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.
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I completely agree with the need for a school to connect students with opportunities to learn applicable skills. I know that my students who are in UTC find a lot value in the skills they have learned there. In talking with my students many of them advocate for a k-10 set up with the 11-12 grade years being a time for them to specialize. Maybe there is some real value to this model of high school.
ReplyDeleteI am in complete agreement with you on the whole "more questions than answers" thing. I found the discussion on high schools to be very interesting, not because I teach there, but because I have of course experienced it first hand. In attending another grad class, I was introduced to a book called, "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" by John Taylor Gatto, a man who was NY teacher of the year several times. Might be an interesting read for you.
ReplyDeleteSarah is right, John Gatto is an interesting (former) NYC teacher. He doesn't pull any punches!
ReplyDeleteOk, with the recent talk about "innovative schools" in Maine (as opposed to regular schools, I guess)...why can't we have diverse programs aimed at different kids in the public schools we already have?
Do the rules and regs hold us back that much that we couldn't have several "schools within a school" instead of trying to make very classroom look like every other classroom?
Are we keeping a model going that we really don't believe in...or at least for every student? And if so, WHY?