Long Range Planning

Long range planning is a very important part of teaching. Before this class I had no idea where to start or how important a long range plan is. In this class we discussed how it is a plan that you will hand into your principal at the beginning of the year and for the teacher it will be a road map of the whole year. The big question is where do you start? After having this class discussion I have found the importance of checking the school calendar and seeing how many actual teaching days you have. After you have figured this out you can go through and decide what themes you want to do and when. I think that this will really help you set up your outline of the units that you need to run because there are going to be some units that fit better in certain themes, or during certain times of the year. For example, a unit on soils would likely fit better in the spring or in the fall when there is no snow on the ground. However, I think that for Math and English I will constantly be rotating the outcomes for each curriculum throughout the whole year. One suggestion that was made was to use a calendar and pencil in the themes and activities you know you will want to do for each theme/unit. This calendar allows you to think about how much you can realistically do and what your priorities are.

I also was not aware before this discussion that there was a set amount of time for each class. I knew that you had to teach English Language Arts the most, then Math but I was not aware that it worked out to be 35% and 15% of the time. I really liked this structure and making a daily schedule makes a lot more sense to me after seeing this information. Also, this schedule tells how you have to fit Art, Science and Social Studies into your schedules and how you don't have to have these everyday, but you have to have a rotation with these courses so that you do get the allotted time in if you are not teaching them daily.   

I knew that you had a to do a year plan at the beginning of each school year and this sounded a little overwhelming to me. After discussing this in more detail I feel quite a bit more relaxed about this. I think that by planning the whole year like this I will be able to do a better job of planning each unit and I will be more relaxed to do so. Also, during our class Jackie mentioned that if you have a year long plan then you can look for supplies for your themes and units in the off season so that you can get them cheaper. I love being cheap so this sounds good to me! I think that there are many benefits to long range planning and I do think that by doing a good job on your long range plan you will save yourself time throughout the school year.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

Funding of Education

This topic was really interesting for me because of the situation with the school in the town that I live in. I learned a lot from this topic as I never really understood where funding came from before.I knew that there were operating grants that were based on how many students are attending the school but then I did not understand how small rural schools were given enough funding to remain open.  I understand now that rural areas do get more funding from the government because their taxes are not as high as some city areas, but yet they are still at a disadvantage with funding because they have less pupils and therefore "require" less funding [A (Total Amount per Pupil)-B (local tax)=C (amount given by province) concept]. Therefore, roughly 40% of funding is raised locally and 60% is compensated by the government.


The big issue for me with the way funding is set up is the inequality that it creates in education. I grew up in a rural area and I do not think that I did not get as good of an education as students in the city, however, I do think that there is an issue now when some rural schools are getting smaller. If schools do not get enough funding, then they are operating with a wider range of ages of children, and with less teachers. I believe that this creates a definite gap in education because it is doubtful for me that those students are getting the support that they need when there is one teacher per four or five grades. Therefore, I do believe that funding is one of the leading factors determining the quality of education that a student could have.


However, that being said, I would never want to be on the committee that decides how much of the budget goes where. I think that this will always be a big fight because people are passionate about all different things. For example, in our class discussion on reducing a budget, some people were really passionate about keep drama funded through the budget whereas others thought that was the first section to get cut. I don't know how these situations would be handled: what's important, what's sort of important and what is not important at all? How does a committee decide that? The reality is though that cuts are always going to have to be made. Therefore, I feel that this shows the importance of a wide representative board to discuss the budget every year so that funding is not cut where it will have drastic affects on the students.

Governance Structure of Public Education

The governance of public education is a really interesting topic and something that I have never really thought about before. I did not know that the school board was in charge of creating the budget for the division. I always thought that the budget for the school division was only created at the provincial government level and I was not aware that the school board had input.  Since money is an important component to any business, the school board really can set the direction of the division and therefore the schools within that division. 
I also did not know that the school board sets the policies and priorities but then the principal decides on the goals within the school depending on these priorities. I think that this setup can really work as long as the connection is still made with the layers below the school board.The teachers are the ones that are directly involved in what is happening in each school and the quality of education that is occurring so, they should for sure have a say in what happens at the board level.  However, I do think that the board could really go against what the principals are saying and make bad decisions, but such is life. Therefore, I think that there needs to be strong people in all positions including the principal position and superintendent position. If the principal relays the messages and what is happening in his/her school and what his/her teachers are saying, then it is more likely that that school's input will be heard. Also, the superintendent plays a major leadership role in the school division and he/she needs to be sure that they are actively involved in the initiatives that each school is taking and be able to support them.
This is sort of a confusing topic to discuss but I think it is important for us as pre-service teachers to know. I feel like some decisions can be made at the board level that teachers, principals etc are not in favor of however, if the person in the principal position is vocal then I do think that  more will be accomplished in the favor of the schools and the people who work there.