« March 2009 | Main | May 2009 »
Will Richardson explains that, in the not too distant future, reading will no longer be considered a solitary pursuit. It's a shift in literacy, he suggests, that teachers need to be attuned to--and can perhaps take advantage of.
He also points to a good place to start.
Scott McLeod announces the creation of blogtweetcook.com, a wiki on which educators who blog and use twitter can share recipes. OK then ...
(P.S. At first I was assuming that by recipes he meant blogging or twittering strategies or best practices. But he means actual recipes. There's one in there for banana muffins.)
Like many ed-studies graduate students, Robert Pondiscio of the Core Knowledge Blog read Brazilian theorist Paolo Freire’s canonical book Pedagogy of the Oppressed in school. The work—which opposes the “banking” concept of teaching—has long been held up as a must-read for educators, but a recent City Journal article by Sol Stern has Pondiscio thinking about why that is.
Sol Stern examines the curious case of Freire and asks how his “derivative, unscholarly book about oppression, class struggle, the depredations of capitalism, and the need for revolution ever gets confused with a treatise on education that might help solve the problems of twenty-first-century American inner-city schools?” For starters, Stern says Freire’s seeds were cast upon fertile soil.
Pondiscio’s entry makes for a good read, but the debates that ensued between the author and the blog’s commenters (including teacher-leader blogger Nancy Flanagan) are equally informative and bring up interesting points about the merits of Freire’s theories.
Testing week just wrapped up in the Washington, D.C., public schools, an experience that convinced Mr. Potter of Harry Potter and the Urban School Nightmare that, “the real problem with education reform is not the kids, it's the adults.”
Among the events that transpired: school administrators decided that 10th graders at the school would do math and reading prep all day, every day for the entire month of April; a parent sent allowed her kid to go on a two-week vacation right in the middle of the semester; and a BBQ that was promised to students as a reward for their hard work was put on hold indefinitely without explanation.
The most heartbreaking part of this whole thing was watching how hard my students worked on that test. They all tried their hearts out and put forth a lot of effort. I'm very proud of them … It makes me so sad when I think about all of the ways that incompetent adults—either purposefully or through their own ineptitude—stop them from really succeeding.
Mister Teacher thinks it's wildly unfair that, on Texas' standardized exams, most students are not allowed to be given any assistance in reading the questions. In some cases, he argues, this means that knowledge of particular subject areas isn't what's being tested:
So what it comes down to is that these kids are taking a series of reading tests. Some of them are ABOUT math or ABOUT science, but they don't strictly assess those subject areas as much as they assess whether or not the child can read the questions, some of which are highly complicated.
Happy birthday to Ariel Sacks of On the Shoulders of Giants, who just turned 30! That milestone has got her thinking about her career objectives. There are issues to consider like further schooling and earning a livable wage (tougher to do when you live in New York City). But most of all Sacks wants a position that doesn’t exist.
I know what I really want—and I'd like it sooner than later. I want the opportunity to take on a hybrid role, where I would teach half a load and use the other half of my schedule for teacher leadership roles. These roles could vary depending on the needs of my school and/or whomever is paying me. They could include developing curriculum materials for my school, mentoring teachers, or creating partnerships between my school and other organizations. I could also participate in policy work outside my school and/or be a freelance writer, where only half of my salary would be paid by a school …
The problem with wanting a position that doesn't exist, is that you can't really plan for it. And that makes me a little less sure of my future than I'd like to be at 30. But hey, just because you can't plan for it, doesn't mean you can't go for it. I'll be looking for ways, and taking suggestions!
Here’s hoping her b-day wish comes true. …
Can teaching really be a "fallback" career, as many people who’ve lost jobs in the private sector are hoping? What separates the good teachers from the not-so-good? The New York Times blog, Room for Debate, has gathered several worthy opinions on the subject from ed professionals. Here’s a sampling:
Patrick Welsh, English teacher at T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., and education writer: "The notion that anyone can teach is pure myth. No matter how much one may know or how altruistic one may be, some people are just temperamentally unsuited to teach and are toxic for kids. The problem is that it is difficult to identify those types."
Kenneth J. Bernstein, social studies teacher at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Md., and late career switcher: "The most important thing I do, and the hardest, is getting to know the students, and building on those relationships. The pedagogical process of matching one’s instruction to the students is easy."
Pam Grossman, professor of education at Stanford University: "Much of the teaching we do in everyday life, as parents or employers, involves telling or tutoring. As parents, we help children with math homework, test them on their vocabulary words, answer their questions. But teaching is much more than telling, and teachers have to know more than right answers."
As an educator, Nancy Flanagan is heartened by the much-e-mailed and -posted YouTube video of an ever- expanding collection of people dancing to "Do, Re, Mi" in Central Station in Antwerp, Belgium:
Just watching it made me confident that we--the teaching profession--can make a convincing case that life is no good without imagination.
Travis of Stories From School reminds teachers that it’s important to get out of your classroom and into the faculty lounge sometimes. He gives three big reasons to visit the faculty lounge:
CONNECTIONS—Nothing joins people together like talk of sports or Survivor, neither of which I like, but these interactions create continued connections that, in turn, create a sense of comfort. No need for a rope course to create a team. Go to the Faculty Room.
COMFORT—Once the connections are made, comfort will set in. Some call this “team mentality” but I see it more as a comfort mentality since teachers are already in the profession for the same reason. It is just a matter of a marriage of teaching styles. And that new teacher…once he/she feels comfortable, he/she will ask questions, seek support, further his/her teaching craft.
