mase's posterous

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While working with the students at Morse Marshall High, it was obvious a lot of the students love sports and love to play sports and be active.  A time when I went and helped in a gym class, the students all seemed to perk up and be happier while in gym.  Some of the students said that gym was their favorite class because it is a nice break from actual school work and it is a time and place to let loose and expend some energy.  The stress relieve of a gym class can help students go back to class and focus on their work because their blood is now flowing and they have the energy to study.

                Since the students are very interested in sports, especially basketball, I would like to have a park made for the students.  This would be a place where they could come and participate and have fun.  The places in the pictures are pictures of current conditions in a park and I would make the park with better courts and better equipment.  Although equipment is equipment, playing with nicer equipment makes the experience better and will keep the students interested in the activities.  A park with these activities would be a nice way to get away from the outside world and from school.  From personal experience, while participating in sports, all worries vanish; you have fun, and get exercise.  I understand that the students have parks that they can go to but I would make a park that would be upheld and kept clean.

                With the students being active, they would have the opportunities to make new friends.  The students can meet new people and have new experiences different from the ones they have at school.  While at school, the students probably tend to hang out with the same people, for the most part, everyday like any other student does.  The students can develop their social skills and learn lessons from situations they would be put in while participating in activities.  Not everyone always gets along with everyone they work with, as is the same with sports or activities but these situations would help the students to overcome this because I believe most people would rather work together than lose, even if it is an activity or sport.

                To go along with getting the exercise and social aspect of having the park, the students would be involved and that has been proven to improve GPA’s and attendance in school.  I think that is something that anyone would like to see.  The students will be able to increase their abilities in both the classroom, the activities they choose to participate in, and life in the world itself.

                These students can benefit from such a place and I bet would be happy to have a place to partake in sports or activities; having a place where they can be outside and have fun with their friends.  Both the students and the community can benefit from having such a place.

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People often time believe that it is essential to be involved in extracurricular activities, whether that be sports, a club, or a musical group etc.  Many of the students that I worked with at Morse Marshall High were very interested in sports, especially basketball.  The students were very intelligent about the game of basketball and had great awareness of the situations going on in the National Basketball Association (NBA).  After talking with some of the students they told me that they had a basketball team and had only a couple games a year.

                Extracurricular activities in schools are good for the students.  Being an athlete myself, and have played baseball and football for my high school, I agree.  There is nothing like participating in something you love with friends and teammates.  Extracurricular activities does not have to be sports, it could come in the form of being in a band.  Either of these options provides the chance to create comradery and friendship.

                Being in an extracurricular activity can be beneficial to students as taken from URC, “Numerous studies have been conducted concerning the relationship between extracurricular activities and academic performance. Total extracurricular activity participation (TEAP), or participation in extracurricular activities in general, is associated with an improved grade point average, higher educational aspirations, increased college attendance, and reduced absenteeism (Broh, 2002, para. 8)”.  Students can benefit academically from having these options open to them.

                Being in these extracurricular activities can also help with social skills for students.  Students learn how to work together and trust each other.  Whether it is sports or something else, you must learn to trust people to do their job or you will not be successful.  People will not always be able to work by themselves and must learn how to work together.

Fujita, Kimiko. "The Effects of Extracurricular Activities on the Academic Performance of Junior High        Students." URC. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 May 2011. <http://www.kon.org/urc/v5/fujita.html>.

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Service Learning #5

                Technology can prove to be very useful when used correctly and for the correct reasons.  Technology is advancing exponentially and is becoming more and more prevalent in everyday life.  Computer programs that were state of the art in the 1990’s are being improved upon every year and those technologies are obsolete now.  Just look at how far the computer has come from the 1990’s.  When I was growing up, a typical family had one computer, maybe.  The computers did not have nearly as much memory and processing speed as a lap top today has.

                Going to the computer lab with the students at Morse Marshall High was a privilege that I had during a trip there.  I would consider myself fairly competent with computer usage but some of the students at the school were doing things at a much faster rate or doing things I did not know could be done with a computer.  I watched one student download 4 songs and sync them onto his Blackberry phone in roughly 5 minutes.  I was impressed.

