After Columbine ...

"On April 20, 1999, in the small, suburban town of Littleton, Colorado, two high-school seniors, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, enacted an all-out assault on Columbine High School during the middle of the school day. The boys' plan was to kill hundreds of their peers. With guns, knives, and a multitude of bombs, the two boys walked the hallways and killed. When the day was done, twelve students, one teacher, and the two murderers were dead." (Rosenberg, About.com) 

The tragedy at Columbine made it necessary for the American school system to reanalyze safety precautions for their students.


According to a survey done in 2003 by the National Center for Education Statistics, several measures for ensuring a safe school environment have been steadily taking place since 1999.  (See Chart)

According to an article on msnbc.com, "Metal detectors, threat-evaluation software, police officers -- hundreds of American schools have added tighter security since 1999’s attack at Colorado’s Columbine High School.  But these solutions 'are not likely to be effective,' and are potentially harmful, according to federal researchers who conducted the most thorough study of school shootings across the nation.  Of what value is a metal detector, the researchers asked, when an attacker is willing to kill others and take his or her life?" 

So what can schools do in order to ensure a safe environment for their students?  According to a study done by the U.S. Secret Service and the U.S. Department of Education, the most effective way to keep students safe is to educate the students, themselves.  Their suggestions? 

Encourage students to report what they hear, and to have an adult they can confide in, because attackers often disclose their plans to other students, but rarely to adults.

Watch for behavior such as gathering weapons or making plans, because attackers rarely “just snap” in a spur-of-the-moment attack. (msnbc.com)

"Though school shootings are tragic and memorable, they also occur relatively infrequently and account for just 1 percent of the homicides of school-age youth, according to the Secret Service and the Department of Education research." (usnews.com) 

While this may be true, school violence is still a large issue facing the American education system today.  School violence also hits close to home.  In response to an increase number of fights breaking out in my children's own high school, the school board voted to employ a full-time police officer to patrol the building during school hours.  Just a few short years ago, a teenage girl was shot at East High School in Erie during a basketball game.  When attending sporting events at Central High School, all attendees must submit purses and other bags to an officer for a search and are wanded down by a metal detector before being granted access to the event. 

Bullying has also become a huge problem in schools today with reports of teenagers committing suicide after as a result of this growing epidemic.  A national PSA campaign called "It Gets Better," specifically aimed at the LGBT community encourages teenagers to seek help if they are victims of bullying.

 As future educators, it is important for us to be proactive in raising awareness to school violence and bullying with our students.  I believe teachers and administrators should have an "open door" policy for all students.  Students should feel safe to share their thoughts, feelings, fears and opinions without judgment or criticisms.  If all educators would adopt this policy, I feel we could save a life ... or maybe a lot of lives so no one has to experience another Columbine. 

Works Cited: 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15111439/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/t/does-every-school-need-metal-detector/

http://history1900s.about.com/od/famouscrimesscandals/a/columbine_2.htm

http://www.usnews.com/education/articles/2009/04/17/school-safety-10-years-after-columbine?page=2

Sunday Night Circle

In Thursday's SEDU 183 class, we had a heated discussion about whether or not Personal Learning Networks (PLN) were helpful or hurtful to the classroom, to the teachers and to the students.  As a class, I felt we all vocalized pros and cons to the PNL idea. 

I can certainly see the benefits of integrating technology into the classroom.  I can also see the benefits of using a professional PNL to enhance my own professional development and teaching techniques.  However, I, along with several of my fellow students, believe that it does become a bit overwhelming to keep up with all of the information being offered through our textbook. 

I, personally, am not a huge fan of Twitter and use Facebook for personal relationships only.  I understand that both of these mediums can be used in a professional atmosphere and I am not completely closed off to the idea of using them in the future.  For now, however, I am still on the fence. 

One of the concerns voiced by a classmate was the need for face-to-face contact between students who are prone to texting and e-mail in lieu of speaking to one another in person or calling one another on the phone.  This, as a parent of two teenagers, is a concern of mine as well. 

Hence my incorporation of what I refer to as the "Sunday Night Circle." 

On any given Sunday night in the Divine Mrs. M's household, a group of teenagers gather around the dinner table where the Divine Mrs. M provides a meal of pasta or tacos, etc.  Cell phones are checked at the door and what commences is a forum for discussion, debate and laughter.  Anyone and everyone is welcome and the topics are always lively, interesting and thought-provoking. 

The rules are simple ... no cell phones, no vulgar language or sharing gossip, respect one another's opinions and no one is allowed to interrupt another person when he/she is speaking.  Topics we have broached are teen pregnancy rates, the Theory of Evolution, dress codes, the philosophies of Plato, Nietzche and Joseph Campbell, alcohol and drug use, Glee, Lady Gaga, Asking Alexandria and the college selection process .... just to name a few. 

