Jimmy Carter created this worthless department. Can anyone say that public education has improved since 1979?

What a waste of money. We can use this money to make more tanks and guns to fight the Islamo Facists!

Let local governments pay for education like the old days when education worked in this country. Before the Unions and Democrats wrecked it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/interactives/budget06/budget06Agencies.html

Let’s not cut education spending before you learn how to spell "fascists".

Can I find a teaching job if I have a Doctorate from a nationally accredited college/university? I plan to teach part-time in community college/small-time colleges.

I’ll assume since it was nationally accredited you completed this degree online? Frankly, an online doctorate is pretty suspect. Without interaction with your adviser, how did your adviser know your work was really yours? How did you defend the work? At the moment, faculty jobs are few and far between – you’re going to face a lot of competition, and an online PhD won’t help you much. You’ll need to be able to convince schools to take a chance on you.

Here’s a site that lists current job openings at colleges around the country. As you can see, there aren’t many, and are often hundreds of applications for any one position, especially in the humanities. http://www.higheredjobs.com

I have to write a booklet on how to survive being in middle and high school. What advice would you give to the students entering middle school.
And the ones entering high school?

1. Don’t feel afraid, it’s a lot of other people’s 1st day of a new school also.
2. It’s okay if you’re not in the "in crowd", because if you follow your own path, you’re likely to succeed.
3. Some kids might pressure you to do things, but think about it first. Will it help or hurt your future?

I am currently in college and I will eventually become a Special Education teacher. I have been blessed with the opportunity to work with autistic children, but I have never had the opportunity to work in the other areas. Can you give me a list of the different areas of Special Education and maybe a description? Thanks in advance!!

look up
special education categories

here is one list

http://www.isbe.state.il.us/spec-ed/html/categories.htm

The Special Education Categories site includes information, research, resources, and best practices on the following program areas: Deaf-Blindness, Deafness, Emotional Disturbance, Hearing Impairment, Mental Retardation, Multiple Disabilities, Orthopedic Impairment, Other Health Impairment, Specific Learning Disability, Speech/Language Impairment, Speech/Language Pathology Services, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Visual Impairment. (External Resources are also available.)

Autism is a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age three, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. (A child who manifests the characteristics of autism after age 3 could be diagnosed as having autism if the other criteria of this Section are satisfied.) Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child’s educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance.

Cognitive Disabilitymeans significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Deaf-Blindness means concomitant hearing and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental and educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for children with deafness or children with blindness.

Deafness means a hearing impairment that is so severe that the child is impaired in processing linguistic information through hearing, with or without amplification, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance.

Emotional Disability(includes schizophrenia but does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance) means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child’s educational performance:

An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors;
An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers;
Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances;
A general pervasive mood of anxiety or unhappiness or depression; or
A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.
Hearing Impairmentsmeans an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child’s educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness.

Multiple Disabilitiesmeans concomitant impairments (such as mental retardation-blindness, mental retardation-orthopedic impairment, etc.), the combination of which causes such severe educational needs that they cannot be accommodated in special education programs solely for one of the impairments. The term does not include deaf-blindness.

Orthopedic Impairmentmeans a severe orthopedic impairment that adversely affects a child’s educational performance. The term includes impairments caused by congenital anomaly (e.g., clubfoot, absence of some member, etc.), impairments caused by disease (e.g., Poliomyelitis, bone tuberculosis, etc.), and impairments from other causes ( e.g., cerebral palsy, amputations, and fractures or burns that cause contractures).

Other Health Impairmentmeans having limited strength, vitality or alertness, including a heightened sensitivity to environmental stimuli, that results in limited alertness with respect to the educational environment that

is due to chronic or acute health problems such as asthma, attention deficit disorder or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, diabetes, epilepsy, a heart condition, hemophilia, lead poisoning, leukemia, nephritis, rheumatic fever, or sickle cell anemia; and
adversely affects a child’s educational performance.
Specific Learning Disabilitiesmeans a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or do mathematical calculations, including such conditions as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of

I have thought about adult colleges such as City Lit, it seems to be held in pretty high regard from what I’ve read. I would appreciate any other recommendations on schools and colleges that offer violin and piano lessons that range from reasonably priced to cheap and also have a good reputation.

Thank you in advance.

You normally learn an instrument from a private tutor, not at a school. Your local library should have a list of violin teachers in your area.

I have to complete a lesson plan for a interview that is approaching, i have finished it, however it is 1 and a half pages long. Is this acceptable, or do lesson plans need to be limited to 1 page?

There isn’t really a limit to the length of your lesson plans. However you need to keep in mind the time it will take to complete the lessons. I often will leave lesson plans that are 2 pages long for a sub, but then, I have a 2 hour block schedule to fill with 3 preps.

