Budget Cuts: Do they help or hurt the education we receive?

Budget Cuts have become a serious problem in the education field.  In the article, Painful Education Cuts in Budget Deal, it says that more than half of the $38 billion in cuts in the FY2011 bill education, health, and labor.  Federal funds play into attempting to level the playing field for poor students, as well as promising students with disabilities services to which they are legally entitled to.  Without all the funds, students will not have the resources they need to succeed.  They say that the budget cuts for education will not only hurt the students, but it will also hurt the U.S. economy.  In the article, it talks about the research that has been done to prove the point.

Another article, called What School District Budget Cuts Mean For Students, talks about how the cuts will affect the students.  One thing the article mentions is about the class size.  The class size used to average at about 22 students.  Now the class is up to about 30 students.  With  more students in the classroom it is getting harder to manage.

Many schools are starting to cut extracurricular activities.  With the schools not getting the same amount of money they have many programs being cut.  Clubs that are not as popular are getting shut down.  Also, many arts and music classes are being cut too.  With all the clubs and classes being shut down, students are not getting to experience all the different things that are out there.

If the budget cut keeps getting worse, many things will be lost.  Music and art classes as we know it will no longer to exist.  Students will be left with minimum extracurricular activities.  This will keep students from exploring and learning many different areas.  Schooling as we know it will forever be changed.

Twitter

I never used twitter before this class. When I first made my account it was overwhelming. Twitter kept having different people or groups along the top and bottom till i followed 5 people. As a student I could use twitter to help with a class project. Since I am following people in Early Childhood and Special Education they could post a link to a website that could help give me an idea for a project I am assigned to do. As a teacher twitter could help me by other teachers posting links to websites or writing ideas that could help me teach a lesson to the class. Twitter will become very beneficial to any one willing to give it a chance.

PowerPoint

Counting

View more PowerPoint from Caitlin Brown

In class we were instructed to make a PowerPoint using the standards from PennDot Standards.  Using the PennDot Standards I found the slandered I was going to use for my PowerPoint. I chose a standard for math in Pre-Kindergarten. The slandered was in the area of numbers, number system and number relationships. The slandered was to demonstrate the relationship between numbers, and qualities, including rote counting, one-to-one correspondence up to 10 objects, and comparing values of whole numbers up to 10. 

After choosing the standard I started looking for videos that I could possible use. To look for the videos i used YouTube. I found to videos that I ended up using. One was a counting song that i put at the end of the PowerPoint. The other video I put at the beginning of the PowerPoint. This video let the kids meet the numbers. I then started to look for shapes I could use to show them what two equaled and so on with the other numbers. Lastly, I made an interactive game that children could play. I found different objects in a variety or numbers and asked them how many ______ is in the picture. I had different number choices they could choose. If they clicked the wrong answer it went to a slide that said try again, but if they clicked the right answer it went to a slide that said good job.

Before we started this project I knew quite a bit about PowerPoint, so I didn't struggle too much. Even though I knew PowerPoint I did learn a few things. One thing I learn was how to make a lesson plan. At the beginning I did not know how to make a lesson plan, but now I feel pretty good with making one. Another thing I learned was how to hide a slide. When I made the game I was able to hide the slides that said try again and good job. By doing that after one question was done we could skip the slides that said good job and try again and go to the next page. This project was very good because you got to see other people’s ideas as well as show others your ideas with PowerPoint.

Chapter 1 Responce

           Our world is changing very fast. After reading chapter one of Personal Learning Networks, I see the realization that we are rapidly moving towards the digital world. In the book, the authors talk about six significant shifts that are supporting connection and network building. One of the shifts the authors talk about is that we are moving from analog to digital in very big and very fast ways. I agree with the authors opinion.
          In chapter one, the authors talk about how many places are making digital books and journals. Before electronic readers came out, you had to go to the store or library to get a book. I know from my personal experience that it is inconvenient. In middle school and most of high school, I read books so fast and then wanted another one. I always had to wait till it was convenient for my parents to take me. Now, with my electronic reader, I can go onto the internet any time I want and download a book. I have almost every book at my fingertips. With the electronic reader, you can also get a magazine or the newspaper without leaving the comforts of your home. Down the road, holding an actual book in your hands will be considered odd.
          In chapter one, it talks about how Google is attempting to digitalize all books, and how Stanford Engineering library is going to become bookless. Both of those are big steps to becoming a digital world. You can purchase a lot of your college digital textbooks and put them on your laptop, electronic reader, or an ipad. By doing so, it would make college students’ backpacks lighter. Stanford is just one of the many schools that are becoming bookless. Some high schools are getting electronic readers and installing all the books on them. It may make the books last longer because we won’t have any wear and tear from the use, but on the other hand if one of the electronic readers break it will be expensive to repair. It would also allow updates for new editions cheaper and more quickly. We are moving into a digital world, which may bring new problems.
         The world as we know is changing fast. Things like holding a book or taking a test on paper are disappearing. New technologies are being invented that will change the way we live and work. As new generations come to school, the way they learn will be different from anyone before them.