Posted by KAJennings on Aug 17, 2009 in
SmArticles Student teachers work overtime
The final semester of college is the time when graduating seniors start to think about the inevitable adulthood that awaits us beyond May 15.
We ponder jobs; in detail, future incomes; where we might live; the potential loss of “gasp” Internet access; debt; and just how many doctors’ appointments we can squeeze in before being booted from our parents’ insurance policies. We turn a dull 22 or 23 years old, our last college birthdays paling in comparison to the illustrious 21st birthday.
Second-semester seniors deal with all of these things, punctuated nicely by a light course schedule containing one or two of the wonderful core courses that have been strategically put off until the last possible moment. Unless, of course, you are an education major. Talk to any education major right now.
We are only about two weeks into our 14-week student-teaching engagement, and we’re exhausted.
Our days are long ones, spent immersed in our future field of expertise. We’re essentially doing 40-hour work weeks, only to come home to grade papers and stacks of written lesson plans.
But don’t get me wrong, I’m not flat-out complaining — not until you want to discuss your plans for Spring Break.
Susquehanna has a stellar education department that prides itself on sending well-qualified, dedicated individuals out into the world as student teachers who will later pursue the search for classrooms to call their own.
Allow yourself to be amazed by student-teachers. In your educational experience, one or two have most likely eclipsed your classroom.
I’m sure that as a kid you likened them to your full-time teacher, who you already thought went home to a house decorated with apple-shaped paraphernalia and sharpened pencils.
You should know now that this isn’t so. People need to realize that student-teaching is much more than the proverbial red pen and report card. Student teachers are the people who get up at 6 a.m., return to campus at or beyond 4 p.m., attend practice, grab dinner, go to work-study and attend a slue of meetings, only to crash into bed before midnight.
A student teacher’s weekend is a blessing. Suddenly 9 a.m. seems to qualify as “sleeping late.”
We’re happy to do all of this and keep plugging through with a smile as we make our transition into “reality” a few months earlier than our peers, despite the exhaustion.
But, if I could ask a few favors, it would be these: Don’t call me after midnight, fill me in on campus occurrences and let us talk — dorky as it may seem to you — about our classes and students. Oh, and if you could send me a postcard from Spring Break, that would be great.
– Kelly Jennings ‘05
Posted by KAJennings on Aug 17, 2009 in
SmArticles By Kelly Jennings
Staff Writer
Christmas seems insanely early. Even before Halloween was over, I already saw so much of what Christmas has to offer me in the way of retail this year. Walk into nearly any store and take a look around.
You will see the coming of Christmas on its shelves. However, Halloween has just ended. This is a problem.
Over Fall Break, I decided one-hour photo would be my best option for film development, the stereotypically impatient New Yorker that I am. I went to my local Wal-Mart PhotoCenter, dropped off my film and meandered in the store while I waited for my photos.
As I perused the merchandise, I decided that I would check out the Halloween section in lieu of staring uselessly at the limited selection of music. I felt nostalgic on my short walk, thinking about a time when the candy mattered more than the costume and my mom trailed me as I went from door to door.
The seasonal section looked like a war zone. Boxes were strewn everywhere, remnants of Halloween merchandise clung to the walls for fear of being tossed and scaffolding lay all over the place. Halloween was being replaced by Christmas at the hands of apathetic teenaged employees.
At first, I was annoyed that Wal-Mart would impede upon my ability to window shop as I reminisced about my younger years when Halloween was less about costumes and more about candy. Then I became frustrated.
Christmas is getting progressively earlier. Wal-Mart is stocking up on tinsel and cards. Bath and Body Works has cleared out its fall merchandise and is playing holiday music. Target and Bon-Ton have jumped on the bandwagon amongst many other merchants.
Businessmen are defaming one of the most important Christian holidays by making it increasingly more commercial. Granted, Christmas is far removed from its religious roots, but the sacredness and closeness of family that seems associated with the holiday is being compromised for the need to shop earlier, longer and better.
There used to be a time when Christmas merchandise was not put out until what retailers call “Black Friday,” which falls right after Thanksgiving. Are we going to be a generation of thirty somethings facing a Christmas season that starts in September? How is it that we can begin to think about this holiday in October and not be completely bored and frustrated with it by the time Thanksgiving rolls around?
I personally am not ready to start thinking about Christmas. I am not prepared to spend money on Christmas paraphernalia. It is not yet the time to lament about sending Christmas cards. In essence, these businessmen are rushing the last year before I leap headfirst into adulthood. They are not doing me favors by making Christmas readily available earlier.
