Skip to main content

Home/ Teaching English in Central California/ Group items tagged article

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
Jennifer Flores

Teachers fight scripted curriculum - SFGate - 1 views

articles.sfgate.com/...chool-districts-middle-schools

While many compromise by using an anthology these teachers fight for novels.

shared by Jennifer Flores on 19 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Jennifer Flores on 19 Nov 10
     
    This article is about teachers who are fighting for literature in the classroom.
  • Ryan Williams on 19 Nov 10
     
    wow this article really makes me reconsider becoming a teacher. In fact this was a nightmare of mine, teaching no complete books and novels. How can students question texts critically if they cannot even finish the book. I find this new age teaching style insanely counterproductive because like the article stated some text provide a spark for the students to begin to question critically. If we continue to only use sections of full texts then the students are missing out on more possible discussion. The future seems darker for not only the students but for the teachers that once had to read a whole book and think.
Shannon George

A Brief History of Tenure - TIME - 1 views

www.time.com/...0,8599,1859505,00.html

shared by Shannon George on 09 Nov 10 - Cached
  • The problem with tenure, Rhee and other critics say, is that it inadvertently protects incompetent teachers from being fired.
  • Each state has its own stories: A Connecticut teacher received a mere 30-day suspension for helping students cheat on a standardized test; one California school board spent $8,000 to fire an instructor who preferred using R-rated movies instead of books; a Florida teacher remained in the classroom for a year despite incidents in which she threw books at her students and demanded they referred to her as "Ms. God."
  • And despite more than a century of social progress, the need to protect teachers from the whims (or the tyranny) of the community remains as important as ever
  • Shannon George on 09 Nov 10
     
    The article includes the ways in which teacher tenure began, as well as a brief synopsis about the conversation it enters.
Michelle Arce

More Alike Than Different: Promoting Respect Through Multicultural Books and Literacy S... - 0 views

findarticles.com/...ai_n54718446

shared by Michelle Arce on 13 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Michelle Arce on 13 Nov 10
     
    Not my research topic, but this article reminded me of our Lit. circle book, "Esperanza Rising." =)
  • Michelle Arce on 13 Nov 10
     
    Multicultural books & Literacy Strategies-- helps students gain a stronger sense of identity, especially when identifying with CULTURE.
Linda Garcia

The Answer Sheet - What 'Superman' got wrong, point by point - 6 views

voices.washingtonpost.com/...-superman-got-wrong-point.html

shared by Linda Garcia on 03 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Promise Academy is in many ways an excellent school, but it is dishonest for the filmmakers to say nothing about the funds it took to create it and the extensive social supports including free medical care and counseling provided by the zone
  • Two-thirds of Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone funding comes from private sources
  • In New Jersey, where court decisions mandated similar programs, such as high quality pre-kindergarten classes and extended school days and social services in the poorest urban districts, achievement and graduation rates increased while gaps started to close. But public funding for those programs is now being cut and progress is being eroded.
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • Most test score differences stubbornly continue to reflect parental income and neighborhood/zip codes, not what schools do. As opportunity, health and family wealth increase, so do test scores.
  • they reduce teachers to test-prep clerks, ignore important subject areas and critical thinking skills
  • But schools and teachers take the blame for huge social inequities in housing, health care, and income.
  • Unions have historically played leading roles in improving public education, and most nations with strong public educational systems have strong teacher unions.
  • The movie touts the benefits of fast track and direct entry to teaching programs such as Teach for America, but the country with the highest achieving students, Finland, also has highly educated teachers.
  • Charters were first proposed by the teachers’ unions to allow committed parents and teachers to create schools that were free of administrative bureaucracy and open to experimentation and innovation, and some excellent charters have set examples. But thousands of hustlers and snake oil salesmen have also jumped in.
  • And the Education Report, "The Evaluation of Charter School Impacts, concludes, “On average, charter middle schools that hold lotteries are neither more nor less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior, and school progress.”
  • The Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University, concludes that only 17% of charter schools have better test scores than traditional public schools, 46% had gains that were no different than their public counterparts, and 37% were significantly worse. While a better measure of school success is needed
  • While a better measure of school success is needed
  • While a better measure of school success is needed
  • It is not a sustainable public policy to allow more and more public school funding to be diverted to privately subsidized charters while public schools become the schools of last resort for children with the greatest educational needs.
  • In spite of the many millions of dollars poured into expounding the theory of paying teachers for higher student test scores (sometimes mislabeled as ‘merit pay’), a new study by Vanderbilt University’s National Center on Performance Incentives found that the use of merit pay for teachers in the Nashville school district produced no difference even according to their measure, test outcomes for students.
  • approximately a third of America’s new teachers leave teaching sometime during their first three years of teaching; almost half leave during the first five years.
  • many of the top students have been lured to careers in finance and consulting.” It’s the market, and the disproportionately high salaries paid to finance specialists, that is misdirecting human resources, not schools.
  • They ignore the social construction of knowledge, the difference between deep learning and rote memorization.
  • This is a common theme of the so-called reformers: We are at war with India and China and we have to out-math them and crush them so that we can remain rich and they can stay in the sweatshops. But really, who declared this war? When did I as a teacher sign up as an officer in this war? And when did that 4th grade girl become a soldier in it? Instead of this new educational Cold War, perhaps we should be helping kids imagine a world of global cooperation, sustainable economies, and equity.
  • So the outcome of No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top has been more funding for schools that are doing well and more discipline and narrow test-preparation for the poorest schools.
  • Waiting for Superman has ignored deep historical and systemic problems in education such as segregation, property-tax based funding formulas, centralized textbook production, lack of local autonomy and shared governance, de-professionalization, inadequate special education supports, differential discipline patterns, and the list goes on and on.
  • anonymous on 03 Oct 10
     
