Quote 1 – Spring 228
“Parental objections also include methods of instruction. Some parents want their children to be taught by methods that emphasize independent thinking, critical thinking, and self-motivated learning. Other parents want an emphasis on rote learning and authoritarian instructional methods.”
When I read this I would like to know if the parents who are pushing for rote learning and authoritarian instructional methods have ever sat in on a class where these methods are practiced. I would like to think that every parent wishes the best for their children and this is a very biased statement but I do not think is the most beneficial path for young minds. This sort of teaching reminds me of military style teaching or something you might find on a military base, not that I have ever been to one, I am speculating. Unfortunately, this is the approach many schools are taking now because of all of the changes made in education in the last 10/15 years. I guess my point is that it is bad enough that the government is pushing for standardization in schools, mindless, rote, memorizing activities. Now parents, whether they know the impact of this teaching or not, are pushing for the same agenda. Will teachers have to fight administration, government, and now the parents of their students to encourage thinking and meaningful learning?
Quote 2 – Spring 228
“Religious objections to textbooks and instructional methods open the constitutional question of separation of religion and government. Some religious groups argue that public schools do not teach students to rely on the authority of God. Consequently, these religious groups maintain that public schools are violating religious beliefs protected by the Constitution.”
This is a very touchy subject because certain religious beliefs are extremely infiltrated into the culture of our society as it is, how can we eliminate every single religious association? I can understand certain religious groups who do not follow Christian beliefs may be offended or discouraged when they hear about a certain event or topic being discussed in school but is it really possible to make schools an entirely religious-free zone? The most common example is the instruction of creation vs. evolution. I understand creation should not be taught in public schools, but the theory of evolution contradicts everything that Christian religions believe in, so is that acceptable? Public schools should make attempts to not encourage any sort of religious affiliation and for the most part I feel as though they do. Again, there are common parts of our culture where certain religious beliefs are more common than others and if schools had time and money and resources left over after high stakes testing, perhaps they could teach small portions of different religions to encourage diversity.
Quote 3 – Spring 230
“Science textbooks were condemned for saying that there was a scientific consensus that the earth’s climate was changing because of global warming.”
This type of statement turned into an anti-technology, anti-Christian, and anti-American argument. As the text was changed to something less dramatic and true, they sugar-coated the details and in the process, downplayed the impact this statement could have had. Global warming and climate change are such serious issues, we cannot afford to continue down this road. Something had to be done. The youngest generation will be affected the most by these issues and yet they may not be receiving the whole truth in school. Well, they are being taught a much less harsh version of the truth. How can change be made if people are not exposed to the real problem?
Quote 4 – Spring 231
“A new California law that requires that math instruction emphasize basic skills and repeated drills as opposed to concepts and problem solving using real-life situations.”
As a student, I always enjoyed math for some reason but I also thought it was very dry. I had to be motivated and often times the strategies or diagrams, graphs, and visuals on the page were that motivation. Those were the things that made math come alive, that made it seem applicable in real life. Now California is adopting strategies to drill for a test and take any practical use of mathematics out of the classroom. Sounds like an excellent idea.
Quote 5 – Spring 231
“The reality is that very few administrators are willing to select for their schools textbooks that could cause controversy in the community.”
This quote does not surprise me at all and to be honest I do not think we can blame the administrators for this one. No matter what you do, someone is always going to be upset. I know this first hand. I officiate high school basketball and regardless of the call you make, you will always be making 50% of the people angry. You can rarely please everyone because there are usually 2 contradicting sides to every issue. What is unfortunate is that the kids may be losing out. Similar to the case with the Global Warming issue and phrasing the language in such a way that diminished the severity of climate change, students may only be getting ½ of the truth, perhaps even less. Reading this quote I am grateful that people in the community are taking an active role in education and are concerned with certain aspects. However, when 2 contradicting sides cannot agree, sometimes you are worse off in the long run.
Quote 6 – Spring 234
“Balanced education by giving equal weight to Biblical and evolutionary theories on the origin or life. Insurance salesman and minister, Russell Brock, told the school board, “To deny there is a God is to stand on a building and deny there is a building.”
