The Blog Closes

Thank you, all 21 Community Service Learning Project students, for participating in this spring's blog. Your insights and stories helped me understand our community partners and also your struggles with both the course material and your experience in the field. Also, your comments about how blogger.com formats our blog are well taken. I might very well just use Blackboard's discussion function if I can't figure out how to organize the blogger-style blog better. OK. Over and Out.

Last Blog Repost

I found the blog to be a helpful way of learning along with our volunteering. We are in a big city with what we still see as a new community, and it can be hard getting engaged. I think that the blog at the beginning of the semester was helpful to getting comfortable with the volunteering side of the CSLP. I think when you can read the other peoples ideas you're able to see that other people are going through the same things you are.

I think as the semester went on I found myself with less and less time to read other peoples blogs. I think that in the future it would be more beneficial to have people present their volunteering information in the class room during class time. This would do two things, one they would better be able to articulate the problems and advantages they find at their place of volunteering. Also I think that the people in the class who are not doing the volunteering, or are unable to volunteer, would then be able to learn from people as well. I think in the end this would provide topics for class discussion and such as well.

Thank you for a great project and I can wait to see the success of our hard work and your classes in the future!

Have a good summer!

response to #6

Evaluation of the blog:
Although I didn't keep up with the blog in a timely manner, I did enjoy reading other people's responses as I was playing catch up. Also, this was a good way for me to think through my CSLP experiences as I put the final touches on my CSLP essay.
The only suggestion that I would have for the blog is to put the blog prompts in some kind of separate folder or something, so that they are more easily accessable. I guess this wouldn't have been as much of an issue if I had kept up with the blog better, however having the prompts separate would make the blog more organized. Thanks so much for this semester, it's been really great!

response to #5

I have seen disorganization in the schools, especially in Hope Community Charter School. Children randomly roam around the halls, and a lot of class time seems to be inefficient. This has related to our class, because we have spent so much time talking about the DCPS and the horrible state that they are in. I believe that a big part of the problem is from a lack of organization of resources. This relates to my personal life and goals, because my dream is to head an organization that brings together resources for small non profit aid organizations in developing countries. I want to help them organize by being an umbrella organization from which they can access resources, communication, advice, education, etc.

response to #4

I believe that parents should be the ones who choose what schools their parents attend. They are the ones who most intimately know their child's needs to get the best education possible. When schools specialize in different areas, parents can make sure that their child is getting special attention in the area that they want to focus on developing. An argument against this may be that some parents will not take the time or be involved in this process, and so will not actively choose a school that best fits their child. However, if all schools live up to education standards that they should, than no matter what school a child ends up at, they will be recieving a quality education.

response #3

This is a response to Christina's "First visit to Hope Community" blog. I was a little jealous about her first visit to the school, because mine went completely differently. Shiza and I took a loooong metro ride to the school, and the only people we saw the whole time were the secretaries. The woman we'd been communicating with, Meredith Henne, was busy the whole time so we didn't see her. THe secretaries gave us a box full of papers to corrolate, put into envelopes, and address. We did this the whole time, in a room with the door shut tight. I knew that we were helping out, but I was disapointed, because I wanted to learn about the school, and I wanted to see the kids, and talk to teachers and administrators. Having Christina's experience, being put into a classroom with a bunch of hyper kids would have been right up my alley.

Blog Six

Honestly, I’m not a big fan of blog posting. I understand that there needs to be some way to gage our progression consistently through the semester, but because I was unfamiliar with the format, I at times felt it was confusing instead of helpful. I also had problems signing in and couldn’t for a long period of time. I think that handing in the posts in paper should be an option just because it would make me more prompt in answering the posts and wouldn’t pose a technology issue. I know this would stop us from seeing other people’s blogs, but I don’t think that would be a huge loss. Apart from this though, I thought that most of the questions were really good. I thought that they were for the most part thought-provoking and made me look at other aspects of my service.

Blog Five

The service that I have done has related to what we have learned in class a lot and has deepened my interest in the subject greatly. In class, we have talked so much about the division of the blacks and whites, as well as the poor and wealthy; going to the charter school has proven to be a real life example. After working at the school for a couple months, I became very aware of the economic status of each child that I worked with. Almost none of them was very well off and every single one of them was a minority, whether black or Hispanic. The correlation between minority status and poor economic standing in the school was undeniable. It perfectly portrayed the situation described in both of the last two books that we worked with in class.

This experience will broaden my view and perspective on the city and economic classes in general. For my entire life I have lived in what now seems like a bubble. The small, privileged area that I am used to now seems so idealistic. This experience will strengthen my ability to relate with people and understand how different their background is from mine. This could also spill over into my professional career no matter what I end up doing. It will help me to relate to people and will help my people skills in any situation.

Blog Four

For this post I would like to comment on number 4. As a student for the past 14 years, I have come to realize that a lot of the time, the subject or material that is taught in a class isn’t normally what makes you learn the most or what makes you excited for the class. It’s the teacher that makes a class interesting. A teachers ability to enthrall the class and make them excited to learn is really what makes you like what you’re learning and gain a passion for it. If a teacher has a passion for the subject and is able to relay that to her students, so much more is learned. This is why I think that schools should spend more time on looking for good teacher as opposed to ones that might necessarily look best on paper. Just because a teacher has PhD in her field doesn’t mean that he or she is going to be able to teach kids and make them really learn something. A good example of this is my General Biology Professor. My professor is extremely qualified, she’s so knowledgeable and loves the field she works in, but she is completely incapable of teaching my class and relaying any information. This makes the class, a subject I would otherwise be very excited about, miserable and I have learned very little. I think that our schools need to search out professors that are great teachers and hire them instead of being sticklers for the qualifications they put on paper.

Blog Three

For my third post I would like to comment on Elise’s “Help for New Teachers” post. Like her I also volunteer at Butler Campus and have seen many of the same situations. It’s incredible to me sometimes what the teachers are supposed to work with. There seem to be so few children and yet even fewer books which is obviously very detrimental to their education. I have also talked to my teacher about this. She has been teaching for a while, not at Butler, but long enough to know how to create creative lesson plans. She too sympathized with the newer teachers who weren’t as able to make lesson plans without materials and didn’t know of all of the resources. I hadn’t heard about the mentoring program for the new teachers but I think that is a fabulous idea. I think that one problem that many schools face is that they don’t have great TEACHERS. They may have very intelligent people working for them, but they oftentimes don’t have the ability to relay that information. I think that the mentors would really help the staff at Butler especially considering their lack of resources.

Blog Two

I’ve been visiting Butler Bilingual now for a couple of weeks and one girl and her family has especially impacted me and would be a great story for my paper. In my paper, one thing I focus on is the impact of parents on their children and their successfulness in their education. A first grader named Storm and her mother perfectly represent the positive relationship I wanted to show in my paper. Storm’s mother spends almost an hour everyday at Butler helping Storm, her other daughter, and the other kids with their homework after school. It’s apparent how much Storm’s mother really cares about her daughters and their education, something that isn’t so obvious with most of the kids. Because she puts so much effort into helping her kids and being part of their education, they do much better in their academics. Storm is one of the most advanced first graders in her class, even more advanced than a lot of the third graders that I tutor as well. It is this kind of relationship that I wish every child could have with their parents. I know that if each of their parents paid this much attention to them they would do much better. It disappoints me so much that they weren’t born into a situation that would push them as hard to get ahead in life.

Blog One

The first time I went to the charter school I really had no idea what to expect. I traveled with Elise and Nick who had both gone before, so they were explaining what it would be like. I thought that I would be working with the other kids in our class that were assigned to Butler but I was surprised to find out that I would be working alone.

After getting to the school I was assigned to work with the third grade teacher Ms. D. Stewart. There were only nine kids in her class which was initially surprising to me because I was used to classes that were much larger than that when I was in school. The first thing that we did was sing a song that they had been rehearsing for black history month. This was also odd for me because I had never had a teacher belt out a song in front of me before. Ms. Stewart was very apparently an outgoing, outspoken teacher. I almost would even consider her a little intimidating. I really didn’t know what to think about her after I left that first day.

After leaving the school I was excited to go back. I really enjoyed being around the kids and had already started to form bonds with some of them. It was also good to get a new perspective on D.C. outside the walls of American University.

6th Posting- Blog Eval

I was really excited about the blog, I think it is a great that we are ale to read everyone else’s opinions. I also liked that we were able to reflect on our experiences throughout the semester instead of just at the end. However, I would have liked to see the prompts based a little more on our experiences an less on how we might use these experiences. I understand that several people had some trouble with the technology aspect of the blog, I agree that at times it was extremely frustrating and I feel I have pretty good computer skills. Maybe there is a blog that is a little less complicated? I also would have liked to see the blog more organized, maybe there is a way to post under a subheading for each response. I find it very confusing to read the way it is because the subjects are jumping around so much. Lastly, I would have liked to have more of a set schedule of when the blog responses were going to be posted etc. Hopefully these comments will be helpful in making the blog even better next year!

