Today in class we were given an exercise where we had to determine who were teachers, who were groups, and who were the students. We were only given a certain amount of information about the exercise and it was very confusing. Now that we're done, Dr. B states that the lesson he wanted us to learn was not one of us were more important than the rest. It was a study in group dynamics. Dr. B wants us to know that working with other teachers will be similar to our group dynamics. We'll be meeting every week to discuss school or student issues, and we'll have to work together in order to solve problems. We'll need to Listen, Trust, use Visual Displays, and perhaps a Matrix. I've done a lot of teamwork exercises before, and I don't feel this exercise was as effective as my professor believed it to be.

Charter Schools-
Apparently charter and public schools tend to even out as far as test scores go. My teacher, as well as myself believe that perhaps after getting their feet more firmly on the ground, charter schools may outscore public schools. That is, as soon as they learn from their experiences. Right now, charter school education and public school education are very similar in how things are set up.

So each charter school is each set up to support different subjects, some more than others. Some schools support math and sciences very strongly, although they do teach English classes. Their English classes however, seem to be more like medical English or a college prep class. Other charter schools however, support creative writing as much as math and believe each are equally valid.

Charter School Controversies
-Not enrolled most disadvantaged
-No more likely to enroll low income students
-Have not improved educational performance of low minority students
-Achievement levels suffer because of high mobility rate
-Competition has not improved effort of public schools to improve

Some charter schools also have a high strict discipline. I'm not sure if I'd want the teachers to discipline my child, although I do see the need for a serious learning atmosphere in some cases. But why does learning always have to be serious? Studies show that humans learn best when they're having fun.

Charter Schools offer parents and students:
-Additional choices about where students attend school
-Input and develop school's curricular emphasis
-Freedom to try new strategies
-Inspire students
-Experiment with innovative ways of educating
-Allow individuals and organizations more leeway.

I like the idea of having both charter schools and public schools because I think the competition that exists is a good thing. Until parents are prepared to take their child's education into their own hands and teach the children themselves, we should have options: charter, public, or private.