Article 2

Making your Field Trips More Meaningful

http://ascd.org/publications/newsletters/education-update/oct10/vol52/num10/making-your-field-trips-more-meaningful.aspx

I chose to research this article since more and more these days it seems as though principals are denying teachers the ability to take students on field trips.  I remember when I was a student in elementary, middle and high school that field trips were the best part of the school year.  Not only did we learn, but we had fun at the same time.  Now days, with testing, budget constraints, instructional time and teacher performance in question the possibility on taking a field trip are often non-negotiatable within the school.

In the article, it is stated that a well facilitated and properly planned field trip can actually provide students with valuable learning experiences and increased academic benefits such as relating content with actual engagement with peers and experts.  It is important, however, when a teacher is planning a field trip, to take consideration of how the trip is going to enrich student learning and also expose the students to various other parts of their community in which they may be interested in pursuing a career.

It is mentioned in the article that when designing a field trip, utilize tour guides or staff during your visit, maybe check to see if there is an educational department within your site, and if there are any “hands” on activities  for the students.  Also, as a teacher, do not try to fit too much in at once on the field trip.  This may cause the opposite reaction in the learning process with an over abundance of information.  Other idea s during the planning process  include visit the field trip site in advance, student preparation for the field trip, student self-exploration, be the facilitator, and lastly, provide a learning activity at the site.

Lastly, if the field trip is not financially able to be funded there are field trip grants available.  It is understandable that a principal might not see all of the benefits of a field trip right from the start with all of the other daily duties of the school and budget concern but these opportunities for the students are vital in student learning.  Properly planned and organized field trips demonstrate not only increased student learning but, also application of learning within the content area.

Article 1

Klein, Alyson. November 16, 2010. NEA Asks Education Department for Regulatory Relief.  retrieved from Education Week. Http://blogs.eweek.org/edweek/campaign-k-12/2010

This article primarily discusses how the NEA is asking for regulatory relief of the NCLB Act so schools do not have to wait for the newly appointed congress to renew the law and apply its changes to Elementary and Secondary Education.  The NEA contacted Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan concerning a lack of flexibility in major components of the NCLB Act.

The key areas that were of concern of the NEA were Highly Qualified Teachers, AYP, utilizing multiple measures to get credit for AYP, increased flexibility with for testing special education students, design individual growth models, and revamping graduation rate calculations to name a few.  How do all of these areas concern a principal?  Well, if you are a principal of a small, rural district, the provision of highly qualified teachers, especially special education teachers who may need more than 1 certification to meet the highly qualified benchmark may create an issue with meeting this standard.

One of the other major suggestions to Mr. Duncan pertains to providing more flexibility for school to test students in special education and ESL for 3 years instead of just the one year in the country already stated in the ACT. This will enable the AYP calculations to be a bit more consistent.

Overall, I thought that this was a very interesting article.  I agree with the NEA about presenting these changes to Arne Duncan if we want to get the most out of the NCLB Act in 2014.

Supreme Court Case on Special Education

Supreme Court Rules on special education

I listened to this pod cast several times and each time I became even more frustrated listening to the events of the case and even more frustrated when I researched specific details of the case on the internet.  I think both the parents and the school district are to blame.  The issue I have is the Forest Grove School District tested T.A. for special education and his parents were aware of the results and agreed with the school’s findings of his ineligibility of IDEA.  Then only after TA regressed in high school, his junior year did they not like the outcome of the lack of placement in special education. TA’s parents did not request another series of testing at that time; instead they spent $5,000 a month to have TA acquire his education at Mount Bachelor Private School.  The outcome: suing the Forest Grove School District for $65,000 for tuition.  I am going to discuss both sides; the parents and the school district in the case and include my opinion on the information that I read on the case.  First of all, I must state that this is a very controversial case concerning the Individual with Disabilities Act (IDEA) and Free Appropriate Education Guidelines (FAPE) plus all of the other non-negotiable factors involved with TA, his parents and the school district.

According to IDEA, it states that school s that receive federal funding must provide a “free appropriate education” (FAPE) available to all qualifying children with disabilities residing in the state and it also requires specific procedures for identifying students for special education with IEP’s and delivering appropriate services to those qualified students.  In T.A.’s case, “he was tested and found ineligible according to school staff for special education services.  If, however, the school district did not test TA or if they did not offer services to him after he was declared eligible for special education then the circumstances do fall under IDEA.  Another contributing factor, according to court documents, TA was using drugs, running away from home and seeking psychological and medical help (several trips to the emergency room)”   (n.d.) retrieved from opb.org/article/5276_supreme_court_backs_family_forest_grove_specialed_case/ .   One blogger, SR61, a parent who has a son also with ADHD states that “drug abuse is a personal choice and many times is abused by children and used as an escape to the real problem”.  Yes, it is a personal choice but not an escape to take advantage of IDEA and its services.

