Classroom Time

I think that the 180 days video is fairly accurate. Over the past few years the administration at my school has decreased the number of assemblies due to the amount of class time that is missed during the year. The school was having an assembly a month along with all the other special events that occurred during the year (book sales, flower sales, pictures, etc.). Many times teachers were missing the same periods, which caused some periods to be a few weeks behind. This caused the school rotate periods during testing and put assemblies during all parts of the day to prevent student from missing the same subject repeatedly. I think administrator need to be cognizant of when they schedule assemblies so the students don’t miss the same subject repeatedly.

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum

I feel that the saber-tooth curriculum article summarizes the struggle that is constantly occurring in education. Education is constantly trying to determine the skills that children need in order to become productive members of society. I see a similar situation to the saber-tooth curriculum occurring within my school’s library. Every eighth grade student is required to write a term paper and learn these skills from the English and Library teacher. The library teacher insists that the students learn how to obtain information for their paper from encyclopedias and other bound resources within the library. She maintains that the students will develop the proper techniques for gathering information and take proper notes. While I feel that the students will benefit from these lessons, but solely using bound books is just like students learning to catch fish with their hands in muddy waters. The teacher should give the student the knowledge to collect and organize research, but allow them to use current forms of media that is commonly used in today’s society. Many of the students should be using the Internet and computers to assist them in obtaining the best information for their projects. Education should give students the fundamental skills, but in a way that relates to real world situations. This connection would show students the importance of learning the material.

State Website

I think the state website has some use for teachers, but is of little value to the community. The website allows teachers to find the standards that they must meet in their classroom. The standards provide very little guidance to the teacher because many of them are very broad. I feel that many of the standards can be met with a few days of instruction. The website does give teachers some activities that help meet the standards set forth by the state. These activities can aid the teachers by giving them supporting materials and providing some focus to the standards. The ease of access also allows teachers to check other cross-curricular standards that might be met during the school year.

I think that the website is of little worth to the community. The website does allow the community to check and ensure that the district is meeting the standards set forth by the state. The website might give parents a general idea of what should be taught at each grade level, but it would be difficult for a parent to say the standard was not met by the district because the standards are so broad.

Change

I think that change is so slow because we as a nation, state, or even school do not have a constant goal in mind. I feel that many long time educators are resistant to change, because we have been asked to change many times without a constant goal in mind. When I started at my school we had block scheduling to increase the language arts periods. Two years ago the administration felt that middle school students could not stay focused for that extended amount of time and moved away from block scheduling. This year we went back to blocks because we have a new administrator who believes in block scheduling. I feel that this drastic movement from one side of the pendulum to the other is typical in education. Whole language vs. Grammar and solving vs. estimating math problem shows this constant movement back and forth. I think that veteran teachers resist change because they have seen education move one way and when the new administrators take office we move directly back to what we had. I feel that many changes occurs just to be a line on someone's resume. Change would happen quickly if it occurred from the bottom up and was designed to meet the goals of the school. I think that the quote from Taking Stock: What does research say about Technologies Impact on Education? makes my point.

“Q- Why do you think change is so slow? I believe I’ve heard you quoted as saying that technology will never make headway in schools because of resistance on the part of teachers.

A- No, I would us the word “resistance.” That’s an administrator’s term. Teachers don’t resist. They’re not saboteurs. They simply realize that the costs of adopting technology are very high and many of them don’t like it. “Adaptation” is a better word. Most technology initiatives are top-down. Many teachers want to use technology, but others don’t because the people who make the decisions for them don’t understand their need. ( Cuban, Salpter)”

Teachers will change as long as there is a clear goal that is in the best interest of the school.

Taking Stock: What does research say about Technologies Impact on Education? Technology and Learning.

Prensky Challenge

I think the Pesky Challenge would establish a school that would be every educator’s dream. The students come to class with a strong desire to learn the material. Students would help each other learn the material that would build a learning environment in which all students are striving for a common good. Teachers would support the student’s efforts, but it is the student’s responsibility to learn the material.
Unfortunately I feel that this school is just a dream. I feel that this school would only serve the students who are a type A personality. I think that all the students would start the year trying to learn all the material, but I don’t think their efforts would not be sustained. We are becoming a society of instant gratification and I feel that within a few weeks many of the students would lose focus of the long term “reward”. This school also is under the impression that every student can master all the skills. How would special education students be able to master a whole years curriculum in only half the year? What if one student who was fooling around all semester failed the test and everyone else passed?
This challenge reminds me of my first year teaching in which my 6th grade class had do a science fair project. The students were asked to pick any topic in science and create a project on the topic by a certain date. They were allowed to pick their groups and they needed to work on their project outside of school. When the science fair arrived I had students rushing to complete the project, student’s complaining that one person did more work than another, and I did not receive the quality of projects that I desired. The next year I developed a structure in which each student was assigned a role, I created a series of dates to check the project, and I meet with each group to check for understanding. This allowed for a better quality project than the first year because many students have difficulty managing time and breaking down a project.
I thing the Pesky Challenge is a great dream, but the reality of it is that it would never work.