The "First" Thanksgiving

This article was in my town’s newspaper. It was about the Deerfield Pre-school, where I attended school. The pictures are of the students re-enacting the first Thanksgiving. The funny thing is that this is exactly what we talked about in class, two weeks ago, about how the first thanksgiving is not told correctly. I find it so shocking that this is a tradition at the pre-school, one which I participated in when I was a preschooler, which is not true at all. This is another part of history that is taught wrong to students. I was just wondering if anyone else participated in an event such as this, or remember learning information that we now know to be false

Single-sex Classrooms

Rules ease restrictions on single-sex schools
Bush administration describes them as tools; critics see segregation

Single-sex classroomsOct. 25: In schools that have divided classes based on gender, grades shot up, and disciplinary problems fell. It was enough evidence to make the Education Department approve divided classrooms, even whole schools, in the public system nationwide. NBC's Martin Savidge reports.


WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is giving public schools wider latitude to teach boys and girls separately in what is considered the biggest change to coed classrooms in more than three decades.

After a two-year wait, the Education Department issued final rules Tuesday detailing how it will enforce the Title IX landmark anti-discrimination law. Under the change taking effect Nov. 24, local school leaders will have discretion to create same-sex classes for subjects such as math, a grade level or even an entire school.

“Some students may learn better in single-sex education environments,” said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. “These final regulations permit communities to establish single-sex schools and classes as another means of meeting the needs of students.”

Here is the link to read the rest of the article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15400717/from/ET/

This article really threw me for a loop. I could not imagine teaching to a single-sex class. I feel like it is not an accurate representation of society. I am interested to know what your thoughts are-let me know!

How could single-sex classrooms affect education? Pros? Cons? What is your opinion? How would this change the future of education or society? Is this really 'meeting the needs' of students?

Great new resource for teachers

The above photo, taken in 1942, shows a Japanese American man and his grandsons waiting to be evacuated during a forced removal to an internment camp during World War II.

This photograph is one of 2 million from the archives of Life magazine that are now available online via a partnership between Life and Google (here is a link.) There are lots of amazing photos, taken from the 1860s through the 1970s, and most are large, high-quality scans which could be used as full-screen shots in a PowerPoint slide show. It's a good site to bookmark for future use.

Are you smarter than....an elected official?

This from the blog, The Daily Kos:

"US elected officials scored abysmally on a test measuring their civic knowledge, with an average grade of just 44 percent, the group that organized the exam said Thursday.

Ordinary citizens did not fare much better, scoring just 49 percent correct on the 33 exam questions compiled by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute (ISI)."

You can find the quiz here. I scored an 82% -- 27 out of 33. Doesn't seem that good for a social studies teacher, but according to the test-makers the average for all college instructors is just over 55%. The test itself seems too heavily weighted on economics questions to me, but it's still worth taking, I think. See how you do. If you beat me you automatically get an A in the class.

Just kidding. But you do get bragging rights.

Community/Public Service

So as I was looking for an interesting article to post, I found a list of public service needs in our school district's communities. The list is from The Daily Herald- http://www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=251369&src=107. Some of the items on the list include blood drives, book drives, committe members, volunteers for different events, etc.

I think that as community members we need to try to take care of each other. I know that we all experience tough times, but I strongly support helping others if at all possible. Even giving a small amount of time, some old clothing, or a small donation, can help someone in need.

I was wondering what you thought about promoting community service in your classrooms. Do you think it is worthwhile? Easy? Necessary? In my opinion, I think that as teachers we can promote small projects like a food drive or sending letters home to bring mittens, coats, hats, etc. to school to donate. I feel that if students are immersed in this at an early age, they will be more likely to carry it through their lives. Let me know what you think!

Back to reality?

This photo shows a charred cross that was burned on the lawn of a couple in Hardwick Township, N.J.. The couple had placed a banner congratulating President-elect Barack Obama on his election victory in their yard and found the banner wrapped around the charred cross on Nov. 6.

Incidents like this are a reminder that, even though the election of Barack Obama was a historic, landmark event, racial prejudice and racism are still part of the American landscape. In fact, according to this article, race-related bias crimes have been on the increase since Obama's election November 4.

Where do you see our country in terms of race relations? How far have we come? And what can we do as teachers to teach against racism?

