Teacher education

Mrs.Chili
April 8, 2006 at 7:58 am

Vanx, I don’t know if it’s Yiddish or not – could be – but my brain filled in missing letters and I got something like a name brand for toilet paper. Weird, huh?

I haven’t received any indications of how the decision-making is going, though one of my interviewers told me yesterday that she thought my interview went well. That’s something, anyway.

Of course, I’ve been going over the whole thing in my head – much like I do with everything – and wishing I’d said this or that. Thankfully, though, there’s nothing I DID say that I wish I hadn’t. I think that’d be worse, don’t you?

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4 Comments.
claudia
April 4, 2006 at 12:17 pm

The picture you posted of Mary Shelly does not have the second “E” in the name. All other references to her are spelled “Shelley”.Do you know which is correct?

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1 Comment.
vanx
February 27, 2006 at 11:59 pm

It’s great that they give teachers some kind of break. The sad thing is that they give professional athletes and movie stars all their books for free!~,:^)

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7 Comments.
Kizz
February 16, 2006 at 10:12 am

I think that the direct pressure on this kid isn’t going to work. From what you say he knows he’s being watched and feels that while being watched he needs to act a certain way. I remember being a teen (and younger…and much, much, older) and feeling that when someone told me to do something or pointed out how wrong I was it made it harder to change. (My mother, even now, is a fan of waiting until I’m in front of a big group and, if I haven’t said it fast enough, reminding me to say Thank You. Never mind that I might be trying to say it quietly or directly. Never mind that I may already have done it. Never mind that I’m 37 freaking years old. And there in that moment, trapped I can’t say Thank You and I can’t stay Quiet.)

When I read this entry I thought, “I wonder if this kid is reading at home and just faking at school.” You’ve pointed out that this isn’t an option for him so I’m not right but I do think that out of the line of sight is where he’s going to change IF he changes. I love Karen’s story about her teacher and it was what I was thinking of suggesting to you as I rode the bus this morning thinking about this. I think some time of easing off the pressure would be required but a casual gift of a short story or a novella and something like, “This made me think of you.” or “You should have this.” No requirement attached to it. There’s no guarantee it’ll work. But there’s also no guarantee that he won’t stick the book under his bed, find it in 6 years, read it because the cable is out and finally get what you meant.

One of the hardest things about teaching is having to let someone go even if you haven’t gotten through. And yet it doesn’t mean that your lesson won’t be learned, you just might not be around to see it. All you can do is try.

I don’t know what the reading level is with these kids but it seems like anything by S.E. Hinton would be good for them and some of the vintage Stephen King short stories are worthwhile. Four Seasons has the 4 novellas in it and the one about the old Nazi is provocative and a good teaching tool. Anyway, good luck!

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Checked out the pictures on your site. You had an interesting array of fellow marchers, Greeks, moms, Black panters (didn’t know they were still around), BRICK and most interestingly a funeral home. Hmmm!!! What happened to the “It takes a Village?” When, how, where did we loose our way, self respect and value for life?” The frequency of these incidents and the savagery involved is unbelievable. This disease is nationwide and doesn’t seem to be slowing any.
Look, like any one else, I’m glad folks were fired up but how many more marches are we gonna have? Any plans for serious behavior modification(other than the prison systems which are making a ton of money with little or no rehabilitation) as a preemptive and more concrete, long
long term solution?

Just the Facts.

Have you ever heard the phrase; “Opportunity knocks”? In today’s society many people are ignoring the subtle changes in their daily demographic and are still clinging to their comfortable spending habits. Especially in an economic downfall, we are clinging ever more tightly to the “Almighty” Dollar. How are we supposed to make more money? By playing it safe and sticking to “What Works”? What may have worked in the past, may not work in the future, and it’s probably not working in the present. However, you should still play it safe.

What I’ve compiled for you is simply facts, from several trusted and reliable sources. These sources are used everyday in marketing and advertising board rooms across the country. Without these facts, advertisers would not advertise the safe way. You as a rational, intelligent being should make your decisions based on facts and risk. So I ask, “Why are you robbing yourself?” Perhaps you may be uninformed about the changes in our population, spending habits, and media preference. Or maybe you just do “what works” even though it really isn’t, because you think you’re safe.

