Reflection:
I really liked this article because so many adults don't think children can make any decisions by themselves. It's not just teachers though, many parents are limiting the decisions that their children are allowed to make. It's like they don't want to see their children fail but in the long run it will make their children a smarter and better person because they were allowed to make mistakes. The reason that teachers limit the choices that students are allowed to make is because they're pressured to meet standards and improve scores on assignments. And I think it's a valid reason, these teachers don't realize that in the long run they're hurting their students by making all the decisions for them. I do however find it very hypocritical when parents or teachers get mad at students for not taking responsibility for their own actions - they've never had to do it before! The good thing is that it's pretty simple for teachers to allow students to make some decisions around the classroom. I think the best thing that students should be allowed to do is create the classroom rules, for the main reason is they are the ones who are going to have to follow them. If they create them then they have no excuse not to follow their own rules. Students can make so many decisions besides this though. They can decide what to do with extra class time, they can decide where they want to work, they can decide to work in groups or by themselves, and they can even decide what projects to do and how they are going to be graded on it. Teachers should be willing to give these decisions to the students, for one it's less decisions they have to make and two it will help students later on in life. Of course if students aren't used to making decisions they won't be very good at it at first. If they get free time during class to work, and they just goof off the whole time, they will learn that they will just have to do that work at home. It takes time and practice for students to catch on, but it's worth it in the long run. Students want to be able to make decisions on things and they will become more engaged and focused with a project that they helped create and got to make some decisions on.
Showing posts with label Article. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Article. Show all posts
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thursday, October 30, 2008
Promising Futures
Abstract:
Promising Futures is a book that was written to help improve the high schools in Maine. People at the Department of Education observed things in Maine's high schools that bothered them. Academic achievement was very uneven from school to school. Students were disengaged from learning. Students didn't feel like they had any input on their education. And the rate of students that were accepted to college, the rate of them finishing was lower then the national average. The state wanted to do something to change this, so they created six core principles that they believe will help students be more successful. Schools which promote a safe, respectful and caring environment, high universal expectations with a variety of learning opportunities, understanding the actions based on assessment data, teacher practice which values and builds upon the contributions and needs of each learner, equitable and democratic practices, and coherence among mission, goals, actions, and outcomes. The book then goes through these six principles as well as other principles in more detail. It explains the rationale of each one and gives an example from a real school.
Reflection:
The one thing that I like best about Promising Futures is that they show within this entire book that everyone has to participate in order to make this work. There are principles involving the teachers, there are principles involving the students, and their are principles involving the administration. This process won't work unless everyone is involved. The entire school needs to change.
One of my favorite principles was the one that says that students and teachers belong to teams within the school that provides each student continuous personal and academic attention and a supportive environment for learning and growth. I can not say how much I love teams within schools. It makes things so much easier. The teams of teachers get to know each other better and they can collaborate on units. The book also made a good point that if a student is having a problem with a teacher or a student, then the student has someone they can go with for help on how to solve the issue.
The other principle that I liked was the one that said every teacher has sufficient time and resources to learn, to plan, and to confer with individual students, colleagues, and families. Teams don't work unless they have the time to get together to meet. But it's also great for students. They can use time to meet with teachers to get extra help or make up for assignments that they missed. Parents can be given these times too so they know what time is the best for calling teachers.
At the end of Promising Futures, they have a section labeled "Practices to Consider Phasing Out." And this section has 19 things that schools should avoid doing. I think it's a helpful thing because schools can check easily to see if they're doing the things that are on this list.
Promising Futures is a book that was written to help improve the high schools in Maine. People at the Department of Education observed things in Maine's high schools that bothered them. Academic achievement was very uneven from school to school. Students were disengaged from learning. Students didn't feel like they had any input on their education. And the rate of students that were accepted to college, the rate of them finishing was lower then the national average. The state wanted to do something to change this, so they created six core principles that they believe will help students be more successful. Schools which promote a safe, respectful and caring environment, high universal expectations with a variety of learning opportunities, understanding the actions based on assessment data, teacher practice which values and builds upon the contributions and needs of each learner, equitable and democratic practices, and coherence among mission, goals, actions, and outcomes. The book then goes through these six principles as well as other principles in more detail. It explains the rationale of each one and gives an example from a real school.
Reflection:
The one thing that I like best about Promising Futures is that they show within this entire book that everyone has to participate in order to make this work. There are principles involving the teachers, there are principles involving the students, and their are principles involving the administration. This process won't work unless everyone is involved. The entire school needs to change.
