NCLB and Charter Schools

Great job guys!!!! You did a really great job explaining NCLB. I am really thankful for it because it is such a confusing law. It was also interesting to see how some of the language of the law was confusing and really vague. The candy demonstration was also a great way to show how the allocation of funds was based and moved on standardized test scores. I also really liked the video on charter schools. I think that many people have this idea that charter schools are the best schools to have because they have more options open to them, but because they don’t have the funding that public schools have they actually have fewer resources which can actually hinder education. I also really enjoyed creating our own charter school. It was interesting to see what people thought were the most important aspects of their schools. Overall great job guys.

Nation at Risk

Nation at Risk states that America is falling behind educationally to the rest of the world. It points out that people in our country at this time do not have the necessary skills to compete in the global economy. These are due to the shortfalls in our educational system. Some indicators of this are that students are not doing as well on standardized tests as they did 26 years ago. In short the educational system was not compensating for the rapid advances happening in technology and the sciences. Schools are focus too much on rudimentary skills instead of deeper thinking. 25 years later Nation at Risk is still being analyzed. Regan wanted to stop cutting the education budget and educational spending has risen dramatically. It also helped the educational system by improving teachers and schools. However, changes still need to be made.

I think that there are a lot of things that are said in Nation at Risk that still needed to be worked on. For example, some school still focus on just rudimentary skills, students are almost like robots and just repeat answers back to the teacher. There needs to be more focus on literacy and deeper thinking in all subject areas. Literacy itself is also still on the decline. The more use of the internet, students are actually reading less and have a hard time pulling out deeper issues of the text. Technology is still ever increasing. To be an effective teacher we need to understand technology and know how to use it. We also need to have a deep understanding of how our students use technology in their everyday lives. Teachers themselves are being held more accountable but it is a slow process. Many older teachers hold to old values and thus become ineffective.

Reflection

Classroom Organization and environment: I really think that the classroom should be organized in a way that makes students comfortable. For example, all students should be able to see me as well as each other. This is important to foster conversation and discussion. Students should also have some say as to what they see in the classroom. One idea on how to promote this is to give each class a section of a wall and have them decorate it themselves. Also with things such as lighting that will depend on the day. I would say that on a particularly sunny day it would be better to use natural light instead of the normal classroom lights and if it closer to the beginning or end of the year, even find reasons to go outside. These kinds on accommodations can really help students be comfortable in the environment and help foster their learning experience.

Motivation: This is one of the toughest areas I think. The key for motivation is that students need to be interested in what I am teaching. It needs to be interesting to them and it needs to relate to their everyday lives, or what they want to do in the future. This in itself should help students be motivated to learn. Also giving a choice of assignments could do this as well. Every student is different so the areas in which they express themselves the best is also different. Also I think that giving students a day every so often to have fun, just a silly activity that has a relation to the activity, would be a great motivator in itself.

Discipline: This is going to have to change depending on the situation at hand. I think it is beneficial for the class to come up with its own set of rules for most things and also the consequence for breaking the rule as well. This gives students the freedom to decide what they think is acceptable in the classroom. However, some situations might force me to be extremely authoritative in the classroom. Issues like any type of violence have school policies that I have to follow and students will not be given a choice on the matter of the consequence.

Assessment: Assessment will be a combination of formative and summative assessments. Unfortunately some “normal” exams and quizzes will be given, but will be done in such a way that students are forced to use deeper thinking methods. Students will apply what they know from theory and apply it to new situations. This will be done, for example, in labs, especially in inquiry labs where students decide what they want to test. Students will also have options of portfolios, videos, music, and a variety of other options to get away from the traditional testing methods.

Learning focus: This will have to be on a multitude of things. One would have to be the nature of science. This is critical because it demonstrates how all science works and the possible flaws of science as well. Also this will coincide with key facts and knowledge of the biological world. I also think that learning needs to focus on the individual and the development of the student. It is also important for students to learn how to work together because after all we all live in a society and thus need to learn how to talk and work with one another.

Technology Integration: Technology is a must have in the modern day classroom. Students use it and are surrounded by it in their everyday lives both inside and outside of school. In order to be an effective teacher, I need to take this into account and use it to my advantage and the advantage of my students. This also includes teaching the students the skills they need in order to live in a world that is completely dominated by technology.

Teaching and Leadership Style: I think as a teacher I will have to embody three different types of teaching styles. One is realism that is more teacher centered. It focuses on helping students arrive at the causes of things and explore their own intelligence. I also really agree that both students and teachers are considered students, because even as a teacher I will not stop learning. However, there is some inflexibility with only teaching in this method and also include some pragmatism and existentialism as well.

Eduvation Reflection

Classroom Organization and environment: I really think that the classroom should be organized in a way that makes students comfortable. For example, all students should be able to see me as well as each other. This is important to foster conversation and discussion. Students should also have some say as to what they see in the classroom. One idea on how to promote this is to give each class a section of a wall and have them decorate it themselves. Also with things such as lighting that will depend on the day. I would say that on a particularly sunny day it would be better to use natural light instead of the normal classroom lights and if it closer to the beginning or end of the year, even find reasons to go outside. These kinds on accommodations can really help students be comfortable in the environment and help foster their learning experience.

