As I’ve been back in the schools lately, I’ve been thinking about my own education. Currently I am going to graduate school to get my masters in Curriculum and Instruction at The University of Denver. Last week was the programs orientation. Let’s just say I’ve never felt so intimidated. I am one of three Masters Candidates and the rest are getting their PHD’s. As a sat there I started wondering if I should become a doctor. The education has had a long run in my family. There is one principal, 5 teachers, and my grandfather was the superintendent back in Pittsburg. I know it would make him proud to follow in his footsteps. I’m still trying to decide if I can make more of a difference becoming involved in the politics of education and change the direction we are going, or if I should remain in the classroom. Just something I’m thinking about right now. I can’t imagine being Dr. Arnold.
This weekend I went to a Called to Protect Safe Environment class at a Catholic Church near my house. It was all about sexual assault. I felt like I was watching a Law and Order SVU episode. We are required to attend this if we wish to substitute in the Catholic School system. I hear they always need help. I can’t apply to any of the other districts in Denver right now because I’m still waiting on my certification. It’s been 15 weeks now that I’ve been waiting to get it. All my tests have been taken and passed, applications turned in, fingerprint cards complete but I still have to wait. Hopefully I get it before I apply for teaching positions next year!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
long time, no see
So my plan to blog while student teaching royally failed. I became way too busy and was just plain exhausted after a day at school to write about it. Hopefully I’ll do better now. Since I last wrote I finished student teaching, passed my board exams, graduated from the University of Tulsa, moved to Denver, was accepted into the masters program of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Denver, and became a substitute at Denver Public Schools. It’s been a very busy summer. I want to go ahead and start getting my masters now while I have the time and energy. I picked this masters degree because I believe every child has a right to education and we as educators need to alter the curriculum to engage every student. The problem in today’s society is that we are only teaching to the test so we can compare ourselves to other countries statistics. Well the first problem with that is that in other countries like China, not every child is given an education. Only the brightest are allowed to continue schooling. How can we compare our scores to them? We take all children from all walks of life. Don’t get me started….I’m sure I’ll have a lot more to say once I get started in my classes.
Substituting in relatively new for me but so far I am liking it. I can’t wait to have my own classroom someday. The worst part of it is the 4:45 wake up calls. When I hear that noise I never know what is happening. I’m in the Far Northeast section of Denver which is near the airport. I didn’t even know there were that many schools in that area. It’s a rougher area but I’m used to it. I love shocking all the kids when they are speaking Spanish to each other and I respond to what their saying. Yes I may be young and blonde but I DO speak Spanish kiddos!
Today while substituting we watched the Obama speech to all schools in America about Education. I don’t know what anyone’s problem was with him speaking. He said nothing about the healthcare plane, nothing political at all for that matter. All he talked about was overcoming the odds and always doing your best. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from, who your great great grandma was….you have the power to succeed if you do your best in school. Without educated your all of our jobs are going to be outsourced to smarter more literate countries. I also liked how he said that it doesn’t matter how pretty the school is, how many computers they have, if they have the best teacher in the world, if you’re not willing to work hard and do your best, we can’t help you. Finally someone was taking a tiny bit of pressure off of the teachers. The only bad part about all of this was that the third grade class today did not pay any attention at all. They were talking or sleeping through most of it. I guess when you’re that young you don’t think that any adult is actually talking to you. We’ll see if his speech made an impact on any other students.
Substituting in relatively new for me but so far I am liking it. I can’t wait to have my own classroom someday. The worst part of it is the 4:45 wake up calls. When I hear that noise I never know what is happening. I’m in the Far Northeast section of Denver which is near the airport. I didn’t even know there were that many schools in that area. It’s a rougher area but I’m used to it. I love shocking all the kids when they are speaking Spanish to each other and I respond to what their saying. Yes I may be young and blonde but I DO speak Spanish kiddos!
Today while substituting we watched the Obama speech to all schools in America about Education. I don’t know what anyone’s problem was with him speaking. He said nothing about the healthcare plane, nothing political at all for that matter. All he talked about was overcoming the odds and always doing your best. It doesn’t matter who you are, where you are from, who your great great grandma was….you have the power to succeed if you do your best in school. Without educated your all of our jobs are going to be outsourced to smarter more literate countries. I also liked how he said that it doesn’t matter how pretty the school is, how many computers they have, if they have the best teacher in the world, if you’re not willing to work hard and do your best, we can’t help you. Finally someone was taking a tiny bit of pressure off of the teachers. The only bad part about all of this was that the third grade class today did not pay any attention at all. They were talking or sleeping through most of it. I guess when you’re that young you don’t think that any adult is actually talking to you. We’ll see if his speech made an impact on any other students.
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