2 million minutes

Today we watched the movie 2 Million Minutes.  This movie talks about the difference between students in the USA, China, and India.  I could not believe the difference.  Students in the US study half as much as those in China.  They spend a lot more time on sports and other activities than on academics.  One of the students from India said that they had time for school and nothing else.  One of the students would get up at 5:45 on a Saturday to study with other students for a few hours, go to breakfast, then go on to school for however many more hours.  I doubt there are many American students who even think about homework on a Saturday.  Another difference is in career choices.  The boy from India knew by the time he was seventeen that he was going for engineering.  He worked very hard to get into a school for this area.  A lot of teens in the US do not know what career they will go into until they get a few years of college in, and even after that most switch.  A reoccurring idea in this movie was that American kids do not realize that they are competing against kids from other nations to get jobs.  Kids from India and China spend their whole childhood making the most of their education, where kids in the US spend more time on leisure activities and only 'get by' in school.  This is sad.  When compared kids in the US need to step it up.  They need to study more and understand concepts better.  There is a lot of room for improvement!

Teacher charged with student sex assaults

http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/teacher-charged-with-student-sex-assaults-20110324-1c72o.html

Teacher charged with student sex assaults

     A man has been charged with the sexual assault of students at schools in Sydney's south west during the 1980s and 90s.  The man is now 61 years old.  He was been said to have assaulted a 14 year old boy numerous times in his home.  He was granted bail, and the police are currently looking into similar cases during that time.

     This outrages me.  There is absolutely no reason for any adult to assault children in any way.  I feel like it should not take this long for information to come out against this guy.  The good thing about today is that people are more open about such things, and it is more likely that this will not go unnoticed for such a long time.

Group 4 presentation

Great job starting the philosophies of education.  You did great explaining the key concepts and differing ideas of each of the four philosophies.  I really enjoyed your movie examples of the different philosophies, it was a great visual.

Teacher Prep. Program

1. LOTS of experience.  In most other fields there is either an on the job training or the period of getting trained in.  Along with these experiences there are internships and what not that they go through before being hired.  Teachers have our experiences, but the first being only twenty hours.  I think we need to be placed with good teachers who are willing to use us and 'throw us to the wolves' so to speak.  We need to be put out there and know what it feels like to manage a classroom.  I think little chunks of time should be spent doing this before our big student teaching (less observation, lots of actual teaching)

2. Experience with meetings: Give us a feel of what it will be like to have a departmental meeting, IEP meeting, meetings with parents (including conferences and open house) child study meetings everything.  To know what is expected of us and how to prepare.  Also how to deal with parents.  Whether it be a parent who is very controlling of their child's atmosphere or one who does not like what is being done at school curriculum wise.

3. Interview and resume building prep.  Help us know what we should be doing now while we are still in school that will look great on our resumes and what skills we should be working on. Also what to expect when heading into an interview.  What things are good to talk about what isn't etc.

Group 3 class presentation

Great overview of the chapter content! I was able to get a good feel for the history of education.  I loved the quote you pulled from the book.  I feel like it really captured the views of the "white people" who were trying to assimilate the Native Americans at that time.  I also liked your movie.

Chapter Four of Tony Wagner’s The Global Achievement Gap

Chapter Four of Tony Wagner’s The Global Achievement Gap

Reinventing the Education Profession

If a schools main goal is to improve the student learning, then the first problem schools need to work out is to improve teaching and coaching of teachers.  Although teachers may be quick to critique others teaching, they may not be as quick to change the way they implement strategies in their own classrooms.  Tony talks about how he became a teacher.  Some of the courses he took and what he liked about them.  And how prepared he felt after graduating (which was not much).  He then goes into different experiences and teaching opportunities he had.  He talked about how many of the teachers he came to know felt as unprepared as him for their first job.  “They did not focus on the developing of the skills needed to be an effective teacher, and they rarely gave student teachers meaningful teaching experiences with knowledgeable and effective supervisors.”   He talked about how the lack of teacher preparation and support is considered the primary cause for the public school teacher attrition rate (nearly 1 in 2 teachers leaving the classroom within five years).  This is extremely high, I can see how there is always a need for new teachers.  I can also see how stressful being a new teacher will be.  The transition from student to teacher in charge of helping students grow and learn is huge!  If we are not prepared this will be a huge stressor.  How can anyone expect us to be good at our job if we are never properly trained?   

