Book Club Final Post

For this weeks book club, we finally finished reading all the chapters within the book. It was a long and hard book to read. If you as a person are to use to the idea of looking at research articles constantly and familiar with the terminology, it was a very hard read. The book its itself was a very big research project from the author. It's I had to pick a type of research I would say its Qualitative with a mix of meta-analysis with all the effort put into this book I can imagine if needed it could be much more. The biggest theme of the whole book was finding out what was wrong with the schools throughout Chicago and what exactly was needed to fix them. The book took a primary focus on the support the school was getting which ultimately led to its downfall. It tells us in the ends that parent involvement was the key it was one of the factors schools couldn't account for and whether the parents decided to help the child or not played a huge role. The parents pushed for kids to go to school and do homework and often it was found that push was not there. Kids were being raised in a single parent home and often did not see their parents at all. When speaking to the other book club members we all discussed how important a parent can be when it comes to school. Almost all of my groupmates grew up with strict parents and agreed that without them who knows where they might have ended up. Although the book talked about a tremendous amount of issues found in the public school system. As a group, we all agreed on with the conclusion that parents are the key and downfall to the school. Without enough parental support, the institution's foundations cannot function. 

The group also discussed the quality of the book where a lot of us found that the book repeated itself a lot throughout its entirety. It gets to a point where information was so repetitive that you stop listening and gets almost boring. While the serves a good purpose and research as a group we do not recommend this book for a undergrad class. I feel that this book would serve better at a higher graduate level course.

Organizing Schools for Improvement, Lessons from Chicago Post 2

Within our last group chat, we were all able to be present, and all caught up on the material. The conversations were great, and we topics touched upon full of information to share with each other. The info we shared came from chapter 3 and 4 we are doing 2 chapters week in order to successfully complete the book before the due date. We discussed the need for a principle within the school system. Why it is so detrimental that schools have a good principle and a good leader make good teachers which makes good students. Within the chapters, the faculty and principles were continually being changed and shifted which seemed to play a role in why the school system in Chicago was failing. Shifting power from the board to the principle and having good parents creating change as well creates a great formula for improvement. As mentioned in the book teachers are the key to which a students mind can be transformed into a learning machine. Which brought up one of the key topics discussed later in class as a whole when comparing other books within the book club where other book discussed getting rid of teachers altogether and moving on to computing. Where there is less of a margin of error and at the same time, students can learn to better grasp technology moving on with their studies. While the concept seems fine in practice, it's tough for students to sometimes do everything on a computer and studies have shown that that personal connection with a teacher makes the difference when it comes to taking in information. You can throw a textbook full of knowledge at a kid have him read it and hope he performs well, but the key word is hope. Teaching at a slow pace and taking into account your students what they need help with and making sure everyone is moving at the same speed. Curriculums are like a map to a course put that in a computer, and it will never stray from that path but there's no guarantee that everyone will learn but sometimes as a teacher, you need to change things up for the better of the class, and that's why teachers are so important to schools. As well as curriculums which the books touches upon shortly where principles and boards struggled to decide if every school should be following the same curriculum. Where in my personal opinion they should and shouldn't where all kids should be learning the same thing but all learning in different ways. 

Book Club Blog Week 1 for "Organizing Schools for Improvement: Lessons from Chicago"

Within the first group meeting, there was a lot of things mentioned and discussed. Although I missed the first group meeting, I was able to reconnect and share thoughts. After reading a lot of the book, there was a lot of information to take in. After reading through the prologue and Introduction, the information within the book is quite shocking. Based on the intro and prologue its safe to say that Chicago public schools are in awful condition and need a lot of help. From what was read on the book so far the book is designed to be a massive research paper that the author did on Chicago schools for people to understand and hopefully be able to offer support and help. The book started off explaining what was wrong with the schools and how they were currently working. Showing the reader what is causing this issue. They use different measures to indicate whether a school is efficient enough or not compared to other schools in Illinois.  Within our group discussion, we were able to locate where we thought schools needed to change. We started targeting the principles and questioning leadership. Where we exchanged comments about what a school which is run by teachers and leaders who care in comparison to teachers who are there just to collect a paycheck. Which seemed like the issue was in CPS. We traded stories and began trying to find our own solutions modern day to run a better school system and taking in what the book had taught us. There needs to be a school with a balanced attendance rate where the numbers aren't too high or fall below 90% because it would pose an issue. Teachers play a significant role in the way kids are taught and how they teach it. In Chapter 1 It mentions that not all of the kids were learning the same way and the same material. They all began to lack in English and mathematics because of the different curriculums. As a group, we agreed on everything the chapter discussed and sincerely looked forward into reading the rest of the book because we had all an interest in learning about Chicago's history.

1950-1980 Separate but Equal

During the 1950's it was a troubling time for lots of kids and lots of lawmakers. The idea of separate but equal was a very popular term during this term. Lots controversies surrounding it and lots of people fighting. Every branch of government involved in a single issue down to the smallest child and all the way up the to the president. During the 1950's it was dangerous and illegal in 17 states for ethnic minorities to attend white public schools. But being able to attend public school together meant a lot to a lot of people at the time. Because of the laws and dangers surrounding minorities, 8 out of 10 African Americans were not enrolled in school because of it and lost out on valuable education. Educators and scholars around the country debated whether the nation could ever have both equality and excellence. It took a lot of fighting and change for all of this to change. Between the 1950's to the 1970's that change was able to happen but it did not go smoothly. Although after the 1970's kids attended schools together much of the activities within the schools were still segregated.

