Are all teachers in it for the right reasons?

A Teacher's job on the line because of her blog...Click here! to view the video.
This ordeal is dividing the community and creating an uproar of parents against the teacher.  The teacher on her blog, was writing about students anonymously and go suspended with pay because of her remarks about the students.  Some people might say that this is a free country and that people can write and be public about their feelings.  I can agree with that statement, but I can not agree with this teacher's actions.  Being a teacher is more than just showing up from the beginning of the school day until the end.  Teacher's are to be professionals, mentors, looked up to and are to be helping people.  Being a teacher is more than a profession, it is a life style.  It is sad that there are people out there who teach because of the pay, summers off and the benefits.  Teachers are not to get impatient with students and resort to their blog to vent on how much they dislike their students.  Teachers are here to help students with their struggles in education, mold students into better individuals and do this because they know they are making difference, not collecting a pay check.  I am not a lawyer and do not know the legalities behind this situation and I do not know if she can be fired for her blog.  I do know that this teacher should of chosen a different profession.  It is teachers like this who create a bad reputation for other educators in the world.  Do you think a true educator would ever talk about their students like this?  Let alone blog about it for the entire world to see?  The answer is no. The bottom line is that teachers are to be helpful, role models and to be in teaching for the right reasons.

"Mickey" - My classmate, teammate & friend

Mickey is an Mexican-American and we grew up together. We are the same age and have been playing football together since I can remember. The town we grew up in was predominantly white students, but Mickey did not let this affect him. Mickey’s parents are immigrants and do not speak English very well. When we were younger I remember Billy used to be picked on once in a while because of his ethnicity. He never let this bother him and I thought was very brave how handled situations.
As we got into high school there was pressure from Mickey’s parents for him to start working as a day laborer with his father and uncle. Mickey saw it as a great opportunity to make money in the summer. As we got older Mickey’s father and uncle wanted to have Mickey work on weekends during the school year and then they wanted to have him work on school days. Mickey did not see this dilemma coming, he was torn by his family and his schoolwork. As time went on he was getting pressure from his family to work and his friends and teachers to stay in school. Mickey always wanted to be a biology teacher and he did not let his stereotype and other influences get in the way. Mickey kept working in the summers, but he finished out his high school degree and went onto college. Mickey is going to graduate in May and have his teaching degree in biology. Mickey did not let the stereotypes and other people putting him down get in the way of his goals. Mickey is a story of inspiration and that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.

Multicultural Learning

Tracking

Tracking is when students are put into different classes based on their abilities.  Low, middle and high are assigned to different “tracks” where each group will be learning at different speeds.  In most cases the different “tracks” learn different material.  The lower group might learn vocational skills with technology or working skills (cashier, etc.) where the higher group will learn subjects that will get them ready for college.  Students are usually put into “tracking groups” early on in their education and rarely have a chance to change groups once they are in them.  Some teachers view tracking as a great way to manage students, some teachers believe that it is a bad system.  As time goes on in one’s education career some students might start questioning their grouping and their groupings name.  If students know they are in the slow or low tracking group, this could create jealousy and other emotions against their group and others.  Teachers have argued and admitted that they do put more effort into the higher tracking groups opposed to the lower tracking groups.  If this is the case than the tracking system is flawed for that particular district.  Many studies have been done that the tracking groups have to do with socio-economic status and race playing a major factor.  A student of low socio-economic status has a higher chance of getting put into the lower track.  The lower track usually deals with management and social problems, rather than the academic problems the higher tracks deal with.  I personally believe tracking is not a good 