Chapter Three of Tony Wagners The Global Achievement Gap

Chapter Three of Tony Wagners The Global Achievement Gap

Testing 1 2 3

Tony starts this chapter out by showing an example of a tenth grade exams that the students must pass in order to graduate after NCLB.  He then critiques the tests.  In 2007, 13% of Massachusetts 10^th graders did not pass the MCA tests. 

A Way to Think About NCLB and High School State Tests  Wagner discusses some of the controversies that have arisen from NCLB.  For example, the goal of having 100% proficiency in reading and math for all students by 2014, a highly punitive approach toward students, teachers, and schools in terms of consequences for poor performance on the tests, the lack of any assistance for schools that are not making AYP, a weak definition of the requirement to have “highly qualified teachers” in all subjects, and the highly varied standards that individual states use for determining whether students are “proficient” and schools are making AYP. 

The two main questions he highlights in this chapter are: To what extent do these state tests assess the skills that matter most for work, citizenship, and college? and What is the impact of teaching to these tests on students’ motivation to learn and to stay in school?

Is Math Really “Problem Solving” – and What About Science?  Many business leaders say that todays high school graduates do not have adequate preparation in science and math.  Algebra is a math skill that is required to pass state tests, but unless people are math majors the most common math that they will be doing are arithmetic, statistics, and probability not algebra.  Tony asks, What should all high school graduates know in order to be literate in math and science as disciplines of problem solving?  When our students are not given a multiple choice type exam, but instead are required to come up with the answer on their own using knowledge they already acquire, they are unable to apply what they already know. 

Writing by Formula  This section talks about how students are taught to write essays by having an introduction paragraph, followed by three supporting paragraphs, then ended with a conclusion.  This ‘formula’ should get them passing scores on the state tests and SATs.  He then gives evidence that many schools do not even consider the scores students got on the writing section of the SATs for a true indicator of their writing skills.  That is because students are never given a topic they have never seen and asked to write spontaneously for 25 minutes. 

College-Ready?  Tony asked students who were attending college, “Looking back, what about your high school experience did you find most engaging or helpful to you?”  Many students talked about extracurricular activities (clubs, school yearbooks, etc.) as the most engaging, then came friends, and sports.  Tony asked the students about academics, and they said that the stuff they learned in high school was irrelevant, because they started over in college.  Tony asked the how they thought high school time could have been better spent, and all agreed they should have spent more time on writing, research skills, time management, and how to work with others in study groups.  

Chapter 2 of Tony Wagner’s The Global Achievement Gap

Chapter 2 of Tony Wagner’s The Global Achievement Gap

In the first part of chapter two Tony looks into whether or not schools are preparing their students for college life and life beyond that.  Out of 18 classes that Tony observed, he thought that one of them met the requirements to give the students the ability to succeed in college.  In one of his classes he came across a group of AP boys who were doing a lab.  Their beaker was smoking in a way no one else’s was.  They sat and waited for the teacher to come help them.  Tony asked them what their hypothesis was for what went wrong, and they didn’t know what a hypothesis was. 

A Tale of Two Cities  Tony starts this section by talking about how schools celebrate success in sports rather than success in academics.  There are trophies displayed for sporting events, but not for academic successes.  Out of all of the high school athletes, only 10% or fewer play varsity, and out of the 10% only a small fraction play professionally.  Apparently the education the kids get from school is what most of them will have to fall back on rather than the sports they participate in (who would have thought that?)  Tony compared two different schools in this section based on their high test scores and how well they prepared their students for college.  He found that both schools were guilty of “test prep” and teaching to the tests rather than making their students think critically and analize data.  Overall, not good preparation for college.

You’re in the Army Now  This section compares Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) schools to public schools.  DoDea schools typically outperform most public schools even though they have have 40% of their students qualifying for free or reduced-price meals and a 35% transfer and mobility rate.  Tony wondered if they prepared their students better for college than the public schools he observed.  He discovered that many of the classes are the same in the way that they do not make students think critically and problem solve.  He did find one Algebra II class that challenged its students.  The teacher wrote a new type of problem on the board and told the students to find two different ways to solve the problem using the knowledge they accumulated through their previous courses.  When the teacher walked around the classroom he did not answer questions, but prompted them to think about it in various ways and discuss it with their peers.  This is exactly the kind of teaching students need.

