My Reason For Creating the Ed On Your Own Website


The following is a description for why I believe this site is needed.



I was an independent study teacher at a charter school in California, working with at risk high school students. This was a very challenging job to say the least. The President's No Child Left Behind came along and came with a mandate for teachers to be considered Highly Qualified. After much confusion over how teachers at a charter school who routinely teach all subjects get themselves Highly Qualified, the concept became clear. Teachers must spend their own hard earned money to pay to take tests. These tests are quite difficult and cause quite a lot of stress for the teachers taking them. They also have very little to do with the actual content being taught in the schools. I am currently Highly Qualified in Math, Business and English by using my own hard earned money to take these tests as many times as it took to pass them.

One of the things I noticed during this process was that the No Child Left Behind policy of getting teachers to be considered Highly Qualified did nothing to actually help the teachers teach in the classroom or teach the independent study students who have already fallen behind. I thought the No Child Left Behind policy would focus on how to help the students who have fallen behind. I was mistaken. At this time, I have heard of no special training on how to teach teachers to take care of these students who have fallen between the cracks of education. At this time, I have heard of no special training to support these students in an individualized educational setting, such as independent study to give these students the one on one attention they desperately need to succeed.

There is always the question of what does it mean for a student who has fallen between the cracks of education to actually succeed. Does it mean this student graduates from high school? Does it mean this student doesn't get in trouble with the law? Does it mean this student goes to a community college? Does it mean this student goes to a trade school? Does it mean anything at all for the student or their family to have a successful student in the family?

After finding it very difficult to have convincing teenagers that graduating from high school was a good idea be part of my job description, I decided that there must be a better way to help future students so that they don't end up in the same situation as my high school students. One of the themes that ran through these students was they all had low reading levels, which made it very difficult to function in the traditional high school classroom. After numerous discussions with these students, I found they all had trouble making the transition from learning to read (K-3) to reading to learn (4-12). This made them "trouble makers" in the fourth grade. These "trouble makers" learned very quickly that all they had to do was be a pain in the neck to the teacher and they were sent to the office. To these students, this was a blessing. They didn't have to sit in a classroom where they didn't understand what was going on and were not receiving the help they needed. This was the new way to get out of doing school work. Some of these students were misclassified as special ed students. I found these students were auditory learners (the teacher no longer read the textbooks out loud in class) and some of them had learning disabilities that were aggravated or actually caused by being auditory learners and not knowing how to cope when no one was reading out loud to them anymore.

So, why have a website that is all reading for students who have trouble reading? Well, the website isn't just for those students. It is also for their teachers, parents and tutors. Also, I did find a rather easy way to help the auditory learners. Working with these students to try to get them to pass the California High School Exit Exam, I found that asking the student to read a story out loud and then asking questions about the story made all the difference in the world. I asked the students to continue to read the stories out loud in their room at home and continue answering questions about the stories. After a couple of weeks, the students learned how to read the stories out loud in their own heads and suddenly their reading ability which had previously seemed insurmountable was almost gone. This left dealing with the deadly menace, MATH.

For me, math was always a game. I learned how to add and subtract before I went to Kindergarten by playing a card game with my family called 99. This game involved adding and subtracting and I learned these skills by counting the pips on the cards and learning that taking away ten was just reducing the tens digit in the number by one. This was done orally and by manipulation of counting the pips with my finger. There was no chalk board or white board. The game was fun and I learned to use logic to play the game with a strategy. So, I have always approached math with the idea that if I can convince the students that it is actually "fun" or alternately "easy," then I have basically won the battle of the evil menace, MATH.

I have taught high school level math at a community college and I found for the adult student, the math anxiety has already been set in place. This involves a special finesse to convince these students that they can succeed in a math class and they can go on to get their bachelor's degree. One strategy I used was frequent testing. Some people disagree with this philosophy saying that too much time is spent testing and not enough time is spent teaching. I have found these students can know all of the material and still not be able to pass a test or quiz because they are so stressed out from their test anxiety on top of their math anxiety. Giving quizzes that have the content of the first part of the following test allows the student to make mistakes on the quiz, which does not count as much in their grade and then feel more comfortable taking the first half of the test and have less material to concentrate on for the test which counts for more in their grade. Also, the frequent testing (a quiz or a test every week, alternating between quizzes and tests each week) allowed for each test to count less than if there were only one or two tests given during the term. So, if the student did not do as well as they wanted to do on a specific test, they had other tests during the term to raise their grade. Constantly reinforcing this concept and giving frequent grade updates really helped the students feel more comfortable with their own ability to pass a math class. This belief in themselves as math students increases their ability to actually pass the class.

My philosophy on homework has also brought up controversy with other teachers. My philosophy is that I want the students to do it. I want them to have a chance to practice what is discussed in class and be able to check their own answers to see if they are on track. I answer homework questions in every class. This causes concern with some teachers because I am "giving" them the answers. If they don't know how to do the problems on the homework, then how will they get the problems correct on the tests and quizzes? The tests and quizzes better be based on the homework and what is discussed in class, or else they are unfair tests and quizzes. My homework grade is based on completion of homework and nothing else. If they turn it in late, at least they turned it in and they are preparing for tests and the final by getting it done. I do have a policy of not accepting homework on the day of the final. I believe the time between the last class and the final should be dedicated to studying for the final, not just wearing themselves out getting all of their late homework completed. This policy of not counting off points for turning in late homework allows for students to actually have a life. There are students with jobs, spouses, children and other concerns that can keep them away from doing homework at certain times during a term.

So, why did I create this website??? Through my experiences in the business world and my experiences in the world of education, I have gathered quite a lot of information on how to help these students who have been left behind by our education system, which is run by politicians with no educational background at all. The only hope is to help the classroom teacher with ready to use resources and give parents and other family members ways to help their own children outside of the classroom. I once heard it takes a community to raise a child. I feel this concept has been lost and if it is now the president's policy to penalize teachers for not doing the best they can under very difficult situations, then my job is to help the teachers survive the classroom and the independent study environment to the best of my ability.

It is my sincerest hope that all who use the materials contained on this website benefit from the experience. Happy Educating!!!!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Let's make it a collective goal to make as many life long learners as possible, so that the future high school graduates know how they learn in order to be successful in the workplace. Oh yeah, wasn't that the goal of education in the first place? Aren't we supposed to help create the most productive adults out there, so that our country stays great? It's just a thought.

Home Page last updated 02/08/07