Obama Meme

Two Termz

 President Obama two terms!!

Oregon Shooting

Oregon mall shooting. CNN states that Jacob Tyler Roberts, the shooter, had no more hope in life. He was suicidal. Here's the article.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/12/us/oregon-mall-gunman-profile/index.html?hpt=us_c1

North Korea's Rocket Launch

Although North Korea insists that its rocket launch was simply for weather purposes, the rest of the world remains skeptical about their intentions. North Korea is a clear enemy of the United States and its allies. The U.N. seeks to place further sanctions on North Korea. Despite all this, China continues to support them. Here is an article about their most recent rocket launch.

http://news.yahoo.com/north-korea-next-step-nuclear-test-041048723.html

Hear it from a Teacher-Education

I found this article about a teacher's position on the No Child Left Behind law. He makes an interesting point.

 

 

 

When teachers I work with complain about how awful the American education system is, how it's spiraling out of control, and how students aren't learning anything these days due to NCLB, I remind them that education has come a long way since the days of cave men. Humanity has learned to read, write, and count into the millions--the billions, and beyond. We're improving all the time.

I do think, however, that since the passage of NCLB, the quality of education has been slowly taking a downward turn. Creative teachers are leaving public schools, because NCLB restricts creativity (in both teachers and students). Our art programs, music, and even trade-related courses like wood-shop classes have been slowly disappearing from the curriculum, because creativity cannot be tested in a multiple-choice venue. Rote memorization is what schools are focused on, because that's exactly what IS tested on the state-mandated tests. All extra funding is funnelled into math, English (esp. grammar), and reading.

Until this year, I've always taught my middle schoolers how to write poems. This year however, I was told to cut poetry writing from the program. Our test scores increased significantly, but our creative thinking skills did not. What else did I cut? Story-writing, letter-writing, and creative journals. The principal is pleased as punch, because all of the kids know what a dangling modifier is. Or at least, they did when they took the test. But how useful is that in life? Not very. I can't remember the last time someone in the real world even said the words "dangling modifier" to me. It's pretty pointless stuff. For some reason, though, it's on the test. Somebody at the state department of education thinks dangling modifiers are more important than learning how to address an envelope.

Go figure.

If we keep going like this, allowing NCLB to dictate what we teach without giving teachers and students anything to motivate creativity, we may just go back to dragging our knuckles and living in caves. But at least we'll all know what a dangling modifier is.

Source(s):

I've taught in public schools for 17 years. I also maintain an educational blog. To find my blog's URL, please click on my avatar and read up on my personal info. Thanks.

Does Education Work in America?

The American education system is often criticized, because American children have the tendency to score lower on tests than many other nations. Currently, The United States is ranked 31st in education. Sounds bad right? In addition to this, some  critics say that America is losing it's global innovation status. But is this really true? I mean, the United States is home to huge international companies such as Facebook, Google (Android), Apple, Microsoft, and many more. Everyone around the world uses these companies' products. All these companies have really kick started during the past ten years. I don't see other nations with this many cutting edge technological firms. We may not be book smart, but at least we know how to innovate.

"How Do We Improve Public Schools?." The Moderate Voice. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Nov. 2012. 
Desk, News. "Education Olympics: How Does the U.S. Rank?" PBS. PBS, 13 Aug. 2012. Web. 07 Nov. 2012.

Spain's Recession

It appears that the U.S. is much better off economically than Spain. The Spaniards are currently facing off the chart unemployment rates that have led to huge riots and social unrest. Hey, at least the United States appears to be slowly recovering.  Check out the article:

http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/02/business/spain-sovereign-bailout/index.html?hpt=ibu_c1