Reading this quote reminds me of a comment I make in Quote 5: If 2 sides cannot agree and the solution is to cut out both sides (in this case Creation and Evolution), it may be more detrimental down the line. You are never going to get everyone to agree with teaching evolution and you are never going to get a population to agree with teaching creation. If you decide to give equal time for both, you may still be offending people who do not believe in either. If you cut them out entirely, students will be missing out entirely on a vital part of education. Is there a solution?
Quote 7 – Spring 237
“No child should have to endure the cyber bullying I endured. I was scared, hurt and confused. I didn’t know why it was happening to me. I had nowhere to turn except to my mom. I am speaking out now because I want other kids who are bullied online or on their cell phones to know that they should tell their parents or other adults.
With these ever changing times, the youth of today will not know a world free of technology. They have been exposed to this since they began school so it will always be an influence, whether or not it is used for positive or negative reasons, will be up to them. Kids need to know the precautions they should take as far as technology goes. Their parents, guardians, teachers, and older siblings should all informed and be able to recognize signs of bullying or any other form of violence, threat, or negativity that can occur. If kids will not speak up themselves they will need someone to speak up for them. This is all the more true because of the recent suicide due to bullying at South Hadley High School in Massachusetts. As unfortunate as it was, it has to serve as a lesson to the rest of the world. Kids can be cruel, this is nothing new. What is a new factor in this is the role of technology and how influential is can be. If a child is growing up with this technology at his fingertips, there is no escaping the constant chatter, the endless updating, always being connected with facebook, twitter, my space, aim, and who knows what will be next. Maybe this will make kids think twice about what they do and how they act to a difficult situation. Maybe it will make teachers and administrators take a more active role in preventing bullying.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Blog 3
Quote 1 - Anthology Chapter 11 page 114
"How often do we hear about teachers who do the right things? How often do we see what and how they do these good things?
This is a very good point and I feel as though this is the case with almost every aspect of society. When watching the news, I would say on average, I see 1-2 good-natured, human-interest stories for about every 10 stories. Knowing this, I suppose it makes more sense, and by more sense I mean more money, to show shocking stories about the dysfunctional education system, how schools are failing, and how education in this country is on the downfall. Knowing this, I completely support the author, Robert DiGiulio, in supporting and encouraging the good efforts by teachers. This is different than the encouragement that Race to the Top tries to promote; DiGiulio is looking for slight praise for educators simply for intrinsic value. This is something that is being squeezed out of the education system because of standardization and increase of high stakes testing on which certain curriculum is based. So many teachers are doing excellent things in their classrooms and it would be nice for fellow educators, future educators, parents, and students to get a better perspective on what really goes on inside a classroom, not just the negative media that education receives that is usually void of the facts.
Quote 2 - Anthology Chapter 11 page 115 Robert DiGiulio
"Simply telling kids they are good won't wash. Student success is fostered by the work students do, by what they produce...participating, performing, creating, practicing, designing, producing, carrying out an experiment, finishing an assignment, or any of hundreds of other activities."
This author connects this quote with a statement earlier in his article and it relates all of the above activities with quality teaching. Each one of those aspects of teaching is possible because the teacher is allotted time or makes time for these innovative, critical thinking activities. These are all things that kids are supposed to be doing. They are supposed to get their hands dirty, figure things out on their own, question everything, investigate, be creative, and reflect on whatever it is they produce. How can a student do this with a machine-scored test? Where is the leeway with a standardized test? This section, even though brief, is extremely powerful. This teaching represents quality teaching. Allowing and encouraging students to take part in all of the activities mentioned above represent a quality education. What else should we want for the youth today? Were we given that as school-aged children? I like to think so. Some of my memorable records of elementary school involved projects, going outside to learn about nature, going to Mystic Aquarium to do hands-on experiments that coincided with our science material, writing a script for a play for Beowulf and performing it for our class in the 7th grade, etc. Is there time for this anymore? We are stripping education of its best features and taking the rights from kids that they deserve. Third graders cannot speak for themselves in front of the board of education so who will speak for them to ensure they are able to produce, perform, create, practice, participate, design, experiment, and be kids?
