Class+11+-+Apr+13

=** Class 11 **= **Class Notes** : 4/13/10 Washington DC 2 paths of salary 1. Make what you make a year (regular salary) +$2000 a year 2. Or Give up tenure and follow a pay scale that depends on success of students · With this teachers can make 80-100,000 dollars a year but if students do not do well they are not protected by a union. · Like Race to the Top merit pay and push for charter schools What about specials like art, PE, etc. How can you assess if a student is doing well or poorly? Do unions protect bad teachers? · Florida – teachers lose tenure and get merit pay · This passes in both the house and the senate and is now sitting on the gov’s desk (BIG protests) · Merit pay is like waiter pay… there is a base pay and tips for student success. · What if students do poorly? Logical Positivism and today’s schools How does logical positivism influence education today? Testing, SRBI, RTI, NCLB, Race to the Top, Data teams Testing- assessment, standardized state tests · Benchmarks generally made by the state that your students need to meet · Framework for thinking about teaching saying you are going to use research to choose how to teach. · Instruction is based on research/data from students. · Gives teachers more empowerment. · Action research –research can come from your students Pros and Cons of SRBI Pros · Based on research · Give input · Use your own voice Con · Time consuming Tier 1 = “Mainstream Students” – 80% will be able to advance with regular instruction. Tier 2 = Added supports THEREFORE – any teacher should be able to support 95% of the school. Worrisome= they get bored… feel bad about themselves. They are not lazy they are trying to protect themselves Tier 3 = 5% require major supports They will accomplish the same as students in tier 1 and 2 but with much more supports Questions to think about – How do we give supports to more students? What happens when everyone get the same tests? SRBI and RTI are great alone but the way we are treating them is bad. · Teacher in charge of data collection and research · Looking at previous years and examining where they need to improve · Relies on constructing knowledge through the interrogation of thought and ideas aka: questioning · Idealists argue that the material world is constantly in flux and our senses are unreliable at best; therefore, we cannot ground knowledge in either. Roots of Idealism = same as realism How does Idealism play out in teaching and learning in today’s schools? · Mortimer Adler and Classic Literature for all students · Back to the basics movement (Reagan and William Bennett) · Limitation – VERY Eurocentric – what about the rest of the world? · Focuses on “doing” or action · Problem based learning generally with contemporary issues · Recognize a problem→ Speculative thought→ Action→ Results · Inductive inquiry method · Argued that education needs to focus on action-oriented experiences – Learning by “doing” · His work began the progressive movement · Argued that schools ought to produce democratic students · Argues that Dewey’s pragmatism in schools was culturally destructive. Dewey argued that western practices were rightfully dominant in the world. Runs the risk of: 1. Being culturally colonizing 2. Putting humans/technology/industry over nature – being anthropocentric Learning By Doing · Benefits to making education more experimental · More cognitive glue · Engage more deeply and meaningfully Pragmatic Knowledge · Knowledge is treated as truth · Strong focus on the individuals experience rather than universal truth · How does the individual make sense of the world · Liberation of the individual from the chaotic world · “I – Thou” relationship whereby we encounter each other with deep respect, honor, nurturance and conviviality (supporting one another) · “construction of the I is done through the Thou” – Dr. Love · “The world is not comprehensible, but it is embraceable through the embracing of one of its beings” – Buber The opposite of this is the “I – It” relationships whereby we turn people into objects to control and manipulate with each group unaware or ignorant to the others essence. · This speaks to issues of power, but Buber did not do much analysis of social power structures like critical theorists did. · Emphasizes art, music, and drama as being portals to the “I – thou” in the context of education. · Describes movement towards deep interconnectedness that one gains through art and imagination as a “wide-awakeness” · Wide-awakeness is the goal… but she reminds us that part of being so is to be politically and socially active · Wide-awakeness is not politically or socially neutral. · Greene is drawing from both existentialism as well as critical social theories · Limitations – unaware of issues of oppression and privilege · History is defined by class struggles as defined by the economic system of the region · Concentration of wealth is unfair · Ultimately there needs to be a distribution of capital · Today – top 1% has 95% of all of the assets · Hegemony – in society there are ways to tell people to behave and they follow… this is why there is no revolt. · Addresses different problematic claims that Marx made such as science being able to overcome industrial unjust practices and the de-emphasis of women’s roles · Focuses on hegemony · Hegemony is a. the perpetuation of some being dominant and most being subordinate and b. doing so without the use of violence. · Sources of hegemony – teachers, media, religious leaders, family, friends, military, corporations. · Schools are often places of Hegemony · Schools perpetuate social injustices · Schools can be sites of hope and possibility because teachers and students can work to understand or “unlearn” the roots of all forms of domination and undo them (Elisabeth dos Santos)
 * SRBI- Scientifically Research Bases Instruction **
 * RTI-Response to intervention **
 * Data Teams **
 * Idealism **
 * Pragmatism **
 * John Dewey** (1859-1952)
 * Chet Bowers **
 * Pragmatism and Historical Perspectives **
 * Existentialism **
 * Martin Buber** (1878-1965)
 * Maxine Greene** (1917 -)
 * Marxism – Karl Marx** (1818-1883)
 * Neo-Marxism **
 * Critical theory in Society **

