How often do you gaze up at the stars?

Everyone knows that we’re losing interest in science as a country. Where visiting the moon should have been the first step in our visit to space, we haven’t gotten much farther. Have you ever wondered what happened to the public’s interest in space exploration? Have you lost your interest in knowing what amazing sights are to be found out there?

I was thinking about it the other night in front of my house. Fort Worth is not a huge city compared to some, but even here the stars are dim most nights. What about major cities who can’t even see the stars? How many children out there have never seen a starry sky that wasn’t on the television? We’ve all heard of the SciFi/Fantasy stories about civilizations that have never seen a tree before and are in awe of them. What about the fact that in this world, as it is now, there are probably children who have never seen a sky filled with the beauty of the universe?

There is so much more to existence than what we can comprehend as human beings. Sure there are still people interested on exploring the universe, but it’s the kids that we really need to get interested. They’re the ones that might see what we cannot. Kids need to see a truly starry night. I think we all do.

And FYI, the images are from NASA’s astronomy pictures of the day, which are fantastic.

Most readers here have figured out that education is something that means a lot to me. There are few things I find more important than developing a person’s natural curiosity, no matter what age. Having the ability to teach yourself, or to find those around you who can help you learn, is such an important skill to have in life. If kids learn only one thing in school, it should be that they have the potential to teach themselves. Sadly, this rarely happens in our education system.

One way I like to teach myself is to spend some time every week watching TED talks. These inspirational speeches are a great way to figure out new things you can learn. It’s not often a full lesson, but it’s enough to get you going in the right direction.

I wanted to share these two videos, both from the same person. Sir Ken Robinson is one of my favorite speakers on the subject of education. I think everyone can learn something by taking a little time to listen to his views about teaching children.

Well I started my new job teaching at Tarrant County College. It inspired me to write a little bit about it. I’ve had a lot of fun.

On a side note. My wife is holding a jewelry give-away right now. All you have to do is write your favorite quote as a comment on her blog for a chance to win a piece of her jewelry. If you aren’t a woman, there is probably something that would be fun to give to a special someone!

I’ve been anticipating this job for some time. I was a bit disappointed when it started because they told me I was no longer teaching web design. This was said after I had spent weeks working on lessons plans and ideas to make it fun and interesting for children. After my first week I am less upset of course. It isn’t about the subject, it is about the kids, and the kids are hilarious.

Instead of web design, they put me in a class teaching strategy games. I wasn’t sure how learning to be better at games would help them in life, but I was certainly qualified to teach it. They didn’t give us ANY cool games to work with either. So we are mostly relying on flash games online. It was still fun though, we took certain games and dissected them to find the strategy behind them. It worked too, because in the beginning the kids weren’t really trying different styles. They would do the same things again and again — content and having fun. By the end they were all trying to do it better through different methods and that is where I found the real lesson behind the class.

Even with something as simplistic as video games, I am teaching them to actually sit down and think things through. Is that not the goal of anyone in education? In my opinion, teaching kids to think is the greatest of all lessons. It is something that they can take with them to help later in life. That is the beauty of teaching kids in groups. Each one of them thinks so much differently than the rest. So I have been pushing them to work together and think of ideas. Since they are younger (3rd-8th) they don’t yet have that inclination to solitude, which is great.

There are always little lessons that you can find in anything you do. Which only once again proves that it isn’t what you do as much as how you go about doing it. There is always a silver lining on my outlooks — something I have always been very grateful for.

Today I was hired by Crowley ISD to be an AVID tutor. It made me think back to what it was that motivated me to get into the education profession. I was never a good student, and nobody I went to school with would have ever guessed this was a path that I would choose. It motivated today’s post.

I hope you enjoy it.

What takes us from one point of our lives to another? Are there specific points that can be used as markers that define who we are and what we believe? When I was in high school I was absolutely convinced of my inadequacies. Was I really inadequate though, or did the environment I was in convince me of that? At this point in my life I can pretty easily say that those thoughts were wrong. I’ve written two books, designed more than a dozen websites, and I’ve taught myself (with a little help from my friends) multiple programming languages. I have found that I thrive on learning, something nobody would have guessed a decade ago. Does that mean it was my experiences in the education system that made me feel like inadequate?

For me, it was getting to know my wife’s grandfather that changed my perceptions. In him I saw a man that truly loved to learn; someone who could not get enough of it. Every time I saw him he had new books he was reading and new websites to show me. That attitude is infectious, in a good way. Critical thinking is something most schools don’t take the time to teach; they don’t often give children an inner desire to learn. We live in an age that has a world full of information at our fingertips, but only if we choose to use it.

It is for this reason that I am so excited to start a new stage in my life. Today I was hired for my first job in the field of education. I could not have asked for a better entrance to this career path. The program I was hired for is called AVID. The program was designed to take average kids and prepare them to try harder and get into advanced placement classes. The program takes kids and teaches them how to become better students. My job is to teach them to teach themselves. I think the best thing I can give them is what my grandfather has given me. A true desire to learn.

It is a challenge that I am ready to meet! Thanks, Daddy Dave!

I was recently asked by my education professor if I would be willing to give her my philosphy of eduaction. She is teaching about the subject to her Intro to Education students, and wanted to use mine as an example. How honored I am! I didn’t think mine was anything special, so it was nice to be asked.

