I believe homework gives and teaches the student responsiblity but too much homework can damage this. When a child is in the younger grades (K-2) they should have a very minimal amount of homework. They need to take something home every now and then to let parents know they are learning and to start instilling responsibility. Once the child gets into the middle lower grades (3-4), the homework should pick up a little. Having one worksheet with a few problems on it for review each day again instills responsibility and keeps the parents informed. My little boy is in 3rd grade right now and has a spelling worksheet each night to work on, his word of the day, and spelling words. This amount is perfect. It takes him about 30-40 mins a night to complete the homework. It is preparing him for future study habits. Every once in awhile he'll have another worksheet or some other homework assignment but it is not overwhelming. The 3rd grade teachers do a wonderful job on the amount of homework they assign. Then in the upper elementary gradess (5-6) the homework should increase even more to help prepare the students for 7-12 grades. If students go without homework in elementary school, they are going to have a very hard time learning study habits and responsibility in the upper grades. But once the student reaches high school, the homework should not be so overwhelming that it stresses the students out. Having a few problems a night in each class is great review, but having 50-60 problems a night in each class will only create problems for the student and the family.

When Teri had us act like we were in a school in Mexico and she began teaching in Spanish, my head began to spin. It really made me open my eyes up to all those children who start any school here in America. They must feel completely lost and helpless, just like I felt. It is great that we offer ELL classes here in O'Neill to help accommodate these students, so they don't feel completely helpless. The parents of ELL students want their children to learn the English language and have a better education then they had. These families still value their culture and beliefs whole heartedly but want to better their lives and their children's lives by being here. We should be taking advantage of this in the earlier grades by having our children learn a second language. It is so much easier to learn a second language when a child is young than when he/she is older and what better way to learn it with an ELL student in the class. Not only can our English speaking children help ELL children learn our language, but the ELL children can help the English speaking children learn their language.

In class tonight I really enjoyed both topics. On the topic of inclusion in the classroom, I enjoyed listening to Kathy and her examples of inclusion. One thing I learned tonight from that topic was that parents can refuse to abide by the IEP recommendations and send their child somewhere else by paying for it themselves. I always thought the parents had to abide by that districts IEP recommendations. Now that I think about it, it does make sense that parents truely have the final say. In the situation she presented it sounds like a really tough situation for the little boy. All the hard work that the public teachers did for all those years to get the little boy to where he was, is now withering away. My personal opinion is that this poor little boy is now being treated like a caged animal, unable to do anything or learn anything. He is not being treated like a human being with interactions and true social contacts. It is a very sad situation that the parents refused to listen to the trained specialized teachers who knew how this boy could flourish. My heart goes out to him.

As for the topic of homeschooling, I learned tonight that not all 50 states had the same regulations. As I look at the numbers, the 10 states that do not have any regulations with the parents not being required to notify the state just floor me. I wonder what states those are and think about all those children that are falling through societies cracks. Who are their parents, are they truely homeschooled or just forgotten? I think if we (the United States) are going to allow homeschooling, then each family that practices this must report to the state, take the same standardized tests, use state approved curriculum, and be inspected by state officials. Otherwise, a drug user with children might not ever send their children to school and tell other neighbors that their children are being homeschooled. How will a state know the truth unless the family is held accountable. There must be some follow up. There are probably some really good homeschooling experiences out there but I also feel there are bad ones too. In order to wipe out the bad ones, the states must form together laws that hold the family accountable. Maybe, social services could get involved too by helping out state officials and making home visits to make sure the children are being educated and the home environment is a safe and healthy place.

I think size is crucial to school improvement. I am basing my feelings on my own personal experience. I went to a small school from kindergarten to halfway through my 8th grade year. The other half of my 8th grade year was spent in a large school (Fremont Junior High) . It was a big change that I had to adjust to. I hardly knew anybody, I had different people in each class, and my teachers did not really know me. I can't even remember any of their names today, so to me that showed they really didn't care or they did not have the time to get to know everyone in their classes. I can see how students fall through the cracks. When I compare the larger school to the smaller school setting, I appreciated the smaller school much more. I knew everyone in my class and I knew all of my teachers. This provided me with a safe and caring environment. The environment I felt in the larger school was like "outer space or a foreign country" both. I didn't feel safe and my self-esteem plummeted. When I had questions in my studies I was afraid to ask for help, but in the smaller school setting I felt confident and asked my questions. I think it is easier to speak up in class when you know your peers compared to when you don't know them. By providing the smaller class size, students will be able to learn more and get the extra help they need.

