End of Semester Post

This is my final blog posting of the semester and am unsure whether I will continue to post. I do not think that I will be posting on as regular a schedule but it's nice to know that I have some people to follow and a place to spew my thoughts on education.

The thought that I keep coming back to as a result of the work in this class is that improvement, be it curricular, individual or for schools in general takes time and a commitment. In order to make the gains in curriculum to make our students global aware and ready for the 21st century, we need to commit to making progress and the schools we work in should honor that commitment in terms of professional development, time and resources. The most effective schools are always evaluating themselves and in search of constant improvement. I heard the CEO of Proctor and Gamble, Robert McDonald, say that" in business, the mission statement stays the same but everything else changes over time". With the endless amount of research, best practices and exemplary material available at our fingertips, we possess the opportunity to better ourselves. The key is coming up with a plan, sticking to it and dealing with the uncomfortable issues that arise as a result of this plan.

Thanks and the best to those that have been reading.

-Ben

Do we still need textbooks in high schools???

The vexing curriculum that I chose to respond to has been brought to light recently with Apple's release of it's ipad. I have had a few conversations with teachers at my school about the possibility of the ipad or ebook replacing the traditional textbook. In my interview with a curriculum leader a few weeks ago, the leader I interviewed said that removing traditional textbooks and replacing them with online options would be the first thing she would do if afforded the opportunity. Beginning this school year (2009-2010) the state of California began offering it's science and math textbooks online via ebook. Other states such as Florida and Texas have also begun looking in to converting to online text books. Also, text book publishers like McGraw-Hill, Houghton Mifflin, Kaplan and others have begun working with apple and ebook manufacturers to make the above statement a reality.

The primary reason states are looking to make the jump to online texts and ebooks is financial. Books can cost districts hundreds of thousands of dollars. Books can cost anywhere from 50 to 100 dollars per student. Other benefits of online text books are their ability to be updated instantly by the publisher and the need for a student to carry one ipad, tablet or ebook that can download multiple texts. Some drawbacks to ebooks can be the fact that some students lack internet access at home, teachers inability to work with this new technology and an infrastructure that may not be ready for a complete conversion to online texts.

My take on this issue is that although this technology is exciting and seem to be an inexpensive option for schools, it appears as though there are a lot of unanswered questions. I beleive that in the next 5 to 10 years, many of the bugs will be ironed out and students will have the opportunity to learn via online texts. If I were asked as the leader of a school if this were the way to go, today, I would say that we should wait and see. Like almost all technology, the price will go down, the process for distribution and consumption of ebooks will be streamlined and many unanswered questions will be answered over time.

Taking the Digital Plunge

In order to show Ed what I've learned from last week's readings, I decided to create a twitter account for myself and find some people in education to follow (administrators, technology, and wellness). This week, I have enjoyed reading people's "tweets" and have encountered some interesting links to areas of interest amongst the 25 to 30 people I follow. I also have received messages from people that I have chosen to follow and enjoy the opportunity to interact with educators with some of the same issues and ideals. This appears to be a very valuable tool in terms of professional development and has begun to be a part of my routine every day.

I haven't made any tweets yet and don't know if I ever will but it is staggering to me the ease in which you can be connected with others who have such thoughtful information to share. What a inexpensive and effective tool for professional development! It's like the reference that Bill Ferriter made in his article, teachers need to model learning through technology and be transparent in the process. Sharing this process with students can be informative for the teacher and the student and begins to hit on the possibilities that technology affords us.

Do Kids Need to Come to School Everyday?

The book that we have been reading, Curriculum 21, continues to point to the fact that we are not meeting the needs of our students through our current educational system. I really like Jacobs' theory that "form should follow function" or the way that we do things should come second to the purpose of why we are doing something within a school. With the multitude of learning options that students have via the internet, I am wondering why we require students to come to school every morning at 8am when the are bleary eyed and half awake. This type of schooling meets the needs of some students, but probably not the majority. I think a flexible schedule at the high school level would better meet the needs of our learners and offer them some accountability for their learning. The option of coming in to school at a later time or taking a class or two online could be offered to older or more mature students who have proven that they can handle the responsibility of school in this manner. This would be a more effective way of transitioning our students to life after high school where work and academic schedules can vary significantly from a basic 8:00-2:00 school day.

I am sure that a flexible schedule is much easier to incorporate in theory than in practice. I know at my school, we are hamstrung by a variety of issues that impact the master schedule and that one schedule is difficult to meet the needs of all learners. It would be interesting to look at what other public schools across the country are implementing for schedules in order to more effectively use their time.

National Curriculum

I found it interesting the suggestion by Jacobs that a "national array of thoughtful, well-articulated curriculum options" be made available by the federal government as a sort of guideline for states to work under. Notice that Jacobs is not saying that we should have a national curriculum but a variety of resources supported by the federal government. This could be used as a framework by states and give common language and an understanding of effective curricular examples. Standards could be developed with input from the best teachers at all levels and unite our educational system. At the very least, teachers would have access to methods that were supported by researchers and teachers alike. A great system would also have instructional strategies available to teachers as well. I'm sure this would be a huge undertaking and that our federal government would somehow find a way to screw it up but it seems as though these curricular options would provide a great impetus for change within our educational system and a useful model for any educator.

Primary Goal of High School?

Once again, the readings for the week have left me with more questions than answers. It appears to me that high schools need to be diverse in order to meet the wide range of needs of their students. I believe, as it was stated in one of the readings, that adolescents (and all students for the most part) need to see the real world application to what they are learning. The problem in carrying this theory to practice seems to be how schools can do this within the current educational framework we are working under. Due to budget constraints, special education, standardized testing and everything else, it is hard to prioritize how to effectively provide these real world applications in a diversified way to meet the needs of all of our students.

