actually based on two male penguins at a zoo who were actually making a nest together and sitting on an egg-shaped rock. The zookeeper ended up putting a real egg, which the two raised together in real life. The story was written to show that a family isn't about a mom and a dad, or a dad and a dad or anything like that. It's meant to show that loving and caring and nurturing is what's important in a family. Trying to ban a children's book that teaches that lesson is a horrible idea. Leave it up to parents to monitor what their children read, but don't try to ban something that teaches children a valuable lesson