I don't agree with the whole civics class issue. One class will not teach a person proper citizenship skills. A person is going to learn citizenship as soon as they are old enough to talk. Most parents teach their children proper values everyday as the issue arises and citizenship is a mixture of those values. As a teacher and a parent, I can pick out the students or children that have had good citizenship skills taught to them outside of a school setting (home life). It is wonderful to see these students apply their skills, but yet I also see the students who do not possess these skills. I feel sorry for these students, as it really isn't their fault they haven't learned proper values and citizenship skills accepted in society. I blame their parents. These students did not grow up around loved ones (parents, siblings, etc.) to see good citizenship at work, it was the total opposite. These parents are not going to change their way of life so I believe the school system can try to help. I don't think teachers should be held responsible to teach the students good citizenship, but I do think they should try their hardest to help those students that need taught good citizenship skills. When a student enters school and each teacher that student has from year to year, shows examples of citizenship (ex. being respectful, picking up trash, helping others, saying kind words) it might make a huge impact on that student by the time they are ready to graduate. I know we don't have time to squeeze in class time to teach citizenship, but if we show it before school, during school, after school, during lunch, and during recess, the students will "GET IT". I firmly believe that every teacher impacts at least one or two students a year, and wouldn't be great if it was the students who needed help with societies values, since they didn't get it from home. That students life could change for the better as they get older, and they would always remember who helped them. A negative cycle would be broken and they would instill good citizenship values into their own children.

I think merit pay should only be given if a teacher is working toward self improvement in teaching/education. A teacher who attends educational workshops or classes to improve their teaching deserves a pay increase. That teacher is improving personally and professionally, which benefits the students that teacher instructs. The teachers who have been with a school system for years and have not attended a workshop or class should not be given a merit raise. By only providing a merit raise to the teachers that want to expand their knowledge, it might motivate the other teachers that become "comfortable" in their job. Years of experience, sponsorship, coaching, etc., shouldn't be qualified under the merit pay. Sponsorships and coaching usually has its own separate pay scale that is combined with the teachers salary. And these positions only last a few months. But the years of experience combined with educational workshops and classes would benefit the teacher, students, and school system.
As for the other debate tonight: Have Public Schools Adequately Accommodated Religion? I would have to say no. I know there has always been violence in the world, but I have to stop and think, if we brought religion into our school systems (prayer, commandments, "God", etc.) at appropriate times maybe we could instill some values into the students who need this direction. The American society was built on Christianity, our founding fathers used it when they signed the Declaration of Independence by referring to God. Just because the minority of society has different religious meanings doesn't mean that the majority of society has to change to accommodate them. Don't we go by majority rules when it comes to elections? Why can't we leave it up to the majority of society to decide on whether religion should or shouldn't be in public schools.

I feel curriculum should be standardized for all. I believe children need a direction in life. They need schools to provide them with the "three callings" that the Paideia Group believes. I also think about how our society looks at educating our children. In Nebraska, a child can quit school at the age of 16. There's been times I've heard other children say, "when I turn 16 that's it, I'm done". Shouldn't our government change this law to support our children to at least get a high school diploma? Most of these children grow up in homes that don't support education or their own child. As a member of society shouldn't we help motivate and direct these children to a better life. We leave it up to the children on whether or not they want to continue education through college, but in today's world children need a high school diploma to even survive. Giving a child the option to quit school at 16 is saying after their freshman or sophomore year, they've learned it all! They are still developing physically, mentally, and emotionally. By standardizing the curriculum, we should also be able to standardize the age limit one can quit school to at least 18.

I liked reading and listening to all the pro's and con's debate with technology in school. I agree with issues on both sides. As I listened to Mrs. Morrow's comment about how it is hard to teach technology to the little kindergartener's and 1st graders since they don't know how to read, I had to agree. That wasn't something I would have thought about either. Are we teaching our children too young or not? I have mixed emotions with that. On one hand, it is great that they learn what a computer is and learn the different keys. But yet, are we confusing them with the different ways the alphabet looks with the correct way. Then on the other side, by learning young, they won't have to learn the basic stuff when they get older. The students would be able to apply the basic stuff into their own creations with all the different tools available to them. Then I think about how children's brains are like sponges during the younger years and they absorb so much. So that would be the ideal age to start because when they get older, they like to choose what they learn (absorb).