Blog 16-Military students

While searching for an article this week on the New York Times website I came across an article that really interested me because this last anniversary of 9/11 I realized my students weren’t even born yet. We have been at war for a number of years now and for some of our students have had it apart of their entire life. The article I read discussed the emotional problems that are being seen in students due to parents or family members being deployed to war. Before I continue think of your own life, do you know someone who has been deployed or maybe is right now? Without thinking more than ten seconds I can think of four people that I know who have fought in Iraq. Two of the four have a wife and young children. Now that you have those people on your mind, how did you/do you feel when they are leaving or gone? How is life when they return, did it return to normal? I’m sure you don’t have the most pleasant thoughts in your mind right now but can you imagine being a child or teenager with these thoughts? That is a very adult situation to deal with.
A recent study interviewed 1,500 children ranging from the ages of 11 and 17. Of those interviewed, 95% of the deployments were 11 months long. The researcher shared that students are missing school functions, feeling alone with no one they feel understanding their problem and having large responsibility at home which can affect their academics. I can’t imagine what these students are going through. I have also heard of some families having difficulties adjusting to life after deployment which will most likely affect a child as well. For many cases they get life back to normal and the soldier is called back up to duty and the icky cycle starts again. I have personally not had any students who have had military parents/family members so I have not had to help these students but that can change any day. Have you had any students from military families? Our school has a great support system and our counselor is always willing to meet with students individually or with small groups but I wonder if that would be enough. I would love to hear what schools have done or your experiences.
In the article it stated that students who live on a military base do better during deployment and they assume this is due to the support on a military base. They provide more services for military families. I would also assume that students on military bases are also more used to the military life because they live in it. I have friends who have lived and worked on a military base in Alaska and they said the schools are a little different. All students are familiar with military life and have more experience with deployment situations. Has anyone working on a military base? Do the schools there do anything extra to help these students?

Blog 15-Fundraising

The number of hours and days in school has been a hot topic this semester. Most schools are trying to add hours or days to their school year but many find this difficult due to funds. This is no different for public schools in Chicago. According to an article from The New York Times, Chicago schools have the lowest number of school hours in the country. Obama’s administration is urging a change and the $4 billion dollars of education money is enough motivation to make changes but Chicago’s Public Schools currently have no money to do so. It would cost their 417,000 students $208 million to attend school longer than the current 5 hours and 8 minutes (from what I understand some schools only attend 4 days a week as well). I was shocked to read that these students only attend school for about 5 hours. From my knowledge most ND students are in school about 7 hours and charter schools in Chicago also attend school for about 7 hours.
I’m sure you as educators can all agree that Chicago Public Schools need to find some kind of solution so their students can receive more education. In negotiations teachers were willing to extend the school day as long as they were paid and of course that is where the high amount of funds is needed. I don’t have the answer but Chicago parents are trying to help out. Parents at one school are trying to pull together to raise $100,000 by fundraising to put towards the cause of longer school days. That would be about $385 per students which is a lot to ask for saying many of these students are coming from low income homes. I really commend these parents although it is a drastic amount of money and I’m not sure it is parent’s responsibility to find these dollars. What do you think?
I know when we fundraise parents usually complain and say they would rather just write a check rather than do another kind of fundraiser. Currently, we fundraise once a year and it buys new playground equipment but this year some of us teachers would like to have the money buy guided reading books for primary grades and other elementary grades if there are extra funds. We all do guided reading but are using a website that allows you to print black and white books. The site costs money and currently our PTO funds that but overall the books get boring and I think it would make a big difference if we have a nice guided reading library. I was so excited about this idea but now find myself a little torn because I think the schools should be taking a little more responsibility with these money issues. I don’t know if I think it is fair that our PTO is paying for our current books. These books are a part of our curriculum so why isn’t the school footing the bill? What are your thoughts on this as a teacher or parent? Our district has great parent involvement so our parents would probably never make a big deal about this but is this right?