Although I am not completely new to the teaching profession, I often feel similar to first-year teachers since I am in my first year at KIPP Delta in Helena, Arkansas. In certain ways (easy and plentiful access to resources, myriad intelligent and hard-working colleagues, high expectations on student behavior and academic output) KIPP is very different from the school I taught at the past two years in Belzoni, Mississippi. In other respects (socioeconomic and racial demographics, general lack of student motivation, administrative acquiescence to parents) it is quite similar to my previous school. In reflecting on this first semester, three major realizations that I have encountered come to mind. I will reflect on each briefly:
1) KIPP students are no different from other students.
The students that I work with in Helena are very similar to my students from Belzoni. If often feel like Helena belongs on the other side of the Mississippi River somewhere deep in Quitman or maybe Leflore County. It would closely resemble other large Delta towns like Greenwood, Clarksdale, and Indianola. Prior to moving to Helena I thought that the students at KIPP were better off socioeconomically than average Delta kids or that they had more committed parents than normal. I found that my students have no silver spoon in their mouth and few doting soccer moms in their house. Students misbehave just as much at KIPP as they do at other public schools. What has actually been even more surprising is the heightened level to which a number of students misbehave as they seem to attempt to either get expelled or get their parents to take them out of KIPP due to our high behavioral and academic expectations.
2) KIPP entails a major commitment on the part of teachers.
The commitment that KIPP teachers make to their students begins early. In looking at my Gmail Inbox, I count over 50 emails sent between myself and KIPP administrators and fellow teachers between the first week of June when I accepted their offer of employment and the last week of July when we began our professional development/orientation. This is in addition to (at least) weekly phone call check-ins while at home in New Jersey that my school director (principal, essentially) and I had regarding my assignments. Yup, assignments. With due dates, criteria and all. On my first day of professional development I had a beautiful new cell phone waiting for me at work. This phone is with all the time and the number goes out all over to colleagues, parents, students, and anyone else who would like to contact KIPP Delta's 7th grade math teacher and debate team coach.
My work day usually begins at 5:30 and I'm usually at school sometime between 6 and 6:30 a.m. I'm rarely the first (or second or third) teacher there. Prep periods are scant and I'm one of the lucky few teachers with a morning AND afternoon one. Multiple teachers have NO PREP PERIOD. I'm also fortunate in that I only teach one core subject. Other teachers teach two (i.e. math and science or English and social studies) and some teach two strands of a core subject in the same classroom (i.e. algebra to 20 kids on the right side of a classroom and geometry to 10 kids on the left side...simultaneously). Although the regular school day ends at 4 p.m. (recently shortened from 5 p.m.) most teachers are expected to do an hour of an extracurricular activity and/or an hour of tutoring in their subject area each evening. Thus, my work day usually ends at 5 p.m. due to daily math tutoring and on Tuesdays and Thursdays it ends at 6 p.m. due to my coaching the debate team. I'm usually home about an hour after my work day ends...although I live only a few minutes' drive from my school. Saturday school occurs bi-weekly throughout most of the school year and a three-week long summer school is mandated as well.
3) KIPP is the most innovative educational environment I have ever been a part of.
If you are psycho about teaching (and yes, essentially all MTCers fit into this category...at least all of those who last a year) then you will fit right in at KIPP. Far too often I felt that I was working much harder than my colleagues at my previous school. I would literally be laughed at for grading papers (even EXAMS). I was often the first teacher there and the last to leave. Students complained that my class was harder than their others. And on and on and on.... At KIPP, more or less all teaches are crazy, hard-working beasts. Almost everyone on the faculty is 20-something or barely in their 30's and from all corners of the nation. Together we are part of an amazing educational experiment that allows us to choose our own books and curricular material, teach using innovative instructional strategies, change the schedule on a daily basis as necessary (need an extra half hour for math? Just send a text to the phone of the ELA teacher), and sometimes even kidnap kids to get them to achieve at the very highest levels possible (ask me for stories). Where else could you have a school director mandate that teachers jump on a table in the cafeteria in front of the entire student body and sing and dance on cue or enter a classroom where intense pre-algebra instruction is occurring and mandate that every student smile at him while telling the teacher to hold up the arms of students who refuse to smile so they can be tickled into submission (both have happened to me this semester)? Anything but ordinary. Simply extraordinary.The movement is moving.