Quote 3 – The “Banking Concept of Education” by Paulo Friere page 1
“Education thus becomes an act of depositing…Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat.”
I’m not quite sure that I ever thought I would hear education being compared to the banking system. This seems outrageous and just another reason to criticize the way education is going. This analogy is a great one because it relates the fact that education is becoming a corporate commodity. The art of teaching is being sucked out of teachers and the students are disadvantaged because of that. Every good quality that a teacher possesses will no longer exist because people who do not understand education and the consequences of this type of system are the ones controlling education. Education is becoming cut and dry, black and white, right or wrong, multiple choice, true and false, numbers specific, standardized with no deviation, much like banking. Unfortunately for us, education was not designed to be like banking.
Quote 4 - The “Banking Concept of Education” by Paulo Friere page 3
“Well-intentioned bank-clerk teachers who do not realize that they are serving only to dehumanize.”
The term “dehumanize” scares me. It probably scares me even more because I believe it is happening. Humans are human for a reason. We do not function like machines; therefore, we should not be educated like machines. We are the creatures on this earth that have the most capacity yet we are now going in reverse. We are minimizing the natural human aspects of questioning, thinking critically, predicting, experimenting, trial and error, and breaking all of these things down into small, easy-to-memorize, no thinking required parts like robots. There is a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom. We are extracting the wisdom out of our minds and it was that wisdom that led us to our present day life. Now we are taking away that human aspect and creating knowledge robots that can repeat anything we ask them to as long as they have memorized it. We will no longer have our minds; we will simply have our brains.
Quote 5 - The “Banking Concept of Education” by Paulo Friere page 4
“ Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication.”
I find this quote interesting and I understand the importance that the author places on communication, but I feel as though other aspects hold a similar importance as well. He mentions that authentic thinking relies on communication but I would also like to add that questioning, predicting, reflecting, and a variety in courses will lead to authentic thinking. It would seem to me that thinking should be just like anything else. You cannot ride a bike for a child; the child needs to learn on his own. You cannot play an instrument for a child; he or she must learn and practice on his or her own. So why is it that we are trying to tell students what to think, they must learn and practice thinking on their own. They can do this in so many different ways (as mentioned above) but must be given the opportunity. Where will our children get this opportunity if not in school?
Quote 6 – Progressive vs. Traditional education, quote by John Dewey
“Learning is thinking about experience.”
This quote is short but sweet. It highlights the importance of experience and then reflecting on that experience, whether the experience is positive or negative. Unfortunately, we all know that all kids do not experience the same things. Children that live in the poorest areas of the country will not have the same experiences as those who live in more affluent areas. With this said, those who are disadvantaged from the start need a quality education more than anyone. They may not have other options to gain positive experiences that will further learning, they need a good, safe school to attend in order to thinking about those experiences. They need to be challenged and encouraged to continue their education. We all know that is not happening but what are we doing about it?
"How often do we hear about teachers who do the right things? How often do we see what and how they do these good things?
This is a very good point and I feel as though this is the case with almost every aspect of society. When watching the news, I would say on average, I see 1-2 good-natured, human-interest stories for about every 10 stories. Knowing this, I suppose it makes more sense, and by more sense I mean more money, to show shocking stories about the dysfunctional education system, how schools are failing, and how education in this country is on the downfall. Knowing this, I completely support the author, Robert DiGiulio, in supporting and encouraging the good efforts by teachers. This is different than the encouragement that Race to the Top tries to promote; DiGiulio is looking for slight praise for educators simply for intrinsic value. This is something that is being squeezed out of the education system because of standardization and increase of high stakes testing on which certain curriculum is based. So many teachers are doing excellent things in their classrooms and it would be nice for fellow educators, future educators, parents, and students to get a better perspective on what really goes on inside a classroom, not just the negative media that education receives that is usually void of the facts.
Quote 2 - Anthology Chapter 11 page 115 Robert DiGiulio
"Simply telling kids they are good won't wash. Student success is fostered by the work students do, by what they produce...participating, performing, creating, practicing, designing, producing, carrying out an experiment, finishing an assignment, or any of hundreds of other activities."
