Promising Futures

Maine's Promising Futures Program is a challenge for schools to rise up to the idea of making school achievements higher, graduating more students and cover knowledge and subject areas with greater depth and comprehension. One of the core principals of the Promising Futures program that I like is the safe,caring and respectful learning environment; I think that this IS one of the very first important steps in improving education because students must feel free to express their ideas without being judged, and students must feel respected and valued from everyone around them.

Another one of the core principals that I hope to have in a school that I teach in is the principal of specialized and integrated learning. This is particularly designed to help teachers challenge their students in several different areas, while integrating the skills that they are learning in other classes. I think that this will help students retain and be apply to apply the information that they are learning.

I also like valuing student choices. Rather than forcing students to learn everything, teachers should allow some flexibility and options in order to enable students to pursue personal interests and abilities. By allowing students to make choices, they must take responsibility for the choices they make, and they will be more informed on the decisions that they make. I hope that the school in which I teach is "organized for learning" as the Promising Futures book promotes. I feel that with learning organization, then certain issues
can be prevented, and the learning environment will be more productive for everyone.

One last thing that I really liked about the Promising Futures plan was the idea about promoting a positive and knowledgeable staff base; without this base, I feel that the school environment can give way to negative feelings which can inhibit learning. Students sense if there is bickering or disagreement among staff members, and can exploit these issues even further. By having a positive staff base, students will feel positive about their school as well.