Missed another graduation

In 2011, one of my children graduated from Middle School and I could not attend his graduation because I had just been hire to teach. The day he graduated was my first day of work. So I could not ask my employer for a day off. His graduation was at 10am and I had to be at work at 9am.
My youngest son graduated from Middle School this past Friday and guess what: I could not attend his graduation either. This time, I had to take a comprehensive exam which is given only twice a year. If I  had missed this test then I would have to wait until December to take it. My questions is, what would you have done in had been in my place.

                                                                              

Immigration fails USA?

"Don't hate me when I take jobs away from U.S. shores," he said. "Blame your government for it."
Shailesh Deshpande is a Virginia Tech grad who lost his fight to stay after working for several U.S. consulting firms. He was forced to return home to India and is now launching a company there. Why is it that after educating international students in The United States, they have to return to their native countries? It makes sense to me to allow them to stay in the country so that they can contribute in the development and growth of this country. I have a friend who came to The United States earn advance degrees in physics and mathematics but had to return to his country because he did have a permit to remain here. Then I hear on the news that we need more students working on STEM(science, technology, engineering, mathematics) degrees so that we can compete with the global economy.

What are the Common Core Standards?

“The Common Core is a set of high-quality academic standards in mathematics and English language arts/literacy (ELA). These learning goals outline what a student should know and be able to do at the end of each grade. The standards were created to ensure that all students graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to succeed in college, career, and life, regardless of where they live”. The standards recognize that both content and skills are important. How can someone disagree with the intentions of the common core standards? Its goal is that every student has access to quality education irrespective of where they live. I strongly believe that teachers need support not only from administrators but also from parents. As a parent I believe that it is our responsibility to make sure that our children make an effort to learn and behave properly in class. This way, teachers will spend less time managing their classrooms and as a result of it more time will be devoted to help the students reach the standards. I have observed high school classrooms where students are not willing to do the work and in addition to that some of them even disrupt the classroom quite often. My point is that unless parents, administrators, students and teachers are on the same page. It will be difficult but not impossible to accomplish what the common core state standards envision. 

 

Who or what should we blame for the shooting near UC Santa Barbara?

" A California gunman who went on a rampage near a Santa Barbara University stabbed three people to death at his apartment before shooting to death three more in a terrorizing crime spree through a neighborhood, Sheriff's officials said Saturday" Some people blame the individual other people blame the laws that allow people to keep and bear arms. The second amendment of the United States Constitution protects the right of individual to keep and bear arms. Amendment II says "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed" Elliot ' Rodger was the name of the person who stabbed and shot people near UC Santa Barbara. Who or what is to blame for this crime? Should we blame the shooter? After all, he is the one who decided to use the gun? Or should we blame the laws and the people who support them for allowing a person to obtain guns? Some people blame the shooter because he was mentally unstable to carry a gun. Others blame the gun because if he did not have access to it he would have not killed many people ( he stabbed three and shot another three). I do not think that someone has to be mentally ill to use a gun to kill people. I think that anyone in a moment of despair would use anything to kill someone and having access to a firearm makes things easier for a person to kill many more people than he would without a firearm.

Copa Mundial de Futbol

I had to wait four years to watch another world cup. Finally, it will begin on  June 12, 2014. This time, the host of the tournament is Brazil. I have been watching futbol games for a long time. I was only 7 years old when I listen on the radio games from Argentina 1978 world cup (I did not have a TV back then). The next world cup took place in Spain and it was then that I had the opportunity to watch the games on TV. Given the conditions in which I grew up, I never imagine that I could someday attend a world cup game. I did not attend one game. In fact, I attended two games during the 1994 world cup that took place in the USA territory. It was an amazing experience and I look forward to attend another game someday.

Teaching Strategies

Suppose for a moment that I am a new immigrant to The United States who does not speak English but who is very motivated and interested in learning the language. In addition to that, suppose that you have the opportunity to be my first teacher. What kind of teaching methods or strategies would you employ so that I begin to achieve my objective (learn English)?