Welcome to EDST 20000 The History and Philosophy of Education. My name is Professor Pratt and I will be your instructor for the Maymester 2009 hybrid course. What is a hybrid course? A hybrid course is one that meets part of the time online and part of the time in class. This class will begin on Tuesday, May 12, 2009. We will conduct classes online through this blog Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. On Fridays we will meet at the PNC campus in Tech 214 from 9:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m.
This blog will be used as a learning tool to respond to course content and material, to take polls and collect data, and to provide you with information concerning the course such as syllabus, rubrics, class assignments, etc. Since this is a place where information is published please use correct grammar and spelling.
To get started here is the first blog post for you to respond to: Introduce yourself and share the HISTORY of your name. How did you get your name? Are you named after someone? Is there any special meaning to your name. This can include first, middle or last name...or any combination. How do you feel about your name? Do you have any nicknames, etc.?
If you have any problems using the blog please contact me via email at djpratt@pnc.edu or by phone at 219-785-5486 or 219-263-9760.
You're the BEST!
My name is Debra Jean Hollingsworth Pratt and I am the professor for the Monday EDST 20000 class. My dad chose my name for me and I am named after my Aunt Jean. My mother wanted to name me Paula after my dad whose name was Paul. My family always called me Debbie and I never liked that name because there were many other girls with the same name. I always wished I had a more unique name. Today most people call me Deb but I wish I would have had the nickname DJ.
ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Sara Katherine Krachinski. I am in the Tuesday class. My mom chose my name for me because she thought it was pretty. My middle name, Katherine, is after my godmother and my great grandmother whose names were both Katherine. My family has always called me Sara. My dad called me his little shithead when I was younger growing up. I played softball, basketball and soccer growing up. My nickname was Krash because I was a beast playing ball. Well, maybe not a beast, I am only 5'2 but I was fiesty. My brother also played sports and had the same nickname. Today people just call me Sara, but I like my name so it's ok.
ReplyDeleteHi Sara,
ReplyDeleteWelcome to class. I will soon be adding the syllabus and first assignment to the blog. Once class starts begin checking in daily to the blog. I have always loved the name Sara. I am not sure I like the nickname your dad had for you and lucky for you it didn't stick. However, I do love the nickname Krash. You must thrive on competition.
Hi! My name is Iris Curbelo. Both my parents chose my name. They said when I was born there was a rainbow outside and in spanish its called el arco iris. So they kept the iris part. I love my name its kind of unique. I dont have a middle name and im ok with that. My nick name is iris but in spanish the first I has an accdent. It looks the same but sounds diffrent.
ReplyDeleteHello, my name is Kristine Ann Corrado. My mother chose my name because she liked the nickname Krissy, which is what I have always gone by. She also likes names that start with K, I have two sisters both with K names. I like my nickname, even though it is fairly common. I think that having a common name led me to choose more unique names for my children.
ReplyDeleteWelcom Iris and Krissy,
ReplyDeleteIris I can't wait to find out how Iris sounds in Spanish. What a great story to be born when there was a rainbow in the sky.
Krissy I also come from a family where all of us siblings have names that begin with the same letter. I have two sisters named Dawn and Deanna. Our dad always referred to us as the 3 D's.
Hello!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Ashley Lynn Medley and I am going into Block 3 next fall. My mom and dad chose my first name after Ashley Abbott, who is a character off of the Soap Opera "The Young and The Restless." (Side note: That's still my moms favorite Soap Opera) My middle name was chosen by my dad because he originally wanted to name me Lindsay, but since my mom won, he shortened Lindsay to Lynn. Lastly, my last name is my married name of 3 years. It's a lot better than my maiden name which was Maday, pronounced MayDay. Yah, lots of comments were made with that one. My nicknames are Ash, Ashlinka (from my dad) and Tray. Tray come from my brother in law who shortened Ash tray to that. Weird... yes. Anyways, as you can probably tell I like to talk so I will end this by saying I am excited to have another class with Porfessor Pratt! :)
Welcome to another class Ashley. The history of your name is a true partnership of your parents. I think that is awesome how they compromised and both had a say in your name. In my case my dad won and gave me my first and last name. My mom was never really very happy about my name. One good thing about your maiden and married name is that you never had to change your initials.
