Schools still using paddling

My personal beliefs on paddling are that I think it is an acceptable use of punishment. I know many parents in today's time do not support it or use paddling as a form of punishment as my parents and grandparents did.

In Kentucky, there is still a school that still uses paddling. The principal of the elementary school that still uses paddling says that in many ways paddling seems to be more effective than taking a child's recess away or sending them to detention.

Paddling a student is not as easy as it used to be though. Before this Kentucky principal is allowed to paddle a student, he first has to get written permission from the parent. Also, there must be two witnesses at the time the paddling takes place.

The article also discusses that more schools are returning to corporal punishment due to the ineffectiveness of suspension. Rather than it being a punishment, students are left at home without their parents, and end up having a three day weekend. If given the option, I would choose suspension too! Both of my parents work full time and neither of them would take off of work to sit at home with me to make sure that I am miserable and learning my lesson. I would definitely choose sitting at home by myself and not having to go to school versus receiving physical pain. Although, it may be a small, short amount of pain, I would still rather be at home.

"A study by the Center for Effective Discipline shows 22 states still participate in corporal punishment. Their study showed that in the 2006-2007 school year more than 220,000 students across the country experienced physical punishment at school." (WHAS 11) Personally, I am glad to see that there are still a great number of schools that still enforce corporal punishment.

To read the article in it's entirety, go to: http://www.whas11.com/news/local/Some-Ky-schools-use-paddling-as-disciplinary-measure-for-students-83711032.html.



WHAS 11. "Some Ky. schools still use paddling as disciplinary measure for students." Local News. N.p., 6 Feb. 2010. Web. 23 Feb. 2010. .

Kids-Spanking. N.d. SMASHgods, online. Web. 23 Feb. 2010.

School shootings

School shootings are nothing less than a tragedy, no matter when or where it is that they occur. When school shootings happen, many people all around stop a say a short prayer or send donations to the families affected or even re-evaluate the way they are living their lives. During the past two weeks, two school shootings have taken place in my home town. You hear about school shootings happening, but none truly effect you the same way as it does when they happen in the very place where you were born and raised. I was shocked to hear that the middle school just across the highway from my home was the site for one of the shootings. I have heard about colleges and high schools having shootings, but never before a middle school. I remember being that age and never having considered even getting into a fight at school, much less shooting someone. It wasn't even a tiny thought in my immature little brain.

I was in such disbelief that it occurred in a middle school that I just knew that it wasn't likely to hear about that happening repeatedly too often. Much to my surprise (again), I came across an article entitled "Elementary Teacher Allegedly Shoots Principal" while browsing around on www.edweek.org. The article told of how a fourth-grade teacher in Knoxville, TN was being charged with shooting the principal and assistant principal of their employed school several times ("Elementary teacher allegedly," 2010). The fourth-grade teacher, Mark Foster, was already under the scope for previous skeptical actions. Reference to his skeptical actions included acting as "two different people" at times, anonymous e-mails claiming that he was a "ticking time bomb", a letter on file from his mother saying how he had threatened to kill both himself and his employer, and students requesting to get out of his class because he was hateful ("Elementary teacher allegedly," 2010). They held an investigation concerning Foster's actions, but the case was dismissed because there was no proof of him violating any school policies. There had been some preliminary discussion of having a security officer present at the meeting between Foster and the principals, where they informed him that they were not going to be renewing his contract for the next school year ("Elementary teacher allegedly," 2010). Although both victims are still alive, what happened was still devastating and unnecessary. Who would have imagined that the meeting would have evolved the way it did?

As a future teacher, all of this leaves me a little intimidated. Although the chances of this happening can occur any occupational field, the stories of it happening in my future occupation send chills down my spine.


Elementary teacher allegedly shoots principle. (2010, February 12). Teacher Magazine, Retrieved from http://www.edweek.org/tm/articles/2010/02/12/teachershootsprincipal_ap.html?r=533154395

Bring Your Parent to School Day

Students at Alfred S. Letourneau Elementary School are getting extra help on their school work now because of the Bring Your Parent to School Day that the school hosts once a month. This gives parents a first hand experience of what their children are learning. This collaboration between the parents and the teacher is so significant. The more involved the parents are, the better the child can learn. One teacher said she gets anywhere from five and 12 parents each time in her classroom. The times change throughout the day for when the parents come to the school in order for them to see all different subjects that are taught.

The teachers at Alfred S. Letourneau Elementary School have different activities for the parents do to with their children in the classroom. For example, first grade teacher, Kristen Roussel, got the parents involved in the math lesson by handing out flash cards with numbers and addition problems on them. (Vital) Another teacher had a science experiment for the parents to do with their child.