The Hidden “Gap” Exposed  Tony observed a few elementary schools also and found some of these facts.  5^th graders spend more than 90% of their time in their seats listening to the teacher or working alone and only 7% of their time working in groups.  In 5^th grade 60% of the students’ time was spent improving basic literary and math skills and less than 25% of their time spent on science and social studies.  The average 5^th grader received five times as much instruction on basic skills as instruction focused on problem solving or reasoning.  Why is our students’ learning being divided out this way?  Since NCLB students are being tested on reading and math skills and not science and social studies, no school wants to be shown as not reaching their adequate yearly progress, so they teach to improve scores in those subjects. 

What about the Competition?  In this section Tony discusses the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).  PISA develops assessments of reading, math, and science literacy to a sample of between 4,500-10,000 fifteen year old kids in various countries.  In 2003 they aimed the test towards checking problem solving skills along with other assessments.  Their goal was to measure “cross-curricular competencies.”   The children from the United States were ranked behind twenty eight other countries on this assessment.  Based on this and the statistics given from the exam, the kids considered to be the most academically talented in the United States are not even close to the kids in our competing countries.

Group 2 Class Presentation

I liked the example of the IEP that was given to us.  I have worked with them a couple times during my internship last semester.  I was able to see the prompt online and also proof read a finished report.  I also liked the interview that was given.  You guys had a lot of good information.  The only criticism would be to get the class involved.  Just lecturing makes it easy to be sidetracked and lose attention, so I would recommend a discussion, game, or maybe asking us questions throughout the presentation.

Group 1 Class presentation

I think the first group did a wonderful job.  They had great information and were able to keep me interested throughout the presentation.  I loved the discussion to keep us involved rather than just lecturing us.  I also enjoyed the video at the end, and though it had some shocking statistics! The game at the end was a good way to make sure we paid attention! Over all wonderful job guys!

More on the IDI

In an earlier blog I talked about the IDI assessment that we took in class.  After looking back on my results I can see that there is room for improvement.  My major fall back is the lack of experience I have had with other cultures.  This is easy to fix, I just need to put myself out there and experience different cultures.  By doing this simple thing, I believe that it will increase my understanding, overall knowledge, and make me a better teacher!

Most schools could face ‘failing’ label under No Child Left Behind, Duncan says

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/duncan-most-schools-could-face-failing-label/2011/03/09/AB7L2hP_story.html

Most schools could face ‘failing’ label under No Child Left Behind, Duncan says

The Obama administration came out on Wednesday saying that more than three-quarters of the nation’s public schools could soon be ‘failing’ under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.  They  are planning on making some changes to this law .  It is estimated that 82% (up from 37% from last  year)  of schools could miss their academic target.  Some defenders of NCLB say that Obama’s efforts may let some schools off the hook and allow them to not help their students who need the most aid. 

According to  the article,“Obama’s plan calls for schools to be rated on how much academic growth their students achieve. Those that excel would be rewarded, the vast majority in the middle would be given more flexibility to choose strategies to improve, and the lowest performers would face a stricter federal mandate to adopt a stringent school turnaround program.”

Under NCLB students must be tested in math and reading three times before finishing eightth grade, and once more in high school.  Adequate Yearly Progress is then determined by looking at these scores along with attendance and graduation rates.

The article states,“The Center on Education Policy reported that 28 percent of schools nationwide missed the No Child benchmarks in 2007, 35 percent in 2008 and 33 percent in 2009. The center estimates that at least 37 percent fell short last year. In the Washington area, the center found that the failure rate in 2009 was 23 percent for Maryland, 28 percent for Virginia and 75 percent for the District.”

I know that there are some schools that prepare their students better than others, but I find it hard to believe that as high as 35% of schools nation wide are failing on that basis.  If that is truly the case, then we need to look at that, find out why that is happening, and make a change.  The article also talks  about how the law sets up many ways for districts to fail, but not many opportunities for them to excell.  There has been talk about NCLB since it came into effect.   The idea behind it (to create an opportunity for all students to receive an adequate education) is great and I think that all students should be able to receive a good education, but not all students want it or are able to perform as well as  others.  There are hints about this law being rewritten by next year, and I hope that they will find a way to reach all students and help each one excell. 