                Students nowadays need to have technology in their classrooms.  The world is becoming technological and by the time these students are getting jobs, they will need to know how to use computers.  A quote form a middle school principle agrees as he states, “I don’t care what field they’re in, be it factory worker, office worker, medicine or whatever, [There is no place where technology will not be used] It’s getting harder and harder to get jobs.  You want your kids to get a leg up.  It’s becoming a necessary ingredient” (Archived Information).

                If we want the students in school today to be ready for the workers world, then we need to start teaching them about technology and how to use it.  Without this, these students will have a hard time getting and keeping jobs, which will not help Milwaukee, as mentioned in a previous post, with the poverty level and recession that can come if students do not get jobs.

"Reasons for Bringing Technology Into Schools." Archived Information. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 May 2011.                 <http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/EdTech/reasons.html>.

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During a visit to Morse Marshall High, I helped students with their math before their spring break.  The teacher asked me to help a couple students get through as much of their math assignments they needed to get done as possible so the students would not have to worry about it over spring break.  While helping these students, it was fairly easy to see that math was not these students strong point in school, which is fine; every student has subjects they are weaker in.

                After doing some research on Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS), I found that MPS has a poor math efficiency rate.  The math proficiency rates of students in MPS needs to improve.  As reported by Erin Richards of the Journal Sentinel, “More than four out of 10 MPS fourth-graders score at or below the most basic level of math proficiency” as well as “more than six out of 10 eighth-graders score at or below basic levels”.  Also released was, “41% of MPS fourth-graders scored at or below basic math compared to 28% of students in larger cities and 19% nationally”.  These statistics are alarming and need to be improved upon.

                If these students can sharpen their math skills, then more students can graduate, which I wrote about for the mid-term.  With enhanced mat skills, the students can have a better chance of getting into college and creating a better life for themselves and their families.

                Many people know that Detroit is in a recession and is not doing well economically.  With the math scores released, it was proven that Detroit scored worse than Milwaukee at the eighth-grade level, if this does not change, we may see Milwaukee fall into hardships such as Detroit is dealing with.  The poverty level will rise and the economy will suffer.  We must find a way to make a difference and improve the math proficiency levels of students to avoid a recession in Milwaukee.

Richards, Erin. "MPS students get poor marks in national urban test." JS Online. N.p., 8 Dec. 20909. Web.               1 May 2011. <http://www.jsonline.com/news/education/78784207.html>.

Media Analysis

                A strong and powerful HBO film series, The Pacific, produced by Tom Hanks, documents the war in the Pacific during World War II.  Although these events are about actual people and follow events as they actually happened, the way that the Japanese soldiers are filmed are those of “blood thirsty villains” as stated in Benshoff and Griffin (130).  The Japanese soldier is often time shown as the aggressor in these films and the American soldiers are then often times shown as acting in defense.  Maybe this is because this is how things actually occurred but it could also be because of how stereotypes on Japanese and Asian cultures are perceived in film.

                In a scene early in the series, the American marines have just finished a battle during the night, fighting the Japanese throughout the night across a river with few fords which you can cross the river at.  The scene is hard to see but when the Americans are trying to count the dead and wounded in the morning, two soldiers walk upon a Japanese soldier severely wounded but still alive.  This Japanese soldier knows he will not live, so as in Japanese customs of the time, fights until the end, and holds a live grenade in his had until the American soldiers are close enough to be harmed by the explosion as well.  The Japanese soldier takes his own life but not without taking two of his enemies lives.

                While these events could have happened, this scene shows early how the Japanese army does not have any respect for the American army and will do anything to win the war.  Even when the soldier was injured and dying, all the soldier did was want to take the lives of his enemy.

                In a later episode of the series, an American soldier makes a statement along the lines of; the Japanese knows as much about the soldiers he is fighting as we know about the soldiers we are fighting, they all have families and friends.  This can come from a strong aspect of nationalism but through propaganda as well.  The Japanese and American soldiers all have their beliefs about the other side, whether or not they are correct.

                This later scene can be connected to the film we had to watch, American Past Time.  The Japanese-Americans were forced into relocation camps and were hated by many Americans without having done anything to them personally.  The officer in the film did not treat the people in the camps fairly shown by the scene where he is clearly struck out but does not honor the game or the Japanese-American community.