**Clarifications for the class notes this week** :

**Clarifications, points, and questions work pursuing for future weeks (Extend the discussion from this week's class):** I think the new wave of education is going to become more liberal and transformative. With more and more educators on the rise who have seen the degrading and destructive history of a conservative education are ready for change. Our government knows there are issues, they know things need to be revamped and placed on a more equal playing field. I hope with the attempt of reopening struggling schools as charter schools will provide liberal and transformative opportunity for education. It's going to take time though. Everything seems a little frantic and chaotic right now because in order to build new schools they have to close the existing ones, which leaves parents and students school hoping, teachers are unemployed! These next few years are going to be interesting. What scares a lot of people at the same time, is that are our dreams of a liberal and transformative education the sames dreams and goals of out government leaders? That is questionable. A lot of the school district officials do not even hold any merit to an educational background and operate as CEOs, other concerns are that schools are going to be geared towards military influence (highly structured and teach to influence military support and knowledge). There have already been positive correlations between athletes (mainly football players), also in low-income/ uninvested schools, and joining the military, I wouldn't be surprised if the military kept pushing pro-militia education in schools. Besides those concerns, I think the big issue lies in this countries "standardized testing", they really have to reevaluate their agenda for high stakes testing. There are too many procedural and technical issues in not only the development and administering of the test, but more importantly the scoring and interpreting of the test scores. Especially if they intend to base "merit pay" off these assessments. I don't see how that will ever work. (Jessica Roberts)

Along with Jessica, I am also very eager to see the direction in which our education goes from here. Now that action is being taken, whether it be good or bad, against the "suffering" schools and "bad" teachers, I am wondering exactly how far will people go? Until ALL of our schools are shut down? Education is the single most important thing. People need to start somewhere; they have to LEARN, they don't just wake up with all this knowledge. The classroom is the perfect place to learn, grow, experience, and learn from others and about others. If we take that away from our children, what kinds of adults and future leaders are we raising? I wonder what will be left. It's frightening that if policy makers take away and simply do not value something as important as school, then what DO they value and what else is unimportant to them? They are shutting down schools instead of trying new, inventive ways to save those struggling children. So what does the future hold then? It seems like we are not going anywhere with this, but only attempting to solve the problem by closing schools. I think that more people should read the article from a few discussion boards ago entitled, "Building a Better Teacher." There are so many great ideas in there to strengthen and empower our schools and our teachers. I would like to know who these policy makers are listening to when it comes to closing these schools, because apparently it's not to articles such as the ones we read for class.There is so much evidence and information and research out there. They need to open their eyes to it (Katya Lagun).

This idea of humans overpowering nature and natural courses of the world being evil is found all around us. I never realized it and now I see certain things in a different way. As I was reviewing last week’s notes, I was reminded of the movie Avatar. It embodies so many of the elements we have talked about in this class even though it involves cinema. For those unfamiliar with the movie, it is about an alien land (where the inhabitants’ dress is vaguely similar to that of African and Native American cultures) that is to be destroyed because of a precious stone that lies underneath the earth. In listening to discussions and criticism about the movie, I look back on it now and see the concept of man destroying nature. One critique also talks about the role of a white male, a military veteran bound to a wheel chair, who saves this alien land from the intruders. Even though this may seem like a superficial reference, this is what kids today will see. They will see humans destroying nature, they will see an alien people not able to defend themselves (could be a racial context here), and they will see a white male triumphing over his injury to be the hero. It is funny thought that after seeing this when it first came out, none of these thoughts crossed my mind. (Laura Vagnini)

Agreeing with everyone here, I believe in order to have change there must be change. So with all these schools closing down, the government will soon realize that with the closings of school there needs to be openings as well and be able to educate the growing young populations that we have. I believe that in this slump that we live in today, it will be difficult to build more schools, and instead it will be transforming those schools into charter schools like many people have said. This will slowly but surely change education and point it in the right path. Hopefully this change will be made in the near future, because at this rate of schools closing down and the budgets being cut at a ridiculous rate, there needs to be a push for more schools to open up and create job openings and places for students to learn and be educated. Greg Grochowski

