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Mallorie Fagundes

Thomas: Stop focusing on SAT - Editorial Columns - TheState.com - 4 views

www.thestate.com/...omas-stop-focusing-on-sat.html

shared by Mallorie Fagundes on 22 Oct 10 - No Cached
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 22 Oct 10
       
      A look at the SAT and why we shouldn't use it, hint: He argues against its credibility.
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
       
      Interesting... I don't see how colleges will agree with this statement. From my understanding colleges want students with higher scores and GPAs since that makes their overall numbers appealing to the state and other students wanting to attend. I believe that the goal is contradicting, but I also think that colleges becoming SAT optional won't be passed.
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 29 Oct 10
       
      I agree, I don't think colleges will give up on SATs, especially after reading Shor today. It doesn't mean that they shouldn't though. The SAT isn't a reliable exam for all college bound students as is so heavily biased towards the middle to upper middle class students.
    • Stephanie Flores
      Stephanie Flores on 26 Oct 10
       
      I don't agree with this at all. GPAs are subjective. Just like in one of the articles that we read in class, students learn how to "do school" and get grades that don't reflect their true understanding of the curriculum. I don't believe that the SAT should be banned because more students are encouraged to take it. Isn't that what we want to do for students, encourage them to their full potential even if they may not be NASA material? Also, poverty has and always will be an issue in the education system. This is not ground breaking news. Maybe if we encourage those with low SES to achieve higher standards they will in turn succeed in school.
    • Mallorie Fagundes
      Mallorie Fagundes on 29 Oct 10
       
      Keep in mind that he is only suggesting that SC not have the SAT anymore...so what I am wondering is if a student from SC wants to go to an out-of-state school, wouldnt that students have to adhere to that particular school's standards?? It doesnt really make sense, unless each college starts to have their "own" SAT, kind of like an entrance exam? I agree that students can learn how to "do school" and get by, but honestly as a student who had over a 4.0 in high school as I am sure most others in our class did as well, it is pretty difficult to fake your way through four years with straight A's without picking up something.
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 29 Oct 10
       
      That is what I got from that as well. Overall, I thought the idea was interesting. I also think that it would have a lot of merit if classrooms were actually like what we have been reading about (as the ideal, where teachers don't have to read a script) since GPA would be a fairer indicator of academic achievement that a SES biased exam like the SAT.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The pool of students taking the SAT 20 years ago, before we began to encourage more students to take the test, was a unique population that was more elite than the normal distribution of students.
    • Mallorie Fagundes
      Mallorie Fagundes on 29 Oct 10
       
      I wonder why he considers students taking the test 20 years ago "elite"? If more students are encouraged to take the SATs today, wouldnt that make today's group more diverse??
    • Mallorie Fagundes
      Mallorie Fagundes on 29 Oct 10
       
      What is "normal distribution"?
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
Evonne Villagomez

Are Students Coddled? Schools Get Rid of 'F's - ABC News - 5 views

abcnews.go.com/...story

shared by Evonne Villagomez on 18 Nov 10 - Cached
    • Jennifer Flores
      Jennifer Flores on 19 Nov 10
       
      Wow! This article blew my mind. I cannot believe that schools would actually go that low. How can they even think about getting rid of F's to help the kids. This is exactly the opposite of what kids really need. I truly believe students receive the grades that they deserve. With hard work comes good grades and with poor work comes poor grades.
  • At one Boston area middle school, a policy known as "Zeros Aren't Permitted" gives students who do not complete their homework on time an opportunity during school hours to finish so that they do not fail the assignment.
    • Evonne Villagomez
      Evonne Villagomez on 19 Nov 10
       
      This is absolutely irritating! Why should these kids, who didn't care to do the assignment in the first place be offered a second chance? I think this is just cause for enabling lazy students. Kids will just assume that 'eh who cares I'll still get the chance to make up the work so I don't have to do it tonight'. It's ridiculous and unfair for those students who are being model students.
  • Kyle Dodson on 18 Nov 10
     
    This article is nothing but angering to me. More and more public schools are ditching the letter grade of "F" for a more friendly rejection grade, relying on an "I" for incomplete or an "H" for held.
  • Michael Horder on 18 Nov 10
     
    This is just stupid. If a child earns and F then that is what they should get. I've heard about this before and I can't believe it. Let's just get rid of A's as well. We can go "credit/no credit" so everyone can feel good about themselves. I see the movie "Idocracy" looming in our future if we make these kind of decisions. That is scary.
  • Jacob Eckrich on 19 Nov 10
     
    The biggest problem with this, is it sets students up for failure later on in life. Part of education is also life application and readiness. If a student who performs badly never "fails" then said student will have a skewes perception of how life works, that will have devestating effects later on lin life.
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.
Elvira Ledezma

Why are standards important? - Academic Skills | GreatSchools - 1 views

www.greatschools.org/...why-are-standards-important.gs

shared by Elvira Ledezma on 06 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • . These standards become the basis for the way teachers are trained, what they teach and what is on state standardized tests that students take. For example, a first-grade math standard may state that by the end of first grade students are expected to count by 2s, 5s and 10s to 100.
  • . Although poor and minority students have made gains, there is still a big difference — commonly called "the achievement gap" — between what these students have achieved when compared to their more affluent and white peers.
  • Without standards, districts and schools don't have goals to shoot for.
    • Elvira Ledezma
      Elvira Ledezma on 06 Nov 10
       
      As adults we know this is not true, no standards is not equal to no goals!
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 06 Nov 10
       