Motivation: This is one of the toughest areas I think. The key for motivation is that students need to be interested in what I am teaching. It needs to be interesting to them and it needs to relate to their everyday lives, or what they want to do in the future. This in itself should help students be motivated to learn. Also giving a choice of assignments could do this as well. Every student is different so the areas in which they express themselves the best is also different. Also I think that giving students a day every so often to have fun, just a silly activity that has a relation to the activity, would be a great motivator in itself.

Discipline: This is going to have to change depending on the situation at hand. I think it is beneficial for the class to come up with its own set of rules for most things and also the consequence for breaking the rule as well. This gives students the freedom to decide what they think is acceptable in the classroom. However, some situations might force me to be extremely authoritative in the classroom. Issues like any type of violence have school policies that I have to follow and students will not be given a choice on the matter of the consequence.

Assessment: Assessment will be a combination of formative and summative assessments. Unfortunately some “normal” exams and quizzes will be given, but will be done in such a way that students are forced to use deeper thinking methods. Students will apply what they know from theory and apply it to new situations. This will be done, for example, in labs, especially in inquiry labs where students decide what they want to test. Students will also have options of portfolios, videos, music, and a variety of other options to get away from the traditional testing methods.

Learning focus: This will have to be on a multitude of things. One would have to be the nature of science. This is critical because it demonstrates how all science works and the possible flaws of science as well. Also this will coincide with key facts and knowledge of the biological world. I also think that learning needs to focus on the individual and the development of the student. It is also important for students to learn how to work together because after all we all live in a society and thus need to learn how to talk and work with one another.

Technology Integration: Technology is a must have in the modern day classroom. Students use it and are surrounded by it in their everyday lives both inside and outside of school. In order to be an effective teacher, I need to take this into account and use it to my advantage and the advantage of my students. This also includes teaching the students the skills they need in order to live in a world that is completely dominated by technology.

Teaching and Leadership Style: I think as a teacher I will have to embody three different types of teaching styles. One is realism that is more teacher centered. It focuses on helping students arrive at the causes of things and explore their own intelligence. I also really agree that both students and teachers are considered students, because even as a teacher I will not stop learning. However, there is some inflexibility with only teaching in this method and also include some pragmatism and existentialism as well.

Voices

One of the philosophers that I identified with was Comeinius. Everyone is entitled to a good education no matter who they are or where they come from. In some ways some people in the world still do not think that others deserve an education. I also agreed with Pestalozzi’s view that we need to teach to the whole child. I really have a hard time having kids just sit there and literally listen to me the entire day, they need to able to be active and creative, all the different sides of them should be allowed to come out in the classroom. Children have a lot going on in their lives that can effect them in the classroom and that needs to be taken account for because it can really impact their learning. This also includes those that have disabilities. Every child has the capacity to learn in their own special way and there needs to be a variety of teaching methods used in order to accomplish this. I really also liked Dewey’s view that teachers need to teach the process of thinking and although facts might be somewhat important thinking about those facts and how they relate to other things is actually more important. Students really need to be given the opportunity to think deeply about different issues.

Standardized Testing

First I want to say that you all did a great job. I actually really liked that you played music before class even though it was not related to the actual subject at had. You were all really professional and spoke clearly. Also great job in pulling us back from kind of getting side tracked. Sometimes that is really had to do when the entire class is laughing. I really liked that you had us compare the two different types of assessment. We could clearly see the differences in both types and why one might work better than the other. I also really liked how we discussed the art of test taking and how these skills are really the only ones that are needed in order to pass a test like the SATs. Overall, great job guys it was really fun.

Bright Futures

The commission that was doing this points out that there isn’t a model for successful middle schools. They also state the need to balance the goal of education as well as the need of improvement and that current research. Also they recognize that middle schoolers need have skills in tune with the 21st century. It also emphasizes the importance that middle school has in connection to elementary school and high school. Many of Maine schools have not implemented programs and practices that have shown from research to work. There are core principles that need to be implemented in the middle schools in order to achieve the goal of having all middle school students learning at a high level. Some of the core principles that need to be recognized are that academic success of students are more likely to happen if students development needs are met. Also schools must use evidence to show that they are successful schools. There also must be opportunities for high learning. The middle school also needs to prepare its students for the next level of their education as well as life beyond. There are twelve core practices for effective middle schools, the first is that students have access to curriculum that is relevant, challenging, integrative, and exploratory and is organized and executed to maximize accessibility for all students. Another is teachers in all content areas use teaching and learning practices that are anchored in 21st century classroom. Also students need to have access to a co-curriculum program that encourages all students to participate, develop skills, be a member of a team or activity, and simply have fun. Lastly teachers, administrators and staff who are responsible for the education of young adolescents are knowledgeable about their developmental needs and appreciate them for their uniqueness. This commission also made recommendations on how this can be done in the middle school.
Two things really stuck me about this commission. One is how they seem to value the importance of 21st century skills. This is so important, not only for students but for teachers as well. I really don’t think someone should be teaching if they do not have any knowledge of technology. More and more of it is coming out every day and educators; we need to be able to use these technologies to our advantage. We also need to know how these technologies affect our students. I also really liked how the curriculum needs to be set up so that it is relevant as well as interesting to students. If a student is not interesting in the subject, chances are, he or she will not want to learn about it. Also I think it is really important for students learn how to work with people and one of the core principals states this. I also think that they acknowledge that students need to have fun.