violence in schools...

we all know that within our school systems there is a certain amount of violence, it's a part of human nature and unavoidable. i remember especially during my middle school years that there was at least an aggravated argument, if not a fight, every week and that was just among the 6th graders. my question is, as teachers, what can we do to lessen the outbreaks of fights and violence in general.

one thing that some people are suggesting is behavioral management training. some believe that if pre-service teachers got more training in how to deal with aggressive behavior their classrooms would run more smoothly and that the rate of violence within the classroom would go down. another thing some some schools are doing is having low to moderate security systems in place; the difference being that the low security systems have no metal detectors or guards but have control access to buildings, and moderate security systems have a full time guard. another thing most schools are doing is issuing id badges or name tags to stop non-staff or students from entering the schools and causing trouble.

so are these tactics effective? considering crime and violence rates have gone down, i would say that they are. however, i do think that as a teacher or administrator one should always be watching and actively trying to keep schools as safe and violence free as possible.

leapfrog and other educational toys

i'm sure you've seen the commercials of the cute little kids playing with the leapfrog toys, but my question is how effective are these learning tools. they have toys to help with everything from reading and writing to math and science. they also have toys for all ages, from 6 months to 18 years old. they are good for working on certain skills at home and some school have started to use them in class as teaching aids. one special education teacher sent home a phonics program from leapfrog and saw wonderful results with her students. another teacher chose to use the phonics programs in class and saw a "huge boost" in learning and reading skills and a boost in her students confidence as well. so from what i've read the leapfrog brand of toys and others like it can definitely help students learn in a fun and effective way!

my least favorite teacher

the worst teacher i have had to date has been in my college years. it was my first semester, and a freshman level class, but she treated us like graduate students. she jumped into notes on the first day, which isn't a bad thing usually, but this class had a lab and it would have been nice to have known what was going to be coming. another thing that really made me dislike her as a teacher was her attitude when asked a question. it always seemed to really annoy her that we might have a question, or that we didn't understand a concept. it was really off putting and made me very wary of actually raising my hand to ask for help. she also would act frustrated and annoyed if students took to long to write down the notes from the over head powerpoint, or asked her to turn back a slide. the whole class was just a little frustrating and not at all fun to go to. now i know that class isn't necessarily supposed to be fun, but it's certainly not something to dread going to. so because of all these reason she was one of my least favorite teachers.