Not only do parents find this useful and important, many parents take off work to come and participate on these days. The parents enjoying seeing what goes on during the day in their child's classroom, as well as giving them a chance to be able to help them with their work. To view the full article, go to: http://www.heraldnews.com/news/x562892781/Parents-invited-to-take-part-in-children-s-lessons-at-Letourneau-School.

I would love to work in a school where this program was incorporated into it. I think that is so significant for teachers and parents to be in contact and collaborate together to enhance student learning. One great way to collaborate is by doing the Bring Your Parent to School Days.

Vital, Derek. "Parents invited to take part in children’s lessons at Letourneau School - Fall River, MA - The Herald News." Herald News, MA News - Fall River, MA - The Herald News. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Feb. 2010. .

Race to the Top

Now that I am getting into more of my core classes in the College of Education, I am hearing a whole new kind of "chatter" than what I am used to thus far in my college career. The "basic" classes that I took my first two years of college (i.e. English 101, World Lit 2, Biology, etc.) were made up of a blended assortment of students with different majors. We all talked about general things that we could all discuss and have some interest in. For instance, we never discussed what was happening at NASA from the engineering aspect or what new music the marching band was learning. We discussed more common things such as what we did on the weekends or what was going on in the class that we shared together because most of us college students interact in similar activities, usually with just slight variations. The "chatter" is slightly different now though. Now, all of my classes consist of college students with the same major who have the same desire, passion, and love for children and education as I do.

This week as my classmates and I were waiting for class to begin, the girl to my right asked a small group of us if we had seen President Obama's recent speech on education. As the girls began to "Ooh", "Aah", and spill their opinions about his speech, I sat silently. I had missed his speech due to working late, but with all of the intriguing discussion between the girls, I knew it was something that I wanted to look further into, and so I did. I went onto Google's website and started my search. I came across the actual footage concerning the No Child Left Behind Act portion of his speech on CNN's website. I was surprised to see how unclear he seemed to be with his response to the teacher's question as to what was going to happen with it. He mentioned many things that need to be done, but he never really discussed what the plan was going to be to enhance the Act other than his 'Race to the Top' competition that was previously set forth. I have had mixed feelings about the 'Race to the Top' proposal since my hearing of it. I had not looked over it some time, so I decided to check www.edweek.org (my main source of information concerning education) to see what they had about 'Race to the Top'. Fortunately, I found an article that specifically included President Obama's speech that I had just watched and information about 'Race to the Top'. I was somewhat disturbed at what I read. The article explained that states were "scrambled to rewrite laws in order to be considered eligible for a share of $4 billion in federal Race to the Top grants" (Education Week, 2010, February 2). The article also stated how states were acting to rewrite laws without even knowing for sure that they were going to even get a portion of the money. "Though participation in the Race to the Top competition is voluntary, recession-battered states are, in effect, being “coerced” by the lure of money to adopt policies that have not necessarily been shown to raise student achievement" says lawmakers (Education Week, 2010, February 2). I hate to think that our elected political officers are making radical decisions based on mere hope. In my opinion, I think that the federal government should leave the majority of decision making up to the individual states and school systems. I do not think that the individual schools or systems should have ultimate decision making but that the bulk of it is left for their deciding. I was shocked to learn from the article as well that "according to 2006-2007 data from the National Center for Education Statistics, the federal contribution was slightly higher at 8.5 percent" (Education Week, 2010, February 2). I believe that if that is the amount that the federal government is contributing then that is about how much say-so that they should receive in the decision making for schools.

As much as I am in support of bettering the knowledge and quality of our teachers, and improving student achievement; I am not sure that this is the best way to go about doing so. Due to the economy being so unstable and at very low spot, education officials seem to be willing to do whatever it takes to get the money needed for their schools; even if it means rewriting laws without guaranteed benefits.


Education Week: State Lawmakers Unhappy With Obama Priorities. (2010, February 2). Education Week American Education News Site of Record. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/02/01/21ncsl.h29.html?tkn=RZYFwzJqh0vEEf9ItBcBO7jC7B9FdnloYtsH.

Video - Breaking News Videos from CNN.com. (2010, February 2). CNN.com - Breaking News, U.S., World, Weather, Entertainment & Video News. Retrieved February 3, 2010, from http://www.cnn.com/video/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_freevideo+%28RSS%3A+Video%29#/video/politics/2010/02/02/obama.nh.townhall.education.cnn