Final Project Link

Here is the link to my final project!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LtBRyJmudRM&feature=youtu.be

Final Presentation

I am planning on doing my final presentation over Reading.  I will emphasize the alphabet to K-1st grade students focusing on each letter alone and their sounds.  After this they will recognize the letters and their sounds well enough to sound out and read words. 

Should Teachers be paid based on Student Performance

In my opinion, I do not think it is right to base teachers' pay on the student performance alone.  Some kids have a hard time taking tests and it isn't fair to take pay away from a teacher who did all they could to help the student.  If a student is struggling on a subject it is the teachers job to try and do all they can to get the student to understand.  I think that if teachers were paid based only on student performance that it would become unfair very quick.  A teacher could be doing her very best and could be putting 100% into the child and their education and the child could still not understand.  Tests do not reflect how good of a teacher you are.  I feel tests reflect more of how much the students pay attention in class.  On the other hand though, I think that this could be beneficial in a way too.  If a teacher continuously doesn't meet the standards in her classroom, then it is obviously not just the students to blame.  If this is the case, that teacher should be evaluated and their pay should fit the quality of work they are doing.  Maybe the lower pay will be an incentive for the teachers who aren't meeting standards to strive to get all their children to meet those standards. 

Teacher Unions and Tenure

I think that teacher unions and tenure have good things about them, but they also have bad things too.  Teacher unions will help protect the pay that teachers are paid and make sure that it is fair for them.  The tenure also protects the teachers and allows them to have a guaranteed job.  The school is not allowed to fire them or let them go.  The tenure gives teachers security that they need.  Just as the teachers union and the tenure protect the teachers in good ways, they also protect the teachers in bad ways.  If a teacher is under tenure and they are not very good at their job, they are still protected and there is no way for the school to fire them.  Once they get that they are in and there isn't much the school can do about it even if they are not the best teacher for the school. 

Carl Orff's Philosophy

Carl Orff developed process over product.  I believe that this is extremely important when teaching children anything.  You can be teacher music, a sport, or even a simple math lesson but they are not going to get the correct product without the correct process.  Children in today's society want to know every detail of how to do something when it comes to any assignment given.  If that is the case then his philosophy and today's kids go hand in hand.  The process over product theory puts emphasis on each step that needs to be taken to get the outcome needed.  Children will know exactly what to do and will really succeed if this is used and taught correctly. 

Balance extra-curricular with expectations in the classroom

I don't think that in the classroom the teacher should find a balance.  I think that in the classroom it should be the teacher's duty to keep the room on task.  Even though it may be hard, the kids deserve the time spent in the classroom to be devoted to their education, not to you discussing sports with them.  If the students were in a sport or extra-curricular activity, they would find that the time spent there is devoted to that activity only.  Players do not discuss algebra at a baseball game and therefore baseball and other sports do not need to be discussed in great detail in the classroom.  There are things that are necessary and unnecessary in the classroom.  If sports are brought up in a lesson or a student asks a specific question then answer it and move on.  If you dwell on it then it is opening the door for them to continue talking about it.  As a teacher, it is your responsibility to give the kids what they came to school for and leave the sports to the coaches. 

Appropriate time to introduce instruments

It is developmentally appropriate to introduce instruments early in school years but they have to be the right ones.  Rhythm sticks, finger cymbals, and kazoos are appropriate for younger children becasue they do not require the use of fine motor skills.  A young child is very capable of using any of these three instruments in the correct manner with a little bit of guidance.  The recorder and xylophone are instruments that require a bit more hand eye coordination and fine motor skills that children do not develop until later in their lives.  Third grade is a good time to introduce these instruments to them because they are developed enough to play them correctly and also understand them.  It is important though that you integrate all these instruments into a child's life before they are 9 years old because after 9 years of age a child's brain stops taking in as much information as it did before and it is proven that children with musical involvement before the age of 9 will be more musical in thier adult lives also.