Chimaobi Amutah
EDSE 647
Book Review
Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has The Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind?
by Michael Eric Dyson
Each year in cities and towns large and small throughout the United States races for municipal office seem to boil down to two dominant, pervasive, and recurrent political issues: public safety and public education. Crime and education are so important to citizens because they concern not only the voters themselves but, most often, their invaluably precious children. Whether one looks at statistics outlining arrest and incarceration rates or dropout and literacy rates, the racial group doing the worst across the board is Blacks. Myriad theories have been put forth as to why this is the case and a plethora of articles and books have been published based on formal, scientific research as well as informal observation and reflection. In the book Is Bill Cosby Right?: Or Has The Black Middle Class Lost Its Mind? by venerable Georgetown University professor of sociology and cultural commentator Michael Eric Dyson, Dyson reflects on Bill Cosby’s take on why the community that he is a part of seems to fare so poorly in this society.
The book’s antecedents lie in a highly controversial speech that Bill Cosby delivered in May 2004 after receiving an award at a commemoration event paying homage to the historic Brown v. Board Supreme Court decision of 1954. In his speech, Cosby decried the state of Black youth today who speak improper English, fervently pursue careers as athletes and rappers, and lack the basic self-discipline and motivation to make anything of themselves, their families, and their communities. Cosby’s comments sparked a firestorm of responses, most critically from other Blacks who felt as though Cosby’s age, wealth, and fame have left him out of touch with the current youth of the Black community and thus disqualifies him from making such generalized and hyper-critical statements. Michael Eric Dyson was one such critic who has made a point of combatting Cosby’s harsh rhetoric.
In his book, Dyson, in true social scientist form, makes the case that extrinsic issues are more to blame for the myriad issues facing urban Black youth of today than a lack of quality parenting as Cosby professes. Dyson points to still-present and documented institutional racism that accounts for police arresting and charging Blacks at rates much higher than other racial groups as well as prosecutors seeking trial and incarceration more often than plea bargaining and judges issuing lengthier prison stays for Blacks. Dyson places Cosby in the same tradition as other elitist Blacks throughout U.S. history who were heavily critical of Blacks who they felt embarrassed the race, particularly in front of Whites--the “Afristocrats” as Dyson cleverly deems them. He makes these points all the more personal with regards to Bill Cosby by pointing to Cosby’s own struggles as a parent such as fathering a daughter out of wedlock and having another daughter publicly struggle with overcoming a drug addiction.
This book is highly pertinent to the work that we as educators do, particularly at my current school. The KIPP network of charter schools in general and KIPP Delta in particular prides itself on working in rough inner-city and rural communities with majority-Black and Latino students from low-income backgrounds. One of the hallmarks of KIPP is discipline and the lengths to which we go to have our students speak, sit, walk, and even read with proper etiquette is amazing. Visitors to our school from local farming groups to the Governor of Arkansas remark at how amazingly well-behaved, courteous, and well-spoken our students are. This behavior seems to fly in the face of their preconceived notion that our students would be the type of students that Bill Cosby lambasted so passionately back in 2004. Our poor, Black students are expected to be loud, speak improperly, get into fights, and not have high standardized test scores. Far too often, students internalize these expectations and they morph into self-fulfilling prophecies. Thus, Dyson is correct in saying that low-quality parenting is not the predominant factor contributing to the state of Black youth today. Sadly, a lack of exposure to their own possibilities and a dearth of self-esteem are more deserve a greater share of the blame.