One of my favorite principles was the one that says that students and teachers belong to teams within the school that provides each student continuous personal and academic attention and a supportive environment for learning and growth. I can not say how much I love teams within schools. It makes things so much easier. The teams of teachers get to know each other better and they can collaborate on units. The book also made a good point that if a student is having a problem with a teacher or a student, then the student has someone they can go with for help on how to solve the issue.
The other principle that I liked was the one that said every teacher has sufficient time and resources to learn, to plan, and to confer with individual students, colleagues, and families. Teams don't work unless they have the time to get together to meet. But it's also great for students. They can use time to meet with teachers to get extra help or make up for assignments that they missed. Parents can be given these times too so they know what time is the best for calling teachers.
At the end of Promising Futures, they have a section labeled "Practices to Consider Phasing Out." And this section has 19 things that schools should avoid doing. I think it's a helpful thing because schools can check easily to see if they're doing the things that are on this list.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Article - A Nation At Risk
The article "A Nation At Risk" discusses the decrease in education in the United States. Students aren't learning as much in school as in the past, so they are behind in college, and therefore behind in learning when they enter the real world. A part of why this is happening is because schools aren't requiring a lot from their students in order to graduate. The article recommended a plan - that students need 4 years of English, 3 years of math, science, and social studies, and a half year of computer science. And for students who want to go to college, they should also take 2 years of a foreign language. We should also expect more from our teachers, they should have to meet high standards in order to teach the youth of America.
This article seemed a little outdated to me, the statistics that they gave were from decades ago and I had a hard time relating to it. All of the recommendations that they suggested are in use today. The requirements for a high school diploma were the requirements that were in place when I graduated. Colleges and universities do have standards for letting students in, and they do expect a lot from students once they are enrolled. The recommendations that they article said that aren't being used today is that teachers aren't on an 11 month contract and their salaries aren't being increased. The article also wanted students to be in school more hours per day and more days per year. As long as students are engaged and learning while they're in school, I don't see why they have to stay in school longer.
This article seemed a little outdated to me, the statistics that they gave were from decades ago and I had a hard time relating to it. All of the recommendations that they suggested are in use today. The requirements for a high school diploma were the requirements that were in place when I graduated. Colleges and universities do have standards for letting students in, and they do expect a lot from students once they are enrolled. The recommendations that they article said that aren't being used today is that teachers aren't on an 11 month contract and their salaries aren't being increased. The article also wanted students to be in school more hours per day and more days per year. As long as students are engaged and learning while they're in school, I don't see why they have to stay in school longer.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Article - Generations
Abstract:
This article is about understanding the educational environment through the generations that are involved in it. The three generations that are talked about the most are the Boom Generation (born 1943-1960), Generation X (born 1961-1981), and the Millennial Generation (born since 1982). The boomer generation went through school during a time of strong community and civic confidence and when teaching was a strong social status. They were and are proud of their education, and therefore have dominated America’s K-12 classrooms for the past two generations. Generation Xers were raised when parents put the needs of themselves in front of the needs of their children. Because of this, this generation didn’t do as well in school. They spent less time on homework and didn’t get as high of grades. Generation Xers thrived on some skills though – they are skilled at negotiation and interacting with others. Most of Generation X are defenders of the No Child Left Behind laws. Millennials are kind of a mix between the Boomers and Generation X because they could have either generation as parents. Millennials feel special, they have been told from the time they were young that they were vital to their school, community, and nation. They are often sheltered, not trusted with too much responsibility by their parents, and conventional, they don’t experiment with as much drugs as the previous generation. Millennials are also team oriented and excited about what the future has to offer.
Reflection:
Knowing about the different generations is definitely going to come in handy when I become a teacher. I’m going to have to deal with a lot of parents, mainly from the Generation X generation. Knowing how they feel about their child’s education is crucial - teachers shouldn’t take things personal from this generation, it was just the way they were raised. Generation X supports school accountability, parental choice, charter schools, and home-schooling. They don’t trust public school because they had a bad experience with their own education. Generation X feel like they were cheated out of their own education, and don’t want the same thing to happen to their children. They want to be in charge and know everything that’s going on with their child’s education. But they also want to make sure their child is going to be safe at school. They keep track on all the bad things that kids are doing these days, and want to make sure that their child stays away from those things. Generation X parents are definitely going to be a challenge, but it is important that you get their support on your side.
