"Chalk" video

On two of the Monday evening sessions, we were able to watch “Chalk.” This video was really interesting, yet made me a little nervous for some aspects of teaching. It made me a little worried about what to do in a situation when a child does not like you or respect you, and overall how to effectively manage your classroom. However, as the movie went on, these worries began to be less prominent as I saw a couple of the teachers learn and grow. I thought that the first year teacher made the most significant improvements. Despite the fact that he was thinking of leaving the profession at the end, I think that it was a great learning experience for him and I bet he grew a lot from taking on the challenge. I did not think that some of the other characters were as impressive, especially the man who lost the “Teacher of the Year” award. He seemed quite conceited and full of himself. I think to be an effective teacher, you need to put your students first and not your own personal image. Overall, I thought that this video was very entertaining and carried some important messages with it. Ultimately I think one of the main messages was that teachers need to love kids and have a strong passion for teaching in order to do a good job at being a teacher; if you do not enjoy young individuals and do not care about their success, then you should not be teaching. That probably seems like a fairly logical statement; however, I think many people have had at least one teacher who did not enjoy children, so it is definitely something to keep in mind. I liked “Chalk” and even though it confronted many obstacles teachers face, I am still really looking forward to being able to teach someday!

More information on the Chalk movie can be found at:
http://www.chalkthefilm.com/#/home/

"Autism and Education" article

Overall, I thought the “Autism and Education” article was very intriguing and made some important points. Since so much emphasis is placed on the No Child Left Behind policy, I never really thought very much about what is being done to challenge our gifted children. After reading about Lindsley’s son and daughter, one is confronted with an extremely controversial issue. Should more money be spent on gifted children versus the children with disabilities? I feel awful debating this issue because as educators, we want all students to succeed; however, at some point one begins to wonder if money would be better spent on the “gifted and talented” students. I understand that the No Child Left Behind policy was put into place for a reason, but maybe there needs to be some changes made. Perhaps gifted students should be given just as much special attention, in some situations, as students with disabilities. This article makes me think that despite the importance of attending to the needs of students with disabilities, maybe gifted and talented students should be given similar attention in the future.

For more information on autism:
http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer

Spring Convocation

At the beginning of this semester, I went to the spring convocation with Diane Griffin. Most of her talk was about infectious diseases as a global problem. She informed us that most infectious diseases affect children. One of these infectious diseases are measles, which can be prevented by a vaccine that came out in the 60’s. Malaria and HIV/AIDS are also some examples of infectious diseases. Malaria is the largest cause of death in developing countries. This is really unfortunate because it is completely preventable with a vaccine. Another thing Diane Griffin talked about was the fact that there is a problem of acceptance with vaccines in developed countries. After traveling to some developed countries, I think this is definitely true. I have found that some individuals are in denial or they do not want the social stigma of having a disease, especially HIV/AIDS, associated with them. She also made the point that some individuals have a problem that the vaccine is not “natural,” there are too many shots, and some are concerned about safety and the vaccines causing autism. Overall, these issues are definitely very real and a major issue in the world today. As a wealthy, developed country, many middle class Americans are not confronted with these issues; however, it does affect many individuals around the world. When Diane explained that it was a global problem, she emphasized the fact that it threatens world peace, it hampers economic development, increases childhood mortality, and it also hampers education. All in all, I think that Diane Griffin made some very important points and discussed an extremely vital topic; however, I wish that she would have spent more time talking about what we, as Americans, can do to help with this issue. Much of her time presenting was explaining facts, research, and data. I think it might have been a little bit more effective if she would have related it to her audience more.

More information on Diane Griffin and her work can be found at:
http://faculty.jhsph.edu/?faculty_id=281