No, it doesn’t have to. No matter how constrained a teacher is, I’ve determined that school does not have to be a creativity killer. To apply some ancient, wise words (2 Corinthians 4:8-9): “We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; … struck down, but not destroyed.” In other words, NCLB and the obsessive, accountability-driven administrative directives it begets cannot single-handedly kill creativity in the classroom. Sure, state tests “stigmatize failure,” as Ken Robinson states. Teachers, though, do not have to stigmatize failure.
Take a measure as simple as rewarding students for non-academic feats, for instance. Awarding Student of the Month to the most spirit-lifting comedian in the classroom validates him as much as a good grade. Teacher-initiated rewards address and negate Robinson’s contention that school only the intellectual successes at school are the winners. He contends that “the whole purpose of public education …is to produce university professors. … We shouldn’t hold them up as the highest form of achievement…they live in their heads.” Nay! The purpose of school is to make something productive out of young peoples minds and hours. Sure, there are ugly class wars circling around how those minds and hours are spent. But ideally, school is for producing more productive (emotionally, spiritually, vocationally --- not merely intellectually) members of society. School is where students have training wheels for how to function as adults. It’s a mini-society. I think Robinson would be a huge fan to Rousseau’s anti-social, child-centered vision of education. Unfortunately, as pastoral and sweet as this vision is, it falls short of what humans were created for: to serve and better each other.
No, schools do not “squander” the innate creativity in children wholesale, as Robinson overconfidently asserts. Schools are the environment in which time is set aside for creativity to be required. Without the structure of school, creativity wilts. Robinson is right to point out the paradoxical nature of creativity, such as that we do not mature into creativity, but rather we outgrow it, but he misses this important paradox about it: creativity needs structure just like fire needs oxygen. Without the push and the constraint to fuel creativity, or the probing questions of the teacher, or the small encouraging remarks along the way to the final creative product, a child’s creativity will be stifled. Also, in a school functioning properly, in which reading aloud and extolling reading should be a daily activity, the imagination will find no lack.
As to Robinson’s allusion to Picasso’s quote that we grow out of creativity, neither do I fully agree with this. Older children (teens) can use colors, tweak words, arrange sounds, plan projects and papers and speak more eloquently and purposefully than their younger counterparts. Who has the authority to say that creativity with more direction and eruditeness is somehow weaker than the innocent creativity that streams from a little mind? Classifying creativity in an hierarchy (eerily akin to what NCLB test standards do—classify schools and student achievement) and judging creativity as “the production of something both original and useful” (paraphrase) is rather utilitarian itself. Robinson defines creativity to uptightly, I’m afraid.
The Tunica River Park affords a host of opportunities for people who are seeking to understand the historical importance of the Mississippi River's usage from its beginnings with the Native Americans and conquistadors up through it's present-day significance as a major channel for transporting goods and individuals through the American midwest. In an ideal world my students would be able to visit the park and take advantage of the plethora of exhibits and time periods featured at the museum. However, structuring this time to maximize my students' learning must be undertaken carefully so that my students get the full effect of the academic experience of the Tunica River Park and do not simply view the excursion as pointless field trip.
Some of the before school activities that I could have my students complete are:
1) Completing a KWL chart to document students' knowledge prior to visiting the Tunic River Park
2) Researching the history of the Mississippi River and how it has been used in the past by disparate groups
3) Visiting a local river (i.e. the Yazoo River) and having students read about its historic regional significance
Some of the activities I could have my students complete while they are at the Tunic River Park are:
1) Creating a timeline to document the settling of the area around the Mississippi River
2) Describing the work of major figures who settles or worked along the Mississippi River
3) Formulating a schedule for other groups of students to complete a walking tour of the park on their own visit
Some of the activities I could have my students complete after their visit to the Tunica River Park include:
1) Finishing their KWL chart by filling in five things they learned from their visit to the Tunica River Park
2) Developing a community service project to spread the word throughout the Delta about the river's import
3) Writing a persuasive letter to a member of Congress urging them to allot money for sharing the river's history
When teaching in the districts that MTC places us in, tangible success is often hard to come by. Failure seems to be what is constantly in our face as we think of all the things that our students are doing besides learning, all the places that our students will likely end up besides college, and all the classroom management issues we face that make us want to roll over and call out sick. Every. Single. Day. Still, it's in the little things that teachers anywhere but especially in "critical needs" districts must focus on to maintain drive and focus and continue doing what too many others have deemed highly improbable or flatly impossible for centuries: educating poor Blacks.