I agree with Greg, what exactly are we doing shutting down schools with a growing population. In order to make a difference we need to look at other options rather than just shutting down a school that are children need. Standardized tests are only one thing in the whole grand scheme of education. Why can't changes be made in other areas to see if there can be improvement, rather than closing a school solely on test scores. However, when making changes test scores need to be changed as well. You cannot expect every area in a state to have the same performance rates, you need to implement different tests to support the different learning going on. Lives of students differ, and with life experiences there are different things that are more important to learn than others. (Emily Hungerford)

I agree with Katya and Jessica, and think that an important question to think about now is where education is going and how changes will begin to occur, or not occur, depending on what initial steps are taken to begin the process. At this point however, there has to be more than just "thinking" going on in order to implement change and see improvements. There are several different perspectives or theories out there on education and beliefs on how to 'sucessfully' run the classroom and teach students, and sometimes I feel all the "ism's" really only confuse the perspectives of current teachers and educators more. With all the stress on teachers vs. standardized testing alone, when is there time for the teacher to actually sit and prepare a fun lesson or a lesson which engages students in a different way rather than through paper and pencils? In my opinion, this is definitely one of the biggest aspects of education that doesn't fail to frustrate me no matter how many times we may discuss it or read/write about these issues. I think one of the most important beginning steps to figuring all of these problems and concerns out is by allowing not only those students' parents, families, students' themselves, and other educational leaders to have voice and not only listen to it but actively listen and actively be the main cause for change. (Mandy Lucente)

I would like to comment on the topic of existentialism in the classroom and the work of Martin Buber and Maxine Greene. I recently joined a friend to observe a Narcotics Anonymous meeting in down town New Britain. It was most certainly a thought provoking and incredible experience on many levels. One man there, in a moment of clarity, spoke of living life by spiritual principles. He was not condoning religion but instead explained much of the ideals of existentialism, especially “I-Thou” relationships. By engaging life and people with respect and nurturance I feel we can work to resolve a multitude of social issues and create a classroom that further encourages transformative teaching and most importantly, transformation within our students. I also feel that these ideals are lost in our busy society and most importantly in a busy classroom that is stuck teaching to the test. Yes, teachers here say that by grouping framework into big ideas you can hopefully make time within a class day for meaningful, transformative learning, but teachers shouldn’t have to finagle the system in order to do what’s right. The system, and by that I mean public education at a state and federal level should recreate there framework to emphasize meaningful, transformative teaching and encourage generating a deep and respectful relationship with your students in order to activate such ideals in your students. (Chris Kyle)

I agree with what everyone is bringing up. It is scary to not know where the future of our education system is going. We are shutting down schools and firing teachers due to schools and children not doing as well. Yes, there has finally been noticed and something is being done, but is this really the right step to take first? This is our future and like Katya said, school is where the future of America is going to start learning, they dont just wake up with knowledge. If we are shutting down schools and firing all of these teachers then where are children going to go to learn? I feel that there are other ways and options to deal with low test scores and schools not doing as well. Again like Katya said there are article that has great points, and ideas in dealing with this. Whoever is making these choices of shutting places down have they even thought or looked into other options before closing a school. Its just interesting that we are blaming all of these peoples and schools, yet if it keeps happening maybe there are other changes to be made. Maybe teaching to the test isnt working and these standardized tests arent the right means of measurment of schools and students learning. (Kristie Fergusson)

I agree with Kristie when she says that children arent born with knowledge, they need an enviroment that is right for these students to learn and if they keep firing teachers, shutting schools down, and making classes bigger children won't learn anything because the teachers will be too busy worrying about managing the bigger classroom or teaching to the test so that they can make more money. I think it is scary to know that at this moment the school system is not seeing any improvement and we are going to be trying to get jobs there soon. Something does need to be changed but sometimes, like Mandy says, the change isnt always for the better but just a change to make a change. (Allie Beardsworth)

I also agree that we are in a time of great change...but where will that change take us. I always hear people saying that education needs to be changed and this and that. The question is, how will it change? What are we going to do to bring a change about and what makes us think that we have a better plan? Obviously, education right now needs a good over haul but I think that it is just as important for us to make sure that this change is something that we can stand by. Just because we want something different doesn't always mean that it will be better. I am scared that we want change so bad we don't care what it is. (the public is general, that is) (Sarah Rousseau)

I really believe that getting paid by the success of your students is a bad idea and money and education should never be mixed with one another. I feel that if a teacher understands the amount of stress put on them to perform well and force students to learn that it will affect how a teacher presents information to students. There are only several subjects that you can test students on such as math, English, history, science, and even PE. But how can you test classes such as art and music class that students enjoy doing, but teachers are not forced to meet certain requirements? I really believe teachers should be held accountable for students learning but not their actual success. As teachers you can only control so much and how well students do on tests. Greg Grochowski