ReplyDeleteFor those of you who have never had me before Ashley is a testimony that I must not be that bad if she is willing to take another course with me. LOL
Hi! My name is David Gregory Myers. I'm just wrapping up my freshman year and excited to start taking Education classes! Anyways, I was named David after my uncle who died when he was 14 in a corn silo/bin, He and a friend were playing in the silo and they started filling a truck with the corn and he got sucked in and suffocated in the corn. I'm sorry for the depressing story, but I'm proud to carry on his name. I hear I'm a lot like him too. My middle name is my father's name and of course my last name is Myers and well yeah that's just my last name. I'm very proud of my name and all it represents, so this was an exciting way to start out class.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to class David. Thanks for sharing your very personal story of how you got your name. It is a name you should be proud of. I named my son Ladd after my favorite uncle, Uncle Ladd, who also died at an early age. Unfortunately Uncle Ladd was killed by a train and taken from our family much too early. Not as early as your Uncle David but early enough. I am also partial to the name David since my husband is named David. Most people call him Dave however his mom and dad still refer to him as David. Welcome to the field of education.
ReplyDeleteHello my name is Brittney Kaye Smiejek. Brittney is one of the most popular girl names now a days, but my mom claims that no one else had the name before I was born and unfortunately my dad picked out the name from one of his favorite 80's rock bands, Britny Fox. Somewhat embarrasing. My middle name came from my mother, Sandra Kaye. My last name which I'm sure your wondering how to pronounce, is Smiejek, pronounced SMEE-JECK. Alot of people have trouble with that. All I know about it is that its Polish. Alot of people just call me Brit. Some of my family members call me Britter Critter or just Critter, which is also embarrasing ha ha and in high school a lot of my friends called me Smieje. Thats about it. :)
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteMy name is Brandi Marie Nay. I was not named after the alcoholic beverage Brandy but I got my name because my mother liked it. My dad wanted to name me Moe after the Three Stooges but lucky for me my mom won that battle. My middle name Marie is a very common middle name in my family. My grandmother, mother, and a few of my cousins also have the same middle name. As far as my last name goes it fits me perfectly because I have several horses and I enjoy riding them. You would be suprised how many times I get the neigh....when people first realize the connection. Well that's about all about me.
Welcome Brittney and Brandi,
ReplyDeleteSeems like it's the "B" names that are popular. You know once I became a teacher I lost my ability to spell names because there are so many versions of names. Last semester I had a another Brandy who spelled her name with a "y" and a Brittani who spelled her name with an "a" and an "i."
Just thought this was an interesting article, it was in the Sun Times today.
ReplyDeleteFixing No Child Left Behind a start in right directions
May 6, 2009
On Tuesday, U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan began a multi-state "listening tour" -- a warmup for the massive task that lies ahead: reauthorization later this year of the highly controversial federal No Child Left Behind law.
The law mandates annual testing, requires states to highlight test scores for ethnic, racial and other subgroups and punishes schools that fail to meet testing goals. The law is due for a major overhaul, though we expect the buzz in the coming weeks will focus on improving high schools.
For good reason. Two recent studies show how far we have to go.
Last week, we learned that average scores in 2008 for 17-year-olds were no better than scores of 17-year-olds in the early 1970s. This reflects, in part, a change in demographics as higher-scoring white students have been replaced over time by lower-scoring minorities. But the results of this highly regarded national test also affirm a widely held belief: too many high schools aren't cutting it.
Then, on Tuesday, we learned how severe our nation's high school drop-out problem is. In 2007, nearly 6.2 million 16 to 24-year-olds were high school dropouts. That's 16 percent of all 16- to 24-year-olds, according to research by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston and the Alternative Schools Network in Chicago.
The study's authors, along with several Chicago groups, are pushing for $2 billion in federal money to re-enroll 480,000 dropouts each year in small, comprehensive alternative high schools. They also wants Congress to set aside money in the No Child reauthorization to re-enroll dropouts.
Duncan hasn't signed on to their plan but he and President Obama have said they want to attack the dropout problem. Obama is expected to include some money for it in his 2010 budget, due out Thursday, and states can use stimulus money for re-enrollment or to prevent dropouts.
The focus on dropouts is dead-on, but states should first use stimulus money to re-enroll students who have dropped out and to discourage others from leaving school to begin with before Congress considers a new $2 billion program. We agree, though, that re-enrollment funding should be embedded in the No Child law.
We lose thousands of kids each day -- they drop out or are cheated out of a quality high school education. Fixing the No Child law isn't the only answer, but it's a start.