I like the idea of giving students skills that they can apply directly. My school provides students the option to UTC , a school that provides students with the opportunity to become certified in a variety of skills including building construction, horticulture, and welding, among others. The trick will be to find a feasible model which provides appropriate responsibility and skills to it's learners.

Middle Level Practices....All Nothing?

Having minimal knowledge of middle school practices and procedures, I was struck at the scope of challenges for middle schools. It seems as though they are pulled in a variety of directions in terms of standardized testing, NCLB, preparation for high schools and a focus on literacy. Add these issues to the developing minds and bodies of adolescents and it is clear to see how schools and districts can move away or adopt pieces of the middle school concept.

As a result of the readings for this week, I can't get away from the idea that research states that students perform better academically and socially when the middle school philosophy is carried out in all areas. Therefore, a community needs to have a clear vision for what they are, in terms of a school, and what they are NOT. Without this focus and vision for these early adolescents, it is difficult for teachers and students to gain the skills necessary in order to be sucessful.

Aware, Enable, Empower

I loved the TEDTALKS video and have been thinking about how I can incorporate this philosophy into the classes I currently teach. Due to accountability concerns from policy makers at the state and national level, we are so focused on NCLB, Learning Results and Standardized Testing. I wonder what a school's test results would look like if they truly tried to "infect" their students and give them one idea and the support and framework for them to carry-out what they are passionate about.

The stakes are high today. We cannot simply ignore the mandates handed down to us but I do think that we miss out on many valuable and enriching educational opportunities because of the stress teachers feel to cram information in various subject areas into the brains of our students. How many times have you heard teachers mention the fact that we don't have enough time in order to instruct our students in the core subjects?

Scheduling and Curriculum

As I have stated before, my principal is considering a change to the master schedule. The impetus for this change centers around budget, failure to make AYP in Math and English and needs to change due to RTI.

This class has got me thinking about our curriculum and how it is affected by a school's master schedule. I can't stop thinking about how schools need to tap in to what the students are interested in and also, the many strengths and passions of their faculty. Like Zhao's Olympic analogy, schools need to use the resources available to them in their community as well to make their curriculum come to life.

So what is it that drives the creation of a school's master schedule? Is it the bus schedule (that's the word in the teacher's room)? Exposure to core subjects in order to improve test scores? Meeting the needs of students who aren't meeting the learning targets?

In the 21st Century article, the author stresses the importance of adaptability and flexibility in preparing students for an ever-changing workforce. I believe that schools need to look long and hard at their schedule and to attempt to be flexible and adapt to the needs of as many of their students as possible.

Defining Curriculum and Passion Invoked Learning

In looking at the variety of ways to define curriculum, it became very difficult for me to settle on one that made sense for the student, teacher and school as a whole. Ultimately, the definition that made the most sense to me stated...

Curriculum is all the experiences learners have under the guidance of the school.

A school and/or school district needs to have a curriculum that provides depth in subject areas, is diverse in order to meet the needs and interests of a variety of people and learning styles and adequately prepares students for life after a student is exposed to it.

Upon reading the articles for this week, I'm not sure we (the public schools) are meeting the needs of students in our information-rich society. It is difficult to create a system that meets the needs of all students and also provides the flexibility for students to come and go and be exposed to information that is relevant, rich in content and peaks their interests. I don't see us starting over or throwing out the system as Toffler suggests. I do think that we are going to have to personalize a student's education and encourage them to explore areas of interest to them and integrate the curriculum around these interests. Information is so easily available to students now. It seems to me that synthesizing this information and applying it is a logical step.

I agree that students or anyone for that matter, learn most effectively when we are passionate about something. The key is to discover the passions of our students and connect them to a passionate teacher or expert and allow them to explore the possibilities. Students will learn more about what it is they are passionate about and, if connected to a good teacher, learn about other subjects and life lessons indirectly.

These readings have opened my eyes to the possibilities within my own teaching and the offerings currently available. I am not sure of a systematic way of approaching this "curriculum" but at the high school level, it would not be hard for a student to identify his or her passion(s) or for the individual teacher to encourage students to explore them relative to the subjects they are teaching. I love the idea of having students explore blogs related to their passion and connecting to other experts. If a school could simply agree that they wanted to tap into the interests of their students, the ball could start rolling to a more individualized education.

Is your school regular?

I would say that my school, Hampden Academy (HA), is fairly regular. I have been teaching at HA for 9 years and although we have had a few changes, our standard operating procedure has stayed relatively the same. We have good teachers and historically have been one of the higher performing public schools in the state. The school operates on a rotating schedule with 4 eighty minute periods that meet every other day. We have incorporated an advisor-advisee program, began the process of RTI, and for the first time, we are actively looking at making changes to our master schedule. The impetus for this change has come from the fact that we have not made AYP the past few years in English and Math and teachers in these departments feel as though they need to meet in greater frequency in order for their material to become more "sticky" for the students. The other possible reason for this change is financial. Due to the current budget shortfall, a change to the master schedule may mean a need for less teachers and a chance for the district to save money.

The threat of this change has caused great stress amongst the faculty in fear of their jobs, not seeing the students at the current time and frequency and wondering how this change will effect learning. Any major change is going to met with resistance by some, acceptance by others and a whole bunch of people who are sitting on the fence. How do you know when it is a good time to change something that will effect everyone? And if you do change. What happens if you can't or don't have the time, resources or forsesight to execute the plan you put in place?

1st Post

Just checking to see if this works. I can't believe I have my own blog.