My sons social studies teacher has apparently been teaching them about slavery. However, she is only teaching them about black slavery, and he feels that she is trying to make the white kids feel bad for their ansestors having slaves, and some of the black kids have commented to the white kids that now it is THEIR turn to own US and that we owe them because of slavery.
It seems that she isn’t teaching them that slavery has been going on since Biblical times, and that in truth, throughout history, the majority of slaves in the world were not even black, they were white, mostly from Europe.

I have documentation and research to back up my side of slavery, and would like to show it to her. However I am not trying to get into a debate with her over slavery, but rather encourage her to teach the whole story of slavery, and not make whites out to be the bad people in slavery.
Johnz136: Slavery involving white European slaves did happen in the United States. In the early colonies of America, Whites were regularly sold as permanent slaves. So why are history teachers only teaching that blacks were sold into slavery here in America, when in fact, so were whites??
I’m sorry, but obviously we have some people here who are not very educated in American history. If she wants to teach AMERICAN history, that is fine. And I realize that AMERICAN history included black slaves. BUT it also included white slaves as well. However no one seems to want to let that little cat out of the bag in the public schools.

She has made examples to the kids, about "How would they feel if…….." and it all comes across as trying to make them feel bad for what our ansestors did. And all it is doing is making the black kids in the class get the idea, one that so many other adult blacks already have, that whites owe them because of slavery. This is not what should be put into the minds of these kids. This isn’t history, it is someones personal feelings getting into her teaching.

You have every right to talk to the teacher about it. However, you also need to know what information your state guidelines have set in place that your son’s grade. As a teacher myself, I know we have a very firm focus that we must follow. How we get the information across is up to our personal presentation style, but we have to follow the curriculum guidelines outlined by the state. If she is following the guidelines, but you don’t like her approach, then that would be the main focus of your conference… not trying to change what she is teaching, but how she is teaching. If she is in fact not teaching what the guidelines tell her to, then you have the right to address both her presentation of the material and the material itself. Either way, please do your best to come across as concerned, not accusing or you’ll put her on the defense and neither one of you will get anywhere. Best of luck to you and your son!

Our six year old (who attended a private Montessori school for 3 years) will be going to public school in the fall. How can we help her transition to her new environment?

I have a 7 year old who is just transitioning from Montessori to public school at this moment. Things have been a little more difficult than usual for her due to various reasons; she had to leave Montessori and attend catholic school during March instead of September AND she left English Montessori for a French Catholic School. She was use to having me in the same school as her since she was 2.6 years old and I got sick and had to leave my job (as a French teacher in the Montessori school). I really thought that she would struggle more than she did.
One of the first comments from her current teacher was how well behaved she was, how she had developed great work habits, how helpful she was to the other children (so much so in fact, that within a few weeks of joining the class, the teacher asked her to sit by a little girl who struggles with her work so she could help her!) I really believe that all of those positive assets were the results of her many years of attending Montessori.
Also, as a teacher in both the public then the Montessori schools, I can assure you that the Montessori children adapt easier to the public system than vice versa. One of the difficulties that some Montessori children may face is the lack of freedom. Your child may have a short adjustment period where he/she may find it ‘weird’ to have to do things all at the same time as the other children or to have to ask to do certain things like, go to the washroom or sharpen a pencil.
In general, the feedback I got from parents was that their child adapted very well to their new environment. (Which, if your child’s Montessori school taught him/her well, he/she will be understanding of others and the surroundings.)
If you are worried about your child or if you have questions specific to your child, you can speak to his/her Montessori teacher about the transition. Also, contact your child’s public school and see if he/she can attend a 1/2 or full day with his/her potential classmates. This can answer questions your child may have about the new school and take away from the stress in September.
You can also ask your Montessori school if they can provide you with names of parents who have children that have gone from Montessori to public schools recently. (Often, you may even have a child currently attending Montessori school with an older sibling in public school after attending Montessori.) Ask as many questions as you can now, especially if you have worries because your Montessori teachers know your child and can help you and make recommendations. Often, you may not get to speak to your child’s new teacher for several weeks and teachers in the public schools are not always as open and understanding. (Not always…but sometimes!)
I hope this helps.

I grew up in a town with ONE elementary schools so I am blown away by how many schools are in Leander! Would love to know what schools you recommend so I can narrow my search for homes. Hoping for smaller class sizes and nice teachers. Just want the kids to be happy! Thanks in advance for any help you can give! The more specifics the better.

Check the test scores of individual schools at the Texas Dept. of Ed. website.

Find out where teachers send their kids; it is not always where they work.

Visit the schools. Nothing is better than seeing with your own two eyes what the school climate is.

Good Luck!

I am a drum teacher and I need to find a few worksheets/lesson plans for more advanced students. Any websites with PDF downloads, or at least viewable information I can copy for lessons? Thanks!

The most efficient way to teach drums, especially to newbies is to use drum books.

Order your students to purchase a dru book and guide them through it.

A good book to start drumming with is "Learn to play the drums" by Andrew Agutters.

There are 4 books to the series.

Hope this helped.