FIELD EXPERIENCE

ACTIVITY 1 A
Directions:Copy and Paste the following onto a Word Document
List Group Number, Member Names, and Course Section
Select a recoreder to write in your group responses after you discuss each question.
This assignment is worth 5 points for each group member.

Group #                        Course Section
Participan Names


Icebreaker Questionnaire:
Group 1 

a) Work in a small groups and describe the high school you attended. 

 

b)  What was the class time frame, and how was time measured  (eg. by bells or buzzers?

 

c) Was your school a parochial, private or public school?

 

d) What was the typical class size?

Group 2

e)  What was the usual form of teaching?

 

f)   What type of technology was utilized in classrooms?

 

g)  What roles did adult men and women hold in the school?

 

h)  What was the racial and/or ethnic composition of students in your school?

Group 3

i)   What was the racial and/or ethnic composition of employees in your school? Describe jobs and ethnic, racial, gender representation

 

j)   What religions were represented in the population of your school?

 

k)  What types of family structures were represented in your school?

 

l)  What were some unique courses or classes along with the required state curriculum that were available to you?

 
Group 4

m) How were the arts supported in your school?

 

n) How were sports supported in your school?

 

o)  What additional choices of classes or extra curricular opportunities would you have liked to have in your school?

 

p) Do you feel that any groups in your school were discriminated?

 

q) Were there gangs in your school and how were these and other groups of students who might be considered “outcasts”  treated across the different social groups in your school?

Web Site Activities

 

#1: Demographics Define the word "demographics"  for the class  p6

 

1.     U.S. Census. From the home page, have students click on “Historical Census Data”; then scroll down to “Largest Cities and Other Urban Places” and click on #28, “Population of 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places: 1790–1990,” and chart the growth of cities in various parts of the country over the past 200 years.  What do they observe about the spread of the population and the growth of urbanization? http://www.census.gov/

 

2.     National Center for Educational Statistics. From the home page, have students click on “Students’ Classroom,” then scroll over the classroom “picture” to find areas of the site that interest them.  Two areas of particular interest to students are “Fun Facts,” “Games and Puzzles,” and “International Education.”  Additionally, students can click on “Ed Stats at a Glance” and explore various educational statistics.  Ask students to share what they have learned, or incorporate some of what they have learned in another class assignment. 

http://nces.ed.gov/

Demographics

The following web sites provide useful statistics on immigration and education:

Population Statistics, historical and current http://www.census.gov/population/www/

National Center for Education Statistics http://nces.ed.gov/

#2: Demographics for School Enrollment  WHAT IS UNICEF and what is their involvement with children p6

 

1.     “U.S. student population soars to highest level,” and “New school boom: Student population soars to highest level ever.”  Ask students to discuss (perhaps in small groups) where the population “boom” is coming from, and what implications this has for American schools and for the lives of teachers.

 

2.     UNICEF—“State of the World’s Children.”  From the home page, ask students to explore various areas of the site.  Ask students to think about (and perhaps write about) their perceptions of the relationship of this information with how they might conduct their own classes in the United States. http://www.unicef.org/sowc/

Demographics of School Enrollment

MSNBC News: "U.S. school enrollment soars to highest level" http://msnbc.msn.com/id/8064406/

For more information on the state of children around the world, see http://www.unicef.org/sowc02/

Group #3  North American Free Trade Agreements and the World Trade

   Organization  Define NAFTA for the class p8

 

1.     Ask students to explore the three Web sites listed here and report on the debate surrounding these organizations.  What do they notice about the difficulty of change?  How do they think entering into these agreements (or not entering into them) benefits the United States?  How do they think they might use this information in their own classes?

 

2.     Ask students to explore these three Web sites and then stage a deliberation of their own on issues raised by U.S. participation in these organizations.

 

http://www.ustr.gov/trade-agreements/free-trade-agreements/north-american-free-trade-agreement-nafta

 

http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/briefingpapers_bp147/

 

http://www.citizen.org/trade/nafta/