Blog SIx

I think that the idea of the blog is good because people can share stories about their experiences. Also, it can be a good tool in releasing frustration when a charter school is disorganized. However, the blog was so hard to navigate! It took my forever to find a friend's blog and I could never find the prompts! I think that once that problem is fixed, people will use the blogs more often becuase it is actually fun to read the blogs.

Blog Five

Being involved with service learning allowed me to witness firsthand the problems of the DCPS. It is one thing to read about something and completely different to actually experience what is happening. Service learning helped me recognize who I was writing for. Being involved with service learning helped me to actually understand students' lack of motivation. By witnessing the problem, I was able to strengthen my arguments by using pathetic appeal.

I've always been passionate about education and this course only reinforced that notion. My mom has had a hard life becuase she was only able to finish elementary school becuase she was poor. My mom is a good woman and never deserved to have her whole life go down the drain becuase she wasn't one of the lucky ones with opportunity. I would just hate to see other kids being punished the same way that my mom was which is why I want to use my degree in political science and work for a lobbyist on education reform.

Blog Four

1) Charter schools do in fact promote competition. When I was told by the teacher that the mother of the girl with bipolar disorder was threatening to take her daughter to another school I knew that the theory of competition was true. Parents do in fact hold the charter schools accountable, which promotes competition. However, i thought that the concept was suppose to hold regular public schools more accountable thus forcing the DCPS to deal with its problems. I did not think that the concept of competition was suppose to switch which charter school was being held responsible.

2) I have mixed feelings about this one. Parents should be allowed to take part in their child's future and be able to pick the best possible school for their child. However, what makes parents experts? Also, what will stop parents from switching their children to different charter schools becuase of the progress of the child. But either way, in the end I think that parents will ultimately decide. They may not be experts but they do see their children's reactions to the school at home. I think that parants should be taught how to properly choose a school.

3) I do not believe in specialized cirricula. I do believe that school district Cirricula is a preferred way to teach students. With a specialized cirricula, some students will be left out. I think that students should have a school district cirricula becuase then all of the basics will be taught. I absolutely do not believe in a national cirricula becuase every school district if different and has different standards and obtainable goals.

4) I believe whole-heartedly in teach qualifications. Someone may be really talented in how they teach but why should they teach if they do not fully understand the topic or have not studied the topic extensively? I want students to learn about a subject and cover all bases and how else can that happen if a teacher is not qualified?

Blog Three

I am writing in response to Shiza's second post. I would have to disagree with what he said. I've been working at City Collegiate and the students are integrated. I didn't even notice that until I read your blog. I guess I didn't notice it becuase when a school is integraded, there isn't an issue at hand. However, I understand how integration is an issue if it doesn't exist. I wonder if City Collegiate is well integraded becuase it is in Georgetown and the surrounding neighborhood has a different range of socioeconomic backgorunds than your school. You might want to re-word your thesis then. I would try to include the idea of the location somewhere within your thesis. Maybe you could look at the possible pattern that charter schools that are integrated are located in neighborhoods that reflect a wide range of socioeconomic backgrounds.

Blog Two

Well my essay is about how charter schools that are run by EMO's are horrible "solutions" and how market-based charter schools actually make the problems of the DCPS even worse. I am working at City Collegiate so I can't exactly use any primary evidence becuase City Collegiate isn't market-based.

I can, however, use my experience with the two girls to prove how hard it is for charter schools to operate becuase of funding problems. Obviously the school didn't have enough money for a school psychologist to help the two girls because of funding issues. By using that evidence I will try to argue that EMO's are becoming more and more popular because charter schools need funding. I will then argue that becuase of that pattern that the charter school movement needs to be checked and examined with a close eye.

Blog One

I am volunteering at City Collegiate in Georgetown. I had no idea what to expect becuase the charter school is in a nice part of town. The ride over was pretty simple. All I had to do was go down Wisconsin Ave but of course I am bad at navigation. I got on the bus and had no idea how long it would take to get to the school. It was the first time I rode the city bus and I was nervous that I would miss my stop. It turns out that I ended up getting off the bus several blocks past where the charter school was. I also assumed that the building I was looking for would have City Collegiate along the side but even that was wrong. I kept walking past the school but it said the Boys and Girls Club. I looked at the address and noticed that it was the same address I wrote down for City Collegiate. I decided to walk in. Who knew that the building was there the entire time!

So I walk in and walked right into the office. I told them who I was and they were all so nice. They told me to sit down and wait for the principal. I waited for what seemed like forever. Since the school just opened up, I was expecting for them to have so much for me to do. It was the exact opposite and I felt like I was just wasting my time. The principal was too busy so they just told me to go downstairs and walk around their first ever science fair. The kids were so cute and I actually saw some really cool projects. That was fun and all.

After the science fair, they told me to just go to the Afterschool program. I met with the teacher and he told me that one girl has an extreme case of bipolar disorder and the other ADHD. He said that they were both in danger of failing and that the afterschool program was the school's last resort for them. One of the mothers was even threatening to switch her daughter into a new school becuase of her poor grades. He even said that the girls were in danger of entering the special education program. I was just shocked. From everything that I've read so far, charter schools are supposed to be perfect solutions. Looks like they are full of their own problems as well.

Last Blog

How useful you found the blog; Did you enjoy reading other bloggers' responses?
I thought the blog was very useful. It helped me see other points of view from my classmates. I think it is very important to have different points of view on certain topics. I was able to understand how others felt about the DCPS problems and why they felt that way.

Did it help you think through your ideas both for your class essays as well as the CSLP essay?
It did help me to think my ideas for the essays.

5th Blog

Fifth Blog Prompt: Addressing specific aspects of your service experience, how has that experience related to this writing course’s content and purpose? How might this experience and course content be applied to your personal or professional life?

The first person accounts of the state of the DCPS has really helped me understand the purpose of this course further. The content and purpose of this course is to learn about the current state of the DCPS and DCPCS be able to make an expert evaluation of the problems faced by the systems. This semester I learned so much about the DCPS through the books we read in class and the research required for our assignements, but nothing compares to the actual accounts and experiences I had while volunteering. Through the students I was able to learn the reality of the failure of the DCPS. Witnessing the students being frustrated because they were not able to read, infuriated me and showed me the injustices that are occurring to these kids everyday. I will never forget the experience I've had with these students and I think it has helped me realize what I should be doing with my life.
I always wanted to make a difference. For the past for years I thought I would make that difference by putting criminals in jail/prison being a prosecutor, but now I know that as much as I would love to do that, there are more important agendas on my list. The minorities which happen to be the minority in DC are being neglected and change won't occur because nobody really cares if a little black boy or latino boy cannot read. I however, won't allow this injustice to occur and will fight for civil equity. This course content reinforced the things that I already knew; if you are colored, you don't get a fair chance in America and as much as whites try to deny it, racism is at an all time high.

4th Blog

1) Charter schools promote competition with public schools.
I can agree with this statement, but I do not necessarrily agree with its implications. Charter schools are promoting competition with public schools, but it is not good competiton. Like Professor Moomau's example of having firefighters compete in a city, having failing schools compete with each other is not constrcuctive. I do like the concepts of charter schools, they are a very essential and innovative method in education, however, when DCPS students transfer into them because they want to receive a better education they are being trapped by the false image DCPCS are sending. If both systems were yielding good results, then I would be all for a competition amongst the schools, but when they are both failing, I strongly disagree with the competition.

2) Parents, not politicians or school administrators, should be allowed to choose what school their children attend, and should be considered the most qualified to judge this matter.
I do think that parents should be the ultimate force in deciding where their child attends school. I also think that they SHOULD be considered the most qualified to judge this matter. The reality of that, however, is that not all parents are educated enough about school choice decisions to make this decision. Their should be a system implemented to make sure that the parents understand their options and be able to place their child where ever they see fit. Impoverished parents, unlike the wealthy and middle class parents are less educated about the opportunities their children have in education. In theory, the people who gave life and take care of the children should be able to decide where they get education, but the reality is that these parents are not qualified to make this decision.

3) Specialized curricula, not national or even school district curricula, are a preferred way to teach students.
I agree with this statement to a certain extent. With ununiform school systems across the nation, there is no way every student will be on the same page. I think that to educate students, you need a specialized curricula for that group. Not all students are the same, therefore you cannot try to implement the same curricula for everyone. There should be leg room to change the curricula into the needs of the student, however, certain basic concepts should be part of every school curricula.

