If I Were Queen of My Child's School, I Would Decree That... What Are Yours?

I would have an Anti-Bullying policy in place and be extremely vigilant that everyone is sticking to it. Way too many kids are offing themselves these days due to bullying.

If I were queen of my child's school:

1. The no tollerance policy for bullying at school would really mean something. I would hold PARENTS accountable for their kids behavior.

2. I would make services for learning available to every child regardless of test scores and tutoring would be offered daily.

3. I would put more empasis on the joy of reading rather than the excellerated reading program. I would BAN the AR program.

4. I would give kids back recess. I think it's insane to keep them for 7 hours and only allow for lunch and a 20 minute break. The law requires employers to give employees a lunch and two breaks for a full day's work but kids who need more get less.

5. Tenure would be a thing of the past and whole teaching not just test scores would determine contract renewal.

<grinning> I AM queen of my child's school

I homeschool :)

I would add:

•More time allotted for lunch.
•More emphasis on creative problem solving.
•Continue "challenge" assignments for kids who are higher achieving than the rest of the class.
•Zero (and I really mean ZERO, not lip service) tolerance of bullying at school or on bus rides.
•More volunteering opportunities during non-working hours for working moms--so many of my friends work and cannot help out during school hours!
•Buddy systems for challenged kids, etc.

Do you mean that in your school a TV is used in the classrooms for non-educational purposes? That's very odd.

Also, your #5 would eliminate the "lower" kids being inspired to achieve like the "higher" kids and the "higher" kids learning tolerance and compassion or the "lower" kids. So I disagree with that O..

#7 I don't think art should receive *daily* priority over language, foreign language, reading or math. While I value art, I would rather emphasize academics.

#6 Not interested in that AT ALL.

#2 We do O. fundraiser a year, and it's very successful!

If I were queen for the day at my children's school, I would . . .

Get rid of the No Child Left Behind Standardized Testing that is driving teachers crazy and frustrating our students so that we can get back to the real business of education: learning not testing.

Hmm, very interesting. That actually sounds a lot like my childs school. They watch movies from time to time but that doesn't bother me. If it's raining or they get to watch a special holiday movie I think that's great. They have PE twice a week and two recesses each day. There is always one adult on in the classroom and a minimum of two on the playground. I disagree about the parent part though. I think having the presence of parents in school helps keep kids accountable and I'm all for any extra sets of eyes. I don't think that putting all the lower functioning kids together and all the high functioning kids together is necessary. They are going to have to learn that in the real world there are going to be people who are a distraction. My son actually gets to help some of the kids in his class complete assignments. It help out and he gets to feel a sense of accomplishment and the felling that he did something nice. I would despise year round school and am thankful we don't have to do that. I have a feeling lots if not all public school will switch to that eventually. I am thankful we are in a private school where some of these things may be a little easier to cone by. I hope you are able to find happiness with your childs education and wish you both the very best.

As a teacher and a M., I had to smile on this one. A lot of them make sense. However, if you have one adult per class on the playground, where are all of those adults going to come from? I have lunch duty, then I get to go sit and eat my own lunch while my class goes out to recess. We definitely don't have the money to hire more adults (and even if we did, finding anyone to do it who can do it correctly is almost impossible). I guess I am fortunate; our PE class is 45 minutes of exercise. I can't agree about placing kids by levels. First of all, what would measure the level? I have some kids who started with little literacy knowledge, now they are reading books. Others look "high" on paper but are much slower to progress. They all learn from each other. The key is the teacher who needs to differentiate as much as possible in the classroom for where the students are right now. I think my favorite is the one below...eliminate the standardized testing that goes with NCLB. My five year olds/six year olds are tested with bubble testing every year. We also have kids who have moved to the US in the past year or so with little English who have to take the tests too, not to mention special ed students, highly mobile children, etc.

makes sense to me.
:)

I would require all teachers to listen to the students questions. Sometimes my kids complain they are told to get busy with whatever it is whether it is a project or going to the next class. My kids schools have had your #5 to an extent. My kids are currently in middle school (started in 3rd gr transferring in froma Catholic school). They were placed well with their grade history but in 4th grade they were put in special classes. 2 went into a higher acheiving class and the other had a special math class for higher learners. Now they have these higher levels for whatever the subject is that they excel. But no matter what level it is, just listening to the student in case something is up or bothering them or just a question.