Observation at Arts High School

When going to Arts High School for my observation, I saw a much different side of Arts High School than the first time around. When first arriving I went through the metal detectors and signed in into the office. There was a line to get into the school, because I arrived the same time the students did. When I was in the office Dr. Brown asked a student if he could direct me to room 400, where Ms. Cotton was. Ms. Cotton is one of the Health/Physical education teachers at Arts High School. She has lived in Newark her entire life and loves the city and the students.
I arrived in the health classroom, seeing posters that promote healthy lifestyles. Such as being drug-free, and refraining from using tobacco. The first assignment for the students was to take there Phys ed. midterm. It was silent during the exam. After they were done with their test they were talking about was safety in schools. The kids read an excerpt from their health book, they they grabbed from back of the classroom. Something I found really interesting was that the kids WANTED to participate to read from the book, unlike other schools that I have observed in.
After reading the short excerpt from the book, they had a interesting discussion about safety in schools. Ms. Cotton asked the students, "do you feel safe in Arts High School"? Some of the kids snickered and said, "No!" But some students said, "yes". During the discussion they talked about all the different recent school shootings. One of the girls in the class mentioned that a lot of things happen like this in schools that aren't on the news very often.
During the class discussion they mentioned how easy it is to bring weapons into school. Even though the school had a metal detector. They were talking about how they knew people who would open back doors to let someone sneak something in. This discussion made me realize that maybe Arts High School wasn't the perfect school that I thought it was when I went there the first time.
Something I found disturbing though throughout this whole discussion, the kids were using terrible language to the teacher. The kids were cursing to describe how they felt about the safety situation in the school, and the teacher never said anything to the kids. I thought this was kind of disturbing because if nobody teaches these kids on how ignorant they sound, they will continue to use this language like its not big deal.
After the first block, the next couple blocks talked about their feelings of school safety as well. Ms. Cotton has high school seniors throughout the entire day. So I saw 3 senior health classes. All of them had the same routine of that day, taking the phys. ed midterm and then having the discussion of school safety. Along with school safety, they also discussed bullying. Ms. Cotton said that she noticed a lot of bullying going on in this school. The class started to discuss a boy named, Martin who had social issues. I heard one boy said that "Martin is going to be the next Columbine."
One of the most interesting comments I heard was, "Society creates the monsters that harm him". This student was talking about the kid Martin who every bullies in school and school violence as a whole. I thought that was such a interesting comment because Newark is always is always in the media, and gets a lot of bad exposure to society.
I thought this visit overall was very beneficial because I saw how some of the kids felt about where they go to school and live. The discussions for me were pretty intense when they said they knew people who were attacked at school. It was a real eye-opener that some of these kids deal with issues that I never had to deal with when I was there age. These kids have great opinions about society and how to stop violence in schools.

My volunteer experience/ group meeting

My volunteer experience is something that honestly I will never forget. My boyfriend plays on the NJIT hockey team, and they were doing a fundraiser that what you do is work at 6 flags and then all the money you make goes to your team. I decided to do that thinking it would be pretty fun. I was totally wrong. After a 1 1/2 car ride to get there, we have go into the employment building. We get there and a drill Sargent woman comes out and stats lecturing on how the boys need to shave and to get all the piercings out that we have. After that we pick our uniforms which were in huge laundry bins that looked like they have never been washed. My friend and I pick out the over-sized t shirts, put on our aprons, and a hat. After getting our uniform on we go to a brief meeting on all the stuff that we CANNOT do, or we would be fired and sent home. Some included not talking to any of our staff members, leaving our station, going on the rides, and eating at any of the food places. Pretty much anything that included fun.
As we went to our job assignments people most of NJIT group got split in to different food restaurants and one group was lucky enough to be assigned a game. My group which was my boyfriend Tommy, and my two friends Kevin and Dana. After we got to our restaurant that we would be working at we got our assigned jobs. Right way they assign Tommy and Kevin to be working at the fryers. They would not assign Dana and I cook fryers because we had nail polish on.
So back to my job, Dana and I got assigned to picking up garbage and cleaning off tables for the entire night. From 1pm- 10pm we were cleaning off the tables of everybody who ate and working with our pail and broom. The job really wouldn't have been so bad if we didn't have our extremely rude boss (who was maybe 15 years old) breathing down our backs the whole night, telling us that we are working too slow. When really we were doing the best we could.
During this time I was just thinking about the people who do this for work. I give those people so much credit. Not just for having a real mean boss because I'm sure we have/ will have a boss like this, but because of the way people treated you.
The people who were having fun at the park (aka our guests) were absolutely ridiculous. I do not recall one thank you, me and my friend were just scuffed at the whole night. There were teenagers there looking at us and throwing garbage on the ground, because they knew we were the ones to clean it up. There was also this one guy who made a comment to one of his friends after making a complete mess saying, "Now the white bitches have to clean it up". A lot of people who ask, "why did you say anything to him"? But to be honest, when I heard this comment it made me more upset than anything. I have only been working there for 9 hours, there are people that do this everyday of their lives...and do they have to hear that everyday they work? I really couldn't say anything to him because I was just in shock that anybody could be that rude and ignorant.
To be honest, after working in that park for 9 hours. I really don' t think that I will ever go to that amusement park ever again (ever for fun). I was astounded the way the people treat the workers there. But it also gave me a eye opening experience. One to never litter ever again because believe it or not somebody is going to have to clean that up, and two be appreciative of the job you have and make sure you love it. Some people do not have the luxury of going to college and being able to pursue what they really want in life. I think it's really important that we all realize that we are extremely lucky for being in college and hopefully being able with what our futures have in store for us.