This is only going to get progressively worse with the coming of Black Friday. When my female relatives used to quip about the holidays getting earlier, I laughed. Now I know better. You will be hard-pressed to find me in any mall until well past that time. Christmas is Dec. 25. I will not give in.
Posted by KAJennings on Aug 17, 2009 in
SmArticles By Kelly Jennings
Staff Writer
Don’t mess with Texas. No, really, they’re doing fine on their own. Only if fine indicates making obviously ignorant decisions. Have you heard about Texas’ newly adopted high school health textbook? According to an article from The Seattle Times by Terrance Stutz, new textbooks downplay and blatantly ignore two of the major hot topics in modern-day health. The Texas State Board of Education members who have adopted this text indicate that their students do not need to know about contraception techniques. Instead, the book focuses on abstinence. Abstinence, though ideal, is not necessarily the reality in Texas. The board members have failed to note one very important statistic: Texas has the highest amount of teenage births in the nation. Sex education was a large part of my high school health class. Sex ed is an awkwardly important issue to teenage students, especially with the presence of AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases that have been devastating so many worldwide. Teenage pregnancy and contraception exist. When Texan teens reach high school, are they expected to learn about contraception on their own? Young people need to learn how to be responsible for themselves and their actions. This should be addressed within the confines of the classroom, as well as at home. A major goal of education is to teach children how to better their lives and the lives of their children. Sure, this is the seemingly impossible crusade of education, but our schools should at least strive to attain this goal. Something as simple as introducing the concept of contraception could be a very important step in making difference.
If you’re not already questioning how beneficial this textbook will be to future high school students, try this on for size. The book’s definition of marriage rules out same-sex marriages by focusing solely on heterosexual marriage. Terminology that indicates alternative unions has been completely removed.
I know that many people in the United States still have an unfair prejudice against same-sex unions, but this definition is a clear reflection of Texas’ retrogressive attitudes.
The Texas State Board of Education is being deliberately impracticable. How do we expect our children to grow and thrive in our society if we are trying to shelter them from the reality of the real world? School systems can seem like a safe, homogenous little bubble, but they are not. Diversity and homosexuality exist. Schools contain children from a wide variety of different backgrounds. Some students do have two mommies or daddies. This new textbook presents students with the insinuation that these families shouldn’t and couldn’t exist. I should not neglect to mention that Stutz said “socially conservative” individuals on the board wished to incorporate suggestions that indicated homosexuals are more likely to be illegal drug abusers and commit suicide.
This tidbit, fortunately, was voted against and left out of the text.
Texas is one of the most influential states in textbook production, and it is the second-largest purchaser of schoolbooks in the nation.
Texas is also the largest state that approves books for all grade levels, and thus, textbooks approved and adopted in Texas are marketed to other states in the nation. Can you imagine having studied this book in your high school experience? I know that a lot of questions would have gone unanswered if it were the text for my health class. Closed-mindedness and ignorance are apparently the precedents that Texas wants to set for the United States. This textbook is a huge step backwards, for the Texas board of education, its schools and schools nationwide. The threat of this book entering any number of classrooms is a huge danger to our society as it stands.
I fear what changes may be next. Perhaps Texas can cut its education budget by recycling the health books our parents used, where women were educated on how be the ideal wife: Clean ceaselessly, smile, and completely neglect their potential outside of their homes. I am hoping against hope that this textbook does not foreshadow larger changes within this nation.
Posted by KAJennings on Aug 17, 2009 in
SmArticles If I had to pick one thing that I thought Susquehanna students have learned in the last year, it is that sexual assault is no laughing matter. Last semester, five cases of sexual assault occurred on our campus. Fall semester kicked off with a forum on sexual violence, after which a campaign was launched to raise awareness and end sexual assault.
The following day, I took note of the turquoise ribbon campaign that started on campus.
For almost a week, I thought that our student body was moving towards an environment where people were beginning to understand the severity of what happened last semester and how it will continue to effect us throughout college and even into the “real” world.
I was quickly proven wrong. Walking though the cafeteria only a few short days later, I was disappointed, enraged and disgusted by a comment I overheard. “Sexual violence is cool,” someone said.
My mind raced as I began to question whether any of us have actually learned anything from the “Sexual Violence: Not on MY Watch!” campaign. I am embarrassed to call the unknown cafeteria voice my fellow student. That statement was inappropriate. In fact, it was downright offensive and uneducated. Sexual violence is by no means “cool.” Sexual violence is not all right. Joking about sexual violence is not all right. With respect to the tragedies our campus faced, we, both as individuals and a student body, need to realize this to move forward. Statements like these keep us stagnant and may even move us backward sometimes.
All I ask is that students think twice about why this campaign has started — and what you can do to make it a successful one.
Kelly Jennings - ‘05