This author connects this quote with a statement earlier in his article and it relates all of the above activities with quality teaching. Each one of those aspects of teaching is possible because the teacher is allotted time or makes time for these innovative, critical thinking activities. These are all things that kids are supposed to be doing. They are supposed to get their hands dirty, figure things out on their own, question everything, investigate, be creative, and reflect on whatever it is they produce. How can a student do this with a machine-scored test? Where is the leeway with a standardized test? This section, even though brief, is extremely powerful. This teaching represents quality teaching. Allowing and encouraging students to take part in all of the activities mentioned above represent a quality education. What else should we want for the youth today? Were we given that as school-aged children? I like to think so. Some of my memorable records of elementary school involved projects, going outside to learn about nature, going to Mystic Aquarium to do hands-on experiments that coincided with our science material, writing a script for a play for Beowulf and performing it for our class in the 7th grade, etc. Is there time for this anymore? We are stripping education of its best features and taking the rights from kids that they deserve. Third graders cannot speak for themselves in front of the board of education so who will speak for them to ensure they are able to produce, perform, create, practice, participate, design, experiment, and be kids?
Quote 3 – The “Banking Concept of Education” by Paulo Friere page 1
“Education thus becomes an act of depositing…Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat.”
I’m not quite sure that I ever thought I would hear education being compared to the banking system. This seems outrageous and just another reason to criticize the way education is going. This analogy is a great one because it relates the fact that education is becoming a corporate commodity. The art of teaching is being sucked out of teachers and the students are disadvantaged because of that. Every good quality that a teacher possesses will no longer exist because people who do not understand education and the consequences of this type of system are the ones controlling education. Education is becoming cut and dry, black and white, right or wrong, multiple choice, true and false, numbers specific, standardized with no deviation, much like banking. Unfortunately for us, education was not designed to be like banking.
Quote 4 - The “Banking Concept of Education” by Paulo Friere page 3
“Well-intentioned bank-clerk teachers who do not realize that they are serving only to dehumanize.”
The term “dehumanize” scares me. It probably scares me even more because I believe it is happening. Humans are human for a reason. We do not function like machines; therefore, we should not be educated like machines. We are the creatures on this earth that have the most capacity yet we are now going in reverse. We are minimizing the natural human aspects of questioning, thinking critically, predicting, experimenting, trial and error, and breaking all of these things down into small, easy-to-memorize, no thinking required parts like robots. There is a huge difference between knowledge and wisdom. We are extracting the wisdom out of our minds and it was that wisdom that led us to our present day life. Now we are taking away that human aspect and creating knowledge robots that can repeat anything we ask them to as long as they have memorized it. We will no longer have our minds; we will simply have our brains.
Quote 5 - The “Banking Concept of Education” by Paulo Friere page 4
“ Authentic thinking, thinking that is concerned about reality, does not take place in ivory tower isolation, but only in communication.”
I find this quote interesting and I understand the importance that the author places on communication, but I feel as though other aspects hold a similar importance as well. He mentions that authentic thinking relies on communication but I would also like to add that questioning, predicting, reflecting, and a variety in courses will lead to authentic thinking. It would seem to me that thinking should be just like anything else. You cannot ride a bike for a child; the child needs to learn on his own. You cannot play an instrument for a child; he or she must learn and practice on his or her own. So why is it that we are trying to tell students what to think, they must learn and practice thinking on their own. They can do this in so many different ways (as mentioned above) but must be given the opportunity. Where will our children get this opportunity if not in school?
Quote 6 – Progressive vs. Traditional education, quote by John Dewey
“Learning is thinking about experience.”
This quote is short but sweet. It highlights the importance of experience and then reflecting on that experience, whether the experience is positive or negative. Unfortunately, we all know that all kids do not experience the same things. Children that live in the poorest areas of the country will not have the same experiences as those who live in more affluent areas. With this said, those who are disadvantaged from the start need a quality education more than anyone. They may not have other options to gain positive experiences that will further learning, they need a good, safe school to attend in order to thinking about those experiences. They need to be challenged and encouraged to continue their education. We all know that is not happening but what are we doing about it?
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