Taking EML 585 this semester was what will hopefully turn out to be, the first of many experiences taking courses in middle level education. Throughout this course, I was forced to reflect on my own practice but, also did a lot of learning, thinking, and commentating on education in America today. However, the best part of this course was meeting and connecting with other middle level educators who really are as dedicated to their students and the future of education as I am.
I outlined a few of the major things that really stuck with me throughout the semester and reflected a little bit on each.
1. Integrative Curriculum
I have been "using" integrative curriculum since my first moment in my own classroom but, I have always been frustrated by the number of things that need to be in place within a school to make integrative curriculum work. It was really wonderful to read so much on student-centered curriculum, talk to Mark Springer, re-explore Maranacook Middle, and hear from Ed, Caitlyn, and Lindsey about their forays into integrative curriculum. I got some good ideas but, more importantly, feel like I now have more connections and resources to learn from.
2. Trying New Things: What Works in Education
"Waiting For Superman" and the resulting debate opened my eyes to the whole discussion about what really does work in the classroom. Single gender classrooms, creating motivation within the curriculum, project-based learning, and tech driven curriculum are all things that truly "work" in education. We hear about all of the programs initiated in inner cities that aren't working or, we hear about corporate driven charter schools that follow the strict "sit, watch me, and memorize what we're teaching you" model. It is so important to remember the number of things that are happening in education that are good for kids and have shown to be effective learning strategies.
3. Leadership
This class really got me thinking about middle level best practices and the need for strong leadership at all levels in order for proper implementation. Changing education cannot effectively happen with just a teacher. That teacher needs to get other teachers, administration, parents, community members, and policy makers on board too. Even when there is strong administrative leadership in a school, there is still so much work that needs to be done to make sure things can continue to progress and become better. I think about Maranacook a lot. I love what they're doing but, I worry about what could happen if just a few community members or teachers or somebody started getting upset about the "non-traditional" things they do. I heard that their high school is much more traditional and it is just concerning that there could be a time when their wonderful and highly respected practices get put under conservative lens. My point is that leadership, at all levels, is so important to truly making a change in the way we educate our young adolescents. I hope that I can be an effective leader in this way.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
More Good News for Education in America
As I was driving home from school today, I heard yet one more intriguing interview about the state of education in America today. According to the most recent results of an international test, American students are once again lagging behind their peers in various countries around the world. The NPR Story (linked here) focused on the latest findings from PISA (The Programme for International Student Assessment) that had US students finishing anywhere from 15th to 35th in the world in a 2009 assessment of their reading, math, and science skills. It also showed that students from social backgrounds that would likely impact educational opportunities are less likely to succeed in The United States than their fellow socioeconomically depressed students abroad.
Although I haven't found anything else on this story yet, apparently Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called these results appalling and Melissa Block in her interview of Michael Davidson (PISA) on NPR implied that these results really couldn't be read as anything less than a verdict on our destiny to fail and implode as an industrialized, prosperous nation (maybe I read into that one a bit).
But, I have different thoughts on this news. One of the things Davidson did mention was that countries that did well do certain things differently than the US. They have national standards, goals, and recruit teachers from the highest levels of academic achievement. I would agree that we can work on those things as a nation. However, I just am not sure that our student's inability to perform well on a standardized test should really dictate how we view education or even the direction of our country. The United States, for all of its faults and failings, and even acknowledging the growing and sickening disparity between educational opportunities for rich and poor, is still doing quite well as a country. We are in debt, yes, but we are also in an economic recession that the rest of the world is also very acutely experiencing. If we look at other countries with limited government control of the economy and industry (regardless of what the Tea Party says, the United States is ranked about 5th in economic freedom in the world behind such countries as Hong King, Singapore, New Zealand, and Switzerland. None of which are anywhere close to world powers . . .) we really are doing alright.
I guess my biggest problem with this kind of test is that we are not necessarily testing anything that is of use to kids or even to society. By holding these results in such high regards, we aren't just saying that basic math, reading, and science skills are important, but that they are the most important things. I know that these skills matter but is that really all that matters? What about resoning, collaborative work, problem solving, creativity? Aren't these, not math facts, what have helped the US to succeed in becoming the world's (close to) largest economy, biggest military power, and leader in world wide diplomacy and aid? Yes George Bush and many other Presidents went to Ivy League schools but, how would they have measured up on one of these tests (That wasn't even meant to be a Bush bashing thing! I mean it, Reagan, Clinton, even Obama! How would they have fared?). Look at our vast wealth of capitalists and entrepreneurs who have become amazing benefactors and philanthropists. Were they all math, science, and reading whiz kids? I don't know but, I think that a fair number of these types didn't actually always fair well in a traditional academic setting.
