Journal

Video 1
Pros and Cons of Teaching
In this video we met 4 teachers at various stages of their teaching career, from just starting out to well experienced. They discussed the pros and cons of teaching from their own experiences and gave advice to prospective teachers.

I especially liked hearing from the technology teacher who started out working with the severely disabled. I didn’t like her perspective, “I knew that if I could get through that, I could get through anything.” But I realize that it was her own personal experience that she was talking from. I did enjoy hearing about how she found her niche in the teaching world, by following what she was passionate about and getting the education to share that passion with others. She also suggested that you volunteer in a school, which I have already done for 11 years, and see if you like it. I really think that’s one of the best ways to realize if teaching might be a good fit for you.

Video 2
Identifying Bias (Ch 2)
In this video we watched David Sadker demonstrate some of the bias’ that the Sadkers have observed in classrooms. He used teachers from Maryland to role play the parts of his students and he role played the part of the teacher. There were 2 women, 1 white, 1 african American, and 2 men with the same split.
I observed many instances of bias during the role play activity. When the students were asked to hand in their papers the “teacher” commented on the neatness of the first female student’s paper, not commenting at all about the correctness of her answers. The 2nd female student had 2 answers wrong but the teacher did not give her any feedback on how to find the answers. The 1st male student had 3 answers wrong, he received instructions for where to find the answers. The final male, African American student did not have his homework. He was called out and criticized in class. The comment was made that he had been held back. This is an accurate representation of the statistical data which shows that African American males are the most likely to be held back. The rest of the class was taught to the males while the females were ignored. I believe this is an accurate representation of today’s classroom though I don’t have these recollections myself.

Video 3
A Multiple Intelligence Lesson (Ch 2)
In this video we watched an experienced teacher in action as she led her 1st grade class through a list of 8 separate activities, each focusing on a different area of intelligence.
I found this teacher’s activity to be very creative. I really like how she gives each student an opportunity to be the leader of their small group, regardless of their intelligence. I agree that doing this gives the other students an opportunity to see that student shine in certain areas, instead of only seeing what that student is not good at. I liked the example she gave of the child in her class that has language issues but is a whiz at science. I am reminded of my own 9 yr old who has a math l.d. but reads at a 7th grade level. There are many ways to be “smart”. It is important to allow students to shine in their area and leads to greater peer acceptance.

Video 4
Tour of a Charter School (Ch 4)
This video was about the MATCH charter school in Boston, a charter high school targeting inner city youth whose goal it is to help more students graduate. The MATCH school has 180 students in grades 9-12. There were interviews with a couple of juniors, the principal and the 10th grade biology teacher.
I liked the way that the charter school was presented, both positives and negatives. Some of the positives about charter schools mentioned were smaller school and class size, a more “family” like atmosphere, and a better working relationship between teachers and administration. Some of the negatives were a smaller budget, getting kids to conform to the charter culture and longer working hours for teachers. While I think it would be interesting to work in a charter school, my heart is set on special education and currently none of the charters in the area accept special education students. I’m also a HUGE supporter of the public school so I just don’t see myself being able to abandon public education all together. The only place I think I’d be less likely to teach than a charter school is a private school.

Video 5
Characteristics of Children Who Bully (Ch 5)
In these 2 videos Dr. Espelage explains the character traits of a bully as well as what role gender plays in bullying. She explains that trends seem to be changing and that the differences between boy and girl bullies seem to be shrinking.
My first 2 sons enjoy social success. My 3rd son has been the victim of bullying since the 3rd grade. It was an awful year and we couldn’t have had a worse teacher for the situation. Dr. Espelage mentions that teachers contribute to bullying by looking the other way. J.D.’s certainly did. She seemed intent on impressing the kids, being liked by her students, so much so that she neglected her role as protector and disciplinarian. Having received such acceptance, the bullying didn’t stop as we hoped it would the next year. J.D. ended up having to change classes because he was in a class with the head bully again. The school resource officer and guidance counselor told me it was pointless to discipline the child, the parents simply didn’t care. At the end of 5th grade, after 3 years of this, I was in the vice principal’s office again when she advised me to remove J.D. from public school, saying that the bullying would not stop for him in middle school, he’s been pegged and the school is impotent to help him. J.D. is attending a charter school next year. I hope that it helps. Now he is so angry that he has begun bullying. Hey, if it worked for everyone else, why not him? That is what I have to overcome now.

