ASL browser, etymology website
These are two resources I think I would use myself. I've always been interested in etymology and learning about the way words are connected to one another. This could also be a good resource for students to use when learning new vocabulary. The ASL browser is something I can use even now. Some of the children I work with are non-verbal or difficult to understand, and rely on some kind of alternative form of communication. I tend to favor signing over PECS for a variety of reasons, but am not as familiar with many signs as I'd like to be. The ASL browser can be a handy tool for quickly looking up one or two words. I think it would also be valuable in a classroom to introduce all students, even those who are able to communicate, to some of the signs. Obviously, this would facilitate communication with students who do sign, and open the door to positive peer interaction. They had begun to do this in California schools when I lived out there, and it was working well.
Parent Portal
I think this is a wonderful resource for parents to use. I think that most parents want to be more involved in their child's education, but may feel intimidated by the schools or be receiving completely different information from their child. Parent Portal provides them with a way to monitor their child's progress relatively quickly and easily. I do not think this should ever replace parent teacher conferencing, however. I also think it is important to consider that some parents may not have Internet access and therefore may not be able to access this information. As for including a child's disciplinary records(for teachers only to see), I think this is only a problem if teachers make it one. As a TSS, I have learned that children very often present differently in person than on paper, so it doesn't make sense to make a judgement based only on the psychological evaluation or the treatment plan. However, these documents do contain information that is useful to have, if only as a frame of reference. I think that as long as teachers do not read too heavily into a child's disciplinary record or make too many prejudgements, this is not a big problem. As a matter of fact, I think it is better to be provided with facts than to hear through the grapevine comments such as "this kid is bad," or "she never pays attention."
Being allowed to go to college without a high school diploma
I'm not sure about this one...On the one hand I agree that it seems kind of unfair to those of us who worked hard in high school, but on the other hand I can think of a lot of people that this would help. I know several people who received poor grades in high school, some of whom ended up dropping out. They went on to get their GED and go to college, and did really well within their field, because it had more meaning for them. People such as these might benefit from a program like this. Then again, I think they should be evaluated in some way prior to entering.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Some Thoughts on Positive Change...
After watching the pieces on New Orleans an Oakland schools, I do have some thoughts on what schools with tough conditions need to do to bring about positive change. I do feel that a lot of it lies with the staff - their visions, their attitudes, their ability to work as a team for the greater good. When watching both of the pieces, I was moved by the dedication of some of these educators. I know that they face a lot of resistance in many forms. However, their willingness to come back each day and keep working towards their vision of education sends a clear and powerful message, not only to students and their families, but to other educators. I particularly remember two statements from these pieces.
The first statement that struck me was in the piece on New Orleans, when Vallas responded to a veteran teacher who referred to him as "bright-eyed." He basically stated that there is no room for negativity at this point, and went on to ask, "What comes first, lower performance or lower expectations?" While I can understand that teacher's feelings, particularly after being in a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, I also believe in self-fulfilling prophecies. If you think something can't work, it won't. So why not try something new? If it works, that's wonderful, if not, we can learn for the next time. But if we as educators adopt a "why bother" attitude, we've failed before we've begun.
In the Oakland piece, I was initially a little puzzled about one principal's use of a table as a metaphor for education. However, once he explained it, I agreed with his statement that "there is no impact without all of those voices." I think it is important to remember that bringing about change and improving the conditions of these schools does not lie in the hands of one person. Rather it depends on everyone's willingness to "come to the table," so to speak.
The first statement that struck me was in the piece on New Orleans, when Vallas responded to a veteran teacher who referred to him as "bright-eyed." He basically stated that there is no room for negativity at this point, and went on to ask, "What comes first, lower performance or lower expectations?" While I can understand that teacher's feelings, particularly after being in a disaster like Hurricane Katrina, I also believe in self-fulfilling prophecies. If you think something can't work, it won't. So why not try something new? If it works, that's wonderful, if not, we can learn for the next time. But if we as educators adopt a "why bother" attitude, we've failed before we've begun.