    This post corrects the misinformation in Waiting for Superman.
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Benjamin Caulder on 22 Oct 10
     
    This is a good read. I don't know if its only me but "documentary" somehow implicitly means "true story". There really ought to be some sort of rating system, like G-NC17, for the accuracy of a documentary so the public doesn't buy the misinformation.
  • Evonne Villagomez on 18 Nov 10
     
    This is article is particularly helpful for me since my essay is on charter schools. I found this read interesting because it hihglights the areas in education which charter schools seem to be disregarding.
  • Kyle Dodson on 18 Nov 10
     
    I love the criticism if offers on the poster/ text alone. Many professors in the credential program are irate over the film and it's nice to see point-by-point what is wrong with the "documentary." I just love this article in general. It helps to be able to combat certain statistics in conversation too :)
Michelle Arce

Making Schools Work with Hedrick Smith . School-By-School Reform . Scripted Lessons | PBS - 4 views

www.pbs.org/...lessons.html

shared by Michelle Arce on 26 Oct 10 - Cached
  • proven methods
    • Ashley Muniz
      Ashley Muniz on 26 Oct 10
       
      I wish the article was more specific about what the "proven methods" are
  • As an experienced teacher she found the process of adopting her district’s program “humiliating and demeaning.”
    • Michelle Arce
      Michelle Arce on 16 Nov 10
       
      I totally understand why experienced teachers may feel this way. HOWEVER, this is a way for our school system to make sure that teachers are at least addressing the correct material in class.
  • Ashley Muniz on 26 Oct 10
     
    This article is about scripted lessons and teachers reactions to them
  • ...1 more comment...
  • ameia sarkisian on 29 Oct 10
     
    I can see how failing inner city schools, with students in the absolute worst conditions, might benefit from a scripted program. I don't agree that it's right, but I can see how one might justify the implementation of such a method when all else seems to have failed. I cringed at the end of the article when the teacher said that the scripted program "allowed for alittle bit of personality" on the teacher's part to show through... A LITTLE BIT?! Isn't the personality of the teacher that acts as an example for the students? isn't it the personality of the teacher that students "judge" right off the bat, sometimes effecting how much they choose to learn and participate in that particular class? I can't believe people actually believe our whole nation, which is SUPPOSED to be a diverse melting pot of people and experience, should adopt this rigid and inflexible curriculum method.
  • Ashley Muniz on 05 Nov 10
     