Although the law stated separate but equal, it made no difference. It was never enforced at the state level so even with the law in place this minority children still suffered and paid the price of racist people and politicians trying to keep people happy to gain their vote. It was even brought to the supreme court during the Topeka High school era, but even after winning after a decade 98% of black children still attended all-black schools out of fear. It's crazy to believe that after all that still people felt it as ok to segregate and live with this fear and put your kids through danger just because they wanted them to get an education. President Johnson had the right idea, and I strongly support it forcing schools to integrate fully by taking away their funds. Although an extreme measure it was the only way to get people to react and react quickly although it had to come to this level as history and current day news will tell us money talks in all different ways and is often referred to as the universal language.  By 1921 about 92% of southern black children attended an integrated school and from then on the programs and integration has gotten better but not perfect for all minorities making education available in lots of different languages for everyone and hopefully continuing to get better.

1900-1950 Post Class Post

 After our class discussion within our groups, I was able to identify that a lot of people have lots of different stories about when they were in high school. Our thoughts all varied as well as the way we see education. All of our inputs were great, and in regards to the reading, we took a lot from it. What was surprising and shocking to most of us was that a lot of the implementations spoken about in this book are very recent. So new lots of us could even talk to our parents about it, or some of our older classmates lived it to some scale. Some of the testing spoken about in this chapter is still being practiced today and used on a grander scale. For example, the SAT's playing a major role during this era and still current today. This test I remember growing was every kid's nightmare and it was incredibly hard. You could of study all your life, and you could have never been prepared for this test. Teachers would push you on a test that easily determined the rest of your life. Back in the day, it determined what kinds of jobs you were suited for and it still really does. That score defines what college your going to and is often even requested by employers.

Back then between 1900-1950, it was not easy for these kids either lots of them were not even going to school and the ones who did not want to be there. Most kids at a young age preferred to be working and helping out in the home. As stated in the book about 80% of kids actually voted to stay working. It was at this time that only about 6% of all kids had graduated high school. It was not until employers decided to hire people with a higher aptitude that the graduate levels for high schools had risen. By 1945 the levels were at 51%. I believe it is incredible that that to reach such a low level of graduation to much had to happen and it still not as high as most people would like it to be. It went so far as to donate billions just to get a 17% increase. Then when people still did not want to educate themselves, lawmakers had to come into play. It was then passed into federal law banning all child labor and mandated children up until the age of 16 to attend school, and yet still we have a low graduation rate. While education might have been thriving during this time the numbers are still very low. And that's something I feel that not only myself but the whole class as a whole can agree upon.

Last Class

Last class we talked a lot about education. It was a very compelling conversation. We started reviewing and putting together our ideas about what we had learned from the book and what we thought about it. With that being said we all loved the book's stance on education and makes it very enjoyable on how it was brought up. In class, we all agreed that it was a very informative and sometimes unfair way that people were taught back in the day. Often times receiving useless information. Its crazy to believe and hear that back in the day people actually got useless information in school and even information that was outdated or even as much as remembering a phrase. In today's day in age, we take that for granted. Kids these days take classes that are so much more beneficial than it was back in the day. Yet we as students dare to complain. Every class we take and sit through we become brighter humans and can use all these things to get better jobs throughout the workforce. Back in the day, even schools appearance were very low quality compared to today. It was basically falling apart back in the day and people still went to get quality educations.

Today we all judge things by their covers not but what they can offer us. Now people don't pick schools because of how old they are and often prefer private newer schools because it and their education and pockets take a toll because of it.

Literacy Autobiography Blog #1

When you're born you come out of not knowing anything but able to absorb everything. Babies have this great ability to take in whatever they see or get taught quickly and extremely effectively.  In my household, it was always my grandma who helped me become literate at a young age. Very patient while I was growing up helped me read at a very young age and got me ready for school and always kept me ahead of the other students. My inspiration to become literate growing up I would have to say is probably my father. He migrated into this country very young without knowing much English and learned it incredibly fast which ha helped him become a successful man he is today. Being that knew how hard it was to learn to read and write the English language he was also the one who supported me through that whole phase of my life. He constantly pushed me to better myself and corrected me where I was wrong. If there was an opportunity for him to help me better my reading comprehension skills he would do it. Although his and my grandma's techniques worked in the long wrong if I am going, to be honest, I was incredibly discouraged at the time. Being that it just seemed like so much work and it only seemed to get harder to the point where I would probably never master it. When I was going through grammar school and perfecting my literature skills it seemed like a huge burden on my life every time I was assigned to read a short novel and reflect on it or even read a section in class. 

That eventually all changed for the better. There was one experience in specific that I remember that really pushed me in the right direction. It was when my teachers noticed my very unmotivated reaction towards reading and put me in reading therapy where all I had to do was read. It was ultimately in my eyes legal torture towards children. So I pushed myself to become the best reader I could be in order to get out of there and never have to go again. I continued to try to be the best reader and writer I could for a very long time. It was not until about my High school years where I really began to feel literate because I was able to keep an educated conversation going having to talk all these standardized tests seeing exactly how literate I am and passing them all with flying colors that I really felt like I had made it somewhere. 

Today I really dislike reading and writing I do it solely because I have to in order to pass college. Hopefully, in my future career, there will not be any writing involved. It is very hard especially when given all these different writing styles and having to do it in all these different lengths. Ironically although I do not like it I fair pretty well with my writing and my grandma and father still like to read my writing every so often and inspire me and advise me to do better.