Krissy thank you for taking the initiative and adding the newsarticle on NCLB and High Schools. That is exactly what this course is about to explore past and current issues in education. I have added a section to the blog called Interesting Links. There is an article I titled The History of High School which is a short article about a book on this topic from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Check it out.
ReplyDeleteTo all of you other EDST20000 bloggers what is your opinion of today's high schools. If you had to give them a grade what grade would they recieve?
Hello everyone! My name is Heather Marie Huber. My first name was chosen, just because my mom is into names that start with H. Her top three choices here Heather, Hannah, and Holly. My mom was so obsessed with H names, that if I was a boy, she was going to name me Harley. My middle name is the same middle name as my mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, not to mention about 80% if all females in the U.S. My last name is incredibly German. However, all of my friends call me Aychee. It's pronounced H-ee. I don't like being called Heather because I feel as though it is much too formal. I'm a very laid back person and I think my nickname reflects that. I also have two neices and a nephew that call me Aunt Hoovie. I cant remember where Hoovie came from exactly but it is so adorable that I could care less. Have a good weekend everybody!!!
ReplyDelete- Heather
HI! My name is Michelle Victoria Gibson. My parent's named me Michelle after the nurse at the hospital, sad i know. My mom sworn that I was going to be a boy, saying that her pregnancy was so much different than it was with my older sisters, so all she had was boy names picked out! So when i came out as a girl, they had no girl names in mind and liked the nurses name, so that is why I got named after a nurse at Porter Memorial Hospital. I don't have too many nickname, really just Chelle, or sometimes people call me by my last name, or Gibby. Well that about covers it :)
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHello my name is Wade Owen Breitzke. My parents wanted to name me Shane, but that would have given me my initials “S.O.B.” … which probably wouldn’t have worked out it in the long run. They ended up giving the name of “Shane” to my younger brother when he was born. My dad had two requirements when my parents were naming me, as long as it was one syllable and wasn’t a normal name. I don’t think there is any special meaning behind it either. How do I feel about my name? I feel good, I really like my name and I always have. I think one downfall from having a unique name is the fact that that leaves less room for nicknames… “his name is Wade, he doesn’t need a nickname…” And Deb, if you wanted the nickname “DJ” you could always come work for me. “DJ Deb in the HOUSE”
ReplyDelete“Cotton balls is an example of something I would buy, but not want to have as a nickname. Cinnamon buns, on the other hand, is something I would buy and want to have as a nickname. Are you Cinnamon Buns? You bet your sweet *** I am!” - Demetri Martin
Hi all,
ReplyDeleteMy name is Amy Sue Fugate Hanske, I was mostly raised in the south and my parents were hippies. So Amy was a popular name and Sue made is sound southern. (I have always hated it, until recently when I realized it just was not worth the fuss.) My last name of Fugate was from the south also, not sure how, and then Hanske was my married name that I kept after being divorced.
Recently I lost my job of ten years do to a lay off and currently changing from marketing and management to a teaching degree after substitute teaching therefore discovering that I love it and want to keep those hours!!
Thank you and I look forward to corresponding with all of you!!
Hi my name is Amelia Nicole Cannon. I am named after my mom's grandma. I never really appreciated my name until I was older. I never liked the fact that it was so different than anything else I had heard. Now I like it a lot! Now I realize that when someone says my name I know who they are talking to. As for my middle name, I am not sure where it comes from. I guess my parents just liked it. I do have a nickname that, really, only my dad calls me anymore. It is MiCo. When I was little my mom gave my some peas and I didn't want them. I threw them on the floor and she yelled at me by saying, "Amelia Nicole!" and I replied, "MiCo!" It has now gotten shortened to "Meeks" by my dad. It is not really something that I liked to be called, but it is always ok coming from my dad! :)
ReplyDeleteHello Everyone! My name is Ryanne Elizabeth Doherty. My parents were having a really hard time comming up with names for a girl, and they were pretty sure I was going be a boy anyways so they were set on Ryanne, and they spelt it cool because I am a girl. As for my middle name, it is my great grandmas name and my cousins. My nicknames are Rye and Rye Pie....I am so excited for this class, I will see you all on Friday!
ReplyDeleteMy full name is Rebecca Lynn Kohler, but everyone calls me Becky. My close friends and family members sometimes call me Beck. My dad has a weird nickname for me-Rebziz. He's called me that since I was really little...not quite sure how he came up with that one! I'm not really named after anyone; my mom just liked the name. As for my last name, I don't like it. If you can imagine being a first grader when all the bathroom accessories had your last name on it, you can see why. Plus, I don't like how it sounds with my first name. There are way too many different vowel sounds happening right in a row.
