Dr. Ries asks you to reflect upon your reasons for teaching

The following is a threefold question that relies upon the information shared in our assigned reading,  Keeping Good Teachers:   Why It Matters, What Leaders Can Do by Linda Darling-Hammond and the question also asks each one of us to reflect upon our reasons for remaining in this profession.  You may choose to answer any two of the questions posed.    


1.   What are the reasons that you reamin in the teaching profession?


2.   Which of the following suggestions made by the author would, in your opinion,  help to improve teacher effectiveness:   higher salaries, better working conditions, better preparation, or better mentoring?  

3.  Which of the suggestions made by Darling-Hammond would, in your opinion, help school districts retain its novice teachers?   

Jennifer speaks to the praise or non-priase of ethnic and cultural differences

Our text (Ornstein) discusses the issue of cultural demographics and how the nature of race is changing.  As our nation changes into a more diverse population many cultural aspects must be taken into account. It is the American way to take full credit for all that one has achieved. Our text discusses how Native Americans, Hispanics and Asians tend to downplay their individual achievement, stating that theirs is a family achievement.

As children most of us were taught to treat everyone the same and that discussing or pointing out the differences of others was “impolite.”  Should we do this as teachers?  Should we be colorblind, or as our text suggests, go so far as to make a list of student success in any ethnic group? How do cultural demographics come into play in your classroom? Should we “celebrate” differences or politely leave the subject alone?

 

Dr. Ries and Chapter 3 of Brookhart

Just a short question:   Can we and should we assess student logic and reasoning?   Why?   Also, feel free to add anything that you have learned over the past two weeks.....................about life!!!

Amy asks us to ponder the philosophy of Paola Friere

What is critical pedagogy and why is it so important in education?  Do you feel that there is a place for critical pedagogy in our curriculum structure today?   Or do you think that the time has passed for us to embrace ideas of social justice and economic transformation?  Do Paolo Freire’s philosophical positions interest you?   Do they make sense to you?  Why?  Which of the six principles of pedagogy from Freire’s philosophy do you feel that you incorporate into your teaching…….if any?     

Kate asks us to think about the importance of the arts

How might repeated significant encounters with the arts be used to combat standardization and dehumanization?

 Maxine Green argues that meaningful exposure to and study of the arts is critical to developing persons  who “live more ardently,” who are roused from the stupor that results from unquestioning, passive reception of superficial societal messages that focus on consumerism, technology, and a view of human beings as ‘human resources.’”

 Yet, even some “educational experts” seem to buy into the idea that the arts are frivolous.  In December 2010, Grant Wiggins posted his opinion on his ASCD blog.   Wiggins felt that schools should ban most fiction books from the curriculum altogether, on the premise that they don't prepare students for the future and that the bulk of reading adults do is non-fiction. He also claimed that fiction bores boys, and he recalled “with horror having to read Jane Austen and Nathaniel Hawthorne as a student.”

 Do you agree with Green that the failure to expose students to works of art that force us to confront the complex and the uncomfortable will most unabashedly lead to “a desperate stasis?” Or do you side with Wiggins in his belief that our job is to prepare students for their future work in a high tech world?

If you agree with Greene, how do you personally act to help your students avoid intellectual numbness?

 If you agree with Wiggins, how do you respond to Greene's concerns?

 

 

 

Dr. Ries and Insensitivity of Tests

According to  the author of this week's article, W. James Popham (2011, p. 298), when evaluating a large scale accountability test one must consider the test’s “instructionally sensitivity.”    A test’s “instructional sensitivity”  represents the degree to which students’ performances on that test accurately reflect the quality of the instruction that was provided specifically to promote students’ mastery of whatever is being assessed.   An “instructionally sensitive” test should  be capable of distinguishing between strong and weak instruction by allowing us to validly conclude that a set of students’ high test scores are meaningfully, but not exclusively, attributable to effective instruction.   Similarly, such a test would allow us to accurately infer that a set of students’ low test scores are meaningfully, but not exclusively, attributable to ineffective instruction.  Popham goes on to suggest that the only  practical way in which to appraise a test’s “instruction sensitivity”   is to create panels of 15 to 20 curriculum specialist and teachers who are knowledgeable about the content under study, and to add to that group of specialists several noneducators.   Popham recommends that such a panel rely on four evaluative dimensions.  In essence, those who judge large scale accountability tests should consider:   1) the number of curriculum aims assessed,  2) the clarity of assessment targets,  3) the number of items per assessed curricular aim, and  4) the instructional sensitivity of the items.  First of all, do you agree with Popham that large scale accountability tests need to be examined more closely by expert panels?   Why or why not?   Then you are being asked to  discuss any one of these four evaluative dimensions suggested by the author and make a case as to why it should or should not be used for the large scale evaluative purposes discussed here.    Taking this thought a step further, can the “four dimensions of evaluation” model that has been discussed in this article be applied to you in your classroom and to your teacher-made assessments?   How do you evaluate the "instructional sensitivity" of the tests you create for your students?    Do you apply any of the evaluative dimensions to your personal evaluation of tests?      

