Private vs. Public

Today in class we had a discussion about Montessori schools and the type of education students gets at this alternative schools. Professor Luongo brought a point that caught my attention, she said she attended to private school during her student career but she taught in a public school that provided a great education. Almost like she compared her education with the education at the school she taught. Now the question is, which is better a private education or a public education? Many people have the perception that private schools are simply better but are they? I’ve heard that private schools are better because its privately funded therefore they can provided a better education because they can afford to pay better-qualified teachers. Another legend of private schools is that they have better discipline that public school. I personally can’t speak on the subject because I only attended public schools during grammar school and HS. So while hanging out I asked a few of my friends if they attended public or private schools. Some attended public and some attended private and one attended both. The people that attended the private schools had some really interesting thing to say about their private schools. One guy told me that he wish he went to the public school in his town because he would have taken business classes that the public school offered instead of taking a fourth year of religion he had to take. The girl that attended both private and public school told me she liked the public school better because the public school had better after school program and teachers. I personally don’t know which is better but I’ve heard of private school that have college prep courses like the business classes that my friend wanted to take. I’ve also heard of public schools that have a bad disciple problem, which make is hard for students to learn. I can probably go o forever, I guess the answer to the question would be; it depends on the school.

HSPA

Dear Journal,

According to the HSPA’s rubric beginning an essay with those words gets you a better score because it’s a compositional risk. After looking at that rubric I feel sorry for the students and teachers that have to deal with the HSPA test. That rubric is too vague and general for both writing test, narrative and persuasive. As a future teacher I can see how some teachers would feel pressure to teach students tricks to score higher instead of teaching students to write. The fact that a teacher’s job and school funding depends on how well students do on test can persuade most teacher to get the best results at any cost. Then on top of a very general rubric the teachers know that the person reading the test has one minute to score the test no matter how long the test is. How the reader see if the test taker accomplished a “Logical progression of ideas” like the rubric says if he or she can’t finish reading the test in a minute. While I read a test that was three pages long I almost made it to the third page, I can’t image how could they grade the test without reading the whole test. As a matter of fact how can the reader read the closing. If so much is reading on these test I think the rubric and the grading should change.

Smart Board

I’ve never seen a smart board until I saw one on CNN on Super Tuesday this week; well I thought it was a smart board. It was incredible the newscaster had a map of the US with all the states colored with the colors that corresponded to the candidates. He was able to switch between two different maps, one for the Democrat and one for the Republicans. When he tapped it with his finger it would click on a state and it would show how many votes each candidate had in that state or it would show which candidate was in the lead. He had the ability to zoom by using a pitching motion just like my ipod. He could also circle things on the board with his finger, it also would calculate which candidate would win the nomination if the newscaster gave a particular candidate a state that has not done a primary yet. While I sat in a catatonic state I looked around the room and the rest of my friends in the room were in the same condition. I think I learned more about a presidential primary that night than any other time in my life.

I can see how a smart board would have a positive effect in a classroom. Just with the map of the US the newscaster was using in a history class I could teach the capitols of each state. If it uses the Internet I could use Google maps under satellite option and some historical site like Bunker Hill in Boston. What would be better to teach about a war showing the students the actual terrain that war took place. I can see some much potential in these smart boards.

Montessori Schools

I did some reading on the Montessori method and I found it to be interesting. It’s an extremely different way to look at education. First the classrooms have students in a three-year age range, which encourages an interactive social and learning environment. This system allows flexibility in learning pace and allowing older children to become teachers by sharing what they have learned. In the elementary grades to develop observations skills Montessori schools use hands on activities designed for a level of learning or concept. A child does not engage in an activity until the teacher or another student has directly demonstrated its proper use, and then the child may use it as desired. At higher-grade levels, the teacher becomes more involved in creating materials since not only the students' capacities but also the potential subjects widen considerably.

These schools also don’t use a grading system or a testing to assess what the students have learned. This is fine also long as these students are in a school that uses the Montessori method, but what happens when that student is no longer in that environment? For example, if the student spends his or her academic career in a Montessori school and when it comes to go to a university or a college, how is that student going to adapt? I don’t doubt that this method is good for kids it sounds like can work from what I’ve read but that transition can’t be a smooth one. To transition from an environment where students help each other in class, they take no tests and get no grades, has to be difficult. It’s a hard enough transition for some high school students in a conventional school I cant imagine how a student that has never taken a test would do on a test.