I AM (poem)

I am smart and beautiful
I wonder if I'm on the right track
I hear my mom voice
I see my family being proud of me
I want to live a blessed life
I am smart and beautiful
I pretend that I am happy
I feel blessed
I touch my goals
I worry about my future
I cry when I feel lost
I am smart and beautiful
I understand that failure is not a option
I say if "God is with me who can be against me"!
I dream of being successful
I try to work hard
I hope I am making the right choices
I am smart and beautiful
-Shay Ross

Each one teach one!

One afternoon while at Kay Road elementary I observed for the first time in my life someone with a physical disability playing in a physical education class. A little girl in Coach Smiths 3rd grad classes is in a wheelchair. She does not let her disability stop her from interacting with the other students. For example when they are doing a walking or running drill some one pushes her around. And when they do floor drills she'll get out of her chair and try her best to do them. The first time I saw her get out of her wheelchair I was so surprised at how strong this little girl was. Even with her physical disability she is just as playful and happy as anyone else. That student always makes my day cause she seems so determined to be treated "normal" she does not let anything hold her back. If you can do it she can do it!!!

A change of heart (Waiting For Superman)

Every morning, in big cities, suburbs and small towns across America, parents send their children off to school with the highest of hopes. But a shocking number of students in the United States attend schools where they have virtually no chance of learning; "failure factories" likelier to produce drop-outs than college graduates. And despite decades of well-intended reforms and huge sums of money spent on the problem, our public schools haven't improved markedly since the 1970s. Davis Guggenheim gives us and in site on the crisis of public education in the United States. The story is told through multiple interlocking stories; "from a handful of students and their families whose futures hang in the balance, to the educators and reformers trying to find real and lasting solutions within a dysfunctional system."

Waiting for Superman brought me to tears! I grew up in a home where my future was almost planed out for me. My parents put in the best schools, my mom would read to be every night, we moved when I got into high school so I could go to a better school. So I never really thought about other families and how some people can’t move around to find better schools. They have to do the best with what they have! Now that I am older and more open minded I learn from other people. I see that I was really blessed! When watching Waiting for Superman my heart felt so much pain and sadness for those kids and their families, No one deserves to not be offered the best education. I can’t even put into words the emotions I felt when watching this. How would you feel if your only (main) chance of making it in life was based on luck! or you where told
your school was a failure factorie. And then the thought that you cant fire bad teachers because of something called "ten-year" that really needs to change. I do belive this documentary was a little one sided. If fixing education was as easy as the film made it seem i am sure it would have been fixed; some charter schools work and others don't.
After watching this documentary, I decide to change my major. I was health and physical education major but now I plan to be an early child hood major. I may not have the tools or education right now to be the best teacher but, I care and I know when I put my mind to something I can do it. Even if I can’t change the Education system I KNOW I’ll change some child’s life.

21st Century Class Room

The 21st century class room in my opion is  fast past, expensive, and diverse. About 30 years ago I am sure students and teachers did not expect things would be like they are right now. Some teachers are expected to teach three or four chapter’s a day.  School can also be expensive, What i pay for one year in college my parents only paid half for their full four years. Schools are also more diverse. So teachers in the 21st century have to be able to relate to other ethic groups outside of their own. The 21st century class room uses a lot of technology. Not many students use text books or are expected to do work out problems on paper. You have calculators that can do it all. The 21st century class room is a fast pasted technology ruled class room. Teachers are expected to know more and do more compared to teachers a long time ago.