In the Oakland piece, I was initially a little puzzled about one principal's use of a table as a metaphor for education. However, once he explained it, I agreed with his statement that "there is no impact without all of those voices." I think it is important to remember that bringing about change and improving the conditions of these schools does not lie in the hands of one person. Rather it depends on everyone's willingness to "come to the table," so to speak.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Reflection on presentations 10/01/07
Presentation 1- Graduation and Dropout Rates
I think that a high school diploma is a good predictor of future acheivement, and not having one puts young adults at a disadvantage. I was a bit startled by the numbers once the group broke them down - 7,000 children are dropping out each day?! It seems to me that we are failing a rather large number of students. Another statistic that intrigued me was the fact that children retained in elementary school are more likely to drop out. I wonder why, and I also wonder if this is a causal relationship, or if there is an outside factor (SES anyone?) influencing both of these things.
I'd like to say that I was surprised by the fact that there are higher dropout rates in urban areas, unfortunately that seems to be the pattern. The education system appears to consistently fail children of varying ethnicities and low socioeconomic status, both of which are found in large numbers in urban areas. We need to alter our curriculum to set these children up to succeed and become productive members of our society, and so far we are not succeeding. I had previously said that I did not feel education was currently in crisis, but that we needed to be aware of and address certain discrepancies. After this presentation, I'm still not sure if I feel education as a whole is in crisis, but knowing that less than half of high school students in Philadelphia are graduating...that's certainly a wake up call.
Presentation 2 - PSSA Scores by Demographic
This presentation also reinforces the fact that minority students and students of lower socioeconomic status are consistenly receiving lower scores. As we touched on in our presentation on PSSA scores, I think that some of this has to do with the structure of the test itself, and a variety of biases that exist in the test itself as well as the procedure for taking the test. I also think that it goes back to the undeniable and sad truth that, in general, upper class white students are affored more opportunities within their education. Schools in poor urban areas tend to have less resources, more students, and fewer qualified teachers, so is it any wonder that they are not doing as well as students in districts where there are more resources or a better student to teacher ratio?
One thing I really liked about this presentation was that they offered a series of possible "first steps" toward change. I was also interested in the idea of schools funding social services programs to try and bridge the gap.
Presentation 3-NAEP Results for Ages 9,13,17 and Graduaiton Rates
I think that the fact that there has been so litle change between 1971-2004 could possibly indicate that our current methods aren't working, but again it goes back to my opinion that standardized tests aren't an accurate measure of ability. I don't know how much those numbers reflect what is really happening. I do think that the discrepancy between the scores of whites versus other ethnicities is pretty clear, across all presentations. The fact that we have more children in high school than other countries could be encouraging, but I don't know enough about education in other countries to really understand this data. My favorite part about this presentation was the question posed at the end. Namely, is this a true crisis, or the perception of a crisis created for personal or political agendas? Can it be a little bit of both?
And now...Gleichert's Formula for Social Change
When this formula was first introduced to us, I though of it strictly in terms of our current situation, with our dissatisfaction being with No Child Left Behind. After looking at all the PowerPoints, it seems that some of the same problems existed before NCLB was put into effect. There was a large discrepancy between the quality of education that different populations were receiving before NCLB, and maybe that was the intial dissatisfation. Maybe teachers had the same vision then that we do now, i.e., a vision of a future in which all children could develop a love of learning, and not be shortchanged by the education system. So does that mean that NCLB was designed to be a first step? Possibly, but I happen to believe it was a first step in the wrong direction. Then again, all of the problems that have arisen and will continue to arise from NCLB have led to a good deal of dialogue about education, and I think that's a good thing. Maybe we can learn from our mistakes (isn't that the best way?) and start headed in a different direction. Perhaps I am being overly optimistic, but I do know that right now, many of us have expressed our dissatisfation with many of the things we see happening in (or to) our schools. I think we all have a vision of something better, and that's why we are all here. And aren't these our first steps - talking, questioning, and applying what we learn in these classes and through these conversations? I know that resistance is still pretty strong right now, but I don't think it always will be. I still believe that social change is possible, and that on some level we are all a part of it.