So, what I am getting at is this: it's bad enough we compare our children to others in such a public way, it's even worse that we then label them as failures when they don't measure up, do we really need to also damn the entire nation to a bleak and depressing future based on the results of one test that doesn't measure a whole lot? I just don't think we do.
Sources:
NPR Story: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/07/131884477/Study-Confirms-U-S-Falling-Behind-In-Education
PISA/OECD Internaitonal Test: http://www.oecd.org/document/2/0,3343,en_2649_35845621_46609794_1_1_1_1,00.html
2010 Index for Economic Freedom: http://www.heritage.org/index/
CATO Institute Economic Freedom of the World: http://www.cato.org/pubs/efw/index.html
Although I haven't found anything else on this story yet, apparently Secretary of Education Arne Duncan called these results appalling and Melissa Block in her interview of Michael Davidson (PISA) on NPR implied that these results really couldn't be read as anything less than a verdict on our destiny to fail and implode as an industrialized, prosperous nation (maybe I read into that one a bit).
But, I have different thoughts on this news. One of the things Davidson did mention was that countries that did well do certain things differently than the US. They have national standards, goals, and recruit teachers from the highest levels of academic achievement. I would agree that we can work on those things as a nation. However, I just am not sure that our student's inability to perform well on a standardized test should really dictate how we view education or even the direction of our country. The United States, for all of its faults and failings, and even acknowledging the growing and sickening disparity between educational opportunities for rich and poor, is still doing quite well as a country. We are in debt, yes, but we are also in an economic recession that the rest of the world is also very acutely experiencing. If we look at other countries with limited government control of the economy and industry (regardless of what the Tea Party says, the United States is ranked about 5th in economic freedom in the world behind such countries as Hong King, Singapore, New Zealand, and Switzerland. None of which are anywhere close to world powers . . .) we really are doing alright.
I guess my biggest problem with this kind of test is that we are not necessarily testing anything that is of use to kids or even to society. By holding these results in such high regards, we aren't just saying that basic math, reading, and science skills are important, but that they are the most important things. I know that these skills matter but is that really all that matters? What about resoning, collaborative work, problem solving, creativity? Aren't these, not math facts, what have helped the US to succeed in becoming the world's (close to) largest economy, biggest military power, and leader in world wide diplomacy and aid? Yes George Bush and many other Presidents went to Ivy League schools but, how would they have measured up on one of these tests (That wasn't even meant to be a Bush bashing thing! I mean it, Reagan, Clinton, even Obama! How would they have fared?). Look at our vast wealth of capitalists and entrepreneurs who have become amazing benefactors and philanthropists. Were they all math, science, and reading whiz kids? I don't know but, I think that a fair number of these types didn't actually always fair well in a traditional academic setting.
So, what I am getting at is this: it's bad enough we compare our children to others in such a public way, it's even worse that we then label them as failures when they don't measure up, do we really need to also damn the entire nation to a bleak and depressing future based on the results of one test that doesn't measure a whole lot? I just don't think we do.
Sources:
NPR Story: http://www.npr.org/2010/12/07/131884477/Study-Confirms-U-S-Falling-Behind-In-Education
PISA/OECD Internaitonal Test: http://www.oecd.org/document/2/0,3343,en_2649_35845621_46609794_1_1_1_1,00.html
2010 Index for Economic Freedom: http://www.heritage.org/index/
CATO Institute Economic Freedom of the World: http://www.cato.org/pubs/efw/index.html
Sunday, November 21, 2010
Drive
I have yet to read Drive by Dan Pink, but I first learned of the book on an NPR segment and thought it was fascinating. According to research cited by Pink, when we are asked to perform at more than a rudimentary cognitive level, our performance does not increase, in fact it decreases, when offered high level incentives. I think that the correlation to our kids' performance on standardized tests is really interesting and I would love to see, do more research in this area. Standardized tests, for the time being, are a reality in our schools. I don't like them, lots of people don't like them, but I don't see them going anywhere at least in the next few years. So, that said, let's look at how we administer these tests and hoe we incentiveize them. Our school is a level 4 CIPS school (I think that is redundant but, whatever). We have recently submitted an formal, but not mandated, plan to get our school off of AYP soon. A big part of our problem is how our special education population is performing on the tests (the real problem is how we're educating them and we are discussing that a lot). One of the things we have done in the past years, and something that we reiterate as important on the plan that we submitted, is incentives for these tests. We have stickers and daily drawings and iPods and gift certificates. All of it. Now, I don't necessarily think that these are the types of incentives that Pink mentioned but, they are pretty big and we try to make a pretty big deal of them. However, according to the MIT study that Pink discusses, these incentives may actually be hurting performance. Again, I am not sure if these incentives are big enough to negatively affect performance but, I do think we should really rethink our incentive program. I wonder what would work better though, given that these tests do exist. This truly is a matter worth a lot more discussion at our school. I just hope we remember it next year when the time comes to talk about this topic!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Response to Centering on Students in the Middle Grades Curriculum by Gayle Andrews
The whole "disciplines dilemma" and the lack on our part to adequately prepare students for future employment is something I've thought about a lot. How do we create real world curriculum a;; of the time? It's exhausting!! But, good for kids . . . However, those other countries are not doing projects in the community, they are generally doing the oldest of old school intensive rote memorizing, drill work. So why are they successful? Does it have anything to do with that "easy to teach kids" vs. "hard to teach kids" thing. Maybe the kids in the other countries that are doing well are the "easy to teach", "wanting to succeed" kids. If we tested only those kids in our country, how would we fair? I would like to see a study looking at those specific kids because, I'm still not convinced we'd do so well. I love teaching an integrated or even integrative curriculum and think it's the only way to get to our hard to teach kids. But, are our easy to teach kids done a disservice by not being taught like the rest of the world, or even like a lot of our highest level private schools that service the elite in our country? I don't know??