                The HBO series is a documentary but that does not mean that common film practices and stereotypes were not used while making these episodes.  The differences between the Japanese and American soldiers can be seen quickly and often.  The Japanese are often shown screaming and aggressive.  Americans are shown dirty, while fighting, but are shown having opportunities to clean up and rest, maybe because it does not follow the Japanese soldiers, but that does not mean the Japanese soldiers would not have the same opportunities as the American soldiers during war.  Scenes showing rest and walking back to camp give the perception that the Japanese are giving the Americans all they can handle and are taxing physically and mentally on the soldiers.

Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffin. America On Film. Second Ed. Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2009.   130. Print.

                Teachers are a strong foundation in a student’s life and are often strong positive influences on the students.  I am an example of a student who enjoys talking to teachers and learning all that I can from experiences and conversations.  One of my sisters, Megan, is the same way.  Megan also grew up with a learning disability and has learned how to handle her disability.  She has a reading disability and has great insight to helping people with other learning disabilities; this is why I believe she became a teacher, besides her love for children.

                Because Megan became a teacher, I decided she was a perfect candidate to interview about how teaching has changed her life and what experiences she has had while teaching.  Megan is currently teaching kindergarten at a school in the Milwaukee region.  Majority of her students are white but typically she has a mix of students within her class.

                While interviewing Megan I asked what things were like within her classroom.  Megan responded with, the atmosphere is very energetic, obviously, because having anywhere from 20 to 30 young children in a room together can be nothing but energetic.  Although at times, things can be hard to handle, she loves to be around the atmosphere and thinks the children love to have fun with each other.  The children all get along well and there are no major problems outside of what you would expect from young children.  That is not to say that there are never any arguments and disagreements.

                We continued our interview and I asked her whether or not race seemed to play into what the children did or who they tended to play with.  Her answer entailed she does not believe that children of such a young age see race as an issue.  The children understand that they have different skin color but do not yet understand the prejudices or racial conflicts of today.  She has never had a problem with race in her classroom.  All of the children get along with certain people and have their own group of friends.  This is no different from high school students who all have their own group of friends who they hang out with day after day.

                Now I was curious as to how she deals with all of the different personalities and situations that occur in her class.  She said that people must learn to be patient and take the time, especially with young children, to wait until tempers are calm and people can talk without being flustered.  She also added that you must take into account that, in her opinion, young children will often fabricate the story to make it seem as if they were not the aggressor, more so than teenagers or adults.

                I was now curious as to how she felt about what type of teaching methods she uses to teach her students.  She has a SMART Board in her classroom, a new interactive board, on its way to replacing white boards.  She said that although the SMART Board is great for some areas of teaching, there is no replacing others.  For example, the SMART Board is great for teaching math because math has much of just writing the numbers on the board and explaining and is a quick and easy clean up.  However, while teaching something like writing or reading, the SMART Board is not as helpful because the students do not get the personal practice so she refrains from using the SMART Board for certain types of education.

                As for tying in the pictures into the presentation, the pictures I have are symbolic of education and what to strive for in education.  Education is important and everyone should seek to continue in school.  The pictures vary from examples of studying and resources in the learning process and also the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee symbol to symbolize striving to have students continue onto higher education.

                Graduating high school is very important today, especially since you barely earn a comfortable living without earning a high school diploma and much less a college degree.  Wisconsin has done considerably well in graduating high school students.  As reported by Brian Bull from Wisconsin Public Radio, “The National Center for Education Statistics based its latest report on data from the 2007-2008 school year, which showed Wisconsin’s overall graduation rate for public high school students at nearly 90-percent” (1).  Wisconsin does very well, and helping tutor kids will hopefully only lead to a larger number of students graduating.  Wisconsin officials have also stated that there is much work to be done with minorities within the state; a majority of the students at Marshall High are of a minority race in the state of Wisconsin (Bull, 1).  Tutoring is especially important because only 63% of African-Americans in the state of Wisconsin currently graduate (Bull, 1).  Helping students with their school work is not important because of graduation rates directly but is important because the students will be able to live a better life with a better chance of graduating and holding a better job.  Bettering the life of a student is the goal of schools, besides teaching, but teaching is helping them to better themselves.  Tony Evers, superintendent of the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction says, “poverty clearly plays a role for African-Americans in urban centers, so educators need to have an early warning system in place to help struggling students sooner than later” (Bull, 1).  This is not to imply that students that attend Marshall live in poverty but simply to emphasize the fact that many things can affect how a student learns and these situations need to be taken into consideration and dealt with so that the student can get the best education possible.

