Skip to main content

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

Rss Feed Group items tagged

Filter: All | Bookmarks | Topics Simple Middle
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 :)
Linda Garcia

ASCD Infobrief:Examining Charter Schools:Examining Charter Schools - 1 views

www.ascd.org/...Examining-Charter-Schools.aspx

shared by Linda Garcia on 28 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • By definition, the common link among these 5,000-plus schools is their acceptance of increased accountability in exchange for increased autonomy, but the schools themselves may have little in common
  • More than three-quarters of charter schools nationwide are freestanding, started by educators, parents, activists, and others
  • Although Americans' approval of charter schools has increased 15 percent in the last five years and reached a two-thirds favorable rating, half of the respondents to a recent Phi Delta Kappan poll mistakenly believe that charters are not public schools and are allowed to teach religion.
  • ...12 more annotations...
  • saying that charter schools are vital to promoting innovation in American schools (Obama, 2009)
  • With so much variation among charter schools, however, significant questions exist regarding how well they are educating students, how they manage their financial responsibilities, and whether creating more charter schools will be better for the nation's schoolchildren.
  • In 2009, Secretary Duncan made lifting charter caps a key component of qualifying for education funding under the $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RTTT) program. Originally, to qualify for RTTT money, Duncan said states must eliminate any caps on charter schools. In November 2009, Duncan changed the requirement so that states with caps could still receive money if they had other kinds of innovative public schools and as long as the caps were generous enough (The Wall Street Journal, 2009).
  • Parents' demand for charter schools is outpacing their availability in many locations, with an estimated 365,000 students on waitlists—enough to fill more than 1,100 average-sized charter schools
  • In Montana, where there are no charter schools and where more than half of the state's school districts have enrollments of fewer than 100 students, Superintendent of Schools Denise Juneau objected to the RTTT focus on charter schools in a July 28 letter to Secretary Duncan. "Montana's rural context and economic status has made it challenging for many communities and the state to support the public schools we currently have," Juneau wrote in the letter, "much less encourage the duplication of infrastructure a charter school would mean in most communities" (McNeil, 2009).
  • "The charter movement is putting itself at risk by allowing too many second-rate and third-rate schools to exist," he said, in reference to a recent study by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University that found that more than 80 percent of charter schools were performing the same as or worse than their local public schools (2009).
  • The comparison found that only 17 percent of charter schools were producing gains that were significantly better than their traditional public school counterparts, while 46 percent were similar to their local public schools and 37 percent performed significantly worse (Center for Research on Education Outcomes, 2009).
  • In contrast, another recent study by Stanford economics professor Caroline Hoxby found that students who entered lotteries and gained admission to New York City charter schools performed better on state assessments than students who entered the same lotteries and were not admitted to the charter schools.
  • The findings of both studies have been disputed. Critics of the Hoxby study point out that it relies on extrapolations of data, comparing statistical projections of student achievement as opposed to actual student achievement (Ravitch, 2009). Critics of the CREDO study raise doubts about its seemingly contradictory findings that charter schools provided gains for English language learners and poor students while having negative effects on Hispanic and black students (Anderson, 2009).
  • For middle and high school charters that did have baseline scores, that study found charter schools in five of the seven locations it examined were on average no better or worse than local traditional public schools (Zimmer et al., 2009).
  • Of the more than 5,250 charter schools that have ever opened, 657 have closed since 1992. Of those, 41 percent closed because of financial deficiencies caused by either low enrollment or inequitable funding; 27 percent for mismanagement; and only 14 percent for poor academic performance (Allen et al., 2009).
  • A 2005 analysis by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools (NAPCS) found that 90 percent of authorizers were local school districts, and two-thirds lacked a dedicated office or staff to oversee the authorizing process (Vanourek, 2005). NAPCS, which has described quality authorizing as an intensive, data-driven process that requires dedicating substantial resources to the task, has called for stricter accountability for local school boards and other entities that authorize charter schools
  • anonymous on 28 Oct 10
     