Unequal education

In class today we watched a movie about how children receive different education based on where they go to school.  We talked about how we can close the gap on this problem.  It seemed to fall back on funding.  Funding is a huge issue, I know when I was in high school there was always a new thing that had to be cut in order to keep the district afloat.  It got to the point where some sports that were on the verge of being 'cut' were extremely expensive to take part in.  Now funding relys on property taxes, and obviously this is not working fpr the little district I came from.  It may be working perfectly for wealthier communities and that is wonderful, but it is not working for all.  The movie we watched showed a perfect example how two schools in the same district differ greatly in the funding, and also the way the students are learning and the teachers that are teaching.   I know this has been an issue for quite some time, and I don't know if there is one right answer of how to change this, but if what we are doing is not working for smaller districts like the one I graduated from, then I think there should be some sort of change.  There are thoughts of taking a federal income tax and distributing all of the resources equally to each district.  This is one solution that may work.  It will definetly help those schools who are hurting as far as funding goes, but it may also hurt those who are doing fine with the current system.  It kind of seems like a Robin Hood idea 'steal from the rich to feed the poor.'  I do not know what is best or what should be done, but there has to be something done to help out the schools that need it most.  It is not right to sit back and watch some kids excell because they are given the resources and at the same time watch others fail because they were not given those same opportunities.  That is by no means fair.  Hopefully something is done about this soon, because I hate to think of all of those kids who are learning to hate school or feel like they are not gaining anything by being there!

National Center On Universal Design for Learning

This site is amazing! It full of great ways to plan your lesson plans for all students.  There are so many ideas on how to implement UDL into your classroom.  I can't wait to play around a little more and see all this website has to offer!

Overview of my internship

     Last September, I started my 150 hour internship at Paynesville Elementary.  I was able to observe open house and conferences plus all the prep work to go into them!  I also got introduced to such things as copier machines, writing letters to parents, the headache of scheduling para professionals and foster grandparents, and doing countless other prep work!  I was able to work with five wonderful teachers during my internship and observe a few others.  I was able to observe two school meetings, and also a program put on by the kids.  Most of my time was spent working one on one or in small groups with the kids in special education.  I loved being able to do this.  The teachers were great to let me work with the kids and I came away from it all with a lot of experience and confidence.  I think it is easier to reach kids when they are given one on one time.  It is easier as the teacher, because then I can tell if the child understands or if I need to approach the topic another way.  I think it is easier for the student, because then they are able to ask questions if they need help.  I also spend around an hour to an hour and a half a week in the second grade general ed. classroom.  This is much different than Special Ed.  The classroom I helped in had twenty six students.  One teacher to twenty six students is a huge difference than the one on one in Special Ed.  I think it would be much harder to teach to that many students. 

      I had the opportunity to see an IEP review,Other things I was able to see were a music class, an afternoon observing the speech clinician, ECSE (Early childhood special education), a few phy ed classes, and a departmental meeting (child study meeting).  I learned about social stories and other various ways to deal with behaviors.

  I would recommend any student planning on becoming a teacher see most of these areas.  It was pretty interesting to see what goes on while the kids are not in your classroom.  Another exciting thing I was able to do was plan and teach my own lesson to second graders!  I was actually given the opportunity to teach it to two different second grade classrooms.  I planned an hour long lesson on roman numerals.  None of the kids knew what roman numerals were, so it was an all new topic for them.  I created a power point to give a very brief background on roman numerals and to teach them how to write the numbers one through ten.  I also explained how roman numerals compared to our number system, the Arabic system. 

    Two mornings a week I was able to work with the Barton system.  It is a reading and spelling system that works on phonics.  It starts out with the basics of listening to sounds and realizing what sound is different from word to word.  The main goal is to train the student’s ears.  As the students learn and progress in the system, the lessons get harder and more in depth.  The last level I was able to work with was level four, where the kids were working on phrases in sentences.  They worked on decoding what the who, did what, and where parts of each sentence were.  The kids really enjoyed this curriculum.  For the first half of my internship I observed and participated from the student side of the lessons, but during the second half I was able to teach the lessons to the kids.  I loved it! 