    I agree that direct instruction may help some students but I feel like a scripted lesson denies the individuality of the students and the teacher. These types of lessons tell you how to conduct the lesson word for word as well as how to answer students' questions. I feel like this takes all creativity out of teaching and turns the teacher into a robot. These systems are also meant to "teacher-proof" the classroom so that even bad teacher can "teach" as long as they know how to read.
  • ameia sarkisian on 05 Nov 10
     
    Wow and the scripted curriculum even tells the teacher how to answer questions?! If school, especially high school, is supposed to reflect a small scale-real world for students then what kind of message are we sending when we ("we" being teachers) are told how to do everything by a higher power; that we're all more successful if we do everything exactly the same all the time? So much for the development of critical literacy.
Anthony Logan

Firing teachers can be a costly and tortuous task - Los Angeles Times - 1 views

articles.latimes.com/...me-teachers3

tenure collection Teaching

shared by Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Anthony Logan
      Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
       
      The most chilling part of this is that he kept his job after taunting this child (who already has issues of his own to deal with) and allowing others to join in on the taunting,
  • Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
     
    This is a very long collection of articles about tenure in California, and how difficult it is to fire a tenured teacher, even in the face of misconduct.
Michelle Arce

Making Instructional Adaptations for English Learners in the Mainstream Classroom: Is I... - 3 views

findarticles.com/...ai_n17186319

ELL in mainstream classrooms

shared by Michelle Arce on 28 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Michelle Arce on 28 Oct 10
     
    Article revolving around EL learners... Is enough being done to help these students?
Jennifer Flores

Scripted Curriculum: Is It a Prescription for Success? - 2 views

findarticles.com/...pg_4

shared by Jennifer Flores on 13 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Jennifer Flores on 13 Nov 10
     
    This article examines how scripted curriculum can reach every student. Classrooms are made up of diverse students from different ethnic groups and cultures. How can one scripted curriculum a one dimensional way of teaching reach every student?
Michelle Arce

AN EMERGING SUCCESS | Patriot Ledger, The; Quincy, Mass. Newspaper | Find Articles at BNET - 0 views

findarticles.com/...ai_n47794819

shared by Michelle Arce on 13 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Michelle Arce on 13 Nov 10
     
    English Immersion rather than bilingual education. English Immersion has seen better results, according to this article.
Evonne Villagomez

The Pros and Cons of Charter School Systems - Associated Content from Yahoo! - associat... - 2 views

www.associatedcontent.com/...nd_cons_of_charter_school.html

shared by Evonne Villagomez on 18 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Evonne Villagomez on 18 Nov 10
     
    This article gives a description of how charter schools fucntion. The article goes on to discuss the positive qualities that charter schools offer in comparison to traditional public schools.
anonymous

Best Practices - 2 views

www.amphi.com/...bestpract.htm

Diigo Research web2.0

shared by anonymous on 21 Mar 10 - Cached
  • Eric Wheeler on 21 Mar 10
     
    A great article on why/how Diigo can be a useful classroom research tool.
  • anonymous on 21 Mar 10
     
    Great article about how to use Diigo as a teaching tool
Mallorie Fagundes

Effects of the California High School Exit Exam - 3 views

www.eric.ed.gov.login.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu/...ED510168.pdf

CAHSEE Cons Negative Effects Literacy

shared by Mallorie Fagundes on 26 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • Mallorie Fagundes on 26 Oct 10
     
    "Sean Reardon and Michal Kurlaender summarize the findings from a study investigating the impact of the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) on California's lowest performing students. [...] They found that the CAHSEE requirement has had no positive efects on students' academic skills" (quoted from the abstract).
  • ...1 more comment...
  • Justin Norris on 26 Oct 10
     
    Wow. This is an interesting read. I'm thinking about writing my research paper about the CAHSEE, so, thank you for this find!
  • Mallorie Fagundes on 27 Oct 10
     
    It was very interesting. I am writing mine on CAHSEE as well; maybe you and I can get together and discuss what we find. I was expecting to find positive articles for the CAHSEE possibly explaining why it is necessary, but I mostly found articles that rebut the CAHSEE.
  • Justin Norris on 28 Oct 10
     