The whole "backwards design" movement is so interesting to me. I am sure that one of the reasons I teach the way I do is because of the focus on this method of teaching but, to me, it just seems natural. I don't think I ever finished all of the Backward Design or Universal design literature I was supposed to at one point or another but, I still teach that way because to me, it makes so much sense! I don't know how else I would teach! You pick what you want (or what the kids want or need) to get out of a unit, identify some ways to measure this, and then figure out what needs to be taught and how it should be presented. There have been a few times when I have had something I wanted to do with students, a documentary or something, and then looked for targets to match my idea for a project, but generally I find the backwards design model to make a lot of sense.
In regards to curriculum integration, I guess I am stuck on the fact that right now, I am teaching within a discipline centered, standards based, common assessment focused, text book driven system. I struggle everyday with how to merge those realities with the ideals of Beane and others like Gert Nesin, Mark Springer, and folks like Gayle Andrews. Maybe I am just not brave enough but, I think I am where a lot of teachers who have been exposed to this philosophy are. I am pushing against the established norms but, I don't know how to push harder and more importantly, how to push harder and be successful. In my district, the kids are pretty attuned to the whole "school game". When I have tried to do more integrative things, my biggest struggle has been getting the kids on board. Most eventually come along, but there are some, mostly those "easy to teach" "high achieving" kids I mentioned above, that push back against me. Now, I know that a big problem is my inability to take criticism (a fault I really need to work harder on), but it is difficult, especially for a relatively young, new teacher.
Andrews and others don't address this problem, or not as far as I have read, in their work and this is what's most frustrating. Schools like Maranacock and others are fully incorporating these models successfully but, they are doing so with full support from administration and (I'm totally assuming here) others involved in policy making in their respective districts. I have some of that support, but feel like I lack full institutional support to do these things.
I guess I would really just like to figure out where to go from here. If the answer truly is, "Just go for it," than I guess my first step should be to toughen up rather than to continue to look for resources to help me out! There's certainly a lot to think about . . .
The whole "backwards design" movement is so interesting to me. I am sure that one of the reasons I teach the way I do is because of the focus on this method of teaching but, to me, it just seems natural. I don't think I ever finished all of the Backward Design or Universal design literature I was supposed to at one point or another but, I still teach that way because to me, it makes so much sense! I don't know how else I would teach! You pick what you want (or what the kids want or need) to get out of a unit, identify some ways to measure this, and then figure out what needs to be taught and how it should be presented. There have been a few times when I have had something I wanted to do with students, a documentary or something, and then looked for targets to match my idea for a project, but generally I find the backwards design model to make a lot of sense.
In regards to curriculum integration, I guess I am stuck on the fact that right now, I am teaching within a discipline centered, standards based, common assessment focused, text book driven system. I struggle everyday with how to merge those realities with the ideals of Beane and others like Gert Nesin, Mark Springer, and folks like Gayle Andrews. Maybe I am just not brave enough but, I think I am where a lot of teachers who have been exposed to this philosophy are. I am pushing against the established norms but, I don't know how to push harder and more importantly, how to push harder and be successful. In my district, the kids are pretty attuned to the whole "school game". When I have tried to do more integrative things, my biggest struggle has been getting the kids on board. Most eventually come along, but there are some, mostly those "easy to teach" "high achieving" kids I mentioned above, that push back against me. Now, I know that a big problem is my inability to take criticism (a fault I really need to work harder on), but it is difficult, especially for a relatively young, new teacher.