   I learned a lot during my time at Paynesville Elementary School.  I learned things about me like which path I want go into as far as sped (DCD, LD), and which one to stay away from (EBD).   I learned that I have the potential to be a great teacher.  I am many times more confident about being in a classroom with kids than when I started.  I also learned a few things about being a special education teacher like how stressful and time consuming the job can be.  I also learned how to deal with students who are misbehaving.  I started my internship knowing very little about special education.  Now at the end I have a much larger knowledge base as far as what areas there are, what a sped teacher does, what is expected, and just how to do things. What better way to learn than to do it hands on?  Overall I think I really grew from being still unsure of myself and my role as a student helper into being a respected teacher.  I would not take back this experience for anything.  I gained friendships and contacts with my supervising teachers and also great relationships with the students I worked with.  I cannot express how beneficial this experience is and can honestly say that I will truly miss working with the kids and teachers.  Another part of this experience I will miss is seminar.  It felt nice and comfortable to come in once a week and tell the other women what I have been doing, and hear the joys and struggles they have been working with too.  It was also nice to get feedback from Lori on how we are doing, and things that we could try.  It felt like we were all a team and that we were all there in each other’s journeys becoming teachers.

 

The rise and slide of Taiwanese education

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/world-issues/2010/12/13/283456/The-rise.htm

The rise and slide of Taiwanese education

            Shanghai participated in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) for the first time and came out on top in all three categories (reading, mathematics, and science).  They beat the next three countries by over fifteen points. The PISA is an international exam given to 15-year-olds.  The exam is given in 65 developed nations and it assess their ability to do real life challenges.  Critics from Taiwan and the United States thought that Shanghai may have gathered their brightest students for the test.  Others thought that they hone their students in on the subject matter and textbooks in order to do well on standardized tests.  This idea, however; doesn’t hold up, because if Shanghai was just to the books, then Japanese and Taiwanese students should have scored high also because of the similar curriculum styles.

            It is amazing that Shanghai had the top score in all three categories of the PISA test.  It shows that they must be doing something right as far as educating their students.  The article also talked about a difference in emphasis on academics and extracurricular activities between the U.S. and Shanghai.  The U.S. may have to look into what is making Shanghai successful and incorporate some of their techniques into its curriculum. 

Speaking in Tongues

Prior to this class I had no knowledge of immersion programs.  After listening to Kathy and also watching the first part of this movie, I think they are great.  I think it provides great opportunities for children who go through these programs.  By knowing two languages they will have many more options for careers.  These immersion programs also give these kids a much better understanding of the culture of the people in the culture of their second language.  I wish I had an opportunity like this when I was in elementary school.  If there was a school in my area I would like my kids to have this opportunity some day.  Not only my kids, but considering how ignorant we as Americans are, I think all kids should do something like this.

Cuomo Seeks Speedy Change in Teacher Evaluations

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/nyregion/02teacher.html?ref=education

Cuomo Seeks Speedy Change in Teacher Evaluations

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo plans to go past the old “last in, first out” system of hiring teachers.  He thinks that they should no longer rely solely on seniority, but instead rely on a system of evaluation.  This would make teachers jobs rely on their teaching performance and punishment records rather than how long they have been in a district.  This proposal would give schools a way to terminate poorly performing teachers; putting the needs of the children first.  Cuomo does believe that seniority should play a role, but it should not be the only factor when making employment decisions.  He does not expect this to go on to the senate level or spread far for quite some time, but it is a first step.

          I think that the idea of this proposal is great.  There are definitely teachers who are only there for the paycheck and no longer have the kids’ best interest at heart.  The problem being that it is difficult for them to be let go unless they retire.  In these cases I think that this would be a great opportunity to make sure the teachers are staying up to par on their standards and aim to help their students do their best.  It does create a sense of worry.  It does not let teachers feel secure in their jobs.  This may stop some from tapping out their potential as a teacher in means of creativity and engaging their students.  If this is the result, it would be a shame.  If this passes, it has the potential to bring about change in teaching.