| Pass or Fail |
[Sep. 28th, 2009|03:34 pm] |
I recently had a conversation with a friend's father over education. I didn't know he was a teacher, and he seemed eager to engage me in a discussion of pedagogy.
He argued, as others have, that there should be a separate track towards vocational schooling for some students. Not everyone is college material. In the same line of reasoning, he complained about being required to allow students to retake tests. He was concerned that a re-take of a test was an unfair assessment for students since they had already seen the test (and presumably would prepare specifically for it.)
I'm not here to contend his logic, as we didn't have a lengthy discussion of those issues, so I'm not fully representing his views, but to present a few claims otherwise.
The option for vocational school is probably beneficial. At the very least, some students may actually want to pursue that route rather than the collegiate one, and I think there is something to be said for giving 18-year olds a choice. "Indoctrination" does begin to creep into my mind the more we presume to plan a persons life, to some extent, for 15 or more years. However, there is a problem with this discussion. Most of the students who would be tracked for vocational schools are those who are failing out of the collegiate track. This would seem to indicate that schools are failing, and vocational schools don't fix the failing schools... they give the students another opportunity. I believe we should present students with opportunities, but schools must be fixed as well. The possible societal implications of this I'll leave for another day.
As for re-takes of test. I think I understand the concerns. At the same time, I have misgivings about allowing students to fail. Our job is to educate students. (Our meta-job may be something more nefarious, such as social sorting.) We have a responsibility to report student progress to the school/community/parent/student. I believe the two can co-exist. Teach the students, test, re-teach, re-test. If a grade is a reflection of what students have learned, and the test is valid, a re-test can replace the original.
I think the two issues are tied together, as school grades seem historically, socially, to be measures of value, not learning. Much the same as salaries tend to be measures of value and not productivity. These students with low grades, "without value," may have well been assessed during their youth over issues of family income, stability, books available, pre-school activities, and probably in this way have a predictable "value" factor without wasting time in school. As educators, we have a responsibility to make sure the grades are about learning, and not about value, so that equity can be reached, at least in school.
I have rambled a bit. Perhaps I will pull a point or two from here for a later, more cohesive thought.
j |
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| Concrete to Abstract |
[Sep. 16th, 2009|02:50 pm] |
Demystifying abstract practices in school requires you to break down and explicitly teach its concrete elements.
Some practice:,
Abstract: Using a drawing of and information about some type of micro-life, identify its type and provide evidence to support your conclusion.
Implied concrete elements and skills: compare shapes, know metric measurements, process of elimination by factual analysis, recognize importance of included/excluded elements, vocabulary
Ways to support students: Comparison chart of different parts of micro-life, chart of metric measurements with possible visual comparisons, written process or example showing the elimination of one example, chart of parts of micro-life and what they do, vocabulary list
Abstract: Write a conclusion to a laboratory investigation.
Implied concrete elements and skills: structure of a paragraph, use the purpose of an investigation as the starting point for a conclusion, use evidence to support a conclusion, identify possible sources of error
Ways to support students: chart/example for structure of a paragraph, example of a conclusion with different parts, have students underline their thesis sentence that connects purpose and conclusion, brainstorm sources of error, collect class examples of evidence
Abstract: Create a data table to organize information in a laboratory investigation.
Implied concrete elements and skills: Identify relevant information to be collected, understand the difference between objects and their measurable values, fill in a 2-dimensional table
Ways to support students: brainstorm information you can collect, practice filling in 2-dimensional tables, list measurable values of objects, create data tables as a class |
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| High expectations and beliefs in education |
[Sep. 13th, 2009|04:17 pm] |
I was happy to read the author's definition of "high expectations" in the 3rd chapter of "Never Work Harder Than Your Students." This is one of those catch phrases that are floated around education circles so often that someone up high must think that teachers really have no hope for their students.
The problem with these catch phrases, and others, like "differentiated classroom" and "student-oriented," is that they are disseminated in such an incomplete and inconsistent way that I find it hard to believe that teachers derive any deep understanding from the meetings in which these ideas are (repeatedly) dumped on them. I have often wondered if my perception was due more to my inexperience and misunderstanding of education than to the inefficacy of the presenters of these topics. It wasn't until I began to restructure my teaching around basic beliefs and philosophies that I could begin to be certain that these dogmas were being misrepresented.
