The Quality School : Managing Students Without Coercion

Lincoln High School, which is located in a low-income neighborhood in San Diego, was a rebuilt after 50 years of failing to educate children. Rebuilding the high school was the answer the community had been looking for they were hopeful. Before the rebuild most students who attended Lincoln did not meet the standards for their grade-level, few graduated and even fewer went go on to college. After years of suffering and neglect there was little doubt That Lincoln High School deserved the $129 million it received from the city to rebuild. But was rebuilding the school the solution for Lincoln High School 's education problem? First we’ll examine, How the problem started, the decision making steps and if the plan was successful.

The author further discusses some schools similar to Anne Fox Elementary School, that have transformed and really became the academic haven for children, paving newer paths of success for their students. It gives an overview of the other chapters and lists some great changes that had taken place when these schools really adopted the principle, and the results they had received from making a change in their system. It goes to show that when our systems aren't working in terms of helping children meet their goal it is very important for us to become open to change and really believing that change and success in any child are possible as long as we believe in them. Becoming a supportive adult can make the biggest difference in a child. From this chapter I learned that being open-minded, researching new ways to improve, accepting our mistakes can really change our effectiveness in the lives of the children around

Ms. Foster feels that one of the main problems in teaching the children in her classroom is that there are emotionally and behaviorally disturbed (EBD) students who disrupt the entire class. In addition, they often have problems staying on task. She advocates the use of self-management techniques in the classroom. Self-management techniques teach students to modify their

Since prior to the 1980’s, the American education system has rapidly declined in all areas. The article, “A Nation at Risk,” written by President Ronald Reagan, depicts the many issues in the U.S. school systems regarding the content, standard and expectations, time, teaching, and leadership and fiscal support. This piece, apparently, has led the country into an extreme educational reform to improve all aspects of our school system. Based on my experiences in high school, student test scores, and current school conditions, I believe that while all issues raised by the commission in the report are not necessarily a problem anymore, issues with student growth.

Many teachers are faced with the difficult task of managing their student’s behavior. Even if we

The American education system has, since its inception, been subject to ridicule and disdain on the parts of many. Despite the fact that many scholars believe that the system has flaws, there has been no consensus as to what needs to be changed. Sam Chaltain, the previous National Director of the Forum for Education and Democracy and now an active participant in educational reform debates, argues that the system should shift its focus on standardization away from students and instead to teachers and schools. Nikhil Goyal, author of Schools on Trial: How Freedom and Creativity Can Fix Our Educational Malpractice, holds that we should do away with standardization altogether, giving children the opportunity to accomplish what they want with their education and allow them to flourish in a less stifling environment. Peter Gow, the author of a multitude of books about potential changes in school policy, focuses on fourth grade specifically, suggesting that a year in elementary school focused solely on cultivating reading skills would greatly benefit students in the future. Although this is a radical stance, Gow’s point remains valid; teaching

School, everyone summons different thoughts and connotations whenever they hear that word. Although people range in their opinions of school, many can agree that schools all have the same goal: to educate their students. This is proving to be false; John Taylor Gatto provides evidence of this in his essay, “Against School.” Within this text he explains how schools are not educating students to be the best they can be, instead teachers are teaching them to become role players in today’s society and to be desensitized from their natural creativity. Gatto, a three time New York Teacher of the Year, has had his fair share of teaching. Gatto provides evidence to the audience that they have been wrong all along about the way a school functions. His ideals prove that the schooling systems in today’s society are not what they seem; schools are thought to develop and help a student unlock their full potential but through the evidence that Gatto provides us he shows that the education system does anything but that. He shows us this by appealing to the audience’s logos and pathos or their logical and emotional natures.

Dr. Debra Koss ( child psychiatrist) believes that in our society today teens and parents face more stress and pressures than ever before. When a student acts up the first thought should not be punishment but what is going wrong in this young one’s life and how can it be helped. In Fund du Lac High School three hundred fifty-eight freshman out of six hundred thirty-two participated in mental health screening and sixty-four percent of the students tested were diagnosed with a mental illness. Many factors are contributing to this bad school environment ranging from overworked students, students ridiculing other students and faculty that genuinely do not care about the students. A teacher, who does not take interest in the students and does not do their best to make sure their students succeed, risks destroying their students confidence. 8,300 students drop out on a average day. These students say they drop because they don't feel safe, they can't keep up, they couldn't attend everyday or they did not have the confidence they would finish the class. Students everyday are either dropping out or hurting themselves because of the events that happen inside these school buildings. Forty percent of parents say children experience the most stress from academics. Chronic stress causes a sense of panic which causes more stress. “Despite whatever is going on -if you are a bit depressed, stressed, or overwhelmed you want to put up this positive