Video 6
Progressivism in Action (Ch 7)
In this video we watched a Civics class go “hands on” by trying past court cases in class. This was to express the progressivist ideal that students be given hands on learning activities. The teacher allowed the students to act as both sides of counsel as well as the supreme court justices.
I remember doing nearly this exact activity when I was in 9th grade civics class. I had to fight distraction while watching though because the case the students tried is an important one for me, one I fear might not cover me as a teacher in public school as it does my eldest son who has, as a matter of personal conscience, chosen not to say the pledge. We are not JW’s. But getting beyond this, I think that this can be a valuable teaching tool and that there are some very positive aspects of the progressive philosophy. Students were able to learn and look for themselves for the answers. I love how, even though this case was decided long ago, the “justices” still seemed to question the correctness of that decision. Yes! Question, question, question!! Get into it, roll around in the issues, and then think for yourself, decide: what do I really think? What do I really believe? What can I do to change this?

Video 7
Essentialism in Action (Ch 8)
In this video we watched a class of 5th grade students play a game based upon their geography unit. The students were divided into teams and answered “jeopardy style” questions that the teacher had prepared.
This was not any type of essentialism that I am familiar with. Fascism, where the elite minority controls the silent majority, yes, but not what I consider essentialism. I wonder if the film makers are completely opposed to essentialism, so much so that they wanted us to look at a worst case scenario. The students were not learning; they were regurgitating. There were several students too afraid to speak up, completely left out. This did not at all seem like a teacher led activity; a teacher induced one, perhaps, but she certainly wasn’t controlling the learning opportunities going on in her classroom. And what was it at the end about the children not having yet received letter grades? That does not seem like an essentialist position at all. I am very disappointed with this video. If I didn’t know essentialism better I would sure want to steer clear of it based on this video.
Reading 1
The Authentic Standards Movement and Its Evil Twin
This article discusses the differences between high stakes testing and authentic assessment. It proposes that authentic assessment will place the focus back on content of curriculum, what is put in to our students, as opposed to test outcome as we have with high stakes testing.
There were parts of this article that I wanted to start applauding at. I am a big proponent of authentic assessment and visit fairtest.org regularly. I remember taking SAT prep classes in high school and my kids’ classrooms now resemble those SAT prep classes much more than my elementary/middle/high school classrooms. The National Association of School Psychologist, in their position paper on retention and social promotion, say that the #1 indicator of future drop out is grade retention. A child that has been retained twice statistically has a 0% chance of graduating. Ever. Thanks to high stakes tests, we now have many children that have been retained twice. I wonder what our graduation rate is going to look at in a few years. In Florida the first class to face high stakes testing in the 3rd grade are now 8th graders. We’ve only a few years to figure out what we are going to do with our self-imposed, new, expanded, lower class. Standards need to be raised in curriculum and teacher education. Authentic assessment can help to insure that it will be. High stakes testing will only continue to punish the student. Oh, and sell new text books. It’s great for selling text books. As an aside, the author mentions that we live in a democracy. I assume this article was written by an educator. Why then does he believe that we live in a democracy? This country is not now nor has it ever been a democracy. Our type of govt. is mentioned in the pledge: “… and to the REPUBLIC for which it stands…”. I guess maybe he doesn’t say the pledge either, but as an educator you should at least know what it says.

Reading 2
Putting Money Where It Matters (Ch 9)
This article addresses spending of public monies on schools. The author suggestions solutions, sometimes painful, that, in the author’s opinion, will lead to higher student achievement. She offers 5 ways that districts can adjust their spending to increase student achievement.
I felt that there were some valid points in this article. I think that it would be great if we could get class size down to the suggested 15-17 students but I’m not sure how realistic this is while increasing teacher pay, as she also suggests. She does bring up a really good point about high school students spending ½ of their day in classes that aren’t part of any testing, electives. I would love to see core subject time increased in high schools. If the average school day consists of 7- 1 hr periods, (for simplicity’s sake), then it would be great if we could increase math, science, and English to 1 ½ hrs each and then 2 – 1 hr electives instead of 3 core and 4 electives per day as it is now. Also, there has to be something we can do about the school lunch program. What about box lunches? The article sure did make me think about what districts spend money on and what they could do to improve services with the money they already have.