Posted by get real on June 14, 2007 at 12:51:02 (EST):
In Reply to: Re: A new school does NOT make a kid smarter. posted by Gotoutofdodge on June 14, 2007 at 10:14:32 (EST):
: : Research does show that smaller class sizes are better for students. In my opinion the ideal class size would be about five students to one teacher. Yes I totally understand that this isn't very practical or even possible but I can dream.
: : I think a lot of the problem might be parental involvement. The teachers and parents need to work together to help children learn to their full potential.
: : There are a lot of new ways that technology can help children, parents and teachers. For instance a teacher could put up a blog for each student. (It is possible to make blogs so that they are private and only the parent and teacher could post and read the information.) Anyway, the blog could show the student's daily or weekly assignments and it could also have progress reports. Sometimes even the most honest kid will say that they do not have homework when really they would just rather be doing something else. If a parent could actually get online and check the student's homework and progress then that could be a very good thing. Also it would be important to check a student's progress often so that the student doesn't get too far behind. In certain subjects if a student gets very far behind then it is extremely hard to get back on track. If the problem could be caught early on then the student has a much better chance of getting help and staying on task.
: : This may require a bit of work from both parents and teachers but parents should be more than willing to put in some time when it comes to their child's education and future. Also, these are the kind of teachers that we need. There are so many people who go to school to become teachers. Some of those people may just want weekends and summers off. There are also some that would be willing to go "above and beyond" and really make a difference in student's lives. Those are the kind of teachers that need to be hired.
: The already have this. It is called Ed Line. Ad you can hold your breath on the teacher Sparkles. As long as they have union protection, it is hard to get any disciplined or released from their position. In the perfect world you could dump the crap teachers and hire new but we are from the real world. Speaking from a management point of view, these union representatives will do what ever they need to to protect these teachers. Even if it is lies. Unions are all the same in that way. I have dealt with the steelworkes and the IBEW. But your post made sense and we would love to be in the perfect world but for now we are stuck with the mediocre. There are alot of bright teachers and there are duds. It is a roll of the dice for the kids.
In a perfect world you wouldn’t be an asshole, but we are far from a perfect world aren’t we.