Letter to the Editor

I believe that Response to Intervention (RTI) is a great idea for deciding who gets into special education. The problem is veteran teachers special education or otherwise have told me that it is not being used as it was meant to be. School psychologists have told me that they often encounter young special education teachers attempting to use RTI, but veteran teachers aren’t trained to put interventions in place or track the student’s progress.

RTI is meant to be a huge general education initiative, and the fact is that general education teachers are not trained in how to implement it. A lot of general educators don’t know that school psychologists, special education teachers, principal, social workers, and councilors are resources they could use to learn and help implement RTI. The idea behind RTI is that it would save money by lessoning the number of special education students being serviced. In reality RTI would cost us more money because we would be implementing something that nobody knows how to use. By simply adding classes for general education degrees and training programs for veteran teachers we could make RTI work. RTI is meant to be carried out in the general ED classroom in order to keep kids out of special education. Problem is special educators are the teachers that are being trained on the general education initiative.

If we really want to save money by keeping kids out of special education if they don’t need it, then we need to train the right people how to implement it. RTI could save money while limiting class sizes for special education. Students wouldn’t be getting services they don’t need along with the label of special ED student. Schools have the resources but don’t use them because some view change as bad. RTI would change the dynamics of the special education classroom by limiting the student put in them. That would give teachers more one on one time with students that need it. If RTI was actually used less students would get the label of special ED, and teachers would know what accommodations to give students instead of handing them off to special education. I think that if RTI does eventually become the norm for schools that education in all parties’ eyes would be made easier.

Chapter 6 Education Nation: The Youth Edge

Chapter 6 was all about how teaching methods have not kept up with technology over the years.

The five key points I found are

1.       Students as technology teachers- The idea that students help teach the teacher how to use technology that the students are familiar with.

2.       The march of the digital natives- Students are growing up with newer technology all the time. We need to embrace this and use the newer technology so the students don’t need to learn old technology.

3.       Students should have a say on what technology is being used in the classroom.

4.       Bring student hobbies into the classroom to enhance the learning.

5.       Use technology to travel to new places using video and programs like Skype.  

Studentfirsts.org

I recently visited the website Studentfirsts.org that set up to take action in many states concerning education. Some of the topics on the site that I found were saving the good teachers in schools when there are layoffs regardless of tenure. They also take about fair teacher evaluations compared to the way the system works right now where the newest teachers get the boot. The site is in support of those good teachers out there and I really like this site. Why shouldn’t the best teachers stay even if they don’t have tenure? It just doesn’t make sense to me that the new teachers who are usually the most motivated get fired before those that are sick of teaching yet they like a paycheck.

Chapter Five Education Nation

Chapter five in Education Nation is called the Co-Teaching Edge. The chapter talks about how parents are just as important as teachers in student’s lives. We need to be able to use coeducation our students in order to be successful. Brlow are the five points I found most important.

                        1.           “Teachers as prisoners of time” means the way the system is now does not    allow teachers to explore new teaching styles that may work better.

                        2.                Teachers are only one piece in a student’s education parents are another just as important piece, and the student is the third piece.

          3. “The Co-Teaching Edge is about forming closer partnerships between the adults in children’s lives: their teachers, parents, caregivers, and others in the community.”

                           

                         

          4.   The internet can bridge the gap between schools students and parents. Daily goings on in the classroom can be put on the internet so the parents can know what’s going on in class.

          5. Teachers should manage students learning rather than be the sole instructor.

Group six presentation

The topic group six covered was Governance and Finance/Regulating and Funding. The group covered how schools are funded and where the money comes from, also how a mayor can take over a school district. The pros and cons of alternative education were discussed. Like homeschooling, charter schools, Kipp schools, and voucher systems. I think the group did a great job taking a tough topic, and making it simpler.

Group 5 Presentation: The Organization of American Schools

The group went over the different types of schools what they are designed to do. The four different types of schools and their goals are listed below.

Academic-These schools help students obtain knowledge.

Social and civic- These schools help students become productive members of society.

Vocational- Helps students gain skills for entering the work force.

Personal- These schools help students in healthy open ways.

The group explained how some schools are not year round schools or schools with summer vacations. Instead some schools have an alternating schedule so breaks are more in number but less in length. We heard how some schools are open four days a week or spend less time each day in class. These schools were developed to save money. Some of these schools have fewer drop outs than other schools. I think I like the idea of having more breaks during the year and giving up summer vacation. That practice was started for rural areas where students needed to help out on the family farm during that time but that isn’t the norm anymore. Plus that lengthy break is hard for kids because they forget so much over breaks.

Waiting for Superman reflection

The film was about how are schools are failing our students are dropping out, and we are not acting on these things. Charter schools were another focus, and how every student can’t get into these schools. School lotteries were held to see which kids would get into charter schools. The odds were often stacked against the kids trying to get into the charter schools. I agree with one part of the film where someone says it’s the adults not the students that are the problem and the students are suffering because of adults poor decisions. I don’t think government or the general public wants to admit they are the problem. I think some failing schools are failing not just because of the teachers but also because of how the system works. After watching the film I really hope that one day people realize that education is more important than it is being treated now. Parents need to get involved and tax payers need to know that education deserves more money than it is getting if the county is ever going to get back on track.