A Positive Outlook On The Future of Teaching

Hello again! To start off one of my last blog posts, I am going to react to an article that I stumbled upon online. Throughout all of my research on teaching, this article made me walk away feeling content about the state of this profession. The article I read was titled “More People With Higher SAT Scores Are Going Into Teaching, Says Study”, and if that doesn’t get you excited then I don’t know what does.

Most of the articles that I have discussed have had somewhat of a negative connotation to them. However, this article discusses the incline of competition and ability in order to become a teacher. These changes are resulting in a higher prestige in the viewpoint of teachers, especially in the state of New York. Not only has teaching become more competitive, requiring higher SAT scores in order to obtain a teaching degree, but people in New York are viewing the profession at a higher level. This is such great progress to the teaching world because not only is there more people interested in teaching, but now there will be more educated teachers able to teach a much larger range of students in need.

This change is a strong step in the right direction for the world. Our children's/future generation’s educators becoming more educated, therefore resulting in an overall more intelligent world. Who knows what is going to come out of that. We will just have to wait and see what these future adults are going to accomplish. All thanks to their teachers helping them along the way.

-Jenna

Klein, Rebecca. "More People With Higher SAT Scores Are Going Into Teaching, Says Study." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 01 Nov. 2016.

Prompted Post #7: Abortion

To this day, political science has a variety of different definitions associated with it, it just depends on the person you ask that day. According to the Oxford Dictionary though, it’s defined as the branch of knowledge that deals with the state and systems of government; the scientific analysis of political activity and behavior. I know that’s a mouthful so we’ll just say that political science deals with the government and everything that surrounds that.

One word that can always be used to describe this field is controversial, especially when it comes to the policies of the ideological parties that run the government. There are always people that will either love or hate each issue, and one is abortion. The two stances on this issue are pro-life and pro-choice. In this blog, I will lay down the facts of each stance and explain why it’s controversial. Which side you pick is ultimately up to you.

Pro-Life

• believe that the government has an obligation to preserve all human life, regardless of intent, viability or quality-of-life concerns
• the pro-life ethic is considered to be conservative
• one quote: "even a non-viable, undeveloped human life is sacred and must be protected by the government"
• believes that all life is equal in its right to exist
• A new individual human being begins at fertilization, when the sperm and ovum meet to form a single cell

Pro-Choice

• believe that humans have unlimited autonomy with respect to their own reproductive systems, as long as they don't breach the autonomy of others
• a comprehensive pro-choice position asserts that all of the following must remain legal: celibacy/abstinence & contraception
• Federal Abortion Ban: abortion becomes illegal in the second trimester of pregnancy
• individual states have their own laws
• the pro-choice ethic is considered to be liberal
• varied views on when a fetus becomes a human life

Controversial

These two issues are completely opposite of each other, and that's where the debate comes from. People are divided when it comes to: When does a human life start? Is it right? The stance you take deals with your morals and religion could come into play too. This is a very controversial, yet personal topic but there's one point at where both sides agree with each other.

The pro-life and pro-choice movements overlap to an extent in that they share the goal of reducing the number of abortions. They differ with respect to degree and methodology. 

Conclusion

This is a very big, controversial and personal topic that people get really heated about. Whatever stance you take, it's important that you know the facts that each side has to offer so you know that in the end, you are making an informed decision.

-Riley

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Sources:

NARAL. "Anti-Choice Statements - Pro-Choice Responses :: NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin." Anti-Choice Statements - Pro-Choice Responses :: NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

National Right to Life. "When Does Life Begin? | National Right to Life." National Right to Life. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

"Political Science - Definition of Political Science in English | Oxford Dictionaries." Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford Dictionaries, n.d. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

"What Pro-Life vs. Pro-Choice Supporters Believe." About.com News & Issues. N.p., 13 Oct. 2016. Web. 30 Oct. 2016.

It's The Little Things That Matter Most

Going into eleventh grade, I had nothing to do for the summer. After months of debating, I decided to start working at Camp Ramah Day Camp in Nyack New York a year earlier than most staff. In other words, I would be one of few staff that do not live at camp because I was a year too young. I would be doing it with one of my best friends so it was a good plan knowing I would work at the camp the next summer as well to live there with my friends. After being hired, I expected to work with younger kids as I had coached the assistant director's son in a basketball mini camp for three to five year olds. A few weeks before the start of the summer, I received an interesting phone call. It was the assistant director, asking me to be a shadow for a boy with special needs. I would function as a normal councilor in the bunk however I would provide special attention to the at the time six year old Jake. After about of week of deciding what to do and talking it over with my mom, I decided to be the shadow for the boy. I had no idea that this decision would make my summer as amazing as it was.

