Charter Schools

A few years back i broke my leg pretty bad, i had the best physical therapist in the world! We talked everyday i was there, she was the best. Right before they gave me an extension in the rehab, she told me she was leaving she found a job teaching at a charter school. I thought that was the name of it or something, turns out charter schools are very unique and helpful to families.


Charter Schools were authorized by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts' Education Reform Act of 1993. The best way to describe them was how the website described it, saying that "charter schools are independent public schools that operate under five year charters granted by the Commonwealth's Board of Education." www.doe.mass.edu/charter

There is a charter school located in a tiny space in East Boston, right next to where i live, its great that im researching it now because know one ever knows what it is! Basically, charter schools are elementary and secondary schools that recieve funding from the state. In a 2008 a survey shows that 59% of the schools had a waiting list, averaging 198 students.

Some charter schools provide a curriculum that specializes in a certain field including arts, mathematics, etc. Others attempt to provide a better and more efficient general education than nearby public schools.

There are two main guidlines charter schools must follow. First is that they will operate as autonomous public schools, through waivers from many of the procedural requirements of district public schools. The second is that charter schools are accountable for student achievement.

This type of school interests me, it gives other students with unique learning abilities to get the education they deserve without worrying about tuition.

Enviromental Justice

Environmental Justice is the fair treatment of our environment. Below, i found something doing my research about Enviromental Justice, that just kind of sums it up from top to bottom.

1. Environmental justice affirms the sacredness of Mother Earth, ecological unity and the interdependence of all species, and the right to be free from ecological destruction.

2. Environmental justice demands that public policy be based on mutual respect and justice for all peoples, free from any form of discrimination or bias.

3. Environmental justice mandates the right to ethical, balanced and responsible uses of land and renewable resources in the interest of a sustainable planet for humans and other living things.

4. Environmental justice calls for universal protection from nuclear testing, extraction, production and disposal of toxic/hazardous wastes and poisons and nuclear testing that threaten the fundamental right to clean air, land, water, and food.

5. Environmental justice affirms the fundamental right to political, economic, cultural and environmental self-determination of all peoples.

6. Environmental justice demands the cessation of the production of all toxins, hazardous wastes, and radioactive materials, and that all past and current producers be held strictly accountable to the people for detoxification and the containment at the point of production.

7. Environmental justice demands the right to participate as equal partners at every level of decision-making including needs assessment, planning, implementation, enforcement and evaluation.

8. Environmental justice affirms the right of all workers to a safe and healthy work environment, without being forced to choose between an unsafe livelihood and unemployment. It also affirms the right of those who work at home to be free from environmental hazards.

9. Environmental justice protects the right of victims of environmental injustice to receive full compensation and reparations for damages as well as quality health care.

10. Environmental justice considers governmental acts of environmental injustice a violation of international law, the Universal Declaration On Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention on Genocide.

11. Environmental justice must recognize a special legal and natural relationship of Native Peoples to the U.S. government through treaties, agreements, compacts, and covenants affirming sovereignty and self-determination.

12. Environmental justice affirms the need for urban and rural ecological policies to clean up and rebuild our cities and rural areas in balance with nature, honoring the cultural integrity of all our communities, and providing fair access for all to the full range of resources.

13. Environmental justice calls for the strict enforcement of principles of informed consent, and a halt to the testing of experimental reproductive and medical procedures and vaccinations on people of color.

14. Environmental justice opposes the destructive operations of multi-national corporations.

15. Environmental justice opposes military occupation, repression and exploitation of lands, peoples and cultures, and other life forms.

16. Environmental justice calls for the education of present and future generations which emphasizes social and environmental issues, based on our experience and an appreciation of our diverse cultural perspectives.

17. Environmental justice requires that we, as individuals, make personal and consumer choices to consume as little of Mother Earth's resources and to produce as little waste as possible; and make the conscious decision to challenge and reprioritize our lifestyles to insure the health of the natural world for present and future generations.
(http://eelink.net/EJ/whatis.html)

Environmental Justice in schools consists of the students and faculty being exposed to clean water, air etc. A school should not be built next to a dump or an airport, because it wouldnt be healthy air. Pipes should be changed so the drinking water is clean. The students should also be tought to keep their environment clean. Throwing away trash, cleaning up after themselves, washing hands etc. will create a healthy and clean place.

SOCIAL JUSTICE =)

After reading an article on Social justice, it opened my eyes to a whole different out look. In the article written by Herbert Khol, he gives his thoughts on what social justice is. He writes:

• First, don't teach against your conscience. Don't align yourself with texts, people, or rules that hurt children; resist them as creatively and effectively as you can, whether through humor or by developing alternative curricula. Try to survive, but don't make your survival in a particular job the overriding determinant of what you will or won't do. Don't become isolated or alone in your efforts; reach out to other teachers, community leaders, church people, and parents who feel as you do. Find a school where you can do your work and then stand up for the quality of your work. Don't quit in the face of opposition; make people work hard if they intend to fire or reprimand you for teaching equity and justice.




• Second, hone your craft as a teacher. When I first began teaching, I jumped into struggles for social justice. During one of my efforts a community person asked: "So, what's going on in your classroom that's different than what you're fighting against? Can your students read and do math?" I had to examine my work, which was full of passion and effort but deficient in craft. I realized that I needed to take the time to learn how to teach well before I extended myself with authority and confidence in organizing efforts. This is essential for caring teachers. We have to get it right for our own students before presuming to take on larger systems, no matter how terrible those larger systems are. As educators, we need to root our struggles for social justice in the work we do every day, in a particular community, with a particular group of students.




• Third, look around at the many effective ways of teaching children. I don't believe there is a single technique or curriculum that leads to success. Consequently, pick and choose, retool and restructure the best of what you find and make it your own. Most of all, watch your students and see what works. Listen to them, observe how they learn, and then, based on your experience and their responses, figure out how to practice social justice in your classroom.




• Fourth, it is not enough to teach well and create a social justice classroom separate from the larger community. You have to be a community activist, a good parent, a decent citizen, and an active community member as well




• Protect and nurture yourself. Have some fun in your life; learn new things that only obliquely relate to issues of social justice. Walk, play ball or chess, swim, fall in love. Don't forget how to laugh or feel good about the world. Have fun so that you can work hard; and work hard so that you and your students and their parents can have fun without looking over their shoulders. This is not a question of selfishness but one of survival. Don't turn teaching for social justice into a grim responsibility, but take it for the moral and social necessity that it is.

I agree with all of this. It is impossible to pick one style of teaching and success in your classroom, every student has a unique way of learning, and they all needed to be tendered to one way or another. Every year will be different as well, your going to have to pick different activities and figure out different ways to make your lessons a success each year, because your going to always have a new group of students with new learning capabilities.
I also feel as though it is important to not let the book teach the students, you need to teach them. In some places, there are schools filled with teachers who are not creative or motivated, and teach straight from the book. But little do these teachers know that thats putting their students to sleep before they can even register what theyre learning!


What i'm saying is, teachers should not teach their students to pass tests, they should teach them enough that they should be able to pass a test. And teaching along social justice is something i would highly consider in my future career.