No Child Left Behind Act

It seemed that the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act was a great idea to focus on underprivileged children's needs.  It focused on helping children who were from low economic backgrounds by trying to offer the same educational opportunities as every other student.  The Act was based on the idea that if goals are set higher and goals that could be measured were set, then it would improve outcomes in education.  However, this Act seems to have cause our educators to focus on reading and math only because that is mainly where these goals have been set.  The other subjects such as social studies, science, and the arts are now commonly neglected in the school systems.  The curriculum is now based on text preparation because the results of the test are what matter with this act.  Even in cases when social studies is test, this act has forced the information to simply be memorized facts and the tests do not depict and accurate depiction of the student's actual knowledge.  The link provided touches on these issues with NCLB and there are even instances when schools transfer out students before testing begins in order to meet their goals.  This is awful because it shows that some educators care about themselves and their student's results more than they care about giving an actual proper education to their students.  This shows us that integration of social studies, science, and the arts is more important now than ever.
A few ways to do this are to connect standards in different content areas:
1.H.1.3 Explain why national holidays are celebrated
This could be done during a literacy lesson by reading a story on a specific holiday or person such as Martin Luther King Jr.  The students could read a biography that is age-appropriate and gain a knowledge of both history and literacy.  This standard could connect to:
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.2.1 Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.






http://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/publications/yl/1704/170431.pdf

Financial Struggles That May Be Preventable

There are many struggles that we all face as both children and as adults.  I have struggled with budget management since I was young.  I am sure that I am ONLY one out there that has had this struggle. I remember when I got my first car (Ford Ranger) and was so excited about the freedom that I had, able to drive anywhere that I wanted and there was nothing to hold me back!  I assume that my 16 year old mind thought that cars and trucks ran on their own and I completely skipped the step in my thought process about how I thought I was going to keep gas in it.  The job that i relied on for my "running money" was at a local butcher shop, on Saturday's only, and I made, get this.....a WHOPPING $5.15 an hour!!!! I am pretty sure that, after taxes, I cleared an impressive $30 a week! I learned (or realized at least, I don't know that even now I have "learned" this) that money comes a lot harder than it goes.  I learned that i had to prioritize in order to make the best decision and I had to make that money last.  

In my opinion, financial planning and making sound financial decisions are some of the areas that should definitely be touched on a lot more in schools.  This is a common struggle for many individuals, young and old.  As educators, our role is to help develop people for the workplace and prepare individuals to be successful in life and budgeting and being financially smart is a vital role in being successful and leading a life that is as low-stress as possible.  The standards that should be covered are:

FP.PFL.1.1 Explain how education, income, 

career, and life choices impact an 

individual’s financial plan and 

goals (e.g., job, wage, salary, 

college/university, community 

college, military, workforce, skill 

development, social security, 

entrepreneur, rent, mortgage, etc.).

FP.PFL.1.2 Explain how fiscally responsible 

individuals create and manage a 

personal budget that is inclusive of 

income, taxes, gross and net pay, 

giving, fixed and variable expenses 

and retirement (e.g., budget, 

financial plan, money management, 

saving and investing plan, etc.).

These standards should be introduced and discussed starting in Kindergarten.  Obviously, the detail in which it is discussed at that age would have to be minimal.  However, this is such an important area because it effects everyone.  It should be introduced early, and each grade level should build upon the previous.  This could allow our future leaders to make better financial decisions and start practicing making a budget to prepare for their future careers and families.

Integrating Social Studies into Lessons

As we discuss ideas to integrate Social Studies into our lessons and we talk about differentiating our lessons, I have noticed in the classrooms that I am a teacher's assistant in the many ways in which the teachers I work for have been doing this.  There are major themes each month that usually follow along with holidays (Columbus Day. MLK Jr. Day etc.) and the lessons (especially reading) are used to integrate these themes into them and teach the students about the reason for these holidays and about the people that they are named for.  Theses classes recently (January) made timelines (2.H.1.1) of Martin Luther King Jr.'s life and read about the important issues that he dealt with and stood up for.  Currently, the students have began learning about our U.S. Presidents because of President's day and George Washington's birthday coming up soon in February by reading about them in our Basal series reading books.  It is really important that these topics are implemented into reading lessons because as much as reading and math are focused on, if we did not cover social studies during this time, the children would not have an opportunity to be introduced to these people and events in history.