The camp never really told me what was wrong with the boy, and I still am unsure until this day. Camp began and as the weeks went on, the other boys began to realize that he had some issues. Obviously at six years old they had no idea why he took so long to change after swim or why he walked slowly or wasn't very good at sports. However they still included him in everything they did.

The one thing that always bothered this boy was that he could never put his socks on. I would always have to do it for him and it would frustrate him to no end. Everyday we would work at it and by the end of the summer, he was able to do it by himself. At the time I had no idea what I was doing. I was just a sixteen year old boy trying to take care of kids with no prior experience, but this seemed like the normal thing to do. At the end of the summer I got a letter from the boy. In the envelope was a picture he a drawn, as well as a note from his mom. In the note she thanked me being his shadow for the summer going on about how he loved camp, the usual note from a parent. At the end of the letter she told me that the boy was now able to put his socks on by himself it had changed his life. He was so proud that he could do it by himself that he would yell at anyone for even trying to help him. This and that summer taught me that its the little things that make the big differences. I learned very quickly that not only do you impact your campers, but your campers impact you for the rest of your life.

- Eric

My Life As a Teacher

There’s no better way to see through the eyes of a professional than to immerse yourself into their job itself. This is exactly what I did my senior year of highschool. My high school gives all of their seniors an opportunity to take the last month off of school to pursue an interest in an internship or an individual project. Throughout the whole course of the year there is an extensive application process to whether or not you will be allowed to go on Senior Project. For my project, a friend and I decided to go back to where we attended kindergarten and teach under a young teacher.

We worked in the classroom every morning from 8-12. Kindergarten is only held for half days at this elementary school, so my friend Olivia and I worked with the morning class and then went back to school to go to our AP classes. In these 4 hours we spent in the classroom 5 days a week, so much occurred. For the short amount of time the students had to be there, there was a lot accomplished. Every minute of the day was meticulously calculated to satisfy their learning needs and even more importantly their needs for breaks.

Each one of the students learned at a different speed so having multiple adults in the room was very helpful and it quickened the pace of the lessons. In the short month Olivia and I spent in the classroom we made very close bonds with each of the 20 students. We did everything from help them do school work, to teach lessons, to eat snacks with them, to play tag out on the playground. When the month was over, we were extremely sad to go, but not as sad as the kids. Some of them cried but most of them just pouted.

Overall, the entire classroom experience was amazing. I learned so much from just being in a kindergarten classroom then I ever would have researching on the internet. This experience showed me that if I am interested in something then I needed to go out and pursue it. Senior Project opened my eyes to a potential future profession of mine that I still hold to a very high regard today.

-Jenna

Gay Republicans Explain Why They Are Proudly Supporting Donald Trump

After reading the title, you might think that it probably sounds like the beginning of a fake article, but I assure you it’s not. It’s just an oxymoron, according to society’s views.

We don’t usually see the words “Gay Republican” right next to each other, because liberal policy tends to be more inclusive of the LGBTQ community while conservatives have clung to traditional values. But like everything else in the world, the Republican views are evolving, slowly but surely.

During the Republican National Convention, billionaire and PayPal co-founder, Peter Thiel, became the first openly gay speaker that the convention has ever had. Thiel sums up his stance by saying, “Every American has a unique identity. I am proud to be gay. I am proud to be a Republican.” He followed that up by donating $1.25 million to Trump’s campaign.

While on the topic of the RNC, it would be crucial to also add that Trump is the first GOP presidential nominee to positively refer to the gay community in a convention acceptance speech. This fact alone earned Trump some points within this community.

You can like Trump or not, that’s up to you, but these two events that occurred at the RNC this past July, are historical. Forget for a moment the candidates, just notice that the Republican Party, is making progressive steps forward.

This article also talks about Juan Hernandez, a gay Hispanic that is pro-Trump. Based on the media outlets and the scandals in the past year, one might ask themselves how this is possible?

Hernandez goes on to explain how Trump is “the most inclusive presidential candidate that we’ve had in the Republican Party.” Even though Hernandez knows who he’s voting for, that doesn’t mean he’s safe. Hernandez is even scared to put a Trump sign in his yard. He’s cited that he’s been physically attacked for supporting Trump, and more than that, he knows of closeted Trump supporters that are just too scared of the violence to publicly acknowledge their political stance.

That last sentence was scary. Nobody should be attacked for who they believe in, it’s a free country right? Maybe that’s why we don’t hear a lot about this group in the media, not because it is a small fraction of people, but because some gay republicans are too scared to speak out in fear of retaliation of going against the standard view of an LGBTQ member.