In many of these districts MTC teachers teach in standardized tests are seen as foreboding signs of eminent doom and embarrassment. In these places, teaching "to the test" is often resorted to as the means through which educational salvation is reached. Teaching to the test is one thing but when you're in a school environment where, from day one, what's communicated to teachers is that teaching to the test is the ONLY thing, well then you're at KIPP. On some level this is understandable as testing determines so much at charter schools like KIPP from our enrollment to our ability to woo private funders to the very renewal of our charter with the state of Arkansas. However, I cannot help but shake my philosophical belief that I have more important life skills to teach my students than finding equivalent fractions and answering multiple choice items using process of elimination.
In any event, our big state test in Arkansas is called the ACTAAP or the Benchmark Exam. KIPP Delta in Helena has some of the highest test scores in the state at the middle school and high school levels. Last year, 94% of our 7th graders at KIPP Delta scored proficient or advanced on the mathematics Benchmark Exam compared to 66% of 7th graders statewide and only 33% of students in Helena-West Helena's regular public school system. What makes this even more remarkable to many is that our school is 99% Black, 99% free/reduced lunch, and in the heart of dilapidated downtown Helena close by local housing projects, gang territory, drugs, and prostitution. Last year's 7th grade math teacher who got these results was so successful that she has been given the green light to found her own school which will be opening in Blytheville, Arkansas in the fall of 2010 as a new KIPP middle school. She's only a year older than me. The venerable 7th grade math slot was thus available when I applied to KIPP this past spring and who teaches this course with the districtwide spotlight on it now?: me. The Black, hood guy from Harvard with two years of (social studies) teaching experience who's a few credits away from a master's degree in education.
Anyway, to my success story. In preparation for the end-of-the-year Benchmark Exam we take practice Benchmark Exams every month. We chart the progress of our students and use the practice Benchmark Exams to target particular students and skills for remediation and re-teaching. Results are scrutinized for hours on end at the individual, school, and district levels. It is highly nerve-wrecking to see where your students are at month-by-month and to know that the results will be known almost immediately by your peers and superiors and reflect your quality as a teacher. Lovely. In any event, the first practice Benchmark Exam we took was in late September. We took a second one two weeks ago in late October and although the success or failure of my students on the September exam could largely be attributed to what my students came into 7th grade knowing, my school director was clear in communicating that the October exam's results would be all my own.
Much to my surprise and the surprise of many a colleague, I'm sure, not only did my students' scores increase from the first to the second practice Benchmark Exam but these were the only scores that increased in any grade level, in any subject area at the entire school. Fifth, sixth, and eighth grade math scores went down. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth grade literacy scores went down. Fifth, sixth, seventh, and eight grade reading scores went down. Fifth and seventh grade science scores went down (we don't do sixth and eighth grade science testing). ONLY 7TH GRADE MATH SCORES WENT UP!!! I was elated when I saw the numbers displayed on the dry erase board at our faculty meeting the night we stayed at school until 10 p.m. grading exams and inputting results on our district network for more scrutiny. When looking at the individual students and their performances from the first to the second practice Benchmark Exam, I also noticed that most of the students whose scores increased were taught by me and not by the more experienced and better respected 8th grade math teacher who takes 15 of my 7th graders into his algebra class each day.
That's wassup. Right?
