Review and NYC Charter School

April 6th, 2009
This class was mostly devoted mostly to allowing students give their opinions on the class and how it could be imporived. I agreed with many of the things that were said and I was happy to see this conversation taking place.
The next topic was about the New York Ctiy Charter school and the pay raises that are happening there. I feel like it is okay to raise the pay but only if they can afford it without cutting major corners. This school is taking away options for the classes the kids may take so that they can pay the teachers more money to teach less subjects. For all schools to raise the pay of teachers salary there would probably be an increase in "bad" teachers, or ones that do not care. Teachers that get into the profession now are probably more passionate about teaching students because there is not a lot of money involved. Because of pay raises, they will not be able to hire as many teachers. One solution that was presented was to force the teacher to take a verbal test. This will not make the teachers more qualified because the way a person speaks and the skills they have does not tell anyone how well they will work with kids. Another option that was mentioned and done in one school system is paying the teacher as well as their class does. This would seemingly cause more problems because the teachers may make thier class eaiser to pass. Coming into any classroom, no matter what you get paid, a teacher would need to have access to a computer, a projector, possibly a smart board, and other technologies to help them relate to their students. If they pay is raised and the technology budget is cut, the teachers will have to pay out of their own pocket.
We talked briefly about the Learning Management System. This is a place where students can go and learn without the need for teachers. Everything is structured for them. Pleateau is a huge site where you can buy software to learn a lesson.