Water is Wide

Comments from Lindsey Flora:

I just wanted to say that I made so many connections from our past classes to the Water is Wide. What a great movie!!! The biggest connection that I made was when Mr. Conroy was beginning to question whether or not he was going to be able to teach his students anything and then he heard them singing in the classroom. He found their interests and ran with it. It just confirmed what you always say, that singing is such an effective way for children to learn language because mistakes can be made, and they can go unnoticed. Also, Mr. Conroy taking the initiative to involve the parents in thier children's education. There were so many things in that movie that made sense to me. I hope that the movie was as inspiring for others in the class as it was for me.

Did anyone else view the film? What was your experience of it?

65% Solution

Susan posted this where many of you will not find it so I reposted it in a new thread. You can read about the 65% Solution at:

http://www.firstclasseducation.org/

Susan's posting: I don't know if you have heard of the 65% Initiative, but we were just informed about it in our staff meeting on Tuesday. It is in its first stage right now, as some group from Utah is trying to get it on our ballots here in Arizona. We must tell as many people as you can NOT to sign petitions for this. What I understood it to mean is that right now we get 55 cents from every dollar going to the classroom. They want it to be 65 cents. Where will the money come from? NO librarians, councilors, food service workers, monitors. Basically, anyone who is not directly in the classroom. This also includes speach pathologists and other such help. It also takes away local power and gives it to the government. This is nothing to leave to someone else. We as future teachers need to do something about this. I think we should write a letter to the editor. I have written to KGUN News in hopes of informing the public about this. Susan

Positive Practicum Experiences

Please post your positive practicum experiences here.

Include:
Teacher's name
Grade Level
School
District
as well as the reason you recommend this teacher.

Please do not post negative comments to this public blog.

Thank you.

What did you read over the break?

Susan's posting about The Giver (which happens to be one of my all-time favorite books because it raises so many social-political issues for readers to consider) prompted me to ask:

What did you enjoy reading over the break?

ELL Funding and AIMS Requirement for Graduation

There is a critical article in today's AZ Daily Star that affects ELLs in our state.

http://www.azstarnet.com/metro/107413.php

"A federal judge on Friday gave the state 15 days after the legislative session begins next month to finally comply with his order to properly fund English-language programs or face fines of $500,000 per day." [If this issue is not addressed, this fine will go up to $1 million/day on February 23rd.]

"U.S. District Judge Raner Collins of Tucson also ruled that the state cannot require students officially classified as "English language learners" to pass the AIMS tests to graduate from high school. "

Wow! What do you think?

Dr. Judi

Welcome to NAU-Tucson Cohort 2 Blog

Dear Cohort 2 Students (Jesusa and Kathy, too),
After Sam shared the blogging information she and Carleen learned from Dr. McVey’s presentation at the TAWL Conference, I’ve been thinking a blog might be worthwhile adventure for Cohort 2.
This virtual space will allow us to discuss current issues in your teaching and learning lives.
Let's experiment.
Let's see if this works for you.
Best,
Dr. Judi