COLLEGIALITY—the third, and ultimate, step. This step involves teachers working together on a common goal, sharing ideas. Before you can be a team, you have to feel connected. And when teachers have the comfort of a team, it allows for collegial work. Through collegial work, research, integration, weaving, and otherwise brilliant teacher magicary, teachers will create a school that can impact student learning.
An English teacher's nightmare: Out for a walk recently, Hobo Teacher noticed a sign in front a shop displaying the quotation “To be, or not to be”—signed Anonymous! On inquiry, he discovers that prioprietor just forgot the source of the quote and didn't bother to look it up. Where has he seen this attitude before?
Yep. That sounds about right. Those are my students—rather making the slightest effort to be accurate, just slap something up there. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had a conversation with a student after they failed an essay, and I have to tell them that they failed because their work was incoherent. Frequently that’s followed with, “But you know what I meant!” Occasionally, that is followed with a “Gawd!” as they storm off.
My concern is not having the right answer. Hell, no one always has the right answer. My concern is being comfortable with the wrong answer if it means you don’t have to make an effort. I just don’t get it. When did "It’s better than nothing" go from a folksy saying to a blueprint for life?!
Doug Noon tries to explain to his middle school students—and himself—why they have to take standardized tests. The response he gets when he mentions that all students are expected to pass the tests by 2014 is notable:
Loud guffaws and unsolicited comments broke out all around. ...
Running up against motivation issues in the classroom, Assistive Principles wonders why some groups of students are more driven than others.
I've been working all school year with lower-income seventh and eighth graders who, were it not for the constant prodding by the school staff, couldn't be bothered to walk upright let alone learn anything.
For a year now, Assistive Principles says he has worn the district’s scarlet letter for making a comment that led his co-workers to think he "didn't believe that all kids could be successful." Though he can’t recall making the comment, he does hope to clarify his conviction.
Every kid CAN be successful, but not every kid WANTS to be successful. . . Some students set the bar too high, some set it just high enough, some set it far too low (by any standard), and some don't set a bar at all. It's like having given someone a gold brick only to discover he's been using it as a doorstop.
Robert Pondiscio of The Core Knowledge Blog reports that the drawn-out, nationally-reported battle over evolution and science teaching in Texas has prompted state legislators to consider taking away the Board of Education’s power to set curricula and approve textbooks. Those duties would instead be handled by the state education agency, a legislative board, or the commissioner of education.
NYC educator finds it difficult to muster much sympathy for well-to-do families who, because of the recession, are now having to consider sending their children to--the shame!--public schools. Maybe now, he suggests, more people will realize how important good public schools are to a neighborhood.
Will Richardson writes that, with the growth of interactive technology and virtual communities, kids today will lead lives that are far more transparent than most adults are accustomed to. In light of this, he says, educators need to a better job of modeling effective transparency and public interaction in their own lives:
The fact that they are veritably “un-googleable” in terms of finding anything they have created and shared and perhaps collaborated with others on troubles me on a number of levels. First, I can’t see for myself whether or not they are learners. And, almost more importantly, I get no sense as to whether or not they are leaders of learners. Whether they are in the classroom or in the front office, I want (demand?) the adults in my schools to be effective models for living in a transparent world. I want my kids to see them navigating these spaces effectively, sharing what they know, teaching others outside of their physical space, and contributing to the conversation.
Hobo Teacher has a teaching nightmare - all the more frightening, he says, because it was pretty much just like his regular job.
In a quest for new ideas, Ms. Yingling is taking an informal survey of school libraries.
Hat Tip: Teacherninja.
Scott McLeod of Dangerously Irrelevant is interested, like most of us, in staying informed about the economic crisis. In his latest blog post, he pours through data and provides charts from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics about layoffs and growing and shrinking job markets. The information, he finds, says a lot about high schools and what they should be teaching.
Among McLeod’s findings:
-The percentage of unemployed people with “Less than a high school diploma” is more than double that of people with “Bachelor’s degree or higher.”
-Labor industries like construction and agriculture are facing the worst unemployment.
-The “creative-class” job industry is growing.
He continues:
Creative-class jobs, which now make up at least a third of the American workforce and are the only segment of the economy that is growing long-term, require different skill sets such as complex communication, critical thinking, and collaborative problem-solving. These are skills for which schools typically have not prepared most of their graduates.
… there are no absolute guarantees that your school system’s graduates won’t lose their jobs. But it’s fairly clear that the best way to immunize your graduates from the potential of job loss is to give them the skill sets that they’ll need to 1) acquire an advanced education, and 2) obtain jobs in professional sectors that are long-term growth areas for the American economy (and thus are less vulnerable to short- or long-term downturns). This raises an obvious question, of course: How’s your school system doing at this?
Bill Ferriter addresses the eternal question - well, it has come up occasionally around here, anyway - of whether it's snobbish or arrogant not to follow everyone who's following you on Twitter. For his part, he chooses to follow only a select number of people, and thinks that's perfectly in keeping with the function of the tool (especially for educators):
After all, I'm trying to learn from the people that I'm following, and that's hard to do when good ideas are buried under piles and piles of messages. My decision to follow a small handful of people--instead of everyone who follows me--is about information management, not arrogance.
And in my opinion, managing the tidal wave of information at their fingertips is probably THE most important skill for 21st Century learners---whether they be adults or kids---to master. Just because I can follow a thousand people doesn't mean I should!
Doug Noon argues that "what works" education research--on which NCLB achievement goals are predicated--simply entrenches a status quo conception of schooling that, in his view, avoids the big picture. He notes:
Critical thinking and innovation in the classroom can, and should, include activity besides what might work in our present - broken - policy environment.
Get RSS Feed