    An examination of charter schools
Jacob Eckrich

Back in Black - Education Crisis - The Daily Show with Jon Stewart - 10/05/10 - Video C... - 4 views

www.thedailyshow.com/...ck-in-black---education-crisis

Education Funding

shared by Jacob Eckrich on 19 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Jacob Eckrich
      Jacob Eckrich on 19 Nov 10
       
      While this is a comedy show, its political and social relevence is great. While I don't agree with a ll the views presented on this show, it does force people to think.
  • Jacob Eckrich on 19 Nov 10
     
    While this is funny, it is also depressing. It goes to show you how poorly education is being reformed, and how little many of us know how to go about fixing it.
  • Jennifer Flores on 19 Nov 10
     
    Jacob this was really funny, but like you said very sad at the same time. Our education system is crap and everyone knows it. There are so many people saying they have the answers, but no one is stepping up to the plate to fix it. I'm not saying I have the answers, but there has to be something we can do to make it better.
anonymous

Weblogg-ed » "Disposable Reform" - 0 views

weblogg-ed.com/...disposable-reform

shared by anonymous on 27 Aug 10 - Cached
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 27 Aug 10
       
      This is fascinating. I agree that "real" learning is self-motivated and directed--and yet we've trained students to think that the only thing that is valuable is what the teacher says. I do a lot of group work in my classes, and one of my colleagues asked me recently if I got bored since I wasn't on stage, so to speak, all the time. I do sometimes, but I don't think my class is about me, it's about helping my students learn. And I believe they learn more if they are actively engaged . . . which is more likely to happen in a smaller group than in a whole class discussion.
  • “What % of teacher ed programs prepare teachers NOT to be the focal point of the classroom?” and the responses were telling. Most said 5-10%, and my sense is that’s pretty accurate.
  • But I also found it striking that she connected our difficulty in sustaining change with what she termed our “disposable culture” here in the US. We try one reform and dispose of it, then we try another and dispose of that one, and then we try yet another. And I can’t help ask, whose fault is that?
  • ...1 more annotation...
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 27 Aug 10
       
      Again, I totally agree. After teaching here in Fresno for 11 years, I've seen so many initiatives to create collaboration between high school and the university. I worked with a great project when I first arrived here, a literacy center at Fresno High. CSUF students, many of whom wanted to be teachers, would tutor high schools, sometimes in the classroom, sometimes in the Literacy Center's room. Everyone involved in the project loved it . . . but after three years, the funding ran out. Now there's discussion yet again about another round of university intervention in high schools . . . I wish we could just develop a great program that would receive long-term funding, instead of just a "flavor-of-the-day" approach to education.
  • anonymous on 27 Aug 10
     
    Interesting blog about how we repeatedly introduce "new" programs and ideas in schools, only to abandon them for the next wave of "new" ideas.
ameia sarkisian

Censorship and Banned Books in Schools - 5 views

712educators.about.com/...bookbanning.htm

shared by ameia sarkisian on 03 Nov 10 - Cached
  • ameia sarkisian on 03 Nov 10
     
    Banning books in the high school classroom... What constitutes a banned book? Who gets to decide what books are banned?
  • ...2 more comments...
  • Ashley Muniz on 05 Nov 10
     
    Too many people think that the world should revolve around their children that schools should only teach the things that align with their values. While wanting to protect your kids is fine, I believe that people often take things to far. I can understand banned books in private religious schools but not in the public school system. Unfortunately we live in a time when you have to be overly careful with what you say and do because you might offend someone and its getting ridiculous.Any book can be deemed offensive by a reader so does that mean we should ban all books just to avoid conflict?
  • ameia sarkisian on 05 Nov 10
     
    I totally agree! I also see the reasons behind banning books in religious schools, but I still can't bring myself to agree with it. banning is a really strong word... I think maybe "screening" or sending permission slips home, or warning students and parents of the content of certain books. On a side note, I went through nine years of private catholic education and never once was I told that I couldn't read something. In fact Steinbeck, Saroyan and other books that I've noticed on several banned-books lists were part of our curriculum.
  • Ryan Williams on 19 Nov 10
     
