A huge challenge poses itself in this article; how do we increase teacher standards and fulfill the increase need for teachers to decrease class sizes.  I am not sure that this is possible at this time, however; in the next decade it might be possible.  Hiring teachers to cut class size helps students to get a better education and gives teachers a better job satisfaction rate.  Teachers that are happy with their jobs are more likely to stay teaching.  Happy teachers can do the advertising for the schools.  We need to make being a teacher a more positive outlook for those entering the job force and those going to college. Although the use of 10% non-certified teachers appears to be quite alarming, it is one way to give teachers experience and turn them on to the occupation.  Retirement of some teachers can cause a similar alarm and so does the increase in students.  A delicate balance cannot be reached overnight, but it can happen with time.  We did not get into this rut over night and I doubt that we can get out of it overnight.  There are many certified teachers that are poor teachers and there are many non-certified teachers that are awesome teachers.  Should a piece of paper make so strong a difference to our education system, or should the whole system be rethought?  I believe that there should be more mentoring and hands on experience required for teachers to get certified.

Networks: An Online Teacher Education Journal
http://www.edweek.org/sreports/
Starting Early  By Lynn Olson

Children start learning as soon as they are born, so why would we think that an education before kindergarten is not equally important as the education in public schools.  If children are already spending most of their day in the hands of strangers instead of the parents, then why are we not making the best of the situation? “On average, young children spend 30 hours a week in such care.” Children should begin some form of education before kindergarten.  Their education during this period of time can change their future and their opinions of education.  One of my friend’s sons was making the change from day care to kindergarten and he said, “We don’t have any fun anymore, and there is no talking.  I hate school.”  Although this is a sad statement from a five-year-old boy, this is a common challenge for parents who are sending their children to school for the first time.  Studies confirm that an early-childhood education is vital to a child’s learning process. What are we doing to make sure our children get a quality education?  “…they all should have access to a caring and safe environment that promotes their physical, social, emotional, and cognitive growth.”  'Of all child-care services, care for infants and toddlers is the most scarce, expensive, and disappointing from a quality perspective.' (David and Lucile Packard Foundation Report) The government should take some responsibility when it comes to caring and nurturing our children.  Ideally, it would be best if a parent could be home from birth to age one, but how realistic is this.  Parents can’t afford child-care and they can’t afford to stay off of work.  A state institution for early-childhood would be beneficial in helping the parents, the economy, and it would help the child's learning overall.  If it is not possible to implement an early-childhood program, then stronger standards should be placed on child-care to provide a better learning environment for children.  The wages of child-care workers correlates greatly with the quality of the learning program of the establishment.  We need to make the best of our children’s early years by utilizing their capacity for early learning.  A teacher’s research makes all the difference.  If this research had not been done, we would not realize a child’s full potential.
 

Gehringer, J. (2000) The Critical Friends Projects: Are They Critical? http://hale.pepperdine.edu/~jmgehrin/classwork/ED638/ARP/Final/01.html

Lateral mentoring is said to help learning and create a community-centered environment.  Often the focus has been placed on the task and personal learning without the aid of mentoring.    When technology was first introduced it would have become a great benefit in the classroom, but it needed to change teachers teaching style.  “…this type of mentoring is difficult to begin and maintain….” Theory and practice need to come together to allow for cooperative learning.   This method allows for students to interact with one another and discover their importance to each other.  Practicing lateral mentoring in the classroom allows for an experience that might occur in the real world.  Ideas can be thrown around and a common group decision can be made.  Each person will bring a unique part of themselves and their thinking into the mentoring process.  Students often will enhance the areas they are good at and they will strengthen the areas they are weak in.   Lateral mentoring allows for a type of interaction that is important to the process of lifelong learning of teachers, as well.  “More important are the internal changes within teachers in what they feel is important for students to learn and how students best learn things.” In this group, it is possible to learn scaffolding techniques needed to implement the technology lessons in the classroom and for the teachers to have the continuous support that is necessary.  An individual teacher may not accomplish as much as a whole group.  This type of group appears to work best within a school and it allows for the unification of the schools lessons.