4) Teacher accreditation is over-valued; school should seek out talented, passionate teachers regardless of their qualifications.
I do not agree with this statement. Education is too important of a task to be left just to talented, passionate teachers without certain qualifications. A lot of the problems in education faced in inner cities and specially charter schools, is that teachers are just sought out on an ambition basis. While I do think it is very important to have teachers who are dedicated and passionate about education, I think it is unfair for students to be taught by people who are not qualified for it.

MY LAST BLOG!!!

Seeing as I posted all my blogs a day before the final for our class, these blogs did not help me think through my ideas. However, they did make me reflect on all that I have done in class and at the charter school this semester. Even though, I did not start writing my blog till last minute, I frequently logged on to read what other students in the class had written. I must say that some blogs are very funny and witty. I enjoyed other people encounters with the charter school. I specifically loved Julie Mills blogs. They were descriptive and deep even though they were written today- SUNDAY, like me! The only suggestion I can think of for next years blogs, is to give out a due date for each blog. The reason for this is so students respond to each blog in a timely manner. I like the idea for writing blogs, and I think it should continue next year.

BLOG # 5

The course was designed to evaluate the DCPS vs. charter school revolution. Volunteering at HOPE gave a better understanding of the growing popularity of charter schools. The problems of the charter schools were brought to light by spending my time at HOPE. Even though, I did not volunteer at DCPS, the research paper we had to do enabled me to judge its condition. From all the research I gathered about the DCPS, mismanagement of funds, rundown facilities, and lack of student progress were common themes. On the contrary, when I talked with Meredith Henne, a school administrator at HOPE, she told me that they receive less funding than the average DCPS school; however, they have brand new facilities that they keep in good condition. The students are in smaller classrooms and show progress on math and reading tests. Going to HOPE every Wednesday truly led me to see how charters are good alternatives when the school administrators, teachers, and parents are encouraging and passionate about student progress. Aside from Mr. Ramiro, and Christina’s second grade teacher Ms. Washington, I think that teachers like Ms. Eckman ( the actual third grade teacher I work with sometimes) make a huge impact on the children and gear them into the right direction for a progressive future.
The experience had made me realize that struggles of the students who attend DCPS. Coming from an excellent public school in Fairfax county, I could not have imagined all the problems the public education institutions our nation’s capital faces. The problems seem endless, and the only alternative I see is charter schools. If all of the budding charter schools make progress like HOPE has in the past two years, then the charter schools seem like the perfect solution.

BLOG # 4

From my visits to Hope Community Charter school, I can attest that charter schools promote competition with public schools. In the case of HOPE, a budding charter school, the students, teachers, and administrators are very passionate about learning. Unlike the public schools which are usually neighborhood schools, charter schools take more time and effort from the parents for their children to attend. The principle, Mr Sanker, was a student of DCPS, and discussed his experience with Christina M. and I. He talked about the atrocities of his DCPS middle school. Fortunately, he received a scholarship to attend a private school for high school. Charter schools are rising in numbers in the District, and in the years to come charters might take over DCPS if the DCPS continues to deteriorate.
Parents should have the ultimate say in where to send their children. The parents should be involved in the decision process for choosing their child’s school because they know what best suits their child’s needs. I know that for HOPE, transportation is not provided. Parents who choose to send their children to charter school are required to drop/pick them up. It is obvious that they are truly involved in their kid’s education.
I think that specialized curricula is tricky because even though it would be better for students in their primary and secondary education, they might have trouble adapting to post-secondary education. In the case of D.C, abysmal reading and math scores would gear the specialized curricula towards below grade level material. When these students gradate high school, any average university’s curriculum might prove to be exceedingly difficult for them to adapt to.
Teacher accreditation is important. The schools should hire teacher based on their qualifications. For example, with my third grade class, the permanent Wednesday substitute is Mr. Ramiro. I do not know why he was hired. He is incompetent in handling the kids in a civil manner. This man is not even passionate about the children. He hands out worksheets, and goes and sits down in Ms. Eckman’s chair. I know he is not a teacher, but he is hired to teach for three hours each Wednesday. I find it frustrating when he is not as helpful when the kids raise their hand. From my personal experience, I think the teacher need to be both passionate and accredited.

Julie Mill’s first blog was about her visit to her assigned charter school. Julie mentioned that she could not distinguish between her school and the office buildings around it. Likewise, when I was walking towards HOPE with Sarah, we passed a residential neighborhood on one side and on the other side were run-down shops and a car garage. Continuing on 8th street as stated in the directions, we saw a building shape like a huge block next to the car garage on the opposite side of the neighborhood. The building had one layer of bricks painted blue at the top, outlining the buildings structure. The tiny playground Julie mentioned was similar to HOPES. The children play on either sides of the building. One side is parking space turned playground, and the other side has a tiny playground on it. The equipment is new; however, the children do not have enough space to run around. It is truly saddening to see this students play on parking lots. As a child, I played on one of the two playgrounds at my school. In addition, I agreed with Julie when she was talking about not helping the children directly. On my first visit, I was told to send out enrollment forms. I did not help in any classrooms. My first experience with the charter school was not a pleasant one, I did not want to return.

BLOG # 2

Nothing I have encountered seems to prove my thesis. Most kids are predominately African American or Hispanic with lower socio-economic backgrounds. On the contrary, I am arguing that charter schools are increasingly integrated and attract middle class families. However, one thing I have noticed is that class sizes are a lot smaller compared to my public school, and it fosters a community-stressed environment. For example, today I worked with fifth grade and there is one Asian student. Being the only Asian in the class does not affect his class-relations. No one treats him differently. They all talk about the same TV shows, or same new songs on the radio. Unlike Ariel’s story, Hope Community Charter is only two years old, and it great condition. Granted a few organization problems, the school is upholding its facilities fairly well. The rooms are nicely organized, the equipment in classroom is working fine, and the condition of the classrooms and the hallways is excellent.

Blog 6

Well, considering that I wrote the blogs two days before they were due, I didn’t find it useful at processing my thoughts. While, the blog did not help me to process my thoughts after every service week, I felt that it gave me the opportunity to hash out a lot of my feelings after I completed service. I wish that I had taken a greater initiative and responded every week because I had so many frustrations and stories that I wanted to tell somebody. I left many of my CSLP experiences wanting to cry. It was difficult to see these students matched with incompetent teachers and college students. On the other hand, it was just as difficult to see the passion and will of teachers who tried so hard but could never impact every student. I think that the blog is a great tool, I only wish I had used it.

Blog 5

My involvement in CSLP allowed me to see the human implications of education policy. So many times, I forget whom I am writing for or the impact of my proposals. Now when I make statements, I am partially basing them off of a classroom or administrative experience. Most importantly, my writing contains a passion and level of necessity. I know that if policies are not changed, the students who will be left behind. As I left CentroNia charter school, I felt that I was leaving the students behind to struggle independently. So many of the kids are far below their intended grade level and do not have the assistance to succeed. It is saddening and frustrating to see their potential but have no way of knowing if they ever reach their abilities.

This course reinforced my love for education and desire to influence education policy. My main passions in the political realm are international relations and education. After taking this course, I hope to work for a lobbying group, the Department of Ed., or the Senate or House Education and Workforce Committees. The state of education is changeable and I feel that policy can make an impact across school districts.

Blog 4

Parents, not politicians or school administrators, have the right, within reason, to chose a school for their children. That considered, all students should be given high performance level schools from which to decide. Thus, even students with uninvolved or uninformed parents are provided with an excellent education.

My motive that I adding “within reason” lies in the amount of control parents have to chose their son or daughter’s education. Parents should be allowed to teach their students preposterous and mind warping statements. This was especially relevant in the movie Jesus Camp where students were home schooled in curriculum dismissing global warming and evolution. These students were never offered another point of view and misinformed. All parents should have the right to chose a school if the curriculum and environment meet certain expectations.

Parents that chose a school for their children are more likely to be involved in their children’s education. If you look at the amount of volunteers in public versus charter school, the numbers generally indicate an increase in parental involvement in charter schools. Thus, the parents are interested in knowing what their children are learning and want to assist in the educational development of their children. Children need academic assistance either at home with homework or through another outlet. Only involved parents know how best to meet the needs of their children. Thus, charter schools are the bets at enlisting their services.

