Book Report: There are No Children Here

I just completed another book from the recommended reading list, There are No Children Here, by Alex Kotlowitz. It is a story of two young brothers growing up in housing projects in Chicago in the late 1980's. It gives the reader a look at poverty and the many things that come with it- gangs, drugs, violence, death, teen-pregnancy, crime, prison, high-rates of school dropouts – and it focuses especially on how it affects the children. This true story takes place from 1987 to 1989, and one thing that stays with me throughout the whole story is the children's young ages - just a few years older than I was at the same time, but living light years away in another world entirely. Here I am, growing up happy and safe in my middle-class suburb, when only a few hundred miles away are children who live in fear of not making it to their next birthdays.

Book Report: “The Learning Gap”

I mentioned the recommended reading list, and today I am going to discuss “The Learning Gap: Why our schools are failing and what we can learn from Japanese and Chinese Education” by Harold Stevenson and James Stigler. The authors have compiled the results of their academic publications on studies of American, Japanese, and Chinese elementary schools into a book for the lay-audience. They left out the more technical aspects of their findings, and instead give more general descriptions and conclusions of their work. They begin by giving evidence that American school children do in fact perform poorly on basic skills tests compared to children in Japan and China – i.e. The Learning Gap. Let's assume we can all agree with this premise and move on to trying to understand what makes education in these countries different, which might explain why Japanese and Chinese children are out-performing American children.

Kansas City School Closings

Today, the school district in Kansas City, Missouri is making national headlines by announcing that in order to avoid bankruptcy, they will be closing down half of their public schools starting next fall. I grew up in the KCMO metro area and to me, it is no news that their schools are in crisis.

Reading List

The PGCTF staff sent out a list of recommended reading to the fellows in the introductory paperwork we received. I am making it a goal to read as many of the books from the list as possible, and I plan on commenting on the books and any other books I read as I am preparing to become a teacher. For now, I will simply share the list of 16 books, as I am sure it is not a secret meant only for PGCTF members. It seems that the books on this list are not dry, technical textbooks, but are things that would appeal to anyone interested in education and the challenges faced by schools in America. I think teachers, parents, and prospective educators would find them interesting as well.

Praxis II: Mathematics Content Knowledge (0061)

Previously, I mentioned that one requirement to get state certification for teaching is to pass the Praxis exams.

These exams are administered by Educational Testing Services and they are used by every state for teacher certification. The Praxis I is a test of general knowledge, and can be taken online at approved testing centers. Or, if you have test scores from the SAT, ACT, or GRE that qualify, you can opt not to take the Praxis I.

The Praxis II exams are specific to the subject area(s) and grade levels you want to be certified to teach. You can find out from your state's department of education or from the ETS website which exams you will need to take, and what a passing score will be.

I am going to focus on the Praxis II: Mathematics Content Knowledge exam, (test code 0061) since that is the one I needed to take to teach secondary level math.