Why Aren't They Bothered??

The ballots were counted and I had lost. Will I give up and let my voice be hushed? No, I will continue to care and do my best to help!

   Moving from a big city to a small town I had expected Mayberry, boy was I wrong. Most of the people were friendly. My real concerns were with the education of my 8yr. old daughter. Living 20 miles outside of town there was only one elementary school for her to attend. I enrolled her at the end of her 2^nd grade year. By the time she was starting 3^rd grade I had volunteered to collect box tops and soup labels for the school. I was curious as to why the other parents had not gotten involved in doing this for the school, their children. I had always participated and had been invited by my daughters’ last school to help out and attend functions. It was hard for me to understand why this school in desperate need of help was not asking for it? There was no parent group, PTA, social functions….I started talking to parents and members of the community. It seemed that they didn’t like it themselves but had just become accustomed to it, and patronized by the principal. Oh sure she smiled and agreed when the parents were in her face but somehow when they left, they left with no answers or problems resolved. This reminded me of reading Fahrenheit 451. That people didn’t really seem to care that their voices meant nothing. Almost as if they didn’t want to speak out due to the fact their child might be treated differently or they might be looked at as an outcast by members at the school. No one really seemed bothered by these actions.

   I started attending board meetings; which were nothing short of a 3 ring circus. How could this administrator be in charge of a budget over $800,000.00 and not have it together? Silly me, how dare I question why the invoices just get paid without being looked into! Then my ideas of course were very unwelcomed when I volunteered them. She always had a nice way of saying that the kids did not need what I was purposing to get with the money they had earned from box tops and labels collected. For a short while I had some other parents involved and going to board meetings. With the board split 3 to 2 always in her favor (did I mention that board president was her son in law?) things were never going to change. I could go on for at least 4 more paragraphs about the mistakes, corruption, and stupidity that happens on a daily basis at the school but I won’t. I will save it for my letter to the Attorney General.

                     

   You can imagine the pleasure I got when I heard that one of the 3, in the principals’ favor, was up for re-election. I thought this would be my chance to get in there and make some much needed changes. I talked to the community (in which my running mate had lived all her life). I posted signs, which were only tore down and replaced with nasty flyers titled “What you don’t know about Hilary Joyner”.  From the parents and community members I had spoken to I was thinking it could be a sure thing. Well my running mate sat in front of the polls all day, stopping people as they went in to vote, coating herself with lots of sugar I’m sure. I however had to work all day, needless to say when I arrived to vote she didn’t bother stopping me! If only my opponent had put this much effort into being on the school board, as she did into campaigning, this elementary school might be better off! It isn’t even a paid seat (or maybe that’s why she wanted it so bad). So with only 32% of the votes I will not have a seat on the board. I will however still be involved as much as I can, to ensure the education of our students there!

What Can I do?

   The ballots were counted and I had lost. Will I give up and let my voice be hushed? No, I will continue to care and do my best to help!

   Moving from a big city to a small town I had expected Mayberry, boy was I wrong. Most of the people were friendly. My real concerns were with the education of my 8yr. old daughter. Living 20 miles outside of town there was only one elementary school for her to attend. I enrolled her at the end of her 2^nd grade year. By the time she was starting 3^rd grade I had volunteered to collect box tops and soup labels for the school. I was curious as to why the other parents had not gotten involved in doing this for the school, their children. I had always participated and had been invited by my daughters’ last school to help out and attend functions. It was hard for me to understand why this school in desperate need of help was not asking for it? There was no parent group, PTA, social functions….I started talking to parents and members of the community. It seemed that they didn’t like it themselves but had just become accustomed to it and patronized by the principal. Oh sure she smiled and agreed when the parents were in her face but somehow when they left, they left with no answers or problems resolved.

   I started attending board meetings; which were nothing short of a 3 ring circus. How could this administrator be in charge of a budget over $800,000.00 and not have it together? Silly me, how dare I question why the invoices just get paid without being looked into! Then my ideas of course were very unwelcomed when I volunteered them. She always had a nice way of saying that the kids did not need what I was purposing to get with the money they had earned from box tops and labels collected. For a short while I had some other parents involved and going to board meetings. With the board split 3 to 2 always in her favor (did I mention that board president was her son in law?) things were never going to change. I could go on for at least 4 more paragraphs about the mistakes, corruption, and stupidity that happens on a daily basis at the school but I won’t. I will save it for my letter to the Attorney General.

                    

   You can imagine the pleasure I got when I heard that one of the 3, in the principals’ favor, was up for re-election. I thought this would be my chance to get in there and make some much needed changes. I talked to the community (in which my running mate had lived all her life). I posted signs, which were only tore down and replaced with nasty flyers titled “What you don’t know about Hilary Joyner”.  From the parents and community members I had spoken to I was thinking it could be a sure thing. Well my running mate sat in front of the polls all day, stopping people as they went in to vote, coating herself with lots of sugar I’m sure. I however had to work all day, needless to say when I arrived to vote she didn’t bother stopping me! If only my opponent had put this much effort into being on the school board, as she did into campaigning, this elementary school might be better off! It isn’t even a paid seat (or maybe that’s why she wanted it so bad). So with only 32% of the votes I will not have a seat on the board.I will however still be involved as much as I can, to ensure the education of our students there!

Reasoning Skills in Primary Schools….