Did you know that marketers spent 73% more advertising dollars to reach African Americans in 2006 compared to 2002? Why, you may ask? According to the Selig Center’s Multicultural Economy Report, “In 2008, African Americans will constitute the nation’s largest racial minority market, and their economic clout will energize the U.S. Consumer market as never before.” The Selig Center projects that the nations black buying power will rise from $318 billion in 1990 to $590 billion in 2000, to $913 billion in 2008, and to $1.2 trillion in 2013. That, my friend, is buying power! More than the entire country of Canada in a year, more than the entire continent of Africa! African Americans will constitute for the ninth largest economic rank in the world. Their buying power has risen 166% from 2000 to 2007. That’s only 17 years! By DJ Hans

Over here in the U.S., misspelling among all people from all walks of life–whites and all people of color–from preschool to post graduate school, is probably just as bad as anywhere including the Philippines. Texts on TV broadcasts get misspelled, student compositions and emails, in spite of the spelling checkers, get murdered. Even street conversation is not grammatical. Jay Leno, that stalwart of comedy and formerly of NBC’s “The Tonight Show” used to have a segment of his show in which he showcased misspellings and the ungrammatical or weird use of words; some nights, he featured interviews with the intellectually challenged. In that aspect, I think we, Filipinos, shouldn’t take it so hard when we misspell in English (of course, we misspell in any language like it was an equal opportunity thing) given that English is not even our native language. The problem exists and it has just been exacerbated by the cellphone and the liberties in spelling we take when texting. The point is, average Americans are generally not inhibited to speak their minds in spite of their misspellings, horrendous grammar, poor choice of words, or a combination of any of these. I think that’s the general problem with us, Asians: we tend to shy from offering a piece of our mind because of our traditional sensitivity over misspelling what we write, or our reticence to speaking ungrammatically or with an accent.

As far as I’m concerned, we shouldn’t make a big issue about our misspellings, ungrammatical sentence constructions, poor choice of words, or our accents–these don’t necessarily equate to ignorance, or mean that we are bobo . The important thing is we should not be too circumspect in our dialog as to stifle what we wish to say in the first place. If God meant for us to always spell correctly, be grammatical, or speak without an accent, he would have inserted a chip in our genes that would take care of those issues. In the final analysis, what is important is a healthy curiosity and quest for knowledge and skills, certainly the ones we can use to survive. NOT the correct spelling of that knowledge, nor its grammatical construction, period. If we can spell correctly and be grammatical as well, those are just icing on the cake.

All these, however, do not constitute an excuse to tolerate the imperfections mentioned above when YOU–not I–engage in formal discourse, in which I expect you to be squeaky clean, your words correctly spelled, your sentences grammatical, and foremost, you are communicating some sensible idea, in a manner of speaking. Just don’t ask me why it is not declared illegal for your medical doctor to write his prescriptions with such elan and in a manner that would stump your National Spelling Bee Champ! Pharmacists probably spell well as an occupational requirement, but then we can’t all be pharmacists…

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Research (via the SHEU ) which looks at parent’s influence on children’s smoking behaviour found that:

parents’ early smoking cessation has a long-term influence on their adult children’s smoking cessation. Parents who smoke should be encouraged to quit when their children are young.

Filed under: USA , research , tobacco

Is Public Health Best Served By Targeted Or Universal Prevention?.

Mike Ashton has been looking at research which examines the relative effect of universal, targeted or indicated prevention.

The analysis suggests that different types of prevention are more effective with different substances as his chart (right) suggest.

However, as Mike points out, things aren’t always clear:

Universal programmes also face complicating issues. They may lead the population as a whole to reduce use of the targeted substances, but within this population may at the same time exacerbate inequalities in use and health. This happens because well resourced individuals and groups are best able to take on board and act on health promotion messages, while the most vulnerable are less able to do so.

He also reminds us that some approaches to drug prevention are counter-productive. He concludes:

In the end these decisions must be taken on the basis of how things stand in a particular population for a particular problem related to a particular substance, and the adequacy of the interventions which can be brought to bear on those problems.

It’s a very interesting piece so go read it all .

Filed under: drug prevention