Reactions Around the World

When I received Greg's email with the link in it to the Huffington Post's slideshow that showed reactions around the world, I immediately went to the website. When I was looking through the pictures, I found myself grinning at my computer screen. The images in that slide show were nothing short of amazing. I couldn't help but think of the hole we have been digging ourselves the past 8 years not only in our own country, but around the world. I agree with what was mentioned in class, that one man cannot be our savior, but it feels nice to once again have that feeling that there is hope, light at the end. I also couldn't help but notice the sense of unity that I was feeling when looking at those pictures. There were people of all different backgrounds, beliefs, religions, etc, that were all excited to see a new leader in our country. There were two pictures that really stuck out to me, the one with the children in Indonesia and the one from Philadelphia, PA. The one with the child holding up the picture of Barack really made me think of how other countries must have viewed the US. If children that would not even be old enough to vote in the election are that elated that we have a new leader, he must really stand for something. I was awestruck by the picture from PA. There is such a great range of emotions in that picture. People are dancing, hugging, and crying, but no matter what they are doing, they are happy. I can only imagine the feeling in Grant Park that night, if I was moved by just looking at pictures. Obama now has some big shoes to fill, a lot of people have very high expectations of him.
Did you have any reactions to the slideshow? How are you feeling about the recent election?

A Whole New World

Now that we have been in our middle school placements for a while I wanted to hit on something that I find shocking to me every day I walk into my school, the involvement of gangs. Within two days of being in my school, I found that gang presence was something everyone was looking out for and was brought up nearly everyday. Whether a student was wearing a certain combination of colors, drawing certain figures, wearing their clothes in a certain way (one sleeve up and one down, one pant leg up and one down, rubber bands on clothing, ect.) the school dean or police officer is informed. Growing up in the area my whole life, I never was aware that this part of town had gangs or the extent to which there are. My mentor teacher informed me that their first staff meeting at the beginning of the year dealt with gangs education to make teachers aware of what to look out for. For me this is a whole new world and only about 7 miles away from my home. It is a new concept for me that my students who seem so innocent and bright can either be invovled in or have to worry about gangs. Knowing this makes me want to become more informed an as a teacher always be aware of and understanding that I can never truly know what my students have to go home to.

I tried to look a little further into gang involvment in middle schools and found a PDF that discusses why children join gangs, what it means to be in a gang, certain well known gangs and their signs, and how to determin what students may be headed in the wrong directing and how to redirect them.

http://www.merrillville.in.gov/applications/DocumentLibraryManager/upload/Gang_information.pdf

"The Truth About the First Thanksgiving"

After reading "The Truth About the First Thanksgiving" article, I was completely shocked. I did not know that this celebration only dates back to 1863. That date is not even close to 1620. "The Pilgrims had nothing to do with it; not until the 1890s did they get included in the tradition." I was also shocked about the plague and the grave robbing. I did not learn any of this in my classrooms.

Was there anything in the article that struck you? Do you think you will use this article in your future classrooms?

A broader, bolder approach to education reform

Well, we have a new President, and if Barack Obama follows through on his campaign rhetoric, that's going to mean a change in direction for education policy. So which way should we go? One proposal that's been put forward by a group of educators is called the Broader, Bolder Approach, and its authors insist that, if we really want to close achievement gaps, we can't only look inside schools at things like teacher quality and curriculum. Those things are important, they say, but to really bring about changes inside schools, we have to think in terms of the bigger picture, and look at how what's happening outside schools impacts what goes on inside them.

Take a look at their position statement and see what you think.

How did it feel to be there?

Kelly asked how it felt to be at the Obama rally Tuesday night in Grant Park. It's hard to describe, but it was more powerful and emotional than I even expected. The moment that it came up on the Jumbotron that CNN was projecting that Obama would be elected President, the emotions just poured out. It's a moment I'll never forget. Here's some video of the moment -- not shot be me, but by someone else in Grant Park that night, and it definitely gives the flavor of what it was like:

Sarah Palin: Africa is a country after all

UPDATE: It now appears that this story may have been a hoax, though the final verdict isn't in yet as far as I can tell. I'll leave it up for the time being, but if it turns out to be fake, I apologize for falling for it.

Thought you might find this story from The Huffington Post interesting in light of one of the topics from our last class:

Now that the 2008 election is over, reporters are spilling all the juciest, and previously off the record, gossip from the campaign trail....perhaps one of the most astounding and previously unknown tidbits about Sarah Palin has to do with her already dubious grasp of geography. According to Fox News Chief Political Correspondent Carl Cameron, there was great concern within the McCain campaign that Palin lacked "a degree of knowledgability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, a heartbeat away from the presidency," in part because she didn't know which countries were in NAFTA, and she "didn't understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series, a country just in itself."

Live from Grant Park

Hi everybody. I'm at the Obama rally in Grant Park about 100 yards from the stage. Just wanted to say hello.