The blog article, "High Expectations? Not so fast," from (http://garyrubinstein.teachfor.us/2009/08/30/high-expectations-not-so-fast/) argues that while its good for first year teachers to have high expectations, one must be realistic as well. Specifically, the article argues that overly high standards can actually hurt students because they will constantly fail. As a second year teacher, I agree with the post completely. Yes, it is important to have high standards (and the article does not disagree with this), but if I have a classroom of students who are supposedly ready to be in Algebra II and they cannot graph a straight line, it will do no good to teach them the quadratic formula.
Have real expectations, but don't expect to be a miracle worker. A student who cannot read should not attempt to dive into Proust, it will just humiliate and discourage them. Start with Green Eggs and Ham and work your way up. However, when you do teach Green Eggs and Ham, ensure you have high expectations of the students work based of the book.
Is Mississippi a third world nation?
The Blog post, "Is Part of the United States in the Third World," (http://mapscroll.blogspot.com/2009/05/human-development-index-by-state.html) attempts to rank US states in line with the world nations in regards to their human development index (HDI) reading. In the blog, a list is presented with rankings of nations by their HDI mixed in with nations. Mississippi is listed at 76th, below Russia and Ecuador. At first glance, this seems terrible, an American state, down below the home of Siberia and a South American non-powerhouse. However, the blog is somewhat meaningless, and this is noted in the first paragraph of the post: "The US HDI is not at all comparable to the world HDI.." What this says is that you cannot directly compare the US state HDI to other nations HDI. This make the list irrelevant.
A quick google search paints a more rosy picture for Mississippi. Ecuador, with a normalized (ppp) GDP per capita of under $8k, is much poorer than Mississippi with a GDP (non normalized) of just under $27k, over three times greater than Ecuador's, and that non adjusted. It seems silly to state that Mississippi is a third world nation. Anyone who has been to a poor area of a third world country can easily attest to the abject poverty which makes Mississippi look good. Kids go hungry in Mississippi and attend shoddy schools. In third world nations, kids worry about starvation and school is a pipe dream. By claiming that Mississippi is at the same level as a third world nation unfairly cheapens the term and shows the authors naivety of what a third world country truly is.
1. Defining the community:
Jackson does contain several major industries in its city limits. Mainly machinery products as well as metal products; the surrounding areas produces many types of agriculture.
Jackson does have four companies that are publicly traded on the market.
These are Trustmark which is provides $8.1 billion in financial services.
Parkway Properties which is a major real-estate company, “Parkway owns or has an interest in 65 office properties located in 11 states with an aggregate of approximately 13.4 million square feet of leasable space as of August 3, 2009”.
Cal-Maine Foods-Largest producer of fresh shell eggs in the country.
East Group Properties- Has real-estate interests throughout the south and over 27.7 million square feet of property in their portfolio.
Jackson is also home to the Mississippi World Trade Center. Obviously the purpose of which is to foster international trade. It is unclear to how successful this venture has been to this point.
2. Geography:
Jackson is located between Hinds and Madison counties. This allows Jackson
large access to their agricultural products as well as moderate business district.
Jackson is also bordered by the Pearl River, which provides goods transportation as well as the Ross Barnett Reservoir.
3. Demographics:
Jackson has a population of roughly 173,000 and 530,000 if you include the surrounding metropolitan area.
The racial makeup of the city is predominantly black (70.6%) and white (28%). Interestingly enough Jackson Public Schools in 97% black and 3% white, as most white kids are going to private or county schools.
25% of households had a single mother as the head. With 23.5% of the population living below the poverty line.
76.1% of kids are living on free or reduced lunch.
In 2009 Jackson’s homicide rate ranked 4th in the country and 2nd in the country in terms of burglaries.
Population 25 years or older with a:
High school or higher: 79.1%
Bachelor's degree or higher: 27.1%
Graduate or professional degree: 10.2%
Unemployed: 8.9%
4.
5. Physical Infrastructure:
Is controlled by the Public Works department downtown. They have separate departments for facility management, solid waste, infrastructure management, engineering, water/sewer, and vehicle maintenance. The city claims to have extensive capacities for infrastructure development and waste management, but many city roads are full of potholes and the city seems to have little care for repair.