    I read your article and it amazes me how many known books are now considered inappropriate to be taught in the classroom. I guess my question is when a book is too inappropriate to be taught. I am of course assuming the lower the grade of the students the more controversial it is to break away from the set course of what they should be reading. It is strange how some books are now considered inappropriate when in the past they would be held as literature and how some banned books are now appropriate. Also, are children now unable to read books that might not be appropriate simply because the parents believe it to be? Should students be restricted in what they read? I guess eventually the banned books list will continue to grow until most people are happy or they will make different version of "The Hungry Caterpillar". Oh also did you see the new banned book that just recently came out, "The Pedophile s Guide To Love and Pleasure A Child Lover". What are you views on this new addition to the banned books pile? Honestly I don't see how this book could be taught in school unless in Criminology class.
  • ameia sarkisian on 19 Nov 10
     
    I'm very hesitant to ever say that a book should be banned. It goes against our most basic constitutional beliefs of freedom of expression, and it prompts the questions "who get to decide the criteria for a banned book?" and "how far are we willing to go with nixing books off the list just to please some people?" HOWEVER if ever there were a book that I would recommend be nixed, it would definitely be a book for teaching pedophiles how to best prey on children. That's just ridiculous. I don't think a book like that would ever be able to make it into any sort of a classroom curriculum.
Benjamin Caulder

Standardized Testing: A Race to Nowhere | Dailycensored.com - 2 views

dailycensored.com/...ized-testing-a-race-to-nowhere

standardized tests

shared by Benjamin Caulder on 17 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 17 Nov 10
       
      This right here, is scary. When the group think has permeated so deep into our cultural perception that standardized testing as they are today are beneficial that even a teacher has bought in... shudder.
    • Ashley Muniz
      Ashley Muniz on 17 Nov 10
       
      This teachers view of testing is contradictory to most educators that I have encountered. In fact many educators vehemently disagree with mandated testing and its consequences. It is a scary thought when educators believe their is benefit for students in high stakes testing.
    • Elvira Ledezma
      Elvira Ledezma on 18 Nov 10
       
      I agree Ashley; I have not heard many teachers say that standerdized testing is good. Standardized testing is lowering down the curriculum I believe.
  • Jacob Eckrich on 19 Nov 10
     
    Standardized testing cripples cirriculum. It greatly limits the scope and breadth of knowledge. In fact, true knowledge isn't even really gained from this form of education. Not to mention, the idea of a standard in nearly all other areas of society is looked down upon. For instance, say that everyone should be held to the "Christian" standard. This would cause a frenzy, as"Chrsitian" ethics are not held in esteem by all. Yet when dealing with education, the opposite is assumed.
anonymous

Literary classics shelved for writing - SignOnSanDiego.com - 1 views

www.signonsandiego.com/...cs-shelved-in-retooled-english

Classics ERWC

shared by anonymous on 01 Sep 10 - Cached
  • anonymous on 01 Sep 10
     
    Teach rhetoric and banish the classics from HS English classes? What do you think?
  • Cathy Blanchfield on 02 Sep 10
     
    This is the Expository Reading and Writing Course that many of us are adopting. It actually doesn't have to be an either/or. Yes there is less literature and more expository writing; however, most of us also incorporate some literature. I teach Things Fall Apart in a Socratic Seminar format, Macbeth in a more traditional format, and some poetry. The modules from the Expository Reading and Writing Binder are open-ended and need some updating, but they give students an excellent variety of college-like readings and writing instruction. Students learn to critically read passages and interpret their own thinking in writing. The writing instruction is key and not as well defined as the reading instruction in the modules. Teachers need to creatively design the lessons to prepare students to write argument with ease.
anonymous

MinnPost - Why all the fuss over value-added teacher data? - 1 views

www.minnpost.com/..._over_value-added_teacher_data

Teachers ValueAdded

shared by anonymous on 29 Oct 10 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 29 Oct 10
     