In chapter 5, Reforming America’s Schools, I learned many things that affect me as an educator. An important fact that interests me was that there are four goals that schools should follow. The first one is academic, including a broad array of knowledge and intellectual skills. The second one is vocational, aimed at readiness for the world of work and economic responsibilities. The third one is social and civic, including skills and behavior for participating in a complex democratic society. The fourth one is personal, including the development of individual talent and self-expression. This will affect me as an educator so that I can follow and do my best to complete these goals. Now I am aware of what should be done in a classroom.

“In 1983 American education reform entered a new era. It was in that year that the federal government published a report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education entitled A Nation at Risk: The Imperative for Educational Reform. Commissioned in August 1981 by President Ronald Reagan's secretary of education, Terrel H. Bell, and chaired by David P.” (1). School reform has been poisoning our American educational system for 33 years and keeps on going with Obamas’ No Child Left Behind. This article should inform you on how school reform had developed, what is still causing the problem, and how school reform affects society.

In 1983, Ronald Reagan stood in front of the press and read from a report called A Nation at Risk: Imperative for Education Reform. The report had been written by the board of the National Commission on Excellence and Education and gave Americans reason to believe that our system was anything but acceptable. While the report did touch on some positives in American public schools, there were many instances that needed to be fixed. A Nation at Risk opened the eyes of many Americans and thus started a rolling stone for more “rigorous and measurable standards.” Although the notice has hung around school districts across the nation for over thirty

While Reading the book, Lost at School, written by Ross W. Greene, one can appreciate the clear focus and overall direction for teaching different students with maladaptive behaviors. For teachers, those children present the greatest obstacle in education. A student’s mental health problems allude to the challenges in teaching. It’s hard enough to keep a large group of adolescents on task in the first place, let alone when there may be one or more children with maladaptive behaviors in a single class, who have a hard time regulating their focus levels like the typical student. The number of disruptive students has seemingly increased through the years. Now studies show that, “About 10 percent of the school population—9 to 13 million children—struggle with mental health problems. In a typical classroom of 20, chances are good that one or two students are dealing with serious psychosocial stressors relating to poverty, domestic violence, abuse and neglect, trauma, or a psychiatric disorder. These children represent the most challenging students in our classrooms today.” (Rappaport and Minahan) To combat those alarming statistics, Ross Greene’s informational book talks about how to improve a child’s behavior, while embracing the patience it takes to effectively communicate with such children.

Based on her knowledge as a teacher, with 30 years of experience, Julie Roger-Martin believed that she had established a framework by which students could achieve excellence in the classroom and with standardized tests (Frysh, pp.1-10). Even though she was comfortable with her capabilities, her students did not perform as well as others students. Teachers with mediocre school children were excelling in test scores, while their classroom work did not mirror this increased knowledge. Julie Roger-Martin, confused by the test results, was unaware of the underlying reasons for the improvement. The Atlanta Public School System was cheating in order to obtain good scores. Teachers made the decisions that truthfulness was a value that could be sacrificed in order to attain higher salaries and federal funding.

Throughout this year, we have read two books, 50 Myths & Lies That Threaten America’s Public Schools and Schooled: Ordinary, Extraordinary Teaching in an Age of Change, as well as several different articles spanning various topics regarding school and its purpose in society. We learned that each of us in class have had unique school experiences, whether we went to a public, private, charter, or home school. Each of our unique experiences have allowed us to share our personal encounters with school, both positive and negative. Through these readings we learned about how each of us has a stake in schools. We depend on one another to be educated enough to make important decisions, for example critically analyzing candidates and their platforms when deciding to vote. If I could suggest any three of our readings to a high school teacher, a parent, and to a fellow student, they would be the Postman and Weingartner section from Teaching as a Subversive Activity, Why Wrong is not Always Bad by Alina Tugend, and College is not a commodity. Stop treating it like one. by Rawlings, respectively. These articles stood out to me as the most informative as well as the most relative to many of the issues we see today.

As I spend more time in the classroom each week, I find myself realizing more and more about my personal feelings on classroom management. When I compare my opinions and feelings on classroom management, I see connections between my beliefs and those represented by all three of the behavioral theorists we have been studying; Lee Canter, Linda Albert, and Alfie Kohn. While each of these theorists have varying opinions on how to manage students, I feel that they all have important points that should be included in a successful classroom management plan.