6. Cultural and Recreational Resources:
FAST FACTS:
|
Total Area |
Approx. 2,302.35 Acres |
|
Number of parks and recreational facilities |
54 |
|
Playgrounds |
31 |
|
Athletic fields |
72 |
|
11 |
|
|
9 |
|
|
Tennis courts |
61 (6 are clay courts) |
|
2 |
|
|
Driving range |
1 |
|
Walking trails |
8 miles |
|
Go-kart track |
1 |
|
Model airplane field |
1 |
|
1 |
The city does contain an extensive amount of recreational facilities. Unfortunately, the only quality ones are reserved for private use or big time sports events. Quality parks and recreational facilities actually open to the public are few and far in between. Many of these areas are so crime infested that children or people looking to relax would hesitate to venture inside.
7. Power structure: How do things get done, individuals, board leaders, linkages. ..
Jackson mayor Harvey Johnson is likely the most powerful individual in the city. He has been credited with reviving downtown Jackson including Farish street and surrounding areas. Strangely this area still appears to be in need of repair and contains a plethora of abandoned buildings.
This is likely why Johnson was easily ousted by former mayor Frank Melton in the 2005 election. Melton ran on a campaign to clean up the crime problem in the city in 90 days and received 63% of the vote.
Johnsons does seem to have a reasonable amount of power over the city council. He is able to appoint people to run certain government departments and the city council must vote to approve them. The only mayoral nominee to be voted down by the council occurred during Frank Melton’s term. The leaders subsequently appointed heads of these departments, have a large amount of power and money in running their different areas (Fire, police, public works….etc).
The council does have the power to control the payroll of these different leaders and chose to do so in the case of Melton’s appointments.
In general when the council and mayor remain at odds, there is little the council can do to combat the mayor’s power.
8. Heads of government agencies are appointed by the mayor then must be approved by the city council. They are independently run, but can have their finances checked by the city council.
9. Community barriers
Jackson is chock-full of community barriers. The first might be the huge amount of crime, homelessness, poor leadership, and poor schools. Obviously these are all factors, which are caused by the main problem of poverty.
Downtown Jackson is the most rundown place I have ever seen in the U.S. Starting with the white flight after integration, downtown has grown progressively worse. This remains a large barrier today as not only white families, but now middle class black families are leaving Jackson. This is a huge problem as downtown teems with homelessness and crime no one wants to bring businesses into the city necessary to turn the problems around.
10. Values
I would say the main values in the community are religion, race, and sports. A large amount of our students value school as a means to play sports or hopefully to gain an education and get a good job. I would not say that education is as important as the first three values.
At many schools sports will take the cake over any scholastic event and often cut into classroom time. Many teachers are also coaches and spend hours after school everyday and are forced to neglect their teaching duties.
11. Uniqueness
The most surprising part of the community I have witnessed so far is the huge population of immigrants. Most people would expect Jackson to be majority multi-generation Americans, but there is a sizeable population of African immigrants.
At Murrah I have met a large amount of these kids especially coaching soccer. I have had players from Zimbabwe, Sudan, Uganda and others.
The most public proof of this large group of immigrants I have found is the election of Chokwe Lumumba to city council. I found this excerpt from his website campaigning for city council “The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement (MXGM) is taking a bold step to advance the cause of New Afrikan Self-determination. Building off the experiences of developing the Freedom Party in Selma, Alabama and the Reconstruction Party in New Orleans, Louisiana, MXGM co-founder, Chokwe Lumumba, is running for City Council in Jackson, Mississippi. The aim of this run is to implement a program of progressive social and economic change that will not only improve the lives of New Afrikan people in Jackson, but also empower Black and other oppressed people throughout the Kush District (the Mississippi Black Belt) and the Deep South by advancing a new social and economic agenda and strengthening their self-organization.”
12. Schools, colleges, universities.
Jackson does have a number of good universities and colleges in many different areas of study.