This article is about understanding the educational environment through the generations that are involved in it. The three generations that are talked about the most are the Boom Generation (born 1943-1960), Generation X (born 1961-1981), and the Millennial Generation (born since 1982). The boomer generation went through school during a time of strong community and civic confidence and when teaching was a strong social status. They were and are proud of their education, and therefore have dominated America’s K-12 classrooms for the past two generations. Generation Xers were raised when parents put the needs of themselves in front of the needs of their children. Because of this, this generation didn’t do as well in school. They spent less time on homework and didn’t get as high of grades. Generation Xers thrived on some skills though – they are skilled at negotiation and interacting with others. Most of Generation X are defenders of the No Child Left Behind laws. Millennials are kind of a mix between the Boomers and Generation X because they could have either generation as parents. Millennials feel special, they have been told from the time they were young that they were vital to their school, community, and nation. They are often sheltered, not trusted with too much responsibility by their parents, and conventional, they don’t experiment with as much drugs as the previous generation. Millennials are also team oriented and excited about what the future has to offer.
Reflection:
Knowing about the different generations is definitely going to come in handy when I become a teacher. I’m going to have to deal with a lot of parents, mainly from the Generation X generation. Knowing how they feel about their child’s education is crucial - teachers shouldn’t take things personal from this generation, it was just the way they were raised. Generation X supports school accountability, parental choice, charter schools, and home-schooling. They don’t trust public school because they had a bad experience with their own education. Generation X feel like they were cheated out of their own education, and don’t want the same thing to happen to their children. They want to be in charge and know everything that’s going on with their child’s education. But they also want to make sure their child is going to be safe at school. They keep track on all the bad things that kids are doing these days, and want to make sure that their child stays away from those things. Generation X parents are definitely going to be a challenge, but it is important that you get their support on your side.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Article - Educating for Diversity
Abstract:
This article asks important questions like “Do students of the same culture have common learning style patterns and characteristics?” and “If they do, how would we know it?” These questions can be very controversial because even though students maybe from the same background, it does not mean that they have the same learning styles as each other or the same as other students from the same culture. Every student should be looked at as an individual. The article does generalize some typical learning patterns from some cultures. For example, Mexican Americans are comfortable with cognitive generalities and patterns, while African Americans value oral experience, physical activity, and loyalty in interpersonal relationships. Native Americans develop acute visual discrimination and skills in the use of imagery, perceive globally, and have reflective thinking patterns. Mainstream white Americans value independence, analytic thinking, objectivity, and accuracy.
Reflection:
I believe that it is very important for teachers to know about the culture of all of their students, but I feel like it is more important for teachers to treat every single student like an individual and walk into the classroom knowing that no two students are going to learn the same way. The article says “In both observational and data-based research on cultures, one consistent finding is that, within a group, the variations among individuals are as great as their commonalities.” This means that with students from the same background, the teacher is going to have to do just as many things the same as different. So why does culture even matter? There’s no written rule saying that two students from different cultures can’t have the same learning styles. As long as teachers understand the culture and learning styles of their students and believe that every student can learn in their own way, everyone will succeed.
This article asks important questions like “Do students of the same culture have common learning style patterns and characteristics?” and “If they do, how would we know it?” These questions can be very controversial because even though students maybe from the same background, it does not mean that they have the same learning styles as each other or the same as other students from the same culture. Every student should be looked at as an individual. The article does generalize some typical learning patterns from some cultures. For example, Mexican Americans are comfortable with cognitive generalities and patterns, while African Americans value oral experience, physical activity, and loyalty in interpersonal relationships. Native Americans develop acute visual discrimination and skills in the use of imagery, perceive globally, and have reflective thinking patterns. Mainstream white Americans value independence, analytic thinking, objectivity, and accuracy.
Reflection:
I believe that it is very important for teachers to know about the culture of all of their students, but I feel like it is more important for teachers to treat every single student like an individual and walk into the classroom knowing that no two students are going to learn the same way. The article says “In both observational and data-based research on cultures, one consistent finding is that, within a group, the variations among individuals are as great as their commonalities.” This means that with students from the same background, the teacher is going to have to do just as many things the same as different. So why does culture even matter? There’s no written rule saying that two students from different cultures can’t have the same learning styles. As long as teachers understand the culture and learning styles of their students and believe that every student can learn in their own way, everyone will succeed.
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