I find that once you take away the technology and get teenagers in an environment where their opinions are not only respected but encouraged, the conversation can last for hours and everyone can take away something from the discussion. 

During the "Sunday Night Circle," the Divine Mrs. M acts as mediator and facilitator of the conversation and also as a proofreader for term papers and college essays.  It has become a staple in my home and has provided my children and their friends the opportunity to feel comfortable speaking in a group and sharing their own opinions. 

The art of communication has not died due to modern technology.  However, extra effort has to be made to get people talking to one another ... one-on-one ... face-to-face ... and in a group.  I feel that I have accomplished this in my own household and hope to be able to carry that over into my classroom, as well. 

I am not opposed to technology.  I find it valuable in a variety of different ways.  But I feel that a healthy balance is necessary so that teachers do not rely on it entirely to teach their students, come up with creative ideas or become so stressed out by the process that they get frustrated and want to pull their hair out.  Given the choice between Twitter or Facebook and the "Sunday Night Circle," the "Circle" will win everytime. 

The Power of Persuasion

This week in SEDU 183, we were required to create a lesson plan using a standard which related to the subject and grade level we are planning to teach after graduation.  The standards we had to choose from can be found at www.pdesas.org. 

Since I am a great fan of the written word and feel that proper writing skills are a vital component to every student's education and future success, I chose to formulate a lesson plan intended for 9th graders on persuasive writing.  My narrative explaining the lesson plan can be viewed by clicking the following link:  http://www.docstoc.com/docs/document-preview.aspx?doc_id=113375909. 

I am relatively new to the idea of using PowerPoint as a teaching tool.  I graduated from high school in 1989.  There was no such thing as PowerPoint ... or SmartBoards ... or whiteboards for that matter.  The only technology I was exposed to during my high school years were film projectors with reels of film, not slides, and the occasional overhead projector. 

Since I returned to college, a majority of my professors use PowerPoint but to a limited extent.  The professors that I have encountered use PowerPoint to highlight key points from the text and provide enough information to pass a test.  I haven't had a class yet that uses any type of graphic in a PowerPoint ... just text. 

Keeping in mind my audience, those in the 9th grade, I had a great time browsing Google images for graphics, YouTube for an age appropriate educational video and the animation features to make the PowerPoint more appealing to the students viewing it. 

Overall, I found it an enjoyable experience.  It took me quite awhile to figure everything out but I do believe that I completed this project to the best of my ability.  If you would like to see the final project, please click here. Enjoy! Power of Persuasion

What's the Big Idea?

In the first chapter of Personal Learning Networks by Will Richardson and Rob Mancabelli, Understanding the Power of PLNS, the reader is introduced to the idea that personal learning networks will change the face of education forever.  Pam Moran, a school superintendent and educator with 30 years experience, states, "It's almost like we're recreating education from scratch.  In another 5-10 years, education is going to look like nothing  we've seen in the last 500 years." (15)  As I was reading the chapter, I found myself looking forward to and being excited about entering the field of teaching during a time of technological revolution. 

I found the idea of collaboration to be a key theme throughout the text.  "We've always had the benefit of our local connections and classroom in which to learn, but the global connections now available have created an expectation of collaboration and cooperation around learning that goes beyond our physical space."  (17)  Teachers can now reach out to others in the same profession (some half way around the world) in order to bounce around ideas and share techniques, teaching styles and discoveries through the use of blogs, facebook and other social networks.  Students can be taught to take charge of their own learning experiences, as well, if they are taught "how to make connections with others online, how to negotiate the interactions between them, how to collaborate with them in ways that go beyond just sharing existing information to the creation of new knowledge, and how to perhaps even change the world." (20)

While social networking sites such as facebook and twitter are used for connecting with friends and family, "learning networks are very different both in form and purpose in that we instead connect with people we don't already know." (21) The learning network community "push one another's thinking and collaboratively create new knowledge to share with the world."  (21)  By using the numerous tools available through the internet, teachers are now able to break through the barriers of the classroom walls and introduce their students to an entirely new way of learning.  No longer are teachers confined to a textbook and strict curriculum.  Teachers are "now creating knowledge together, testing theories and ideas, collaborating on solutions or actions and sharing back most everything we learn in the process."  (23)

As exciting as the ideas of teacher collaboration and students using personal learning networks in order to take charge of their own learning may be, there are some serious obstacles in the way of Richardson's and Mancabelli's big idea of transforming the learning process from becoming a reality.  According to a recent article in the Huffington Post, school districts who have already faced extreme budget cuts will continue to be required to "trim the fat" from their already meager budgets.  In said article, Rob Monson, a principal in Parkston, S.D., who is president of the National Association of Elementary School Principals, advises that districts will have little choice but to put off buying textbooks and technology and training teachers.  If  projected budget cuts in those particular areas are expected, how can the authors state with such confidence that the use of personal learning networks is the wave of the future in education?  Without technology being readily available to all students in all school districts and the proper training programs for teachers to use said technology, the authors' ultimate plan to revolutionize the classroom cannot be implemented. 