ReplyDeleteI just finished Block 5, and most of my classmates are going on to student teaching next semester. But since I transferred here two years ago, I missed many of my basic el ed classes, so here I am, taking this one in Maymester. I still have a few to go next semester, so I won't student teach until Spring. I'm glad I'll be able to fit in two classes in May and another one during the summer so that is possible!
Hello. My name is Keri Eileen Miller. I'd like to think there is some kind of really interesting story to go along with my name, but there really isn't. My mom loves Irish names, but she didn't want the traditional spelling of "Carrie" because it's so common. So my dad bought her one of those baby name book from the hospital gift shop and she chose the least commong spelling of the name "Carrie". Elieen, pronounced like I-lean was passed from my great grandma, to my grandma, to my mom, to me. I don't particularly care for it, mostly because it makes me sound like I'm crooked (like, I lean to the right) but I figured if I ever have a daughter I will probably end up passing it to her also. So that's pretty much it! See you guys Friday. :)
ReplyDeleteMy name is Amy Lynn Spurlock. There is nothing really interesting about it except the arguement that is still ongoing today. A birth certificate does not specify which name is first, middle, and last. My mother will tell you that Lynn is my middle name. My father will tell you that Amy Lynn is my first name and that I do not have a middle name. Kinda boring, but try! I lean towards my moms arguement because I feel that Amy Lynn as one name is sort of hillbillyish. Haha. See everyone Friday!
ReplyDeleteHi, my name is Nathan Neil Vanderlin and I am a musician who wants some stability in my life.I am set to graduate in fall of 2010 with a degree in secondary Ed. My first name has no significance. My last name is Dutch and i got it from my parents(just joking). Vanderlin means "of the land". There is an Island off the cost of Australia that is called Vanderlin Island and I've always been curious as to whether I own it or not. I have always liked my name. especially my last name , because it is not real common. I look forward to seeing you in class. Nate.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad to meet all of you. We have quite a bit of diversity in this group. Some of you are just beginning your journey, others are about at the end of their journey and some are still deciding if this is what they want to be when they grow up. Some of your posts made me laugh out loud and even though I haven't met all of you face to face yet I feel like I have a connection with you just from you sharing your names. As you read His Name Is Michael: A Lesson on the Voices we unknowingly silence you will discover just how important names are to human beings and why as teachers or managers of people we need to first learn how to identify people by their names.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, I read "His Name Is Michael" and I found the story to be quite depressing. To summarize my answers to the Think About This section, I believe that the educational system failed David because they merely took him through the routine steps in introducing a child into the system instead of making him an individual. The teacher should have asked David his name and then have him share a little bit about himself. Pairing David up with a buddy was a good idea but he needed to feel welcomed and share common interests with the other children in the class. This was a hard thing for David because he did not speak english, but the teacher should have talked to his parents. I have a few questions that was on my mind. What if the parents didn't speak english? What should the teacher do? How would you be able to communicate?
ReplyDeleteBrandi,
ReplyDeleteYou bring up some great questions. Well I myself had a situation where as a kindergarten teacher I had a five year old student who showed up on the first day of school and did not speak one word of English. Her mother did not speak any English and her father only spoke a few words. Their native language was Spanish and my only experience with Spanish words were from Taco Bell. My teaching assistant and I immediately took a continuing education class at PNC to learn conversational Spanish, the child's native language. I also bought a picture dictionary that was in English and Spanish. Around the classroom I began to label everything with the English and Spanish word. I networked with a high school Spanish teacher who translated notes for me from English to Spanish and Spanish to English so I could communicate with the parents. From day one Yadira and I were able to communicate through body language and pictures. As time went on she learned English and I learned some Spanish. It was a great experience. My other students that year also learned to count in Spanish and identify colors in both Spanish and English. The mother volunteered to help out in the classroom and I would get copies of books to read aloud to the children. I would get an English and Spanish version. I would read a page in English and then the Mom would read the same page in Spanish. I also adopted a set of 4 year old twins from Ukraine who did not speak any English and we learned how to communicate with one another but using lots of gestures. The most important thing is to keep trying to communicate and not get frustrated with the language barrier. The best thing we can do for children who are English Language Learners is give them the gift of time to develop their new language skills.