When choosing to write about school districts I immidiately thought of the schools that I went to. The Clifton school district provides an excellent education to its students. Its web site welcoms the parents of the prospective students with pictures and links to videos. When I tried to click to view the vidoes however I was unable to do so, for whatever reason. It said that the link is broken. I can still view the familiar images of the area. I can see the pictures of the high school, then I see pictures of the middle school, and then I see children and young adults in the classroom, by the school bus and in the area. The web site provides links to the people who are in charge of the district and phone numbers to them. Other links include the curriulum that is required by each school. From the elementary school through high school. It provides a draft of what the students need to know. For example when I clicked on summer school link for 6th grade I got to a page that had definitions of things like acute angle and the obtuse angle, and provided difinitions of each. That link is helpful in helping students prepare for class.
Most links that are posted are for informational purpuses only. It reports of winter emergency on the home page, and you can click right away on it for school closing. When I clicked on technology link, I got the names of the people who are in charge of the departments and phone numbers to them. I must say that I am disappointed that I did not see more. I expected to see something more specific. Was hoping to see the pictures of the people in charge, at least, and I was hoping to find something more specific about the program, that might relate to what we are doing in this class.
Information available on this website is very general. The link to the adult evening school is not available until February. I wish that there was more on the web site than information about when the report cards are due, and how to contact the administration. What I feel is missing is the information about advanced curriculum that would have students end up enrolled in AP classes by the junior and senior year in high school. I do feel that they should post a catalog with the program, and also I do wish that I could watch a video presentation of the school, or the school district in general.
Monday, January 31, 2011
Monday, January 24, 2011
Life is About Learning New Things
Hello everyone!
My Name is Marcin and I have just graduated from Montclair State with the degree in Biochemistry. I am hoping to finish graduate school and become a chemistry teacher in High School. This is the first blog that I have ever created but I am not nervous about it at all. I do feel that I know enough to keep up with the technology to keep up in that class, and am confident that I will learn enything that is necessary to do well.
When I chose to become a science major I never knew that it will be so hard to graduate and get my degree.
The transition between taking college preparatory classes in high school to taking university level courses were a horror to start with. In my first semester my grades suffered, and I have seen as many as half of the class fail. I had to myself rethink everything, from the amount of time I spend studying to how I study. Chemistry is hard, and every year is a nightmare. I never really failed until I took the dreaded physical chemistry class. Then I failed it again. The summer before I took it again I have spend studying nearly every day and I passed while about half the class failed. Last semester out of the class of 48, only 21 people passed the class, many of those who failed were in my class a year earlier. This is why if you wonder, they have bumper stickers that say "Hunk if you passed p-chem."
I feel that now I can pass anything after getting through that nightmare, and keeping up with technology is nothing compared to what I have gone through.
When I become a teacher I am hoping to teach my students to be problem solvers, and to learn the logic of being problem solvers. In high school you get by memorizing problems, and partial credit. In chemistry there is no way in hell you will get any partial credit, and if you are planning to get a degree you have to learn the logic that is associated with solving the problems. I feel that since I am still young I wil have a better way of connecting, and understanding my students. And I hope that this class will prepare me to be a better teacher.
Technology plays a huge role in learning in today's world. Having a laptop and access to wireless internet gave me a huge advantage that I did not havej when I first started going to school here. I personally found access to online set of unlimited number of spectroscopy problems for my organic chemistry class, that was unavailable when I took that class the previous time. I was able to interpret the spectra, write the molecular formula, and the structure of the compound, and I got the answer right away whether I was right or wrong. I got an A for the class. My mother learned how to use internet in her job, and now has access to the site that translates Polish to English, and therefore was able to keep her job as well as improve her english skills. I am hoping to learn a lot more in Curr 518.
And this is my first blog, but I am not worried, this is nothing after passing p-chem.
About Myself
I enjoy reading books and magazines. For physical activities I do distance running, was captain of the cross country team in High School. I also enjoy doing pchem problems, and after every test I go to the web site with the test and I solve it, for the very simple reason; now I can solve them. And I have graduated, unlike so many of my friends. Also I enjoy working in the garden.
Good Luck to Everyone!!
Marcin
My Name is Marcin and I have just graduated from Montclair State with the degree in Biochemistry. I am hoping to finish graduate school and become a chemistry teacher in High School. This is the first blog that I have ever created but I am not nervous about it at all. I do feel that I know enough to keep up with the technology to keep up in that class, and am confident that I will learn enything that is necessary to do well.
When I chose to become a science major I never knew that it will be so hard to graduate and get my degree.
The transition between taking college preparatory classes in high school to taking university level courses were a horror to start with. In my first semester my grades suffered, and I have seen as many as half of the class fail. I had to myself rethink everything, from the amount of time I spend studying to how I study. Chemistry is hard, and every year is a nightmare. I never really failed until I took the dreaded physical chemistry class. Then I failed it again. The summer before I took it again I have spend studying nearly every day and I passed while about half the class failed. Last semester out of the class of 48, only 21 people passed the class, many of those who failed were in my class a year earlier. This is why if you wonder, they have bumper stickers that say "Hunk if you passed p-chem."
I feel that now I can pass anything after getting through that nightmare, and keeping up with technology is nothing compared to what I have gone through.
When I become a teacher I am hoping to teach my students to be problem solvers, and to learn the logic of being problem solvers. In high school you get by memorizing problems, and partial credit. In chemistry there is no way in hell you will get any partial credit, and if you are planning to get a degree you have to learn the logic that is associated with solving the problems. I feel that since I am still young I wil have a better way of connecting, and understanding my students. And I hope that this class will prepare me to be a better teacher.
Technology plays a huge role in learning in today's world. Having a laptop and access to wireless internet gave me a huge advantage that I did not havej when I first started going to school here. I personally found access to online set of unlimited number of spectroscopy problems for my organic chemistry class, that was unavailable when I took that class the previous time. I was able to interpret the spectra, write the molecular formula, and the structure of the compound, and I got the answer right away whether I was right or wrong. I got an A for the class. My mother learned how to use internet in her job, and now has access to the site that translates Polish to English, and therefore was able to keep her job as well as improve her english skills. I am hoping to learn a lot more in Curr 518.
And this is my first blog, but I am not worried, this is nothing after passing p-chem.
About Myself
I enjoy reading books and magazines. For physical activities I do distance running, was captain of the cross country team in High School. I also enjoy doing pchem problems, and after every test I go to the web site with the test and I solve it, for the very simple reason; now I can solve them. And I have graduated, unlike so many of my friends. Also I enjoy working in the garden.
Good Luck to Everyone!!
Marcin
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