If I lived in the District and had a son or daughter, I would want to know that they are receiving an excellent education. I would never allow my child to step foot in a school like Ballou for both safety and educational purposes. Furthermore, if the school closest to me was failing or unsafe, I would send my child to a private school or move before letting them receive that caliber of education. Parents can step foot in a classroom or school and immediately recognize if the school will met the needs of his/ her child. They know their child and how they face social and education settings. Some children require additional assistance or can only learn by certain methods, if these services are not provided than the chances of success and graduation are slim. Parents know their children best, they should chose.

Blog 3

On Thursday February 22, Nicholas posted his first blog. He addressed the building size and the small class size. After trying to lead a group of thirty students in a recycling workshop, small class sizes sound particularly attractive. While attempting to teach a lesson, I was interrupted by questions and comments. This lost the focus of the class and my train of thought. Additionally, it is difficult to point the class in a new direction when two students are in a headlock on the floor. This requires me to physical remove the two students off of each other. At the same time, two students make bathroom requests or assignment questions. Forced into this environment without teacher support, is overwhelming. I have no idea how teachers can deal with a specific problem while leading a class. Furthermore, how can you fully identify the success of students or best help them reach their potential. Every student deserves one-on-one time and the necessary assistance; this is virtually impossible within a thirty-student classroom. I sympathize with teachers and now fully comprehend the importance of small class sizes.

Blog 2

My essay focuses on the role of the Board of Education in the current problems facing the DCPS. Since the Board is the primary policymaking and oversight body of the DCPS, the members should be held accountable for the current state of education. My main question is why schools that continually fall below guidelines remain opened and unchanged? Many schools in the DCPS need additionally assistance to be successful; instead they fall to the sidelines. Changes need to be made and the Board must ensure that their policy decisions reach the students. While my experience at the charter school has been enlightening to the problems facing many families, the charter schools are not the responsibility of the Board. While I fully believe that charter schools require additional oversight, the system that they currently function under is much more effective than the DCPS. Requiring the charter schools to be evaluated under the DCPS is ineffective until comprehensive reforms occur. Eventually, the entire school system should be overseen together to evaluate the best path for success. That looks like a glimpse in the far future.

While the evidence from charter schools does not directly assist the development of my paper, looking at the homes and attitudes of the students gives me insight into urban life. In my first and second visits to the school, I had the opportunity to evaluate the classroom environment and the administrative side. Stuffing letters in the office allowed me to overhear conversations between the secretaries and with parents. One that was especially upsetting involved a custody dispute. The father called into the school requesting pickup of his children. He claimed that at a trial earlier in the day, the judge granted him full custody. The office stated they required a letter from the judge to turn over his children. They were baffled as to why the judge would give permission to an unemployed and drug addicted parent when the mother was employed, involved, and would give her life for her children. Fortunately, the mother came to pickup her children and was told of the encounter with the father. Alarmed, the mother immediately wanted to know if her children were on campus. The mother had received custody of the children in court that morning. Fortunately, the children were still in school and the administration was careful who to release the children to. Stories of destructive parents were openly told in the office in addition to poverty and hunger issues. While I never saw office life from the perspective of a suburban, successful school district, I imagine the calls to be completely different. Only the precision of the office guarantees the safety of the students. If this was not the case, as I assume it is not at many schools, children could be kidnapped.

The attitude and personality of the students was very different from that of my kids at summer camp. They had a tendency to talk back not only to each other but also to the teacher. Being kind just didn’t fly. Students took advantage of positive reinforcement of behavior and only paid attention or aligned under strict rules. The strictness of the teachers alarmed me; I could not believe their harshness. Only later, did I realize that they only registered a response if teachers used a strict tone. They made fun of each other when answers were given incorrectly; the teachers enforced such peer pressure. I felt that this hindered the self-esteem and lead to less class participation. The most distressing part of the day revolved around the playground. Teachers sat back while students played a quasi-tag. This tag involved tackling each other onto the ground and hitting or punching. I had to break up too many fights without the assistance or response from faculty. How can a teacher stand back and nonchalantly watch this treatment? Where did these students learn to play violently? Was it the environment of southeast DC or the mass amounts of inappropriate TV? The students in elementary school watched MTV and a vast array of PG13 or R rated movies. They mimicked the actions of these actors. Watching their behavior was distressing, I tried to be positive and assist in mediations instead of violence. At the end of the day, I felt that my attempts were ineffective.

Blog 1

Walking towards the address, I could not distinguish the school from the surrounding office buildings. Only a sign pointed me in the right direction. The entire school was centered in one building. This was very different than the experiences of my childhood. My elementary school had vast playgrounds and a series of classrooms looking out into school gardens and a city park. Although, this was not a typical school building the classrooms had the materials required for student success. Every classroom was equipped with alphabet mats and posters emphasizing scientific and historical concepts or events. They were inviting and surrounded with proud student work. In the hallways, there were paper mosaics completed by students.

Taking a tour of the building, I was surprised by the specialization teachers. There was a music and art teacher and on Wednesday afternoons dance instructors embarrassed pop culture. The emphasis on performing arts was surprising considering the cutting of such courses throughout California. While the excelled in their area, there is no library and a tiny playground. The playground is packed with students running into each other and getting routinely injured. The school currently has plans to expand the playground area.

On my first trip, my experience of classroom life extended to peering through windows and being introduced to teachers. I had no grasp of the level of education being taught. From the classroom environment and setup, I felt that I was unneeded. All they wanted me to do was stuff letters and file. They felt their students did not require my assistance. The previous day, I was talking to one of my friends who volunteers at CentroNia. The students cannot read or comprehend where they live. I had the intention of entering a rundown school that desperately needed the assistance of tutors. This was not the case; I left convinced that I would never return. Why should I be helping these children, when so many more need my assistance?

Fifth Blog

Fifth Blog Prompt: Addressing specific aspects of your service experience, how has that experience related to this writing course’s content and purpose? How might this experience and course content be applied to your personal or professional life?

I feel that working in the field with these students wakes one up from a lot of the ideologies about the education system. That if you put students teachers and books together the outcome is not always a successful student. My experience didn’t surprise me really. I knew that these kids where coming from bad homes and from parents who had made some big mistakes in their lives. Working with those often seen at the bottom of society, I have gotten to know how resilient people can be; this is often not a product of their spirit but of circumstance. That if one doesn’t know of anything better, how can one really expect anything more? The kids I worked with were not the brightest, but they did have one outstanding characteristic, they appreciated you, every kind word, smile, gesture, anything. I knew I was a glimpse into another world for them, which is why they watched me so closely. They ask where I went to school I told them American University most replied with a “where’s that”? Although in the main hall reads a banner “We are college bound at Potomac Lighthouse”. I really do wonder what will be the outcome of these kids. Will Tikjuan go to college, will he even graduate high school or will he end up in jail like his father. What will Mice’l do? His mother is so irresponsible. He knows more about the street than he does about literature, art math or science; can he rise above it This is why I put forward the idea of the school board being a powerful entity, to ensure that students are taken care of. The charter schools did influence my writing some on learns the lingo quickly. What I am going to take away from this semester is that we can’t hide from the problems of the world from behind our ivory curtains. People become numb to the struggle of the poor because they don’t understand what it means. We cant look at those at the bottom with distain , we should feel apathy.

MY first BLOG.

Even though, I visited my school Hope Community Charter way back in February, I still remember my first day. Sarah and I got off the CUA- Brookland Metro and walked a good 15 minutes to the school.. We finally got to the school and met with Meredith Henne, the school administrator. Meredith Henne was rather sweet and understanding when we arrived 20 minutes late. Arriving into the school, my initial reaction was why am I here? The school seemed to be in great condition with happy children. The hallways were covered with artwork of the kids, making them colorful, ultimately, creating inviting learning environment. I was hoping to help in the classroom, but Meredith Henne had other plans. She explained to us that the school was very disorganized and she needed help sending out enrollment forms. The first day, I sent out enrollment forms. It was quite disappointing. Heading to school with thoughts of working with younger children, I came out without feeling fulfilled. I really had thought that I was going to be a teacher aid, helping the students with their worksheets or projects. We didn’t even tour the building during our first visit because we were late. We sat in a conference room, stuffing envelopes with enrollment form. I had no desire to do office work; however, it ended up that way.

And it comes to an End.

The blog was a nice way to share with other people in the class our experiences in the CSLP. I enjoyed reading other peoples’ responses, especially Peggy’s because we often worked together and reading her’s gave a different view on the same things that I experienced.

The only real complain I have about the blog is that since we all were going at different times and the Next Step group was so delayed, the “fourth” post for us came way later than the “forth” post for other people, so we started to feel behind but really we didn’t have anything to say since we hadn’t visited our schools lately…

One of the blog prompts should have been “read the response below you and respond using your own experiences” or something- because I tended to read other people’s but then the prompt never really gave me a way to respond to theirs.

