Upsetting Observation…

Just wanted to share a quick little note from a recent tour Erin and I received of Jamesville-Dewitt High School.  We were given the tour by our EDU 671 professor who also is the principal of JD HS, Paul Gasparini (really super guy, btw) and along the way we happened to stop into one of the classrooms so Paul could show us the types of updated technology used in each classroom by his teachers.  One particular classroom that we stopped in was an English 10 &11th grade room, and sure enough the technology was great, the room was updated, and it looked really efficient except for one thing… THERE WERE NO BOOKS!?! Erin and I both kind of gave each other “the look” and later recounted how astounded we were to realize that we were standing in a HS English classroom that did not have a classroom library of any sort! We both made a note that we would have to tattle to the YA lit class about this situation because it was so absurd!

So that is our tattle … for the bookless teacher in the random English classroom at J-D… umm WHAT?!

~Kari

How do we help?

Hi All,I wanted to share an interesting experience from substituting teaching. The school I went to has an extra period at the end of their day commonly called simply 9th period. It gives struggling students time to work on homework or get extra help. Good in theory? 9th period has a stigma associated with it, because those who are required to stay are students who are failing one or more classes. It makes it makes it public that the kids are struggling, and i noticed some defensiveness amongst the students thoughout the day. Some of the teachers said that the system needs to be modified.When I went to 9th period, I noticed a general reluctance to do any work. One of the uplifting things I noticed, though, were that some of the students who actually DID do ANYTHING were reading. I made it a point to talk to reach student who was reading. They told me about their books, and for the most part they had positive things to say. Why? Because they were able to choose the books themselves- the books were not part of a whole-class method. I applaud their English teacher.This program seems to be attempting a pro-active approach to helping kids, but some changes could be made. I guess I was just wondering if anyone else has seen this kind of program. Is reaction to it the same across the board? Has anyone seen anything similar or different?Thoughts?Allison