WWYD? Prosthetics and Sport

My first reaction to the video is I feel bad for the player that has been cut from the baseball team.  I also find it amazing that the young man can pitch the ball so hard while having prosthetic legs.  Even though the player got cut from the team it shows that anything is possible if you put your mind to it.  The mother and son seemed very shocked that he got cut from the baseball team.  Not only did they both looked shocked, they both seemed like it was very unfair.  From their point of view he got cut because of his disability, not his skills in baseball.  I am not totally sure if going on the air is going to help the teenager make the baseball team.  I know that with this big of media coverage the school is not going to be able to just turn their back on the situation.  The situation will have to be dealt with, but is the school going to let the teenager on the team just because of the media coverage?  It seems very odd to me that the teenage could be a prospect by the Major Leagues, but can not make a high school baseball team.  I do not think that the school is going to let the teenager right back on the team just because of the media coverage.  Cuts and teams should be made by ability and the betterment for the team.  If the school allows the teenager back on the team it looks as if they treated him unfairly just because of his disability.  Their body language and voice tone helped their argument against the school.  It helped because they were very disappointed and sounded very upset that the school is letting his disability hold him back.  The video makes the viewer question the schools decision based on the facts given by the mother and the son. 

WWYD:

If I were the High School coach:  I would give the teenage baseball player the same opportunity as any other player on the team.  I would try to be as unbiased as possible and make a decision based on the betterment for the team and ability.  As a coach if you can honestly say that the decision to cut a player is solely based ability and the betterment for the team, then that coach should not be worried about the video.  I understand that politics, media and parents play a huge role in high school sports and sometimes avoiding conflict is not possible.  I am not sure what happened with this student athlete, but I would not be surprised if the school changed their decision.

The video makes it look as if the teenager was cut just because his disability and not because of his talent level.  If the video is completely true than the student never should have been cut in the first place.  There is a possibility that the student did get cut purely based on talent and not just because of his disability.  Many parents now a days find it their duty to make sure their son/daughter is given the same opportunity as every other student.  Sometimes parents get very involved even when the school or coaches are correct on their decision making.  I am not sure if the teenager is back on the baseball team, but with all of this media coverage I would not be surprised if the school had to put the teenager back on the baseball team.

Link to story: http://abcnews.go.com/US/disabled-pitcher-anthony-burruto-cut-high-school-baseball/story?id=12891530

Sayville High School

I went to Sayville High School where it is located in Suffolk County, Long Island, NY.  I played sports growing up in Sayville all the way up to the varsity level where I found it to be one of the better experiences of my life.  Sayville has taken pride in education and athletics. http://sayville.k12.ny.us/curriculum.cfm?subpage=18277  is the link to the curriculum page where there are goals, beliefs, values and a mission statement. http://sayville.k12.ny.us/files/23685/athletic%20handbook.pdf  is the link to the interscholastic hand book for Sayville athletics.  In the handbook you will find teams, philosophies for all levels of athletics, policies, beliefs, safety issues and much more. http://sayville.k12.ny.us/highschool.cfm?subpage=230 is the link to the physical education department where you will find what is being taught in the high school, objectives for all three domains and a mission statement. All three of the mission statements for education, physical education and athletics have the same core idea.  The core idea that Sayville’s programs are getting their students ready for life.  Whether it be in physical education where they are being taught life long activities or in athletics where they are being taught the value of teamwork and leadership skills.  All three departments strive to have the students ready for life after high school.

http://chrisdelucaportfoliophilosophies.blogspot.com/ is the link to my philosophies.

Teaching Diverse Learners

In all levels of education there will be students with different learning styles, where us teachers will have to create different ways to teach the material.  There are visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners which all need different type of teaching styles.  In the fall of 2010 I student taught and I had a great experience teaching the students with all three types of learning styles.  Visual learners learn better from viewing the material and having visual aids to look at when performing an activity.  When I taught the Sport Ed. Model Football unit for the 4^th-6^th grade co-ed classes, I knew that it would be essential to have visual aids.  I put up the rules, different routes, the jobs of the different positions and the jobs on the team (coach, equipment manager, playbook keeper fitness specialist, etc) on all four sides of the gymnasium.  I did this for the students to look over while they were in their drills or games to keep the class flowing smoothly and to give the students another way to learn than watching me demonstrate.  This also helped myself because I could spend my time physically demonstrating to other students, while other students could be possibly answering their own questions with the visual aids.  It was nice when I would overlook my physical education classes watching the students using the visual aids on their own to remember what the receiver patterns.  This was only one of the three different learning styles and only one of my ways in my student teaching experience I taught in different ways to meet the needs of the three student learning abilities.