School Board Forum

This evening's forum was extremely affirming of how I have been feeling about NCLB. I know that for schools who can not meet the requirements are struggling because of test scores, but it makes me happy to know that in most places school districts are learning to adapt to the requirements. It is encouraging to know that because NCLB has forced research based criteria for the classroom many new improvements are occuring. It was interesting to hear about what exactly the School Boards role in a community is, I have never realized how important it is to elect compotent caring people to represent the towns wishes for the education of their children. I found it very intriguing that both brought up the subject of buildings and facilities being a huge factor in school districts and that having things be outdated or not in the best condition, etc. can be a rode block or hinder the education process. This reminds me of the book my group is reading, "Three Cups of Tea" where Greg Mortenson provides schools so that education can occur. It is so important to have the facilities necessary to support learning. I am looking forward to more discussion about the role of research in the classroom and how teachers must now be held accountable for implementing this into their curriculum and lesson plans.

Research Based Teaching: Can it Be an Instrumental Part in Good Teaching?

I thoroughly enjoyed Monday nights forum. It was great to be able to hear what good teaching is from an administrative standpoint. These are the people who will be determining whether or not I have a job sometime in the not so distant future. I especially enjoyed Leona's input about indications of good teaching, first that the students are actively involved in the classroom and second that they know what they are learning. In addition she mentioned that good teachers act like facilitators and are intentional about their goals. I know that I for one can tell the difference between a teacher who has a clear plan, knows what they want to happen and one who is just making us do busy work. These kinds of qualities are given depth when implimented along with data driven research. Now this may seem like a leap in connection, but if a teacher is is using research that proves methods and strategies to be affective then they will see greater student achievement. Any teacher who truly wishes her students to learn the most they can in the time that she is allowed in her classroom will want to know that she is using the most effective strategies for those children based upon their current cognitive level of development, based upon the results that show, if you do this activity, your students will gain these skills or this knowledge. I believe this is one aspect of NCLB that will improve our nations education system. By encouraging, through mandating that there be research based education strategies we are ensuring that teachers are not simply letting their students do arts and crafts every day. Now I am not saying that this is going to stifle creativity or take away from a teachers right to teach what interests them, it is simply a standard that will keep classrooms on track for the majority of the time.

Is Role Playing Affective?

I really enjoyed this past Monday nights discussion and analysis of the "High Stakes School District" proposal. It was a very interesting and beneficial experience. We as students were to take a side (support or nonsupport) and represent a group of community members. As opposed to turning this kind of real life event into a written project where we describe our argument, we were asked to present our arguments in a real life simulation and argue our side of the proposal for increasing student achievements. We addressed the strengths and weakness's of the proposal and got a taste of what two sides of the argument can be like. This also was a real life application of the ideas we have been learning about in Woolfolk. One concept I think about is philosophy of education and what we value. It is our job as teachers to instill values in our students along with acquisition of knowledge such as facts. The entire issue tied into NCLB and what the law mandates our priorities to be. In puting emphasis on reading comprehension and math and sciences it seriously cuts into the time that can be spend to fulfill a well rounded education. By preparing for benchmark tests, and the time it takes to actually take the test we are losing sight of what, in a lot of teachers opinions should be important in an education. It is not how well we perform on tests, it is our understanding of the world around us and how we use new knowledge to continue to explore and expand our concepts of culture and define our realities and sense of self. What lessons are we instilling in our children by emphasizing testing and achieving governmental standards. First hand knowledge is what I have found sticks with me the most, when we are actively involved in applying our knowledge this is when we remember our learning. I appreciate the opportunity to have an experience with defending my beliefs and having concrete ideas and support for my position as well as respecting the beliefs of others.

Proper Citation

I know that we have all learned about how to go about research and how to properly cite our sources for what seems like years now. What I am learning is that a refresher course never hurts. It is important that we remind ourselves to critique what information we are using for resources from the internet. After doing a lot of research on the Luther Library resource page I am grateful for the information and tips on ways to refine your searches. It is also important not to limit your research to one database. As teachers we are going to be constantly needing to be updated on the most recent educational studies, methods and philosophies. This will require research someday. I hope that as a teacher I will be able to direct my students to proper sources on the internet and teach them valuable ways to utilize the internet. There is a lot of information on the web that is waiting to be found, as a student doing research for my major I found Monday nights lecture to be helpful. Often times I find myself at a loss as to where to go or what key words to search. Technology is continually changing and being enhanced. We must change with it if we wish to make use of a great teaching tool. I am looking forward to learning how to create and enhance films on I-movie. I also am grateful for this blog requirement as it keeps me writing on a regular basis as well as motivates me to navigate my way around this blog site and stretch my comfort zone when it comes to computers.