One unfortunate quality of JPS is its lack of diversity (97% black, 3% white), even though the city as a whole is more diverse (30% white, 70 % black). Most white kids go to private, or county schools.
Colleges and universities
Belhaven College (1883)
Hinds Community College's campuses in Jackson are the Nursing/Allied Health Center (1970) and the Academic/Technical Center
Jackson State University (1877)
Millsaps College (1890)
Mississippi College School of Law (1930)
Reformed Theological Seminary (1966)
Tougaloo College (1869)
University of Mississippi Medical Center (1955), health sciences campus of the University of Mississippi
Wesley Biblical Seminary (1974)
[edit]
Public high schools
Private high schools
▪ Christ Missionary & Industrial (CM&I) College High School
Private Schools
▪ Magnolia Speech School [1]
St. Andrew's Episcopal Lower School - South Campus
References
http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/strong_mayor_weak_council_042209/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvey_Johnson,_Jr.
http://www.assatashakur.org/forum/hood-news/36815-chokwe-lumumba-jackson-ms-city-council.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackson,_Mississippi#Political_structures
Governor Haley Barbour is not an engaging speaker, but he is a Good Ole Boy. Is education really over 60% of the state budget? Education will still be $20 million more then last year because of stimulus funds. Guess we should not have taken them. I did not know the policy about the Governor being required to cut 5% from each area before they cut over 5%.
Barbour says schools get over $8,000 per student. Is this true, or is it highly skewed by richer areas of the state whose students receive substantially more.
Governor Barbour says that money for corrections facilities has gone up 10% in the last 5 years while money for education has gone up 35%. This is great, but is it not obvious that if we spent the money used for correctional facilities on our children instead we would not need the money for corrections down the road.
The argument that stimulus money hurts the economy down the road bewilders me. Maybe it is only short term help, but is it not help? Does it not give you more time to plan better down the road, and for the recession to hopefully recede? To me it seems like blatant partisan politics attacking Obama and democrats.
As someone once said Governor Barbour would rather “cut taxes then have sex”. Taxes will not be raised to help out those most hurt by the recession.
To be quite honest the hazing at Millburn High does not seem to intense compared to what we have seen recently in Jackson. Jackson State recently suspended 27 band members suspected of hitting incoming freshman with beer bottles and 2x4 and committing other acts of violence JSU hazing. That being said I am sure that different forms of hazing, bullying, and the general stresses of being a new kid at a large school can be very damaging to a student’s psyche. In every class I have a substantial amount of students who are very withdrawn usually as a result of being intimidated or made fun of to a point where they no longer desire to speak up. These students are sometimes the most rewarding to reach, but it is often difficult in larger classes or when they are so stuck in their shell. I remember being hazed as a 9th grader on the high school soccer team and taking it pretty lightly. Fortunately, I was one of the ones who did not get it the worst. First of all I had made the team and was accepted by my peers and the older kids. I knew I would experience a little hazing, but it was more exciting than something I feared. The kids who had it really bad where the ones who got cut from the team, did not have many friends in school, and were generally seen as outsiders. Because worse then being hazed by a team member, they were constantly ostracized by peers and older students alike. Creating a culture where this is unacceptable and all students are viewed as equal and important is one of the most important parts of our education system. This is a difficult point to reach and is only possible with good classroom management, a positive school culture, engaging extra-curricular activities for every kid, and probably eliminating all forms of hazing at school.
My Groups
-
Mississippi Teacher Corps Updated: Oct 9, 2009
Neighborhood
Explore friends, family, friends & family, or entire neighborhood.
Links from my Friends and Family
Rakes Of Mallow - An unoffi...
My friend's Chris and Rob write this gem-of-a-blog. What...
Chris Wilson's Blog O' (Iri...
My friend Chris's blog. He is an experienced blogger, un...
My friend Scott's blog. He'll be traveling in countries ...
My friend Matt's blog. He's gonna make it big in L.A. as...
