Journal 8

Outside of a teacher position, in which of the governing roles (legislator, principal, superintendent, and school board member) would you most like to serve? Why?

Journal 8

I think I would have to be a legislator.  I have never really considered a position like that because my true passion is teaching, but being a legislator would also have positive and rewarding outcomes.  I would be a legislator for school reform.  I would propose laws about education that would greatly benefit students in the school system.  I would fight for the rights of both teachers and students. They have a lot of power when it comes to making laws and decisions affecting education.  My sister in law is studying to become a legislator for education.  She and my wife discuss many different issues with the school system.  Since my wife is a school teacher she tells my h sister in law the problems that she and her students face on a day to day basis.  This is important because she is getting information from someone who is experiencing issues first hand.  She has said that it is very important to hear what the teachers and students have to say in order to decide what is best for them.  If I was a legislator I would make sure to do this.  The reason why I would not choose any of the other positions would be because I personally believe that they have more problems than a legislator does. 

Journal 7

Think about your own education. At what grade level did you first encounter computers, CD-ROMs, computer games, or the Internet at school or in your classroom?

Journal 7

I believed I was in the second grade when I first played on a computer.  It was a Macintosh and it was very bulky.  I remember thinking that I was so cool because I had a computer.  Everything was new to me and I was so amazed at what computer could do.  At school we did not have access to computers until fifth grade.  Even then, we had one computer in our classroom and we had to take turns using it.  We had to collect a certain amount of points based on behavior in order to use the computer for five minutes.  The games that we could play on the computer were very educational and one was to help us improve our typing skills.    We did not get to use the internet at school and at home until maybe three years after we had gotten our computer. We then had computer labs with about ten computers in computer labs.  We were allowed to see the internet to find information on research papers that we had to complete for class.  We had many websites blocked and we could only use websites that were relevant to finding information for school. It wasn’t until we went to high school that we started having computer classes that taught us how to use varies computer programs that were essential for our success in the real world.  Technology has had so many advances within the past decades.  Nowadays, students have access to pretty much anything on the internet.  You can even find personal information about people.  At schools there are several computer labs with enough computers for an entire class of students.  Teachers no longer have to split their classes to fit the capacity of the labs.  Al students get the same opportunity to use the computers and the internet.

Journal 6

In your opinion, what is the single most important characteristic of an effective teacher?

Journal 6

I believe that the single most important characteristic an effective teacher should have is the ability to create trust with his/her students.  This is very important for both the students and the teacher to be successful. Without trust it would be very hard for the teacher to make the students learn.  If you don’t have their trust they will not pay attention very well.  They will not trust that they know what is best for them and that they want them to succeed.  Once students understand that their teachers care about them, they will learn more and produce better scores.  When I was substitute teaching in Mineral Wells, I experienced just this.  Usually, substitutes do not do very well with students.  When teachers leave the students think that they can do whatever they want because they have a substitute.  I was substituting for a teacher on maternity leave so I was with the students for about six weeks.  At first the students were out of hand and would not listen to me but by the end of the first week I started to gain their trust.  I was then able to teach them the material that was left by their teacher.  Their scores on exams were pretty decent.  When their teacher came back she was surprised at how well the students were doing considering they had a substitute for six weeks.  The students had trusted me with their education and they greatly benefited from it.  I also felt satisfaction at how I gained their trust and was able to make them succeed.  Trust was the key in my success and I believe that every teacher should posses this characteristic for their success.

Journal 4

Pick one of the social challenges and give as many ideas as you can for how a teacher could address its effects in his or her classroom.

Journal Reflection 4

Cyber bullying

Cyber bullying is the use of technology to harass and belittle a person. Cyber bullying is a major area of concern in schools.  All students are faced with this at some point in their lives. There are students who are being targeted by fellow classmates through text messages, emails, or websites.  Nowadays the majority of students have a cell phone or access to the internet.  There are students that get targeted for a majority of reasons.  Some of the reasons they get bullied include, religion, ethnicity, the way they look, who their family is, among countless other reasons.     Students end up not wanting to go to school because they are afraid of their bullies.  This will prevent them from getting a good education in the classroom setting.  There are other more severe consequences to bullying such as, suicide.  This could be easily prevented.  I believe that schools should be implementing anti-bullying campaigns so that the students are aware of the dangers of cyber bullying and pick up on any signs that someone might be going through it. Administration and teachers should also have a huge role in addressing this issue Another thing that they should do is show videos on the effects of cyber bullying and show real cases and what they outcomes were.  This will hopefully deter students to become the bullies.   They need to be aware of the signs that this might be happening to a student and get them help right away.  They need to make the students feel like they can trust them.  Consequences to these actions should also be published in the code of conduct.  The teachers should not tolerate any bullying in their classrooms because that would just make the bully think that his/her actions are perfectly alright and he/she will not have any consequences to their actions.

Journal 3

Which area of Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences do you feel is your area of strength? Explain why, and give an example.

Journal 3

The Gardener intelligence that is my area of strength would have to be the Musical intelligence.  I have always been musically inclined.  My parents used to play music to my mom’s belly, so I’ve been exposed to music since before I was born.  When I was little I used to sing and dance for my family in the living room.  When I was in middle school I started playing the piano and the saxophone.  I played the saxophone until my junior year in high school.  I stopped playing the piano about a year after I started because I had too many activities I was involved in.  In high school I was in the school choir and I received numerous awards at competitions. My directors were surprised that I had never had any vocal training and I could match numerous pitches and I could pick out specific pitches in melodies. Music was also very helpful in regards to my education. Music also helped me to remember information that I needed to memorize and learn in school.  I used to think of songs that I knew and created new lyrics for them using my notes.  This helped me remember the information a bit easier during the exams.  I did this throughout my school years.  I believe music has had a very important impact on my life and it has helped me be successful.

Journal Reflection 2

Name one common practice in schools that you would like to change, and describe how you would change it.

Journal Reflection #2

       Standardized tests are a disservice to our students today. This is the major practice I would change. They do not let teachers teach freely and teach material that is relevant to everyday life.  They are expected to teach to the test. This narrows down the curriculum to only material that is being covered on those tests.  This does not let the students expand their creativity and learn by doing fun activities and projects because there is no time left for that.  Teachers have to stick to mostly worksheets to get the students prepared for those exams.  My wife is a Science teacher and she comes home and tells me about how stressful it is to teach when you have the pressure of producing great tests scores from the standardized test, TAKS.  Teachers have lost their jobs over their scores being low, but I don’t think this is at all fair for them.  They have a whole year to teach a very long list of objectives of which only certain ones would be chosen for the exam.  Another thing to take into consideration is that those exams do not accurately measure someone’s capacity to teach.  Some students are extremely bright but are horrible test takers; making them not do as well as they might be expected to do.  Others are great test takers and they score very high.  This doesn’t really measure how much a student has learned.  Overall, I believe that they should do away with the standardized tests and let teachers and students enjoy school again.

BIO

My name is Jeff Barker and this is currently my second full semester at UTB/TSC. My identification number is 0363801. I am studieng to be a special education teacher. I grew up in North Texas and  it was a bit of cultural shock when I moved down here to the valley.  I went from an English speaking town to a biligual town.   I had a hard time adjusting at first, but I have my lovely wife, who is an 8th grade Science teacher from Los Fresnos, to help me out with the culture and the language. I have also had to adjust to school after 6 years in the Army as well as a tour in Iraq.  I really enjoy being down here.  I love living so close to the ocean because I love taking my wife fishing.  I also enjoy hunting and just going shooting in general.  I am looking forward to a very rewarding career as a teacher in the valley.