That being said, I still feel it is an exciting time to be entering the field of teaching as technology is enabling teachers and students alike to experience learning in a way that could not have been imagined as little as 30 years ago. While the implementation of all of the ideas offered in this chapter may not be realistic as a whole, I personally look forward to building my learning networks and sharing ideas and collaborating with my fellow educators in order to create the best learning environment for my future students.  Is this idea a big one?  Of course it is, but all of the great ones usually are.

Pics, Videos and Hyperlinks ... Oh My!

Hello everyone ... It's day 2 in the SEDU 183 classroom and the Divine Mrs. M. is attempting to fulfill the lastest assignment of attaching a pic (check), attaching a video (check), hyperlink (check) and e-mail address (check). 

So ... do me a solid and check out my other blog, Forty, Fabulous & Fat which my friends find hysterical and my children find embarrassing and if you are under the age of 40 you will probably find quite dull.  If you actually do check out the other blog, start at the beginning ... my earlier posts are much more whimsical than the end of the year retrospect.  Feel free to e-mail me with your comments and suggestions. 

Leaving you with my favorite song from the Wizard of Oz ... If I Only Had a Brain ... which is how I feel most of the time ...

Ready ... Set ... Blog

Hello everyone ... I am the Divine Mrs. M. (a/k/a Melanie Miller), an adult student revisiting a dream which began a long time ago with part-time evening college classes (when time and money would permit) in hot pursuit of finally obtaining the one thing I have been striving for but has always been just slightly out of reach ... a degree in Secondary Education English.  At the ripe age of 41, my time has officially come, and I am a full-time college student.  No longer spending my days toiling away writing speeches and correspondence for a local State Representative, I am now filling my hours with reading (a lot of reading) and homework assignments, being tutored by my teenage children in math and biology and forever being humbled as I find myself sitting in class next to students who are less than half my age, some of whom I used to assist as teacher's helper in their elementary classrooms, chaperone on field trips and host slumber parties for under my own roof.  C'est le vie.  Henry Ford once said, "Anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.  Anyone who keeps learning is young."  I guess that makes me 41 years young and counting. 

Becoming a high school English teacher has been my lifelong dream.  Why?  For one, I really enjoy interacting with teenagers.  Strange ... but true.  I find that teenagers are young enough to still be idealists in nature and have increasingly interesting points of view.  If you ever let them speak.  Which, unfortunately in my experience, is not the case with a lot of adults I  have come into contact with whom seem to readily dismiss their opinions.  The fact that I do not may explain why on any given night at the Divine Mrs. M.'s household, you can find a group of teenagers eating and having lively debates around the dinner table. 

Second of all, I have an unabashed love for the written language. I read approximately one book per week.  I believe the youth of today should be required to read the American classics, poetry and British literature as it offers them a glimpse into specific periods of history and the cultural influence and social norms of times long past.  Great literary authors embedded their works with rich insights as to what was happening politically and socially in the world around them under the guise of fiction. 

In my early 20's I started my career as a supervisor at a nationally known insurance corporation in the transcription department.  This job required me to assure that every piece of correspondence, claim information and policy manual to be 100% grammatically correct.  In essence, I was an editor.  This attention to detail has led my children to sometimes go over the edge when I proofread their work and handed it back with countless red marks for correction.  But as the years have passed and they have grown older, the red marks have diminished in number and they earn praise from their teachers on their writing skills.  Which leads you to the other reason I aspire to be an English teacher.  I cannot, no matter how hard I try, read anything without mentally correcting the grammatical mistakes I encounter (Although let me make a disclaimer here that while I strive for perfection, I am not perfect and in the course of blogging I am bound to make a few grammatical mistakes as well.  Perhaps even in the blog in which you are reading.)  In a world that spins on a technological axis, I am afraid the art of writing is in peril.  I believe students should know how to construct intelligent, grammatically correct statements.  Something other than "C U at 2," the shorthand that is now becoming commonplace in the world of texting and e-mails. 

So there you have it.  A lengthy introduction, I know.  But, here I am at 41 pursuing my college degree hoping to open the eyes of the leaders of tomorrow by teaching them the importance of literature and the ability to express themselves clearly and appropriately through written communication.  I am hoping by continuing the blogging process I can find like-minded individuals, regardless of what their chosen specialty may be, who are eager to enrich the lives of today's youth through the exchange of ideas, techniques, etc.