This third chapter, to return to the topic at hand, is largely about beliefs, as the author contrasts high standards and high expectations. The standard is the bar: for example, 8th graders will read at an 8th grade level. An expectation is a belief that this bar will actually be met. I have to admit that I have lowered my expectations for students, especially when you begin to realize the number of 8th graders that come to your classroom reading at a third grade level. I did not know how to bridge the gap for those students, and expectations are really all about yourself. It's not about your students, but about whether or not you believe you are capable of getting students to your standard. If believe that, then you have "high expectations."
One of the most important things I have picked up from this book is to really look at my students as lumps of clay... that is to say that the students may come to you looking nothing like what you want them to be, but it is possible through intentional design to make the student into something beautiful. In order to do that, you have to face the realities that the students bring with them, and face your own limitations as an educator. And then overcome them. |
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| Looks Can Be Deceiving |
[Sep. 8th, 2009|10:16 am] |
In this article about Singapore's education system, officials at one of the country's vocational schools say that their school's facilities, which are often better than the more prestigious universities, send a message to their students that they are important.
Our urban schools deserve the same attention to the quality of facilities. I have seen both good and bad in Chicago. I have been in new, modern buildings, clean, cheery, and pleasant, organized and neat. I have seen schools with large swaths of paint peeling off the walls, dimly lit, dirty, furniture in disrepair, disorganized and cluttered. Even though it's not intentional and untrue, the state of your building sends a message to students and teachers: you are not important, you are "less equal" than your peers with buildings better cared for.
What are some things a teacher can do?
1. Make the room nice and presentable
2. Keep classroom papers and materials organized
3. Help keep the classroom clean
4. Help students value the condition of their classroom and surroundings
5. Petition the building managers to make needed repairs
6. Petition district and state officials to make needed repairs
7. Apply for grants to make needed repairs
8. Make displays of student work a source of pride
9. Encourage other teachers to improve the condition of the school |
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| La Boheme or They are in love. Fuck the war. |
[Mar. 2nd, 2005|02:26 am] |
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"Come then. Leave your war awhile, paper or iron war, petrol or flesh, come in with your love, your fear of losing, your exhaustion with it. All day it's been at you, coercing, jiving, claiming your belief in so much that isn't true. Is that who you are, that vaguely criminal face on your ID card, its soul snatched by the government camera as the guillotine shutter fell... let's not forget Mr. Noel Coward so stylish and cute about death and the afterlife, packing them into the Duchess for the fourth year running, the lads in Hollywood telling us how grand it all is over here, how much fun, Walt Disney causing Dumbo the elephant to clutch to that feather like how many carcasses under the snow tonight among the white-painted tanks, how many hands each frozen around a Miraculous Medal, lucky piece of worn bone, half-dollar with the grinning sun peering up under Liberty's wispy gown, clutching, dumb, when the 88 fell---what do you think, it's a children's story? There aren't any. The children are away dreaming, but the Empire has no place for dreams and it's Adults Only in here tonight, here in this refuge with the lamps burning deep, in pre-Cambrian exhalation, savory as food cooking, heavy as soot... no counterfeit baby, no announcement of the Kingdom, not even a try at warming or lighting this terrible night, only, damn us, our scruffy obligatory little cry, our maximum reach outward -- praise be to God! -- for you to take back to your war-address, your war-identity, across the snow's footprints and tire tracks finally to the path you must create by yourself, alone in the dark. Whether you want it or not, whatever seas you have crossed, the way home..." |
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| gravity's rainbow |
[Feb. 1st, 2005|04:17 pm] |
"When M-Day finally does roll around, you can bet Byron's elated. He has passed the time hatching some really insane grandiose plans -- he's gonna organize all the Bulbs, see, get him a power base in Berlin, he's already hep to the Strobing Tactic, all you do is develop the knack (Yogic, almost) of shutting off and on at a rate close to the human brain's alpha rhythm, and you can actually trigger an epileptic fit! True. Byron has had a vision against the rafters of his ward, of 20 million Bulbs, all over Europe, at a given synchronizing pulse arranged by one of his many agents in the Grid, all these Bulbs beginning to strobe together, humans thrashing around the 20 million rooms like fish on the beaches of Perfect Energy -- Attention, humans, this has been a warning to you. Next time, a few of us will explode. Ha-ha. Yes we'll unleash our Kamikaze squads! You've heard of the Kirghiz Light? well that's the ass end of a firefly compared to what we're gonna -- oh, you haven't heard of the -- oh, well, too bad. Cause a few Bulbs, say a million, a mere 5% of our number, are more than willing to flame out in one grand burst instead of patiently waiting out their design hours . . . . So Byron dreams of his Guerrilla Strike Force, gonna get Herbert Hoover, Stanley Baldwin, all of them, right in the face with one coordinated blast." |
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