Reasoning skills should and are being taught in primary schools. It is a fundamental part of our learning and being able to process information. If this process were only taught in college then all of the information we had previously learned throughout school would have been being looked at in a different way and we may have not picked up everything we could have with this skill.

There are four basic reasoning skills: storage skills, retrieval skills, matching skills, and executions skills. These skills teach what to do with information we retain. The storage and retrieval skills help the thinker to move information to and from long term memory. The student learns how to relate the information with something that is already in the long term memory. They will develop a visual, emotional, or auditory sense to remember that information. When I am reading with my daughter or teaching her something I try to relate it (or give examples) to something she already knows so I know she understands and it will help her to remember the information. The matching skills enable a student to determine if information is the same as what they already have stored in the long term memory. Memory is broken down into five steps: categorization, extrapolation, analogical reasoning, evaluation of logic, and evaluation of value. For a toddler to understand these words might be a lot but the concepts they should know! The teachers in primary schools should teach these skills they are useful learning/teaching tools.

Problem solving is something my 10 year old does on a daily basis with homework and class work. The teacher has taught her the steps in reasoning. I believe because of this she does not give up so easily. She will put the steps into play when figuring a problem or doing research. Learning and storing information is a process. I think that children are more likely to succeed if they know that it takes time to do the process, instead of giving up because they don’t even know where to begin the process. Algebra is a great example of critical thinking and processing information. If you don’t know the process for the algebra problem it may look like another language but if you are familiar with it then you begin to break down the information to find the solution.  Creativity and critical thinking go hand in hand with these skills and being able to process information and think properly. I found a great guide (very basic) that teachers to use with their students when teaching this process. It is a 5 step video that is the visual part of the learning and goes along with paperwork and example problems http://www.criticalthinking.org/starting/elementary.cfm . Of course reasoning is not a  core subject that is taught and students will be tested on because it is used in every subject that is taught.

Some argue that if teachers don’t know how to teach these skills they will be doing more harm then good for the students. In that case, they use the teaching resources such as the one mentioned above and learn how to teach it. I don’t think it would be acceptable for a third grader to not learn math due to the fact the teacher didn’t know how to teach it, right? In 2008 UNESCO published a study looking into the benefits of teaching reasoning skills through philosophy in primary school and concluded”[We] consider the teaching of Philosophy to be necessary and something to be reckoned with.” Also a study by Dundee University suggested that this type of teaching can raise children’s IQ by 6.5 points, as well as improve emotional intelligence. Reasoning skills arrived at through Philosophy are also a proven and cost-effective way of boosting pupil brain power and engagement across the curriculum. Philosophy is often thought of as an outlet for students’ intelligence and creativity.

 I am not saying turn our primary classes into college classes, but if we allow some open minded thinking about the way teachers are teaching  and push for them to have the students think about the way they process information it would help! I studied a very insightful theory by Dr De Bono called the 6 hats theory. Each thinking tool is a different colored hat. When I watched his lecture it was a bit more then I would show to primary school students. This idea would be great to be modified for elementary education by having 6 hats, letting students paint them and wear them while expressing that train of thinking. In the future this would help them remember these skills and refer to it throughout the years in the decision making and the thinking process.

I have always liked the fun parts of learning, and I think that this subject should be implemented. I believe you retain more if there is a sense of adventure and fun attached to the learning experience.  

TECHNOLOGICAL DATING

     From arranged marriages, to long engagements, to love before sight, technology has brought dating to a whole new level. Are we living life or living on our computers? I suppose it has happened in the past, where someone might fall in love with a rock star before even meeting them, but this was not mutual and in rare instances did they end up married. I guess you could say this happens with inmates and women as well. It appears that women love sweet words, accompanied by a few details left out!
   With all the new dating sights (hundreds, some free and some you must pay for) and tests we do not have to put much effort into finding our soul mates now; there is someone to do it for us. Now we can go on virtual dates (anywhere in the world), and video dates with our cell phones or computers. Just answer some questions and post a picture and you'll be married in no time. For those of us who do not appreciate social interaction, this would be great. For a shy guy or gal, who did not venture out much (not a drinker or didn't attend church), this could be ideal. They get to know people from the inside. It's estimated that in 2005, over $500 million dollars were spent for online dating and that number keeps rising. I guess in 20 years it will be akward for someone to go on a traditional date, everyone will be doing it online!
   So if everyone was always completely honest and there were no scammers on these sites I might even try it; Unfortunately, I think there are some. So if you do choose to try these tactics, beware. I think that you would miss out on a lot, using this kind of technology. The getting to know eachother, while actually on a date seems to be a better approach. Getting to see how this person interacts with others: Can they carry on a conversation?, Do they understand social manners?, Do they know how to match their clothes, or can they dance?I wouldnt say that this is a negative technology but for goodness sake people, get off the computer and get out there and live your life. I just think It would feel weird talking to someone for too long without actually meeting them in person. It's all basically a computerized blind date. These sites match people by race, sexual orientation, religion. love is becoming a marketplace, like it or not. So once you meet the person, are they everything you had hoped for, or are they just good at making themselves sound good?

My First Time!

Yes, it's true! I have never blogged before this is a first time, for me. I am enjoying learning about how all of this works. I doubt anyone besides my professor will have any interest in what I have to blog about. Okay... so here goes, cant wait to get started!