      A developmentalist would laugh his/her butt off at that statement because it is impossible to have standards without goals, but not visa-versa.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • Critics argue that having rigid standards and tests discourages schools from being innovative and inspiring creativity in their students.
  • Elvira Ledezma on 06 Nov 10
     
    What are national standards
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?
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 :)
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.
Benjamin Caulder

Duncan, Bennett: NCLB caused standards to lower - CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs - 1 views

politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/...nclb-caused-standards-to-lower

standardized tests NCLB

shared by Benjamin Caulder on 17 Nov 10 - No Cached
    • Benjamin Caulder
      Benjamin Caulder on 17 Nov 10
       
      This quote right here needs to be on every teacher's mirror for them to stare at as they get ready for their day: "This is the civil rights issue of our generation. There is also and economic imperative." I could agree more.
    • Ashley Muniz
      Ashley Muniz on 17 Nov 10
       
      In my opinion, the effects of NCLB are detrimental to student learning and success which I agree makes it a civil rights issue. I don't think it is fair that all students in a school must suffer because their school does not meet the required test scores. I think NCLB is good in theory but not in practice
    • Ryan Williams
      Ryan Williams on 19 Nov 10
       
      The NCLB is just horrible, we can see this just by reviewing the test scores of the students. I just don't see how anything good came out of this for both students and teachers. The students are failing more and who gets blamed for the low test scores?
anonymous

Innovations in Teacher Prep Programs | Edutopia - 2 views

www.edutopia.org/...ograms-innovations-anne-obrien

TeacherPrep

shared by anonymous on 24 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Research shows the importance of mentoring new teachers, so why not push that mentoring down into the student teaching experience? And also, why do student teaching programs take effective, experienced teachers out of the classroom while novice teachers are learning? They should always be available to work with kids.
  • And they graduate knowing how to collaborate with other professionals -- a skill that is increasingly valued in educators.
    • anonymous
      anonymous on 24 Jan 11
       
      CSUF is considering co-teaching because of the ways that schools are responding to standardized assessment. This model allows master teachers to stay in the classroom with the student teacher--which, CSUF hopes, would reassure districts and schools who are becoming less likely to want student teachers. An interesting by-product is how student teachers would learn to collaborate.
  • anonymous on 24 Jan 11
     
    A brief article about teacher preparation programs. CSUF is considering the co-teaching model. What do you think?
Elvira Ledezma

Common Core Standards Initiative - Year 2010 (CA Dept of Education) - 0 views

www.cde.ca.gov/...yr10rel67.asp

shared by Elvira Ledezma on 06 Nov 10 - No Cached
  • articulated staircasing of student skills will help accelerate improvement in student performance and close the achievement gap," he said.
  • The rigorous, internationally competitive common core standards will help better prepare California students for success in the increasingly competitive global economy," O'Connell said.
  • By adopting such the common core standards, California can choose to look to the future and build upon what is the best of our own current – and considerable — standards with the best of what other states and high-performing countries offer their students.
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.
Eric Wheeler

EUSD iRead - 1 views

sites.google.com/...home

ipod ipodtouch iread audio reading itunes itouch

shared by Eric Wheeler on 11 Jan 11 - No Cached
  • Eric Wheeler on 11 Jan 11
     
    From their page: iRead is a group of teachers in Escondido Union School District dedicated to the idea that digital audio can be a powerful learning tool for all students. iRead will give you a chance to create meaningful, curriculum-centered audio projects with your students. Teachers are using digital audio tools (iPods, mics, Garageband, iTunes, Keynote, etc. and various accessories) to improve reading processes. Teachers meet on a monthly basis to exchange ideas and strategies. We started in 2006-07 by collecting data about fluency rates - this has been very promising.
anonymous

Education Week: Schooling as a Knowledge Profession - 0 views

www.edweek.org/...26mehta_ep.h30.html

EducationReform

shared by anonymous on 29 Mar 11 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 29 Mar 11
     
    "At the cutting edge is New York City, which, under former Schools Chancellor Joel I. Klein, sought to disrupt the usual hierarchies and create "inquiry teams" within schools to investigate problems of practice. These inquiry teams, for example, identify struggling students within a school, use data to analyze why these students are struggling, and craft an intervention for them with the hope that this work can be a building block for schoolwide improvement. What's distinctive about this model is its emphasis on seeing schools less as implementers of programs from above, and more as coherent learning and problem-solving organizations that analyze and address problems of practice."
  • anonymous on 29 Mar 11
     
    Important article about education reform.
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.
Benjamin Caulder

Culturally Relevant Teaching by James C Jupp - 0 views

www.mcreview.com/...culturally.pdf

Student Voice power Discourse

shared by Benjamin Caulder on 13 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • Benjamin Caulder on 13 Sep 10
     
    I am reading this in my CI 151 class. An actual teacher who is concerned with student voice and making his class relevant to his students. Good description of his classroom and 'success' story.
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.
jaclynsmith345

Reframed Experience - 1 views

reframedexperience.wordpress.com

digitalwriting

shared by jaclynsmith345 on 16 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • jaclynsmith345 on 16 Mar 13
     
    student blogs
anonymous

A Rubric for Evaluating Student Blogs - ProfHacker - The Chronicle of Higher Education - 0 views

chronicle.com/...27196

Blogging Web2.0

shared by anonymous on 27 Sep 10 - No Cached
  • anonymous on 27 Sep 10
     
    A rubric for grading student blogs.
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