As Peggy said, I hope other people will find this blog and find it useful. I think you should definitely tell your future classes about previous years’ blogs so that they can use our views in their papers.

All in all, great experience- I’m really glad I did CSLP as it helped IMMENSELY with my papers for this class. I really got to become a member of the Next Step community and they were really sad to see me go when I said good-bye yesterday.

Blog #6- Brainstorming, Blogging, Bon Voyage

CSLP blogging has been beneficial. Sharing experiences provided grounds for further understanding of the current DCPS system. Even though reading about a problem in a school such as leaky plumbing or lack of supplies in the paper or in class was surprising to me, it seemed distant. However, communicating with a professor, teacher, or an administrator, hearing them tell me about what they are experiencing, brought the urgency of the problems closer to me. This blog allowed me to relay the information and hopefully bring the issue or a different aspect of the problem to another classmate.

To me, the blog is a virtual document. I hope one will stumble upon this Web site in a few years or even a decade and view it as beneficial. Personally, the blog was helpful in brainstorming ideas. Specifically, the fourth prompt jolted some of my experiences at these schools, which would be helpful in my evaluation of the school. In the first essay, however, I found the charter school I worked at was only useful in comparing experiences at public schools. Since the essay focused only on DCPS, it was difficult to marry the two types of schools together equally. Overall, this was a new experience that will always have a place in my mind.

Final Post

I have found the blog a very useful tool for expressing my experience at CAPCS. Many of the questions, have made me reflect on experiences that i would not have thought of, or at least tried to put into words. Like my Blog on if i thought the school was working. If not prompted by that blog i would not have never really thought about if i thought the Charter school was achieving its goals.
The only suggestion I have for the blog is that instead of a essay for the extra credit there should be more blogs. Maybe one a week, with people talking more about their experiences at the school week to week. It may mean shorter responses, but there might be more interesting stories as students in the program talk about what they learned from their experience at the school they are volunteering at week to week.

Final blog

I agree with my friend Julia there. I liked the concept of a blog in the abstract, but I think there would have been a better virtual attendance rate if we just had a “forum” of sorts on blackboard. On the blog, it was unclear how to find your- Mr. Moomau’s- assignment post. On blackboard, each post is clear because the new question is posted by the teacher and then the students respond. Also, on blackboard there can be a clearer schedule because you can see what time people have posted their responses. I think it’s important to have something like the blog, or a place to discuss our experiences because they are not only entertaining, but also informative for the people who are working at different schools. Okay. That is all.

Final Post: Blog Evaluation

I think the blog was a noble idea, but I would have liked to see it on Blackboard. In my other classes, we use blackboard as a discussion forum and it was equally, if not more, user friendly. I often had difficulties signing onto the blog, and the formatting of a long list of entries (instead of individual links and threads) made reading other people's observations appear daunting. But I did like hearing about other people's experiences, as well as writing about my own. Another positive of Blogger.com is that it creates a more informal forum than Blackboard to discuss our experiences and, as a result, I was often more candid and honest. Overall, I liked the idea of sharing our experiences on an online forum. However, I think Blackboard would be a better choice.

Fifth Blog Prompt: Addressing specific aspects of your service experience, how has that experience related to this writing course’s content and purpose? How might this experience and course content be applied to your personal or professional life?

Since I chose charter schools as my research paper, my service experience gave me an inside look on what I was investigating. Through viewing the inadequate Boy and Girls Club facility at City Collegiate, I realized the importance of co-location between charter and DCPS schools. Because City Collegiate is in its first year, I saw difficulties and disorganization that was often discouragin. But I also talked with staff, especially Principal Hedlund, who really care and know their students. Overall, I saw the drawbacks and positives of charter schools. And as a previous charter school "agnostic," I can now say that I am a charter school convert.

Although my observations of the charter schools were worthwhile, my actual work at City Collegiate was not. The teacher I worked for was often rude and never said thank you. Each week, she forgot I was coming and hastily assigned me tasks like reorganizing the science equipment or rearranging her desk. Often, I felt like I was helping her get home from work early, not contributing to the kids' learning. Yet, this experience taught me to be patient and humble. Although I felt qualified for more meaningful tasks like tutoring the kids, I had to accept the tasks I was given. While they were often monotonous and boring, I realized that every little bit helps. City Collegiate is very disorganized. At least I could help it operate more smoothly.

last post

My experience has been pretty similair to others' experiences with the blog. It was definately difficult to navigate in the beginning...it took me twenty minutes just to figure out how to sign on and post a response. After the first couple of posts, it was obviously much easier and more enjoyable. I really liked reading fellow CSLP responses and it was fun comparing my experiences at Lighthouse with theirs. Overall, I think the blog assignment was great.

Blog Eval

I have a love-hate relationship with the Blog system. The first few blog experiences, I forgot my account name and password so I kept creating new ones and it took me a while to figure out how to post a new blog.

I liked some of the blog-prompts and I liked how often new one's were posted. Considering I wrote my CSLP essay when I went to respond to the 5th prompt- for me it was was useful. However, as Elise mentioned chatting with our peers really truly is very helpful, less time consuming, and well... more enjoyable!

Overall, the Blog wasn't the worst but it also wasn't the best form of communication, as I think we're all trying to catch up because of all our other work. :D

HAVE A GREAT SUMMER EVERYONE!

Blog Post 5

The students at City Collegiate are all former DCPS students, and their skills are behind grade level. I’ve also noticed that students are very under motivated, so CC teachers and admin go to great efforts to have students enjoy learning and reward them for their accomplished goals.

This class and my experiences at City Collegiate made me realize how fortunate I was to receive a great education. Also, I’ve become more aware about the current state of DC and our nation’s education system, and in the future I will look to elect policymakers willing to do something about the issues that face our country and its students.

Sorry this posting is so vague. The first time I sat to write a response I wrote my whole CSLP essay :-D.

Fifth Post

In many instances during my CSLP experience I have found myself connecting a situation to what we have been learning in class. For instance, while reading The Shame of a Nation by Kozol I took particular notice to the standardized testing going on at my charter school. I found it interesting that my school put such an emphasis on standardizing testing even though they are a charter school. They had countdowns on the walls in the hall that counted the days until the SAT-9, and all we worked on with our third grade students was practice tests and concepts that are on the test. Kozol pointed out in his book that such an emphasis on standardized testing may harm the students in the long run.
I have also notice the racial issues that we have discussed in class. The lack of diversity was the first thing I noticed in my charter school. The first day that we visited The Potomac Lighthouse Public Charter school they gave us a tour of every classroom. As I walked from class to class I realized that all but maybe two or three students, in the entire school, were African-American. With every visit the emphasis on race became even more apparent. All the students asked if Kait and I were sisters and I believe this had to do with the fact that we were both white. I became most aware of my race when one little boy saw us walking down the stairs and he stated, “oh no, white people.” This is when I realized how important integration is to our school system, without it students will never be able to look past others’ skin color.
These are only two of the many circumstances where our class work has directly correlated to my experience at Potomac Lighthouse.

Last Prompt

This blog has been very interesting. I have enjoyed responding and reading other students’ blogs. As interesting as it’s been however, I have found it very confusing. It is hard to find the prompts and navigate through the blogs. I think it has been informational to learn about other schools and students’ experiences but it was hard to find my prior post to keep track of what I had done. Had it been organized differently I think this blog system would have been a really good tool. I particularly liked the prompt you gave that involved responding to a classmates post because it forced us to read the others posts. This is when I realized how interesting their posts really were, and how their experiences compared to mine. All in all I think the blog was a good idea.

Final Post

To be honest I did not really find the blog to be that helpful towards my final papers. The most useful thing for me was just talking with my group about our experiences. Since I always went to my school with a group we usually discussed our experiences while traveling. To me this was more valuable. I was only in one classroom for most of my time at Butler so talking with others was helpful towards understanding the school better. The blog itself was interesting because reading about others experiences at their schools was fascinating. Hearing their stories and experiences has given me a better perspective of the system in general.

I don't have any sugestions for next year, other than maybe encouraging volunteers to travel in groups so they can discuss their experiences with the other volunteers from their school. Sharing my experiences with the whole group was great, but it was even better to share my experiences with the people who understood the school as well as I did. I found that I got the best feedback and ideas from my group, so thanks guys!