The next issue that concerns me is the fact that TA’s parents decided after TA’s junior year in high school to place him into a “Private School’ setting to help him with his attention deficit disorder.  However, TA’s parents did not inform the school district of the move prior to leaving Forest Grove Schools.  Therefore, TA was unilaterally placed in a private school against the school districts findings of TA’s assessment results.  According to Justice Souter, the Court’s decision of TA will be subject to manipulation of wealthy parents.  In another words, parents with sound financial resources (TA’s parents paid $5,000 in tuition per month) are most likely to take advantage of the system then parents who do not have financial means to send their child to private schools and expect to get reimbursed for the tuition.  It is also stated in cases Greenland School district v. Amy N and Frank G v. Board of Education of Hyde Park that IDEA posed no categorical bar with tuition reimbursement when the student had not previously received special education and related services.  “TA did not receive any special education classes that required an IEP or 504 plan prior to enrolling in the private school.” (n.d.) retrieved from http://oregon live.com/washingtoncounty/index.ssf/2009/06/us_supreme_court_rules_against.html.

My next topic of concern is the school district and it’s mishandling of TA’s educational needs.  I agree with TA’s attorney, Mary Broadhurst, who stated that if the school had just made very basic accommodations for TA then this would not have reached the Supreme Court (n.d.) retrieved from http://news.opb.org/article/5276_supreme_court_backs_family_forest_grove_specialed_case/ .   I do think there was a breakdown of communication with TA’s teachers, Guidance Counselor’s, School Administrators, evaluating team, district and parents when it came down to testing and retesting.  If the school would have been proactive and suggested to TA’s parents that retesting might be an option after TA’s lack of improvement in classes and test scores, then this might have been an easier case for the school district to win.  However, according to Angela Hungerford, who represents Forest Grove School District, “the parents were in fact a part of the evaluation process and agreed with the decision not to place TA in special education – maybe more testing might have been beneficial” (n.d.) retrieved from www.onthedocket.org/cases/2008/forest_grove_school_district_v_+/  .  I do think that even though the parents were involved and agreed with this decision that Forest Grove needed to be more cautious with TA’s attention deficit disorder and more knowledgeable of the specifics of IDEA.

 In conclusion, this is a very controversial case.  I really think that it could go either way for both parties involved; parents and the Forest Grove School District. After reading all the research, TA’s parents do have a valid case, however, if they would have communicated with the school or even requested additional testing for TA specifically on ADHD either with the school or utilized outside sources prior to enrolling into a private school then maybe this case would not have gone this far.  I also believe that the school is also at fault for letting TA slip through the cracks and not being proactive in providing a learning environment where TA could have been successful whether he needed special education or not.  Based on all of the information on the case, I think that the Forest Grove School District should not be held responsible for TA’s tuition.  What I am afraid of is that this case is going to take another 5 years to decide an outcome and thousands and thousands more public education tax dollars are being spent to decide whether or not a private education is going to be reimbursed that could have been prevented by both the school district and TA’s parents.

Additional Reference(s)

Lewin, T. (2009, June 22). Court affirms reimbursement for special education. The New York Times, Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/education/23special.html

Paul, C. (2008, September 14). Forest Grove asks Supreme Court to settle special education case. The Oregoneon, Retrieved from http://www.oregonlive.com/news/index.ssf/2008/09/forest_grove_asks_us_supreme_c.html

Principal Interview #2

Principal Interview #2

I decided to interview our Assistant Principal of Instruction at Ardrey Kell High School, Jennifer Lowery.  She stated that the 2 most challenging issues for her have been: How to handle the increase of 504 plan’s this school year and a recent 504 case involving parents.  I found our conversation quite interesting when I found out about these issues.  I thought there would be more challenging cases pertaining to IEP’s and parents for some reason.  Maybe that is because at my last school that topic was a main issue.

The first challenging issue Ms. Lowery spoke to me about was the increase of 504 plans this year with students.  According to Ms. Lowery many parents in the Ardrey Kell zone are becoming very familiar and knowledgeable about the recent law change last year concerning 504 plans and these parents are coming out of the woodwork to have their children placed in the 504 program.  Parents are aggressively finding any medical diagnoses for their child.  Up until this year, Ardrey Kell was able to handle the 504 case loads through the Counseling and EC Departments, none of the less;  now with the increase in 504’s the Exception Children Department was stretched to the limit.

With the increase of 504 plans at Ardrey Kell, administrators found the need to develop a 504 Team that specifically handles all 504 plans,  whereas, the Intervention team handles all other cases that are for at risk students; academically, behaviorally and socially.  The 504 team consists of the API, Ms. Lowery, the counselor of the student, School Psychologist, classroom teacher, school nurse, and the parent.  The advantage of creating this team will enable the 504 process to be smoother and more efficient along with completing yearly updates efficiently.