I do have a rather unique look at the world. Few people in my life have disliked me. Perhaps it is the Pisces in me, or that I’m very laid back. So today I’d like to share my philosphy with everyone. Perhaps other people interested in education can learn from it. Or maybe they’ll strongly disagree. I’m sure most teachers have very different viewpoints. Regardless of opinion, I hope that it is worth reading.

The ultimate goal of education is to instill a desire to learn into the minds of every student that ventures through the school system. More valuable than anything we, as teachers, can give to them is the power to give to themselves instead. To survive in the 21st Century a student must have the skills to think fast, think for themselves, and think with a strategy. It is with this knowledge that teachers need to be prepared now more than ever to give this gift to each and every student. It is important that teachers have the tools at their disposal to do so.

Because of my experiences in the school system and my way of learning it is not surprising to find out that I side most with the progressive style of teaching. I am a firm believer in the concept that you shouldn’t fix what isn’t broken; but I do not believe that we should use the old wheel when a new one has been proven more efficient. Students are so very different than one another that it is also no surprise that teachers cannot be satisfied with only one method of teaching. Technology fills our lives every day: emails, documents, spreadsheets, cars, ATM’s, and laptops to name but a few. The future students of America need to have the knowledge to comprehend and use these things efficiently. That is something teachers should help seeing to every day in their classrooms.

Our society often seems slow to realize that today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, a simple truth that cannot be ignored or underestimated. As educators, we have a duty to see that these future leaders are equipped with the knowledge to succeed. Most importantly, we must see to it that they learn from the mistakes of the past in attempt to circumvent those paths in the future. It is important for teachers to have a part of them that rests with the theory of the social reconstruction. America would be a significantly stronger nation if we were not as selfish as a whole. The best way to impact this truth is to work with students now to give back to their community’s without being forced into it by punishment. The reward of it for your college application is but a small step toward the success of this path. We must seek more avenues to promote the behavior of volunteering.

It is the role of every adult to help a child develop into well balanced adults. These days the only ones who seem to be held accountable for that is the teachers they are given to. Actual attention is what some students need more than most other things. In a world of fast food, fast medicine, and fast fads it is important to remember that some things take time. With patience, with understanding, and with an open mind we can affect the lives of students; and we can help guide them into talented, interesting adults and parents.

I’ll keep this intro short. I am someone that is very interested in education in this country. I’d love to see it begin to receive among the biggest budgets, and be taken seriously by all Americans. I hope everyone takes the time to read this post because I think it is a message that everyone can hopefully agree with. After the writing feel free to watch the accompaning video. It is a clip of the show Oprah did that I mention in the piece. As always, thanks for reading!

Not many would argue that race and socio-economic status, and the impact they have on people, are among the biggest problems for education in this country. I realize the issues surrounding this topic could go on for hundreds of pages, but for the sake of this post I will break it into brief mentions of the minority achievement gap and the housing and zoning problems in this country. Between these two topics most people can get an understanding of our education problems on a basic level.

The achievement gap in the United States is such an enormous problem. There are so many examples, but one example that caught my eye recently is a video of Oprah’s show. One school from an affluent neighborhood shocked both me and the kids who got to visit it with its Olympic sized pools, state of the art classrooms, and an incredible exercise room; in contrast, the affluent kids who went to the poor school saw moldy walls, equipment falling apart, and only 2 AP (advanced placement) classes. The achievement gap was further pointed out when one student from the poorer school went to sit in on the Trig class — a subject that she had taken at her own school — at the affluent school.  She didn’t even understand the fundamental concepts of what they were talking about. That is very sad I think for everyone involved.  The kids from the better school shouldn’t feel bad any more than the poor kids should.  It is not their fault.  On average, children from poorer schools perform at a minimum of 1 grade-level below those who are at affluent schools.  More often than not this number is actually 3-4 grades unfortunately.

Something strongly connected to the achievement gap is the housing and zoning problems all across our nation.  The vast majority (about 44-50%) of funding for schools comes from the property tax of the houses in its school zone.  When you really think about that, it makes sense that some schools are grossly over-stocked with wonderful teaching aides, while other schools don’t even have enough to afford current textbooks. You have to understand that most of the houses in the poorer neighborhoods are one, or maybe two, bedrooms for an entire family compared to the nice neighborhoods with three, four, or even more.  The taxes that the wealthy pay on their homes provide their kids with amazing educations; the poor get the raw end of the deal.  This is the number one cause of keeping the wealthy where they are, and keeping the poor that way too.  How can a child possibly compare against someone whose education was infinitely better?  Unfortunately, it is also the biggest obstacle to overcome because the wealthy often are the ones making most of the decisions about zoning and the laws surrounding these problems.

It would take investment to local school districts from wealthy members of society, from local businesses, from everyone who can give even a little. We know this, but how many of us act on it? Doesn’t every child deserve an equal education no matter what social status they were born into? I hope everyone reading takes this opportunity to look at this problem, and hopefully some of you can now look at it in a new way. It is up to all of us to help fix the education system. There will never be enough Government funding to fix this problem, but Americans as a whole can make a real difference.