Maureen is asking us to further exam our educational philosophy

Chapter thirty-two of the Ornstein text is entitled “Dichotomizing Educational Reform.”   It is an article written by C.D.Glickman.   In his article, Glickman discusses what he believes  American public education is about and what philosophical beliefs should drive that education.   Glickman shares with us his belief that  “public education is supposed to serve a common good”  and he goes on to state that  Horace Mann, in the mid 1800s, wrote that public schools “would be the great equalizers of human conditions, the balance wheel of the social machinery.”  The debate remains however as to what an “educated” person in our democracy actually is.  Who is to make the decisions as to what constitutes a thorough education?  Does one need three years of high school or college level preparatory classes in order to be an “educated” person in our society?  What essential knowledge and skills should an educated person in a democracy possess?  Glickman, however,  believes that we should not think in terms of any one structure , method or system of education but rather that we must consider competing views as we go about answering the above questions. 

 

 Do you agree with Glickman’s  position?    Why?   Why not?   And finally, do you agree with Horace Mann’s statement above?     I look forward to reading about your philosophical preferences with regard to the education of our young people.   

 

 

Jennifer poses a question about our assessment practices

        What grading and reporting practices do you feel support learning and encourage learners?  Many teachers find grading to be a conflicting exercise.  They want to encourage their students, but on the other hand they feel obligated to be a judge and evaluator to meet the criteria of the grade level expectations.  Tomlinson and McTighe stated in this week’s reading in (pp. 129-133) that grading and reporting should be done using six key principles. 
             ·         Principle 1 states that grades and reports should be based on clearly specified learning

goals and performance standards. 

 ·         Principle 2 states that grading should be valid.  Looking at a concept to be learned and

making sure that child is learning it should be the key focus, not whether the child has a

learning disability for example. 

 ·         Principle 3 recommends that grading should be based on established criteria, not on

arbitrary norms.  Norm-based grading, they believe,  promotes unhealthy competition in

which some students will necessarily become “winners” and others “losers” as they compete

for scarce rewards.”

 ·         Principle 4 states that not everything should be included in grades.  In essence, the authors recommend that pretests should not be considered as a grade and formative assessments should rarely be factored in.  Grades should come from summative assessments.

 ·         Principle 5 suggests that we avoid grading based on averages.  Tomlinson and McTighe (2006, p. 132) consider the problem through a humorous anecdote: A man is sitting on an old fashioned room radiator that is blistering hot.  His bare feet rest on a block of frigid ice.  When asked about the room temperature, he replies, “On average, it’s pretty comfortable!”  Point being averages can be misleading. 

 ·         Principle 6 encourages teachers to  focus on achievement and report other factors separately.        

          Which of these six principles resonates with you the most?   Do you take issue with any one of them?   Which approach to grading, in your estimation, encourages learners and supports “true” learning, i.e., comprehension and ability to transfer knowledge.   Does your approach to assessment support the principles set forth by Tomlinson and McTighe or is your approach to assessment in conflict with theirs?   

Rachel poses a question about differentiation and diversity with the classroom

Tomlinson and McTighe (2006, p. 108) impress upon us the fact hat there is a clear distinction between teaching for understanding and mere coverage of content area knowledge. They assert that “understanding must be earned.”  Teaching subject matter in greater depth allows students to construct and reconstruct meaning for themselves because, the authors contend, student  knowledge base increases and new learning alters student  perspectives over the duration of a unit. Teaching for understanding requires both teacher and learner to assume refreshing new roles within the classroom. In these new roles, students are required to think in new and innovative ways to solve problems, create problems, and apply old learning to new knowledge in efforts to effectively convey understanding. In this environment, the teacher is now the facilitator of student learning. The teacher is now focused on sparking student interest by, presenting counter arguments, requiring detailed explanations, asking probing questions, and presenting information in a manner that lends itself to authentic application; thus causing students to revisit and revise their thinking.

I believe that in an academically diverse classroom the successful teacher is aware of the academic needs of individual students and is able to maintain the integrity of the lesson while effectively differentiating instruction.  I argue that the effectiveness of the differentiation is, in fact,  what maintains the lesson’s integrity. Tomlinson and McTighe contend that  the ladder theory of learning is severely flawed in that lower- level students are doomed to an academic life of kill and drill and  rote learning.   Moreover, in this type of an approach the lower-level student is  rarely presented with authentic opportunities to convey understanding. These students are often excluded from opportunities to utilize acquired knowledge in meaningful ways. Primarily, this is due to what teachers perceive as insurmountable gaps in acquisition of foundational skills which, they believe,  make displaying understanding a ”mirage in an academic desert.”  As teachers, we are only as effective as our ability to differentiate instructional material thereby giving all students an opportunity to utilize learning in authentic ways. 