The second challenging issue that Ms. Lowery stated was concerning a specific 504 plan where the parents were disagreeing with the 504 Team concerning a requested accommodation for Suzie in class.  I will reference to the student as Suzie (not her real name).  Suzie was medically diagnosed with ADHD and had a long list of accommodations.  She also, had other issues outside of the classroom; behaviorally and socially at home and at school.  During the first 504 meeting, the Team agreed with several of the accommodations; extended time on tests and assignments, preferential seating etc.  However, the parents wanted to add another accommodation that stated that another student needs to take notes for Suzie.  This was not on the original list of accommodations, but the parents insisted on including this on the 504 plan.  The 504 Team thought otherwise.  The teams reasoning, yes she has ADHD but if she is not focused on trying to write the notes in class what is she doing? Several teachers of Suzie said while she was supposed to be taking notes she was “daydreaming”, writing personal notes, and talking to classmates to name a few behaviors.   Before the conclusion of the 504 meeting with the team, Suzie was summoned to the meeting.  She admitted that she needed to be more motivated and attentive in class; not doing the behaviors stated previously.   The result….the parents scheduled another meeting for next month. 

added Youtube video

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyPQ4Qr8xks&feature=fvsr.  check out this video on the 21st Century learner and teacher and how to utilize the World Wide Web in classrooms.  This video is very interesting on how teacher's can utilize higher levels of technology in the classroom such as blogging, wiki, pod casts etc to improve student learning.  I am now researching this topic for my classes more and more each day.  Funny story. I had to get help from students the other day on how to use power point and vioce threading for my assignment for our class. I would like to use blogging and wiki in my health class this year after seeing the effects technology has on the 21st learner. I also love the music on this video.:)

Video Assignment

After viewing all of the video's that were suggested to us, I was amazed of how diverse the use of technology affects almost everything that we do in society; communication, globalization, helping others during a catastrophe and education as a whole.  Not that any of these things surprised me, but 18 years ago,I did not have a computer in my classroom never the less the students were extremely limited in the classroom.  Now, we have computer labs, Promethean boards etc.   Today, for example, I am using a blog to communicate my thoughts in which I never used before until this class.

As an administrator the use of technology is essential in teaching the 21st Century learner.  It was said in one of the video's, that technology creates the KNOWLEDGE-ABLE learner versus knowledgeable learner.  While all the video's were very informative and interesting, I would like to share the 3 that really made me think about being an administrator in education.

1.  Crisis Camp - Video #2.  I thought this video was very interesting because it depicted a very poor nation with no electricity or running water and how those people interacted with each other before media sources.  These tribes put all of their emphasis on "relationships" with others.  They did not care about who they are, what they have or their identity.  Does technology take us away from relationships with others?  Well, I think yes and no.  In the video, when these tribes were presented with new media sources; primitive so to speak, Census Books and maps, relationships started to change when the media change.  The media was not just a tool but it connected everyone in the village in a different point of view.  Instead of the consequence of a negative behavior in the village being handled by loss of respect of the individuals' relationship it changed to having a trial in a courthouse.

As an administrator finding the balance between using high level technology to enhance interpersonal relationships and using technology to learn and communicate information is the key.  I believe that students are using so much technology that they have lost the ability to have a good conversation with another person and also have a relationship with someone besides texting and emailing.

2.  The second video I would like to discuss is Vision of K12 Students today- Video #5.  I really liked this video. In fact, I have seen this one before in a PD workshop held at my last school.  I think it is important that if our students are utilizing these 21st Century learning techniques then teachers need to learn how to implement them in the classroom.  Having this knowledge will increase student learning and challenge them to create, analyze, apply and engage in classroom learning.  I actually asked my students last week several questions about how much time do they spend on the phone texting, playing video games, blogging, listening to an Ipod.  The results were very similar to the video.  Our society is creating digital learners why not utilize their interests and knowledge in the classroom to make learning not only challenging but also fun and exciting?

3.  The last video I would like to discuss is the Effects of Globalization on Education.  This I found very interesting.  I am a fond believer that learning in Education can have profound results by traveling to other countries or to provide a tool for communicating with other countries over the Internet  to learn various cultures and learning techniques.  I was an international student at the American School in Mexico City and saw these dynamics first hand with various educational styles.  I also, have taken students the past 5 years all throughout Europe to learn about history, culture, language etc. that they were learning out of a book in the US.  What they saw and learned first hand was amazing.  Especially when they communicated with their classmates via blogs to share their experiences.  As an administrator, I would utilize and implement a program via media, Internet, video  to get connected with other countries to break down the barriers of education so our 21st Century learners can be more diverse in their education

Video Assignment