Fourth Post

Although most advocates of charter schools claim that charter schools force traditional public schools to improve because of competition, this has been proven not to be the case for D.C. The money lost to charter schools adds to the deterioration of the traditional public schools, not the incentive to improve. Traditional public schools have been forced to cut programming and lay off teachers; but it is not as easy as just laying off one teacher because no one grade may lose enough students to justify this. Facilities continue to fall apart and traditional schools have failed to show improvement. The real question is not whether or not competition has benefited traditional public schools but rather what are we trying to achieve by creating separate systems of education? Some children are left in run-down buildings with less programming and teachers, while others get to go to new facilities with smaller classes. Is this fair? I do not think so. With test scores failing to prove that charter schools are making any leaps and bounds educationally it seems more fit to renovate the traditional public school system. If improvements were made to the traditional public schools these two separate systems could come together to benefit all the students. It is difficult for me to make any comparisons to my school on this topic, as I am in a charter school, but I have been able to see how these separate systems greatly benefit some children and leave other in the dust.

Last Blog Prompt

Thanks for participating in the CSLP Blog this semester. As a final prompt, I'd like you evaluate (briefly) how useful you found the blog. Did it help you think through your ideas both for your class essays as well as the CSLP essay? Did you enjoy reading other bloggers' responses? Do you have any suggestions about how to use this blog more effectively or creatively?
Remember, CSLP essays and time sheets (stapled together) are due by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 7. Thanks for your service to our community partners!

Blog 4- Charter Competition

Charter schools promote competition with traditional schools by creating a market of free, public education. (One could also argue that private, home-schooling, and religious education also creates a competitive market; however, these schools require monetary contributions—thus forming a different level of education that may not be accessible for all families; namely, the poor.)

By providing another free alternative, dissatisfied parents can move their child to a charter school. Parents may be attracted to specific programs offered (such as Bilingual program or a math/science focus), they may want a smaller community that provides more individualized attention, or a charter may advocate values that the parents support.

In the case of DC, the public schools are so weak that more and more students are enrolling at charter schools—increasing their demand (and overtime, increasing their supply). This explains why the District of Columbia has a growing number of charter schools, which serve approximately 25% of the District’s students. As this need for charters increases, the public schools are losing students, decreasing their demand and depleting their funding. This market atmosphere (the gain/loss of students—or consumers) pressures public schools to improve facilities, provide extra programs, hire better teachers… in order to keep current and attract new students.

In DC, it is not clear whether charter schools are forcing DCPS schools to improve; however, Superintendent Janey released a statement to the Washington Post that he intends to produce a ‘master plan’ for traditional schools in response to the pressures of the growing charter community. So, some steps are being made toward improvement because of this competitive education market.

Fifth Post

So I've been really bad about posting of late, but here is fifth response:

Working at the charter school has allowed me to see first hand the topics we discuss in class. You can hear "a high percentage of DCPS students are far below grade level and many drop-out" but it does not have the same affect as watching a 19 year old student struggle reading a 5th grade level book, or seeing an 18 year old student be confused with adding negative numbers. It's hard to really grasp the reality of the problem without seeing the people who have become the statistics.
Most of my experience tutoring and teaching has been children who are either new to the country or catholic school over-achievers. I had never before worked with students who the system had completely left behind. Even when I was tutoring spanish-speaking low-income children, they program I worked at was in place to keep those children at grade level, and keep them from becoming like the children at the Next Step.
I plan to teach someday, probably as a second or third career (studies show that our generation will have something like four careers), and working at the Next Step helped me to see how important it is to be able to be flexible about teaching technique, and how important it is to be able to work with students individually. Also, how important it is to teach to a student in his/her native language. I know the constitution has never upheld it, but I really believe that for at their first year in the school system, students should learn the curriculum in their native language and take classes in English. I know it's extremely expensive and with some languages, really not pheasible, but if it keeps a child from dropping out and eventually being homeless, is it not worth it?

Post 5

I think the relationship between community service and research is very strong and they both play off of each other. My experiences in the community helped to clarify and focus my research for out major paper. Using personal testimony also strengthened my arguments in the major paper and in my letter to Mayor Fenty. I also felt I was better able to relate to arguments Kozol and Cashin were making. I also had a pool of experience from which pull critical views of what the Kozol, Cashin, and the other students in the class were saying about education.

My focus in school is sociology and education studies. I plan to be working with education issues for my career, so my experiences I have had with M.O.M.I.E.S. TLC and Turing the Page, and the volunteer experiences I will have in the future, are a valuable part of the knowledge base I will need to serve education organizations. The research I did for the course has also helped me highlight some of the key issues in education. Personally I think it is a great experience to work with kids and adults that have very different backgrounds that what I had experienced growing up in semi-rural Wisconsin. I think I will always be more conscious of the different lenses people may have as I work with people.

#4- Charter School Theroy

I think the openness charter schools have towards teacher accreditation is a dangerous policy to have. While I agree that talent and passion is important—especially in schools in poor urban areas such as in DC—it is also important to ensure that teachers have the correct training to teach kids effectively. On my trip to Next Step I was asked to explain math concepts that I had absolutely no idea how to explain. I definitely have passion for helping kids and many talents, but I have not received the type of training needed to effectively train concepts to the kids. There are many classroom instruction strategies that would be necessary to know—especially for kids who are already struggling. If charter schools choose to hire teachers who may not have adequate training, they need to provide some type of training or require the continuing education of their teachers.

Common ground with the weak

I have done a majority of my work in a homeless shelter at an after school childcare program with about 18 students of the DCPS. I think the experience with the worst of the worst children is what has opened my eyes to the real world problems not only of education, but as well poverty. There was one week where the other leaders and I could not stop the children from hitting each other. I took several of the guys into a room and let them punch a pillow I was holding for 25 minutes. I made them yell and scream why they were angry and with every punch made them say another way to take out there anger. I felt as with doing this that I was alleviating some of their daily stress. If I could do this at the after school program, my thoughts were that I was hopefully preventing more fights from entering the DCPS that week.
It is moments like this that stick with me through out my week as well. When I got over to the homeless shelter (Community of Hope) on Wednesdays I transform. I act as though I’m one of them. I act as though I’m not traveling back to the rich white side of town. I speak the slang with these children. I talk about real issues and use their language, and let them get away with just about anything, besides harming their lives. This is because I want to establish a bond. A bond that white and black and rich and poor can help each other learn about the world. I have had fun learning about how to be accepted by this culture of Ebonics and poverty that I’m in pursuit of understand.
The experiment I tried when I first got there was one that has taught me how to learn about and interact with people. The children do homework in two groups. I approached the first group speaking proper English, and telling them “no” you can’t do this or that and acting almost as you would envision one of those babysitters that has never broken a rule (strict, rude, superior). From them I got a nasty eye roll or two and they proceeded to tell me “no” they didn’t have homework or they didn’t want help. Next, I approached the second group as a “brother” as someone who they could connect with. I greeted them: “Yo, yall gots any homework dats due dis week?” and shock hands with one or two as though I had some gang affiliation on the street corner. Let’s say the second group still to this day always says: “We want mister Alexx to work with us!”
It’s about building common ground with anyone and everyone. We’re all human and we need to learn to work together. I think this example is just one of several and I could write several more that fit into this category for my CSLP essay. The community service factor comes into play when you’re in the middle of your paper buried deep in statistics and quotes about these “children”. You think for just a second outside the box and remember them as people that you connected with, not a figure. This helped me to add passion to my writing and allowed me to think outside the basics. The volunteering of course adds basic drive behind writing these letters and allows us to have more passion in our writing. Overall it will remind me in the future that as I study economics and pursue a job in the world of commerce and law, that the little people are just as important in the society. There is a famous quote that says something along the lines of “Your Greatness is measured in the way you treat those that are not great”. I think this holds true in our situation and is something that we all must remember and take home from the CSLP.

post 5

My volunteer work at community academy public charter school has taught me a lot about the difficulties of educating children. So, many of the kids in the class come from working class families that are just trying to get buy. Their parents want them to do there best but do not always have the time to help them. So, at six they are on their own to make sure that they do there work and go to bed early when they have a test.
The teacher has to work around this and the distributive students. in first grade many illnesses like ADHD have not been diagnosed yet. The teacher has to work with these students, though they have no medicine to help them. This takes away time with working with they other students, and distracts the class.
I have also learned that these kids have a lot of pressure on them. They have to make sure they know all their spelling works and can read at grade level. This last week they had to prepare for the national standardized tests. when taking a practice test many of them where not able to read the questions, and if they could sound the word out did not know what it meant. I could see that many of them became frustrated and stopped trying because they felt bad that they did not know what was going on in the test. These schools do the best they can, but many kids come in behind. they have only just started to read, and write. They are expected to teach them to a standard these kids can not reach in such a short time and it makes most of the kids frustrated with learning. It seems that these kids want to learn, but some feel like they are not good enough to get things done.

response to #2

So my CSLP experience has been a little abnormal, because I ended up switching schools since they couldn't use me on the day I could come to Hope Community. So now I go to Potomac Lighthouse, and it's great. I've learned a lot at both schools that can help me in my paper. At Hope Community, I spent one day alphabetizing free and reduced lunch forms for the students at the school. There were almost as many forms as there are students, showing that most of the students at the school live in poverty. My paper is about the parental role in education, especially when the family is poor, minority, or has broken homes. At Potomac Lighthouse, I've been doing a lot of one-on-one tutoring with the children, and so I've gotten to have a lot of personal conversations with them. Last week, I talked to a seven year old boy who lives with his mom, two brothers, and grandmother. He shares a bed with his two brothers, and every once in a while visits his dad in jail. When he goes home from school, he is in charge of his little brothers until his mom comes home from work. I heard similar stories from the other children I've worked with, and it is obvious that these children are growing up with burdens that most of us did not have to carry. I hope to use some of these stories in the second paper, the proposal letter.