    This article is more positive about value added measures of teacher performance than many other sources I've seen.
Shannon George

Teachers agree: Bad teachers with tenure too tough to fire - USATODAY.com - 6 views

www.usatoday.com/...08-05-06-teachers-tenure_n.htm

shared by Shannon George on 02 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Anthony Logan
      Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
       
      Are the lack of evaluations to blame for ineffective teachers getting tenured status?  If so, what can we do to fix it? 
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 02 Nov 10
       
      I don't have evidence to back this up as it was from the mouth of one of my credential program profs. but what he said was that for the first couple of years teachers have to play a political game to make sure they get tenure then once they have it, its a different game they play with the school and the union. Not all "bad" teachers are really "bad" teachers, but for those that really are my prof. argued that the system works if the admin is actually willing to follow through to the end, which can be as long as 2 years. Most admins aren't willing. Sorry I can't provide evidence to back that up.
    • ameia sarkisian
      ameia sarkisian on 03 Nov 10
       
      Yeah, that's really sad that administrators aren't willing to go through the process, however long and arduous it may be, to make the learning environment a better place.
    • Michael Horder
      Michael Horder on 08 Nov 10
       
      I have heard that as well, Ben. Admins rarely put in the effort to reprimand teachers. The teacher's union protects all teachers, good or bad. Admins are afraid to go up against the union because they have so much power. I think teacher's union might be the problem with the whole tenure thing. Another interesting note. If you look at the leadership of teacher's unions i.e. the reps. They are some of the "bad" teachers. I know this is true in Madera, and I have been told the same thing occurs in other districts. I find that fascinating. Bad teachers protecting bad teachers. Hhhmmm. Bad system maybe?
  • Tenure provides teachers with job security and generally is awarded a few years after educators enter the profession
    • Shannon George
      Shannon George on 15 Nov 10
       
      Sadly, tenure is being mis-used. The original intention of tenure was for teachers to have due-process if they were being fired; it was an effort to help. Now it has turned into a "job for life," and many districts have to treat it like that or they will have to pay big money to the Unions.
    • Ryan Williams
      Ryan Williams on 19 Nov 10
       
      yeah I have read this statement time and time again. I guess it would make a huge difference to students and the administrations if the tenure teachers were ineffective, but I just don't see a negative trend among teachers that have earned their tenure. I have had quite a few tenure teachers at Fresno State and they are not all old burned out senile geezers that need to be fired.
  • Anthony Logan on 02 Nov 10
     
    Tenured teachers are hard to get rid of, even other teachers acknowledge this.
  • ameia sarkisian on 03 Nov 10
     
    There is a section towards the middle of this article where they talk about principals not wanting to "deal with" the ensuing process after they discover a less-than-effective tenure teacher... I find that to be kind of a scary thought... The PRINCIPALS, the administration in charge of ensuring the best for our students, don't want to deal with the problems that they were hired to face if necessary?! I think that evaluating the teachers and giving them feedback is important for the teachers (especially the "bad" ones) but what happens when the people in charge of evaluating them feel like it''s "pointless?"
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.
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.
Evonne Villagomez

YouTube - Charter Schools vs. Public Schools - 1 views

www.youtube.com/watch

shared by Evonne Villagomez on 18 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • Evonne Villagomez on 18 Nov 10
     
    This video describes how charter schools are different from traditional public schools.
  • Kyle Dodson on 18 Nov 10
     
    This is a good comparison. It bothers me in class how many times (older) people discuss how their son or daughter's charter/ private school scores higher on test scores than clovis or fresno unified, but they fail to understand the entire system is completely different.
anonymous

10 Tools for Digital Storytelling in Class | The Whiteboard Blog - 1 views

www.whiteboardblog.co.uk/...-digital-storytelling-in-class

digitalstorytelling Classroom2.0

shared by anonymous on 08 Jul 11 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 08 Jul 11
     
    Tools to create digital stories (many of them are animated rather than live action)
1 - 13 of 13
Showing 20▼ items per page