My Group meeting experience
For my group meeting I attended a Morris Knolls High School football game. It was a cold, rainy Saturday but there were still a lot of fans there. Morris Knolls was playing one of their rivals, which was Randolph High School. I saw some kids that had their faces painted and holding signs. There were a lot of kids that showed a lot of school spirit. I also saw some teachers sitting in the stands, but not anywhere near the students and they all flocked together, which I thought was pretty funny.
During the game the young adults would start the usual chants and follow along with the cheerleaders. During the game (since I was sitting by the kids) I heard talk of a fight after the game. This kind of made me upset because during the whole game they were showing so much school spirit and showing a lot of pride in their school, then go and talk about fighting the other team just because they are rivals. The boys were mainly involved in talking about fighting with the other team and saying some terrible things. Some of the things they were saying were "I'm gonna beat that faggots ass". These are kids that are going to be graduating high school in a year and still have a very ignorant frame of mind, that will hopefully one day change.
I do not know if any of the high school students were involved in a fight that day, but probably not because there was a lot of security and police officers on duty to prevent them from fighting. This experience listening to high school kids talk about the excitement of fighting made me realize if I work in a high school I am going to have to be prepared to either break up a fight and to make them realize that fighting is just going to get you in trouble and if they really wanted to solve a issue, that isn't the way to do it.

ahhh.... : (

So... I am pretty sure that I am feeling so overwhelmed right now about everything. The inquiry project, my observation which is the last possible day it could have been (on this Friday!), and just school in general. : ( ahhh! one more week guys!

NCLB

The no child left behind act is to examine the academic progress of students and to test if they meet the standards of the level they should be at. Students from grade 3-8 take standardized testse every year. These standardized tests are mandated by the state. If the school district does not do well, the school suffers the consequences. In my opinion I do not think its fair to determine how "smart" a child is by a standardized tests. The truth is that some students do not test well. With this law I'm sure there are teachers out there that feel that they can't teach their children what they should really be learning, but what is on these standardized exams. The NCLB has good intentions, for everybody to get equal education, but I just don't think this is a fair way to evaluate where a child stands.

Arts High school

When I went to Arts High School in Newark on Friday I was so impressed. The students who attend this school are exceptional. For the breif time we got to spend in the classrooms on the tour a student gave us, I saw so much talent. This included talent in dancing, singing and acting. This was only some of the subjects that we walked into. The teachers and principal took great pride in their students and thier talents. Hearing the teachers talk about the students and their jobs, you can tell that they really have a passion for teaching.
Arts highschool is also beautiful! I could not believe how beautiful it was inside. In some parts of the school I thought I was in a muesuem. In the school there was beautiful display of art from some of the students and some beautiful stained glass windows. The school also appeared to be very clean and well taken care of.

why observe for Inquiry project?

My inquiry project is going to be, What is the importance of Physical education and Health and why do schools continue to cut down programs? I think a way I can observe this though the question is seeing how much physical activity kids are really getting in school. Also if the children are getting alternate physical activity. A couple of examples would be some afterschool sports or intramural teams. Also I can see how kids react for physical activity, if they enjoy physical activity or if they just look it as a burden.

