MAT----an extra year of college???

At UNC Chapel Hill, currently, there is not an secondary education bachelor's degree program. What generally happens to those people who want to teach high school is that they have to apply to MAT school, which is a graduate program, in order to get their Masters in Arts of Teaching. So, unless you are a teaching fellow, those who want to teach high school do not see an education class until their final fifth year, when and if they get into the MAT program.

I definitely do not agree with this, the MAT program is a graduate program, so you have to apply to it just like any other school. For teaching fellows that have to repay their scholarship, what happens if they do not get in? You are left with no credentials to begin teaching and to begin paying back your scholarship. I love UNC, and that is why I chose to come here because I feel like i fit in here, but as classes go on and I see how hard it is to maintain good grades, I am becoming increasingly worried about getting into the MAT program. This is why a regular old four yera degree in middle grades education is looking better and better.

Discussion Time!

Last week I led a discussion group of teaching fellows and we were supposed to discuss something regarding race in the education field. I was so intrigued by the movie our class watched, that i decided to discuss something similar. I asked my group how they would treat illegal immigrants in their classroom and how they would bridge the gap between these students and the other students.

I was so pleased, that no matter any individual's particular bleiefs about immigration, all of my group agreed that the childs needs come first. We talked about different lagnuage programs that culd be implemented, including a growing of the dual lagnuage classrooms schools are experimenting with today. Half the class are english speakers and half the class are Spanish speakers, which not only helps the Spanish speakers learn English, but the English speakers learn Spanish too!

We alos talked about offering extra tutoring sessions after school for students that are not only having trouble with the material, but are having trouble fitting in socially. Being able to offer them a place where they can speak freely about their fears and whats botheirng them gives us, as eductaors, an oppurtunity to correct these problems.

Overall, I was just excited because it seems that every person I've talked to in my teaching fellows cohort genuinly cannot wait to help their students and I believe that that is exactly whats needed in the eductaion field. Teachers who actually care and WANT to make a difference.

The Easy Way Out.

Of course, I know how it is, in school I have always looked for the easy way out, the shortest way to complete a project and still get a good grade. But, my AVID girls take this to a whole new level. They had to pick out a newspaper article and write a page about it. Now, please note that this was due a couple of weeks ago and the teacher was giving them another opportunity. Now, some of my girls got it done the right way. But, one girl, who is probably my most lazy tutee, wanted another student who had read the article to tell her what the article was about. I had to literally sit with this girl so she would read it for herself. Another girl picked what must have been the smallest article in the whole paper, and then started complaining because she could not find a lot to write about. Well, duh! I was very disappointed, this being my last session and all, and I could also not believe that after all this time, it was still the girls who were the laziest and the procrastinators in the bunch. I do not want to be stereotypical, but it is after all, the boys who usually take this route. Still confused about what grade I want to teach, hopefully next semester will help my confusion.

The Disiplinarian.

So, of course, part of being a teacher is learning how to command respect form your students and making sure they stay on task. In my class, I have a group of four or five girls, who are not only lazy, but get off task every other second and begin talking to each other. This, being the last week to complete their science project, session was crucial. So, because all they needed to do was type their material up on the laptops, I had to stand there, in the middle of their group, to ensure that they stayed on task. If i walked away, for even an instant, they would begin chattering again. It was sooo annoying, and I know this is probably awful for me to say, but i hated feeling like their babysitter. And, although i know a fair amount of this goes on in high school, i really am leaning toward teaching high school because i do not think i could stand being a babysitter more than being a teacher. I just do not know.

Whether the Weather

Today, after sitting around doing nothing at the beginning of class, two boys finally needed my help, and what else, but finding the definition of barometric pressure. EW! Another subject I hate...science. I had no idea what the heck it was, I knew I had learned it before but the lesson had obviously not stuck, thank goodness we had trusty dusty macbooks to help us! With the help of a few informational sites and weather.com...we got the definition down.

However, I did notice something seemed to be troubling one of my students. He was not really responsive, and barely wrote down anything. I'm hoping he just needs a break from school and it's not something more serious.

Math= YUCK

Well, breaking news, I still hate math. Like really, math has and always will be the bane of my existence...and I still can't get away from it! I was helping this girl with her math assignment for the week, and I really had no clue what the heck I was doing. She did not have a math book or notes, or anything for me to go off of, so I was definitely flying blind. But, with the help of other tutors, and sever brain picking on my part, we got her assignment done. Thank goodness I'm teaching history!!!

La Historia

Last week we watched a documentary entitled "Fear and Learning at Hoover Elementary," and it discussed reactions in Los Angeles, California to Proposition 187, which would make it illegal for illegal immigrants to go to public school. This documentary was extremely emotional to me, and I definitely cried a lot during the showing. I especially got emotional when the children said they felt like a little piece of dirt, and they felt like they were unwanted. For a child to say that is so hurtful and should touch all human emotions, regardless of what you believe pertaining to illegal immigrants. These are children we are dealing with, not criminals or even conscious adults. These children, if back in their native countries, would be living in extreme poverty and would live in constant danger with no chance of ever bettering their lives. When I lived in Juarez, Mexico, I was not even allowed to play in my backyard without a male adult for fear of kidnapping or other heinous acts, and I was definitely not allowed to play out on the street. Thank goodness I was an American citizen and was allowed to return to public school to better myself. I am the first person in my family to go to college, and among only a few that received a high school diploma on my Mexican side.

I just want this opportunity for ALL children. Not only will this better their lives, but giving children an education will better the world in general. One girl in the video wanted to be "an important person" that helped people. How is this child who wants to help people going to endanger the world at all?

This also goes back to my desire to teach in foreign countries. I just believe that everyone has the right to an education, and that education will make the world a better place, where people do not have to look for better, safer places to live.