Potomac Lighthouse Has Taught Me A Lot

Tutoring at Potomac Lighthouse has definately helped me with our college writing seminar course. Being able to have many accounts of hands on experience has given more insight into many issues surrounding the D.C. charter schools. Because my first paper was about the D.C.P.S, the charter school experience didn't really help me write that particular paper; but, I had a lot of fun doing it. Now, for this third project, I can write with more knowledge. I have visited the school many times and I feel like I have more than enough information to develop a good paper.
As for my professional life, I will certainly take everything I'v learned at the charter school and apply it to my job. This will be very easy to do because I am going to be a teacher. While observing different classes from my time there, I've learned a lot from the teachers and students. I have a better sense of what may be effective and what may not. For example, something that I've seen work at the school is the "traffic light" system. Each student has a traffic light that indicates their behavior--it basically means green for good, yellow for average, and red for bad. I've noticed that these students pride themselves on their color, and thus their behavior. That's something that I may use in my own classroom someday.

Post #5 DCPS-Unfit, Unstable, and Unqualified

Writing about the DCPS has expanded my lens. Reading from books, one notices staggering statistics, such as, the number of students in DCPS that are minorities, number of schools that have unfit facilities, and number of teachers who are not certified to educate. The deficiencies in DCPS do not stem from one source and there is no simple solution. Volunteering has physically shown me student academic deficiencies at play.

On Saturday, when asked about student achievement on standardized exams at West Elementary, the principal told me that the school used to be one of the higher performing schools. However, with the new standardized tests, they are underperforming. I was told that because of budget cuts, classes such as Physical Education, Arts, and Reading have been cut. With the federal government pouring money into the school system every year, it is astounding to me that schools are unable to get the funding they need for basic classes.

It is a vicious cycle. Schools do not get funding or are completely eliminated if they fail standardized tests. Schools cannot perform well if they eliminate classes. The school administrators, school board, cannot account for where funding is leading to. Shrouded in secrecy, the bureaucracy is suffocating its students.

Post #4: Parents and Choice

" 2) Parents, not politicians or school administrators, should be allowed to choose what school their children attend, and should be considered the most qualified to judge this matter. "

In a perfect world, parents would be the most qualified judges of where their child should attend school. However, the world is far from perfect. The statement above assumes that every parent is involved in their child's education, but it fails to take into account an important fact: many parents aren't. In the District of Columbia, poverty is a problem. Many parents work multiple jobs and don't have time to research charter schools or join the PTA. Even more, in Washington, D.C. where graduation rates dip below 60%, many don't have an education themselves. How can people who don't have an education judge education? Finally, and the perhaps someone will debate this, many parents just don't care.
Traditional public education in DC is terrible, and I agree that charter schools are a necessary option. However, I believe they cater to the privileged students whose parents can care. In result, charter schools leave behind the students whose parents 1)are economically unable to take time to review schools 2) are undereducated and can't determine a quality school 3) don't care enough.

post # 5

My experience at the Next Step Charter School has provided me with a ‘real life’ example of a charter school with a positive impact on the DCPS reform movement. Due to its specificity, small student body, and financial position, Next Step has created an environment where kids feel comfortable learning. Our class focused on the ability to think critically about pubic schools and my paper topic involved an examination of a type of charter school that really should not exist. Next Step demonstrated a type of charter school that does have a positive effect in a very tangible way. I was always impressed by how eager to learn the students seemed to be and by their lack of hesitation to ask a question. To facilitate that kind of environment with a group of teenage kids is a huge challenge. One thing that I really think about a lot, in terms of something that remains an issue for Next Step and for public schools in general is the question of what happens next. Several times I talked to teachers and the community service coordinator about what Next Step provides for the kids in terms of college application advice or employment searches…basically if there was anything they do to help kids get on their way in the future. Their vague answers made me realize that this was a huge issue that must be addressed. There is no point in bringing these students so far in their education if the school will just loose track of them after graduation. It is so important to help kids plan for what they will do after school, and keep in touch with alumni to make sure they are off on the right foot. If there were to be any personal issue or endeavor that I would pursue after witnessing this program, the Next Step into the ‘real world’ would be it.

Fifth Post

I have found volunteering to be extremely helpful towards this course. I can't tell you how many ideas for my papers have come out of my experience. Being a part of CSLP has been a great asset. By being directly involved in the school system has given be a perspective that I would not have been able to have if I was only researching the situation. I am emotionaly invested in these students and their welfare, and because of this I am even more interested and determined to make the situation better for them.

Even though I am a business major I have always been interested in working with children, and in the past even considered becoming a teacher. As sad as this may seem, my experience in the schools has made me happy that I am not becoming a teacher. As much as I love children, I would not want to be responsible for twenty or so student's education. Being a teacher is an enormous responsiblity and is extremely difficult. I know that I want to continue my involvement in public schools, but as a volunteer.

Blog Response #3: Response to Elise's Charters Create Choice

I was shocked by Elise's post discussing Community Academy's abandoment of its bilingual curriculmn. Charter schools are approved based on the curricular nuances they contribue to the educational community. Community Academy's charter was approved with the belief it would teach Spanish and English, and it failed. In my opininon, since Community Academy is failing to fulfill its promises its charter should be removed. It is unfair to make a promise, fail to deliver and then be allowed to continue operating on a new, less innovative, promise.
After reading Elise's post, I took to Google to research which authorizer oversees Community Academy. I was not surprised by the results: the Board of Education. Through my research, I have found ample evidence demonstrating the Board of Education's poor oversight of its schools. The BOE often provides distracted oversight and leaves prolonged problems unaddressed. Elise mentioned that Community Academy is 3 years old. The fact that, even after three years, the Board of Education never addressed the bilingual problem proves it has no business in charter school oversight.

Response to Post # 2

For my essay "Innovation In Need of Collaboration," I could have discussed the facilities at City Collegiate. Although City Collegiate is in a nice section of Georgetown, it is in a Boys and Girls Club that is poorly suited for learning. The classrooms are in the basement of the building, and there are only two classroooms for the entire school. City Collegiate plans on growing. Frankly, in its limited space, I don't see how it can. Also, even when school is in session people who use the Boys and Girls club have access to the game room. This is not only distracting but dangerous. Even though there is a security guard on duty, its an unsettling to see strangers coming as going as they please in a school full of twelve-year-olds.
This evidence could support my claim that DCPS needs to share more if its excess space with DCPS schools. When 35% of the DCPS is vacant, why is City Collegiate in the Basement of a Boys and Girls club? City Collegiate has a lot of potential. But if it doesn't find a facility to support its growth and foster learning, it will never succeed.

Fifth Blog Post Prompt

I appreciate the depth of your responses, and for someone who is stuck in the classroom when he would really also like to be out in the field with you, I get to vicariously experience your work. I know I've said this before, but your work really becomes visible to me through your posts.
For the fifth post, I'm giving you one of the prompts for the CSLP essay. A post on this prompt will allow some of you to decide if you want to write a longer version for the essay.
Fifth Blog Prompt: Addressing specific aspects of your service experience, how has that experience related to this writing course’s content and purpose? How might this experience and course content be applied to your personal or professional life?

Post #4 Investigating Charter School Theory

1) Charter schools promote competition with public schools.
Not necessarily. Students are working towards a GED at Next Step, whereas, in the DCPS students are striving for a high school diploma. They do not take the same exams. Students at Next Step are not competing with students in DCPS in exams.
In addition, like any other school, there is a diversity of students. Some students choose to work hard and complete their step. Others prefer to work at a snail’s pace.
At Next Step, students are not told that they must “beat” the students at DCPS. Vice versa, I don’t believe DCPS students are told that either. Sometimes I feel that it’s simply a factor in a tug-of-war between political supporters of DCPS or charter schools. Not necessarily affecting a student’s academic progress.