I think that a high school diploma is a good predictor of future acheivement, and not having one puts young adults at a disadvantage. I was a bit startled by the numbers once the group broke them down - 7,000 children are dropping out each day?! It seems to me that we are failing a rather large number of students. Another statistic that intrigued me was the fact that children retained in elementary school are more likely to drop out. I wonder why, and I also wonder if this is a causal relationship, or if there is an outside factor (SES anyone?) influencing both of these things.
I'd like to say that I was surprised by the fact that there are higher dropout rates in urban areas, unfortunately that seems to be the pattern. The education system appears to consistently fail children of varying ethnicities and low socioeconomic status, both of which are found in large numbers in urban areas. We need to alter our curriculum to set these children up to succeed and become productive members of our society, and so far we are not succeeding. I had previously said that I did not feel education was currently in crisis, but that we needed to be aware of and address certain discrepancies. After this presentation, I'm still not sure if I feel education as a whole is in crisis, but knowing that less than half of high school students in Philadelphia are graduating...that's certainly a wake up call.
Presentation 2 - PSSA Scores by Demographic
This presentation also reinforces the fact that minority students and students of lower socioeconomic status are consistenly receiving lower scores. As we touched on in our presentation on PSSA scores, I think that some of this has to do with the structure of the test itself, and a variety of biases that exist in the test itself as well as the procedure for taking the test. I also think that it goes back to the undeniable and sad truth that, in general, upper class white students are affored more opportunities within their education. Schools in poor urban areas tend to have less resources, more students, and fewer qualified teachers, so is it any wonder that they are not doing as well as students in districts where there are more resources or a better student to teacher ratio?
One thing I really liked about this presentation was that they offered a series of possible "first steps" toward change. I was also interested in the idea of schools funding social services programs to try and bridge the gap.
Presentation 3-NAEP Results for Ages 9,13,17 and Graduaiton Rates
I think that the fact that there has been so litle change between 1971-2004 could possibly indicate that our current methods aren't working, but again it goes back to my opinion that standardized tests aren't an accurate measure of ability. I don't know how much those numbers reflect what is really happening. I do think that the discrepancy between the scores of whites versus other ethnicities is pretty clear, across all presentations. The fact that we have more children in high school than other countries could be encouraging, but I don't know enough about education in other countries to really understand this data. My favorite part about this presentation was the question posed at the end. Namely, is this a true crisis, or the perception of a crisis created for personal or political agendas? Can it be a little bit of both?
And now...Gleichert's Formula for Social Change
When this formula was first introduced to us, I though of it strictly in terms of our current situation, with our dissatisfaction being with No Child Left Behind. After looking at all the PowerPoints, it seems that some of the same problems existed before NCLB was put into effect. There was a large discrepancy between the quality of education that different populations were receiving before NCLB, and maybe that was the intial dissatisfation. Maybe teachers had the same vision then that we do now, i.e., a vision of a future in which all children could develop a love of learning, and not be shortchanged by the education system. So does that mean that NCLB was designed to be a first step? Possibly, but I happen to believe it was a first step in the wrong direction. Then again, all of the problems that have arisen and will continue to arise from NCLB have led to a good deal of dialogue about education, and I think that's a good thing. Maybe we can learn from our mistakes (isn't that the best way?) and start headed in a different direction. Perhaps I am being overly optimistic, but I do know that right now, many of us have expressed our dissatisfation with many of the things we see happening in (or to) our schools. I think we all have a vision of something better, and that's why we are all here. And aren't these our first steps - talking, questioning, and applying what we learn in these classes and through these conversations? I know that resistance is still pretty strong right now, but I don't think it always will be. I still believe that social change is possible, and that on some level we are all a part of it.
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