Ornstein speaks of a different, yet equally significant type of diversity within the classroom…cultural diversity. Who we are as individuals, our personal schema, socio-economic backgrounds and our environment all play a major role in what we learn and how we learn. As a result,  he believes that academics must be taught from a perspective of cultural relevance and sensitivity. If the material is not relevant to students they will merely digest and regurgitate sterile facts that have little to no impact on their understandings and learning outcomes.  Thus, I believe that student translation  will not truly be learned.  Without relevant material student opportunities to revisit and revise their thinking will be largely diminished as will their understanding of the material introduced.   

Educators must be aware that the term “diversity” has become an important classroom word and concept. Its implications within the classroom are tremendous. Even in a homogenous setting, diversity  still exists.  I believe that effective differentiation  produces material that is academically relevant.   Effective instructional differentiation leads to increased student understanding. While, I am unsure that  differentiation of content and teaching approach alone are the key,  I do believe that this approach is the most effective tool in a teacher’s arsenal for addressing the unique needs of learners.

Based on what I have stated above, I now ask……………….is there a distinction between an academically diverse classroom and a culturally diverse classroom?  What are the instructional implications of teaching for understanding in a culturally and an academically diverse classroom? To what degree does diversity affect what you teach and how you teach it?

Kachan asks us to solve some problems

In my opinion,  creativity and discipline are skills that can be developed with practice.  Schools could potentially provide the appropriate environment to which creative and disciplined minds are formed.  For example, educators can teach students how to use the following six required resources that foster creativity: intelligence, knowledge, intellectual style, personality, motivation, and environmental context.  Additionally, I believe that teachers can and should cultivate disciplined minds by teaching students  how to develop the following :   understanding the purpose of disciplinary expertise, understanding an essential knowledge base, understanding inquiry methods, and understanding forms of communication.

However, even though it is possible for schools to produce and foster creative and disciplined minds, Orenstein believes that the required environment to allow this to occur still has yet to be developed (2011, p. 139).  In fact, he believes that  curriculum structure has created obstacles that prevent this type of a setting to be created.   For example, we still have  educators who insist upon  teaching  students how to solve problems as opposed to letting them come up with their own problems to solve  (p. 140).  Thus, students cannot develop their skills in defining and redefining problems, two components of the first resource “intelligence” ( p. 140).  Short-term homework assignments as opposed to long-term ones are still routinely assigned in some schools (p. 143).  Additionally, it is still acceptable in many schools to teach students the facts in a history class instead of allowing them to be “deeply acquainted with a discipline’s fundamental perspectives on the world ( p. 192).” Do you agree with Orenstein’s concerns?   Do his concerns hold merit for you?   Why or why not?    Do you believe that the problems posed by Orenstein do indeed, impact upon the desired goals I have stated in the first paragraph?    Or do you feel that they are in no way connected?  Do you  have recommendations that might possibly address the issues posed here? 

Meghan asks: What makes a teacher effective?

What makes an effective teacher? Is it the individual who went the traditional route of schooling? Can an individual who went into teaching as a second career be an effective teacher? Finally, does one's style of teaching make that individual more effective than another?

I believe that an effective teacher is an individual who can see the differences in their students, one who  knows the knowledge that they want to teach their student s and one who is able to help their students learn the skills and knowledge that they are teaching. In all  careers, it goes without saying that  one needs to be knowledgeable about what they are doing. The same goes for a teacher, but that is not all. A good teacher wears many hats. I believe that the teacher who  embraces many different styles of teaching, and knows when to use  each of these approaches will be the most effective teacher. An effective teacher is able to see the differences in their students as well as those students' learning styles.   An effective teacher is able to change the way in which he/she teaches so that each learner can grasp the information being taught.             

Who Needs to Take Responsibility for Establishing Educational Goals? C. Murray

What, in your estimation, is the definition of the term “educational goals?”   Do this week’s readings convince you that educational goals are necessary?  And finally,  who should assume the responsibility for determining the educational goals in each of the schools throughout our nation: the federal government, the state boards of education, the members of the local boards of education, a representative community group,  the principals of each of the schools within a school district (as a group), or the faculty of each school? Why would you choose that particular constituency?

Dr. Ries Welcomes All to the Discussion Page

This will be our discussion board for the semester.   Your opportunity to share your professional thoughts with your colleagues.  It is here that you will have an opportunity to discussion issues dealing with curriculum, curriculum theory, curriculum philosophy, curriculum development and change.   All are encouraged to dialogue and bring forth concerns and ideas with regard to the assigned readings.   Enjoy the semester.