Skip to main content

Home/ T531 Summer 2012/ Contents contributed and discussions participated by Jill Hamilton

Contents contributed and discussions participated by Jill Hamilton

Kristen Fuson

If Schools Are Broken, What Is the Solution? Answer: Urban School Reform-WRONG! - 18 views

started by Kristen Fuson on 17 May 12 no follow-up yet
  • Jill Hamilton
     
    This brings up a point of contention that I had with Kennedy. She seemed to be advocating for a more uniform approach to school reform in which teachers did the same things the same ways so that all children had access to the same education. I think it is important, however, to realize that one-size-fits-all doesn't always fit. It would be much easier to reform schools if it did, but our schools have to rely on individual teachers making individual decisions for individual students, a much scarier proposition. That means every school must have access to good teachers and every teacher must be trained to make good decisions given a variety of circumstances. That's much more difficult than the reform efforts that have been put into play so far.
Jill Hamilton

The Limits of School Reform - NYTimes.com - 0 views

    • Jill Hamilton
       
      I think it's true that teachers are being demonized. Just try typing "teacher" into YouTube and see what suggestions pop up afterward. I have been in this same situation where I have really worked hard and sacrificed for a student, and I feel like they're on the right track. Then, they move away or drop out of school to work or become pregnant, and there's very little I can do to prevent that. Sometimes it's frustrating to see a kid's test score from one day and realize that it's just a tiny, tiny measure of their potential. It's equally frustrating to have your career summed up in
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      1 or 2 statistics.
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      one or two statistics
  • the reform movement could use something else: a dose of humility about what it can accomplish — and what it can’t. 
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      This really connects to the Kennedy text in that she said that teachers are too divided in their focus. She said that the number of things we try to accomplish in a lesson makes our lessons almost meaningless.
Jill Hamilton

ABCNews - What Makes Great Teachers - 02-26-2010.ASF - YouTube - 5 views

  •  
    A very simple video about what makes teachers great
Jill Hamilton

Urban Schools Aiming Higher Than Diploma - New York Times - 6 views

    • Jill Hamilton
       
      When a school doesn't offer AP classes, it's saying that there's no one there smart enough to take one. What does that communicate to students?
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      I think it's important that we don't BEGIN the process of talking to students about college when they're in high school. It has to start much earlier. It has to be something they see themselves doing for a long time.
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      When schools are "tracking" students, do these figures linger in the back of their minds? Do they lead to a type of educational racial profiling?
  • ...11 more annotations...
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      My parents read over my college essays, and they encouraged me to have my teachers read over them, too. They didn't go to college, but they knew how to get me moving in the right direction. We can't assume that all parents have those skills, and we, as educators, might need to fill in the gaps.
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      That's a really familiar refrain amongst the parents of my ESL students! :)
    • Jill Hamilton
       
      Here's an Indianapolis non-profit that does this! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-S5VteR36U
  • college tours for students as early as seventh grade
  • Fewer than 18 percent of African-Americans and just 11 percent of Hispanics earn a bachelor’s degree, compared with almost a third of whites, ages 25 to 29
  • opportunity to take college courses for credit, to devoting senior English classes to writing college application essays, and holding parties to celebrate students who complete them.
  • Advanced Placement classes to every high school,
  • “Parents are coming home every day and saying, ‘I’m working and sacrificing so that you can do better than me,’ ”
  • We believe that every kid can learn at a high level and that college is for every child.”
  • freshman
  • nonprofit programs where they get extra help with tutoring, and with their college applications.
  •  
    I work for an urban summer enrichment program for grades 1-6, and we take a field trip each of the six weeks we meet. One of them is always to a college campus, and we try to do a lot of build-up and reflection around that trip.
1 - 5 of 5
Showing 20 items per page