Bull, Brian. Wisconsin Public Radio. Fox 21 News. http://www.fox21online.com/news/dpi-head-state-  high-school-graduation-rates-top-nationally-could-improve

Working at Marshall High for the Gifted and Talented has been a life changing experience for me.  After only one day working at the school, I gave serious thought to switching my major, currently in counseling, but I am looking into ways to incorporate working with special need students and helping them in their lives.  I was fortunate enough to get to work with a student who was rescued from New Orleans right after Hurricane Katrina hit.  The student suffers from severe memory loss and needs assistance with his school work.  This was truly a great experience.   Marvin A. Raps wrote, “It is often said by people who mean well that working with children with special needs “requires the patience of a saint.” Not true. What it does require is human compassion — something more of us have than we seem ready to acknowledge” in his article “Working With Children With Special Needs” (1).  These children just need a little more attention than the normal student; this does not mean a person must be a “saint” to work with them.  Working with a special needs student shows much about the type of person you are.  Raps also says, “You will acquire a better understanding of the problems such children face in their development. This awareness can be of significant help to you in your own life, especially as you may face critical decisions about the development of your own children one day” (1).  After realizing that you have what it takes to help the people who not only need it but deserve it, you will be more willing to help yourself and will be better at helping people in general.

Raps, Marvin A. Working With Children With Special Needs. American Camp Association,                 http://www.acacamps.org/media-center/camp-trends/article1

While volunteering at Marshall High, I have had the opportunity to work with some of the students who are in the Special Education department and need the extra help.  One of the students, I do not remember his name, wants to grow up to be a “thug” or in other words grow up and join a gang.  The teachers and education staff at Marshall High is trying to make him realize that this is not a lifestyle he would want to live.  He would have a hard time finding a job, without the high unemployment rates because of the particular lifestyle.  In December 2010, Milwaukee was ranked 4^th in the state with an unemployment rate of 21.6%.  In January 2011, Milwaukee’s unemployment rate dropped to 10.7% and was ranked 8^th in Wisconsin for unemployment rate (Department of Workforce Development, 3).  Just because this kid is growing up in Milwaukee does not mean that he would get a job in the city of Milwaukee, he could try and find a job in the surrounding area, which isn’t any better for unemployment rate.  Racine was ranked 1^st in January 2011 and 2^nd in December 2010 with unemployment rates up to 14.0% (Department of Workforce Development, 3).  Finding a job would be competitive for jobs that are open which.  Life in a gang is not only dangerous and not a good way to live, but does not encourage kids to stay in school.  Joining a gang is a way to drop out of the challenge of finishing school, this is not what we want for this student.

Department of Workforce Development, Madison WI, http://dwd.wisconsin.gov/dwd/newsreleases/ui_local_default.pdf

My mother’s side of our family is predominately German while my father’s side of the family is  French with small portions of Yugoslavian and an even smaller portion of Native American but my family is not sure what percentage or even what tribe we have ethnicity from.  One of the more obvious characteristics of having ancestors from Germany and France is that our family is catholic.  A large portion of German and French people are Catholic.  The picture I have is of my brother and I with our nephew, one of my three sister’s son at his first birthday party this February.  My mom has always said that my brother, Josh, and I are stubborn and can have a terrible temper at times.  I believe this may come from our ethnic background of being German, I have always heard that German’s are said to be stubborn and can have a temper.  We both get this from our father, who we both take after.  Most of the people in my family have high cheek bones and have predominant facial features which we believe comes from the small portion of Native American we have.  In terms of getting something from our French ethnicity, my brother and I are both very compassionate and caring towards people, which is a typical stereotype characteristic of French people.  There are many reasons for what shapes what my family is like, but as I said, the most obvious characteristic of looking at our ethnicity is our religion.