Andrews and others don't address this problem, or not as far as I have read, in their work and this is what's most frustrating. Schools like Maranacock and others are fully incorporating these models successfully but, they are doing so with full support from administration and (I'm totally assuming here) others involved in policy making in their respective districts. I have some of that support, but feel like I lack full institutional support to do these things.
I guess I would really just like to figure out where to go from here. If the answer truly is, "Just go for it," than I guess my first step should be to toughen up rather than to continue to look for resources to help me out! There's certainly a lot to think about . . .
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
How do we use This We Believe?
I did a Voice Thread for last week but, I realize it was late so I jotted down a few of my points here, maybe some of my classmates will see them!! They aren't very well organized but, hopefully it makes sense.
I think middle school leadership needs to be the first to adopt the "This We Believe" positions and then need to lead staff at middle schools in preaching and practicing them. I've seen a lot of copies of "This We Believe" passed out but, I think that it is about making those tenants clear through everything that the leaders of a school do.
Ed mentioned a mission statement at Warsaw and I totally agree that that's what a lot of schools need.. We have a code of conduct at our school that is posted everywhere and that everyone knows about, teachers, kids, parents. I think we need to do the same for This We Believe.
I agree with Jen that "This We Believe" should be used more in staff development too. I also agree with Denise in that I think that we still need buy in amongst a lot of teachers and, unfortunately we need to be able to give people statistics or at least more concrete information to create that buy in. But, maybe Ed's right about it not being about the stats but that that is just an excuse.
This whole idea of buy in goes along with what Ed mentioned about these same people's preconceived notions of middle level and the adverse reactions to the mention of anything middle level. I see that a lot, especially with the mention of Bright Futures by our leadership. I remember Ed mentioning the "name" thing in the first face to face; that the name of middle level philosophy isn't important. It's so frustrating that "middle level" brings about such negative reactions but, I completely agree with Ed, we need to have those conversations about why "their eyes glaze over". I really like the idea that it's not about what we call it but what we do. However, I think the conversations have to come first and again, this is where leadership has to take the initiative. Hopefully I'm not just passing the buck!
I did like the accompanying book to "This We Believe" especially since it highlighted two Maine schools. Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues keep using the excuse that "their school doesn't look like ours" when other schools are used as examples. I think Mike Muir mentioned that as a classic excuse to NOT implement things and it is so sad.
I also agree with Lee and Lindsay and like the idea of giving information from "This We Believe" to all 6th grade parents. Again, I think school leaders have to be first in promoting this to parents.
The adolescent piece is crucial especially to first time parents. But it is also important to parents who are stuck in the "That's not the way we did it" mentality which so many are. I think if we can refer to a nationally, state, and school approved document and research based philosophies, it would help in explaining how our schools are set up or explaining what we do in the classroom.
Ok, I posted on the Voice Thread too about this stuff and technology, sorry I got behind guys!!
I think middle school leadership needs to be the first to adopt the "This We Believe" positions and then need to lead staff at middle schools in preaching and practicing them. I've seen a lot of copies of "This We Believe" passed out but, I think that it is about making those tenants clear through everything that the leaders of a school do.
Ed mentioned a mission statement at Warsaw and I totally agree that that's what a lot of schools need.. We have a code of conduct at our school that is posted everywhere and that everyone knows about, teachers, kids, parents. I think we need to do the same for This We Believe.
I agree with Jen that "This We Believe" should be used more in staff development too. I also agree with Denise in that I think that we still need buy in amongst a lot of teachers and, unfortunately we need to be able to give people statistics or at least more concrete information to create that buy in. But, maybe Ed's right about it not being about the stats but that that is just an excuse.
This whole idea of buy in goes along with what Ed mentioned about these same people's preconceived notions of middle level and the adverse reactions to the mention of anything middle level. I see that a lot, especially with the mention of Bright Futures by our leadership. I remember Ed mentioning the "name" thing in the first face to face; that the name of middle level philosophy isn't important. It's so frustrating that "middle level" brings about such negative reactions but, I completely agree with Ed, we need to have those conversations about why "their eyes glaze over". I really like the idea that it's not about what we call it but what we do. However, I think the conversations have to come first and again, this is where leadership has to take the initiative. Hopefully I'm not just passing the buck!
I did like the accompanying book to "This We Believe" especially since it highlighted two Maine schools. Unfortunately, too many of my colleagues keep using the excuse that "their school doesn't look like ours" when other schools are used as examples. I think Mike Muir mentioned that as a classic excuse to NOT implement things and it is so sad.