2) Parents, not politicians or school administrators, should be allowed to choose what school their children attend, and should be considered the most qualified to judge this matter.
It is a fact that many DCPS classes are overcrowded and is hard for a teacher to keep up with every student. If parents are aware of their child’s academic needs, they should be given the opportunity to choose what school their child attends. At Next Step, parents who know their child would not be able to keep up with a majority English-speaking public schools, should be allowed to send their child to a bilingual school.

3) Specialized curricula, not national or even school district curricula, are a preferred way to teach students.
Each student deserves individual attention. Specialized curricula may or may not be beneficial to a student’s academic success. Yet, considering the ineffectiveness of national and school district curricula, it may be necessary to implement it.

4) Teacher accreditation is over-valued; school should seek out talented, passionate teachers regardless of their qualifications.
Teacher accreditation is physical proof that a teacher is knowledgeable in the subject they are teaching. A good teacher should be a combination of both.

Post #3 Reflections on an Old Post

When I walked into Ms. Glory’s Step 3 Math class on Friday, I saw a life size coordinate graph. Duct tape stretched vertically and horizontally across the room represented the x and y-axis. Pieces of string represented the spaces. One student stood at the end of the y, and another at the end of x. Each of those two students had a die. The rule of the game was no speaking. In the activity, the x student rolled the die, then the y student rolled the second die. Miss Glory went first. She moved X number of steps right and Y number of steps up. The other students in class followed suit.

Kait’s post about incorporating visual aid to help stimulate student interest specifically with Picasso reminded me of what I saw on Friday. In fact, it made me go as far back as elementary/ middle school when I first learned about coordinate geometry. Coordinate geometry was tough. I wish I had my own version of Ms. Glory.

Each student understood the concept by the end of the activity. Ms. Glory, who doesn’t speak Spanish herself, was able to convey coordinate geometry to students without using any language. The activity was impressive.

Blog Post 4

The idea that there is a reforming nature to the competition between the charter schools and the DCPS is highly unlikely, since the DCPS has not improved since they began operation. In fact the DCPS have been worse of academically and are now try to compete against charter school for resources that could be used to improve older and failing DCPS schools. Competition against charters is impossible for the DCPS because of the parents the customs in this new market oriented competition are bias against DCPS because of its past operation and the misinformed belief that charters are somehow more prestigious and academically superior to their DCPS counter parts.
I also don’t think that parents especially in DC are capable of making the right decision for their children and society. I feel that a public education should be controlled by the public and that although the school system is flawed it can be set up to ensure that all students are able to achieve at least a decent education for technical school or college. Because in reality there is little jobs left for those with only labor skills. Integration is important to the success of urban schools it allows them to have parents who are involved in the school, able to use the resources of upper class suburbanites and allowing their students the upward mobility that urban schools often lack. Unfortunately as outlined by Cashin American society is extremely segregated and this has been underscored by the infrastructure and economics of cities, the fastest and most effective way to undo this segregation is by using the integration techniques that have made the South one of the most integrated regions in the country. Public education should benefit society and promote economic mobility; not to keep some groups more competitive and not to disenfranchise minorities and the poor.

5th

Ok now for the 5th post.
Since I see no prompt I'll just write about what actually happened.
I got to Next Step a little bit late (about 9... bus run late and there was traffic) but found that Wed was the first day of their unit (sort of like a quarter?) so they were having an assembly giving the kids awards for their work the last unit, going over rules, announcing who was going to be in which step this unit, etc. It was nice to see how truly intimate the school is- the whole school fits in the hallway of the 2nd floor of the Latin American Youth Center (the assembly was in the hallway). Once we got to class, we played a game to learn everyone's name and I must admit, it was fun to have my name written in the "teacher" spot on the paper where we wrote everyone's name down.
We started reading an article about people learning to read and write in Spanish (their native language) so that they will be able to learn to read and write in English. The English teacher does a really good job of developing worksheets for them to do before and during the reading to help them better understand it.
My only negative experience at the school really is with Micah, the volunteer coordinator. He really doesn't seem to know what is going on and it's really annoying- I hope it doesn't keep volunteers from coming to the school because the teachers REALLY appreciate the volunteers and the school is doing a great job with what they have and volunteers only help them to do a better job.
Hopefully our CSLP project will help them get more funding and more attention from the community.

Fourth Post

Ok so I never did the fourth post, so time for some catch-up writing.

I think charter schools do promote competition with public schools because students are leaving public schools for in favor of charter schools and public schools want to keep students in order to keep their funding. Therefore they are slowly changing their ways in favor of the ways of charter schools in order to retain students.

I don’t think it’s entirely true that parents know best. Many of the parents in urban communities are not educated themselves, so they do not know what is the best style of education for their children.

I think there needs to be a sort of national or school district guidelines, but the actual day to day (or some schools minute to minute) curriculum needs to be determined by the school itself. The school knows its students and know the pace at which they learn, thus they are the best ones to determine the curriculum.

Finally, teacher accreditation is over-valued. Yes, this will sound boastful, but I’ve had “qualified” (had PhDs, were fully qualified to teach) teachers who COULD NOT TEACH and I know for a fact that I could teach better than they can (I tutored their students and the students only understood once I taught it) and believe it or not, I’m not accredited in any way…

I do not know if Next Step’s teachers are accredited, but they do all have at least a college degree and I think they’re doing a great job of teaching their students.

fourth post

I must say that I agree with most of the people who have posted before me. Like Nicholas said, I don't think parents should have total control over their child's education. It's important for them to have some form of an opinion or idea, which should have an influence in administrators' decisions; but, it should ultimately be up to the people who have a lot of experience and knowledge in the subject matter. Parents, particularly in D.C. public schools, have little to no experience with education . . . so I feel like parents making such big decisions in the area of education isn't always the best idea. Like I said, it is important for the parents to have a say, but the administrators should be making the final decision.
As for choosing teachers . . . I believe schools should focus more on the person happily willing to teach, rather than what school they graduated from. I think it's really important to have a teacher who wants to be there and is making an effort. My freshman algebra teacher was a really lazy person who didn't seem to want to be there at all; but I do recall that she graduated from Harvard. I also remember my sophomore year history teacher, who went to a local college, but showed up everyday willing and eager to help us become better students-- I learned so much more in that history class than my freshman algebra class. Although my history teacher didn't have an ivy league education, like my math teacher did, she is by far a better educator in my mind. Therefore, I think it should be more about evaluating the person, rather than their college's reputation.

post 4

It would be nice to think that parents know what is best for their children when it comes to their education. They are the ones who have raised the child and know that child the best. However, most parents are not experts in education, and some did not get a very good education themselves. It is not that most parents do not care about their child's education, but they do not have enough experience in education to know what is best for their child. Many parents do not understand the different types of teaching methods that are being used in education today, and something that they believe is helping their child could really be hurting them. Their child could be a visual learner, but their parent could send them to a school that emphasis is math and science that has more to do with figures and charts. Trained professionals who have years of teaching experience are the ones who can best decide what kind of education a student needs to succeed. They understand how different teaching methods work and how students will react to them. They are in the best position to make education decision for students. Their is just to much information out there about education for the average parent to be able to make the best decision for their child.

Post #4: Ability to Teach

In response to the fourth question about qualification that it is not needed to prove much of anything in the realm of education. The first step to teaching someone else is the idea that you yourself hold some knowledge that the other person does not. In regard to young adults, this knowledge is plentiful. There are two forms of this knowledge, the school taught and the life learned. Both are important for a teacher to hand down to children. The Teacher must be qualified not in resume standards but on the basis that she holds knowledge in both of these realms. If a teacher is able to make reason, teach simple math, and keep watch of children, as she will he own, what is wrong with letting her pass knowledge onto the children of tomorrow?
My point is this; it doesn’t matter if the teacher went to Southern Idaho Community College, or Harvard. Can they add? Can they teach others how to add? If the answer is yes, then let them teach. Even if college was never completed the point is these teachers are able to pass knowledge onto children in a thoughtfully reasoned way. Does it matter if you have taken 9 courses in college Calculus? No!
On the macro sense of teaching the kids, life’s simple patterns of math and speech, their accreditation holds no weight. However, to that parent who is looking for the latest and greatest school, the Kindergarten teacher who went to Brown holds weight in their decision. I think the charter schools should be allowing under titled individuals the opportunity to teach. This would show the parents that those who are able to interact (reason) and teach to the highest variation of children should be the teacher who trumps over all others in regard to a strictly general education.