I agree with Jessica and many of my other peers that education is going to become more liberal and transformative; I think it has too. Technology is on a rise and because of this children are glued to the t.v., internet, and so on. WE as future teachers need to take in account the interests of the children and incorporate them into the classroom in order for a child to learn. Yes teachers also become frustrated in the system to testing-- but we need to create lessons that support the material on the test, but also support the ways children can learn and think. As future teachers we also need to be open to change forever, and also step out of our own comfort zones so we can learn from the children. Basically we need to accommodate for every child in the classroom. Like many of you also said, I don’t have the answers either, but I have an open mind on what education can bring, and I’m ready to make a difference and make a change. (Tara Gleason)

Many of us have written or commented about where education is going from here. what i see is where it is going after that. we have learned so much in this course about the United States' history of education and how much has changed in such a short period of time. what was interesting to me was when we were going through all of the styles and philosophies they each brought something tot he table. each philosophy had its good points and good intentions, but we also saw how they lacked in certain areas and really don't work. As time goes on our society changes and the ideas about education change with it. How teachers think now and how they did 50 years ago is completely different. i agree with Sarah that we all want change to happen but just because something runs differently doesn't mean it's better. Our main ideas have to be about the students and how they work in the world that we live in now. I know I don't have the answers but who really does? We can't blame all decisions on one person but what we can do is make our concerns heard and not be afraid to speak what we think. (Kelly Bates)

Where does education go from here and after that? Well, obviously we all know that significant changes need to me made and that there is a desperate need for change. When I think of change being made in the educational systems, I think of a quote from Covey which I learned in one of my education classes. He says, "Begin with the end in mind." This means that educators, parents, etc. need to have a clear vision of where it is we want to go and what kind of a change really will be made. When Sarah says, "I am scared that we want change so bad we don't care what it is," she is right. If people "begin with the end in mind," it offers the opportunity of having everything precisely planned out so we do not establish just any change. Without a clear vision of the direction we will be going in, it will only lead towards frustration and possibly more failure at improvement. In my opinion, I think that a vision in mind of where we need to go from here is so important and will positively influence any decisions that need to be made. (Danielle Velodota)

I also agree I am waiting to see what is going to happen with the education system in the future. Everything sounds very negative thus far. I think it is good that we realized a problems exists and is trying to come up with a solution for it. Not everything is going to be perfect, I disagree with a lot that is being brought up an example being, closing down schools and giving teachers commission for student test scores achievement but at least we are trying to make a change on an on going problems in our education. If you look at the past and past leaders when they were making huge changes a lot of times their followers did not agree. Some ended in good and others did not. How are we going to know what works and what does not if we do not try it? If we try it and it does not work we can try another solution until we find one that suits our country and the needs of our students but at least they are not just ignoring our education problems. (Kari M)

As scary as the thought it, the future is unknown. So where the change in education takes us is also unknown. Many people are seeking for change for the better. However, we don't know that the ideas and actions that will be taking are going to put us in the right direction. Education is in the media so much lately that it seems that it is a bigger focus than it used to be, much of the attention seems to be negative. I think this may be a good thing because I think there a stronger chance of something being done about it. I think in order for the education system to be where many people want it to be, there are going to have to be a number of changes made. Some of the changes will be for the better while some are for the worse. I don't think this is going to end until a balance is finally found and they system truely works and is up to date with the time that we are in. (Allie French)

I agree with Jessica, Katya and Mandy when they all said that an important question to think about is where education is going and how changes will or will not occur. I find it really scary to not know where the path of education is heading. I still find it upsetting that we are shutting down schools and firing teachers because the schools and the children are not doing as well as they can be doing. I understand that something has finally been done but is this really the correct and best first step to take? I agree with Katya when she said that school is the where the future of America is going to start learning and that the children do not wake up with the knowledge that they need. I agree with Kristie and am also concerned about knowing where the children are going to learn if we start shutting down the schools and firing all of the teachers. If this is the route that America is going down then in the future where will all of the children learn what they need to know?

I agree with the list from above, the wuestioning of what will happen to the school, the education, howwill it change next? what as teachers are we going to have to give up or do in order to have the studnet succeed in these standardized testing. How upsetting it is to just continue to close down school, get rid of teachers, because the students are not doing well. There are so many factors that need to be taken in consideration what if the student has mal nutrition at home, doesn't even have a home to study in? Why should teachers be held at high stake, even getting paid by Merrit, because the student has some kind of personal issue at home that is causing a distraction in school? Is it fair for teacher to loose their jobs because of it? NO! (frances V)