I also agree with Lee and Lindsay and like the idea of giving information from "This We Believe" to all 6th grade parents. Again, I think school leaders have to be first in promoting this to parents.
The adolescent piece is crucial especially to first time parents. But it is also important to parents who are stuck in the "That's not the way we did it" mentality which so many are. I think if we can refer to a nationally, state, and school approved document and research based philosophies, it would help in explaining how our schools are set up or explaining what we do in the classroom.
Ok, I posted on the Voice Thread too about this stuff and technology, sorry I got behind guys!!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Waiting for Superman
If anyone is in Southern Maine for a trip to the new Trader Joe's or just to hang out, Waiting for Superman is playing at the Nick downtown. You might want to go during the day and park in a highly visable spot; see the following post ;)
See the link below for showings and other info.
http://www.patriotcinemas.com/nickelodeon.html
See the link below for showings and other info.
http://www.patriotcinemas.com/nickelodeon.html
Teaching and life . . .
Last Tuesday, while watching The Social Network at the Nickelodeon in Portland, my car was broken into. As I pulled up to the spot my little black Yaris was in, a guy asked me if this was my car and proceeded to tell me that someone had broken the driver's window and that the police had been there and left a note. I flew to the window where a few blueish bits of glass were still hanging on to the door and saw that my large LL Bean school bag, which had been perched, wide open, on the passenger seat just a few hours earlier, was gone. Shock, panic, anger. Hot tears, shaking hands, and for what? My school bag. People have mentioned the sense of being violated, the anger at being the victim of a crime, the loss of the feeling of safety that one should have in their hometown. To be perfectly honest, none of those things really bothered me. It was the fact that the punks who stole my school bag, save for my laptop, got nothing that was in any way valuable to them but got all of my favorite middle level books and magazines, notebooks on curriculum, leadership folders, binders filled with SBR work, and my favorite pink and purple Uniball pens. Not to mention all of the countless hours of work that lived on my laptop (thankfully much has been recovered from last year's back-ups, shared Noteshares, and emailed work).
Seriously, all of the other junk about crime, safety, violation, I don't care. I had my truck, filled with all of my possessions as I was in the process of moving from Maine to Washington State to go to school, stolen nine years ago. It sucked! But, I had insurance and they thieves eventually dumped my truck and many of my non-valuable things. I started over and really didn't miss my "stuff". In fact, it gave me the chance to get a new snowboard and other ski gear and a new stereo for my car.
This was different. None of the stuff stolen this time was really replaceable. I got a new laptop the next day. I'll get a new school bag (although I did really like that bag), and even the pens are easy to find at Staples. Ed has offered to help me find more books and I know I'll fill new notebooks with notes about curriculum, SBR, and leadership. But, I'll be honest, I've felt kind of lost in the classroom since last Wednesday. It is totally amazing that so much of me as a teacher was attached to the work I did outside of the classroom reflecting, reading, researching, and learning how to be a good teacher. Maybe I'm just in a funk. Maybe the whole thing did affect me in a deeper way. Or maybe I just had everything all planned out in that bag and now, that bag is at the bottom of a dumpster soon to be incinerated or buried in a landfill. It would almost make me feel better to see some kid downtown lugging that bag to the library. Then at least I know that something in that bag was valuable to someone!
Seriously, all of the other junk about crime, safety, violation, I don't care. I had my truck, filled with all of my possessions as I was in the process of moving from Maine to Washington State to go to school, stolen nine years ago. It sucked! But, I had insurance and they thieves eventually dumped my truck and many of my non-valuable things. I started over and really didn't miss my "stuff". In fact, it gave me the chance to get a new snowboard and other ski gear and a new stereo for my car.
This was different. None of the stuff stolen this time was really replaceable. I got a new laptop the next day. I'll get a new school bag (although I did really like that bag), and even the pens are easy to find at Staples. Ed has offered to help me find more books and I know I'll fill new notebooks with notes about curriculum, SBR, and leadership. But, I'll be honest, I've felt kind of lost in the classroom since last Wednesday. It is totally amazing that so much of me as a teacher was attached to the work I did outside of the classroom reflecting, reading, researching, and learning how to be a good teacher. Maybe I'm just in a funk. Maybe the whole thing did affect me in a deeper way. Or maybe I just had everything all planned out in that bag and now, that bag is at the bottom of a dumpster soon to be incinerated or buried in a landfill. It would almost make me feel better to see some kid downtown lugging that bag to the library. Then at least I know that something in that bag was valuable to someone!
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