Inquiry project

I am having some trouble thinking of an idea for my project. Being a physical education major here are a couple of topics that I have considered doing...

1. How important is to to teach physical education and health in schools?
2. If obesity is a rising problem is our country...why are some school districts cutting down on their phys. ed programs?

Newspaper article about Random Drug Testing

In the "Daily Record" there was a article about a possible random drug testing for Morris Hills Regional District students. This would apply to students would be driving to school and for athletes. The students would not be subjected to suspension if found positive for a drug test, but would have to attend a rehab center. Initially I thought this was a great idea to keep drugs out of the high schools. Then as I kept reading on, I questioned about would the parents approve of this? Who do you subject to a random drug test? Somebody who looks/acts like they are taking drugs? And what if the teacher is wrong? Do the parents have the right to sue the school for harrassement? I think that the random drug testing can do some good, but can potentially do some harm to the faculty,school and to the students.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070930/COMMUNITIES/709300347/1150/NEWS06

Teaching against idiocy

At first looking at the question, How important is it to teach democracy? Of course I said to myself, “crucial”. While reading “Teaching Against Idiocy” I came across a quote that demonstrates how important it is to teach democracy, “When aimed at democratic ends and supported by the proper democratic conditions, the interaction in schools can help children enter the social consciousness of puberty and develop the habits of thinking and caring necessary for public life”. (PG 4,Parker)
This is just one factor how important it is socially to each democracy, but a very important social developing factor. This quote demonstrates that the children in our classrooms can have a easier time adapting to new situations. When children first enter elementary school, most children do not have experience in making new friends of different racial backgrounds. Children whether they want to or not ,can be judging each other without even realizing it. It is extremely important to teach children to interact with each other to make this transition easier.
Children also can learn respect for other people and accept people for who they are. Children learning this can help them understand about equality. After the initial quote this article continues and states, “This kind of thinking that enables them to cut through conventional wisdom and see a better way”. (PG 4, Parker) America today being so diverse it is extremely important for children to accept, respect, and understand people of different ethnic backgrounds and different views of life.

The movie "Kids"

In my sexual education class we watched the movie "Kids". I think everbody who is going to be a teacher should watch this movie. It's about a group of kids who live in the inner city and don't have any guidance. This movie shows kids doing some shocking things like drinking,doing drugs and having sex at such a young age. This movie really opened my eyes to how kids could be living in the inner cities and even in some areas near home. The movie is shocking but I think it shows a good display of how important it is to teach children self respect and self esteem.

my amazing poem

Children are learning
Teachers are going crazy
Kids ready for break!

This is just a short poem that captures a fraction of how crazy a Friday afternoon is in elementary schools. This is an important part of teaching that I hope we can cover more in this class. I remember talking a little bit on our first day of class about how students attitudes change before a weekend or a break.I think this is important because EVERY school I have ever observed all the kids go crazy Friday afternoon and before winter breaks. I would like to learn different strategies I could use to control the kids!

Martian Paragraph from the group

We live in a world today where everyone is treated equally. That is, as long as you fall into that “everyone” category. Ever since the Civil Rights Movement, our public school systems are integrated, meaning that students of any race are able to attend. The truth is, a school’s demographic makeup reflects the district, or community, it belongs to. For example, if you look at a school district where the majority of the school’s population is of a certain race, you can safely assume that the town is made up of the same demographic breakdown.

Our students are white, black, Hispanic, rich, poor, speak English, are learning English for the first time, and are culturally diverse. Attending school is not optional, and is regulated by the Federal Government. The public school system educates a range of students from ages five to eighteen. Depending on the type of school (i.e. middle, elementary, high school, etc), students up to a certain age will attend before moving on to the next appropriate school. Once high school is completed, furthering your education is optional.

Unlike our students, our teachers are less culturally diverse. The majority of our teachers are white females. They are experienced and well educated. Most of them have advanced degrees. Schools with low poverty levels tend to have more qualified teachers than those schools with higher poverty levels.

First Class

I am really excited about this class and learning about how education got to where it is today. Also im excited to see what the Newark school of arts is going to be like. I have never obsereved a school in a ubran setting like that so I'm looking foward to that experience.