I found this article very interesting because this group is a minority that people don’t really see and I think it’s important for them to be recognized and for people to be informed about them too. It's our right as citizens not to agree with them, or anybody else if we choose to, but everybody's opinions deserve respect.

This post was meant to shine light to a growing minority of people. I'll be the first one to admit that 5 years ago, I didn't even know that gay people could even be republican, now I know that anything is possible. For us to be better informed citizens is important, whether you're a democrat, republican, libertarian, etc., knowledge is key to acceptance and success.

-Riley

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Sources:

Chang, Juju, and Marjorie Mcafee. "Gay Republicans Explain Why They Are Proudly Supporting Donald Trump." ABC News. ABC News Network, 23 Oct. 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

"Three Latinos Arrested after Armed Stand-off with Man over Trump Yard Sign." Fox News. FOX News Network, 10 Mar. 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Wildermuth, John, and Joe Garofoli. "PayPal's Thiel's Speech Shows Major Shift in GOP on Gays." SFGate. N.p., 22 July 2016. Web. 23 Oct. 2016.

Prompted Post #5: A look into ROTC

There is no better organization related to my field than the one I am actively involved in. As I mentioned in my "Meet the team" post, I am a student cadet in the Army Reserve Officers Training Corporation (ROTC) here at Michigan State. This means that after college, I will be commissioned as an Officer into the United States Army.

Our ROTC program is known as the Spartan Battalion and we are consistently ranked among the top ten programs in the country. This is because all the cadets here are motivated and want to learn. We have physical training every Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at 05:40 as well as a class which can be taken at various times and a lab which meets every Thursday where we learn to become officers in the United States Army. From day one this program was specific about a few things, the most important one being that we represent the United States and we should act accordingly. In other words, we should be respectful, kind, and the best us we can be in order to give off a good impression. People look at us and think one of two thing, we are the Army people playing dress up, or we are in the Army, both of which are false. We are here to learn about being in the Army and to hopefully earn a spot as a second Lieutenant when we graduated as seniors.

Our main source of communication is through email or the MSU Army ROTC website (http://armyrotc.msu.edu/). We are in contact with the school by helping out at different events throughout the year such as the homecoming parade or different sporting events. Every Cadet in the program has one of two goals, to become an officer or to learn what is it like to be in the Army. However all cadets receive the same befits in that they will come out of the program with new leadership skills, life skills and overall people skills that can be used for the rest of our lives.  

- Eric

Prompted Post #6: Teaching is a B-List Job?

Hello again! In this prompted blog post I am going to respond to an article that makes a profound argument about teaching, and use what I have learned thus far to respond to it. I came upon a very interesting article online that was titled: “Why do people view teaching as a ‘B-List’ job?”. In this article, an English teacher, Ilana Garon, discusses her struggle to become a well respected teacher and how it affects her when people underestimate her job. She explains that in the early 20th century, teaching was a very well respected job for women, but now as fields have become more open to women, teaching has taken a step back.

She explains that usually when people ask her what she does for a living, they respond “but you’re smart, what do you really want to do?” and that hurts her because without ‘smart’ teachers, then there wouldn’t be smart students to later send out into the world. Teaching has a stereotype for being a un-smart job, when it reality it should be the opposite.

Typically, Education graduate schools are the easiest to get into. Garon proposes that if the graduate schools for teaching and education were more exclusive and respected, then it would attract the best teachers. I completely agree with her reasoning because from what I have observed,  many students apply to the easiest graduate schools, tending to be education, in order to get an easy acceptance to only transfer to another graduate school.

In the world's top-performing education systems such as South Korea, Singapore, and Finland, 100% of their teachers come from the top third of college graduates. Compared to in America, 23% of teachers come from the top third of college graduates. The reason behind this is because in the top education countries, their citizens view the profession of teaching as very prestigious and hold it to a high regard. Whereas in America, only 66% of teachers agreed with the statement that “I would be proud to tell people I have this job” according to the 2010 McKinsey study.

As you can see, America is one of the few countries in need of over 1 million teachers before the year 2030. This is because not many people want to step up to the plate and hold a profession looked down upon.

Everything that Garon states in her article I completely agree with. Not only is it terrible that people in America hold teaching so such a low regard, but they also don’t understand the impact the teachers have on society. If teaching is frowned upon but you want your child to have a good education, then something needs to give.  

-Jenna

Garon, Ilana. "Why Do People View Teaching as a 'B-list' Job? | Ilana Garon."The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 05 Sept. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.