Hot+Topics+in+Education

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I'm using this article for my homework due tomorrow, even if it isn't from the exact site, this is a topic we need to talk about. It is important for teachers and staff to be able to enforce discipline to their students. How do we do it? How can wwe make sure rules are truly enforced, students can skip detentions, ignore demerits, not go to the office if we send them, and might just not come to class, or worse, school. There is no defined way to enforce rules, but what if we make students pay a fine? Is it fair, maybe no, but I'll be honest, it is one of the few for sure ways to get them to stop acting out. No one wants to pay even $0.05 for every time they talk, some kids can't pay that every time they talk. This fine system also gets the students' parents or guardians upset that they have to pay for their kid's mistake and for underpaid parents, they aren't happy for paying for small infractions. In my opinion, the fine system could work, if we hashed it out a bit more, making sure no one is held back for not being able to pay is a start. It is also important for parents to know we only treat their 16 year old like a child, because they act like one. [] Mary Dodson

I found this story both interesting and a bit disturbing. The fact that charter schools can get away with this kind of thing makes me wonder what the school system is coming to. While I'm sure there are arguments that can made made supporting its effectiveness, it just seems to run counter to everything school seems to be about. The fact that charter schools seem to be able to play by their own rules also unnerves me a little bit. I don't think imposing this type of borderline draconian policy can make for a very welcoming learning environment, and it's probably the students that suffer the most. Alex Berman http://abcnews.go.com/US/chicago-high-school-makes-190000-student-fines-bad/story?id=15758891

I thought this was an interesting topic in education. In recent years the population of ELL students in Illinois has been steadily growing, yet many schools are falling behind in accommodating ELLs. Latinos make up for most of the ELL population in Illinois. Most of the growth of ELL has been in the suburbs, while the city has also been experiencing an influx of ELLs. There have been instances where many suburban districts failed to provide students with bilingual instruction even though many of them qualified for it. Since many ELL are not provided with the academic support needed to succeed, there has been a growing gap between ELL and native English speaking students. Something the article mentioned that I found interesting is how many school districts failed to find any certified bilingual teachers, so they had to go to Spain and to recruit teachers. Also one thing that I liked about this article is how it mentioned dual language instruction, a program that simultaneously develops a student’s native language and a new language, as a means to help ELL students. In Illinois there are three suburban districts that offer dual language instruction, and at least 80% of the ELL students in those districts met state reading standards. http://tinyurl.com/7vy7vd8 Alex Romero