    Yeah, same here. I just posted a website that shows the stats of the CAHSEE and how students have been doing on them since 2004. For every ethnicity, percentages have gone up every year since 04. Though it doesn't have anything to do with how effective the CAHSEE is in regard to literacy, it's still interesting to see. I'm sure there's a relationship with the improving scores and how the curriculum keeps changing in classrooms in order to focus on getting higher CAHSEE scores.
Stephanie Flores

Tenure Protects Good Teachers, Too - 1 views

www.educationreport.org/...article.aspx

shared by Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10 - Cached
  • Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
     
    This article is a little older but I felt the experience was important. Dirk Koorstra explains his experience as an educator and how teacher tenure has protected him in difficult processes.
Elvira Ledezma

State school board adopts Common Core standards - SFGate - 2 views

articles.sfgate.com/...n-core-standards-new-standards

shared by Elvira Ledezma on 09 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Yet despite initial concerns that the new national academic standards would dumb down California's curriculum, state education officials said Monday that with just a few tweaks and some additional content, the new standards will give kids a stronger, more organized approach to math and English.
Ashley Muniz

Creative Teaching: Collaborative Discussion as Disciplined Improvisation - 1 views

edr.sagepub.com/...12.full.pdf+html

Scripted Teaching

shared by Ashley Muniz on 05 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Ashley Muniz on 05 Nov 10
     
    This articles examines the need for Creative teaching as opposed to Scripted teaching. The article argues that the learning generated from creative teaching is harder to quantify on standardized testing where as the lower order skills taught through scripted lessons are easier to measure.
Shannon George

Rhee Tackles Classroom Challenge - TIME - 1 views

www.time.com/...0,9171,1862444-4,00.html

shared by Shannon George on 09 Nov 10 - Cached
  • They could make up to $130,000 in merit pay on the basis of their effectiveness--in exchange for giving up tenure for one year. Or they could keep tenure and accept a smaller raise. (Currently, the average teacher's salary in Washington is $65,902.)
  • Rhee listened but did not offer many specific solutions. "She was vague," Rhodes says. "I got the sense she didn't want to make promises she couldn't keep."
  • Shannon George on 09 Nov 10
     
    The article looks at the "local" ways that Rhee makes a difference, and the way that she may be too harsh.
ameia sarkisian

ALA | Banned and/or Challenged Books from the Radcliffe Publishing Course Top 100 Novel... - 3 views

www.ala.org/...index.cfm

shared by ameia sarkisian on 29 Oct 10 - Cached
  • ameia sarkisian on 29 Oct 10
     
    This isn't really an article, but I thought the website might come in handy for people other than myself. Skim some of the reasons why these books are banned form their respective schools...
Ashley Muniz

Is Your Child Being Taught From a Script? | Education.com - 2 views

www.education.com/...Scripted_Teaching

scripted lessons

shared by Ashley Muniz on 04 Nov 10 - Cached
  • Ashley Muniz on 04 Nov 10
     
    This article looks at why scripted lessons are used, if they are actually effective, and whether teachers are employing scripted lessons in the classroom
Ashley Muniz

Teaching by the Book, No Asides Allowed - New York Times - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...he-book-no-asides-allowed.html

scripted lessons

shared by Ashley Muniz on 10 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Asked for examples, she said that Ms. Moffett had improved her classroom bulletin boards by putting up only the best work instead of work by every student; learned to sprinkle phrases from Success for All into lessons throughout the school day; and become a better disciplinarian by not frolicking with the students as much as in the fall.
  • Ashley Muniz on 10 Nov 10
     
    This article follows the experiences of a first year teacher in a school that utilizes scripted curriculum
Ryan Williams

Unraveling the Myths of Accountability: A Case Study of the California High School Exit... - 1 views

This article focuses on all the negative affects on students and teachers using the CAHSEE exam. This article also describes how flawed the reasons the legislators give to enforce students to conti...

http:__web.ebscohost.com.login.hmlproxy.lib.csufresno.edu_ehost_detail?vid=3&hid=14&sid=6363fb85-6b38-4bc3-b198-bbf4f3ab32d1%40sessionmgr10&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=eric&AN=EJ839386

started by Ryan Williams on 15 Nov 10 no follow-up yet
1 - 20 of 57 Next › Last »
Showing 20▼ items per page