Class+12+-+Apr+20

=** Class 12 **= **Class Notes** :

**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 one of the difficulties of transformative learning is developing the different relationships within society. Some communities may be so big and diverse that people have a difficult time finding where they belong from the beginning. In many cases, I think some people find the position in which they feel comfortable with within the community and remain there. They no longer question and challenge their beliefs, what they are doing, where they are going, their value system, etc. At this point, a person will regress to the liberal/progressive and remain there. It is a personal choice as to how much an individual wants to be involved in their community and what role he or she wants to play. It is also their personal desire to decide how much they want to challenge others and oneself. (Allie French)

I absolutely agree with Allie. To add a bit to that, it is so much easier to go along with society than stand out against it. Even when people are aware of what is happening all around them, even outside of the educational spectrum, they are much more content to just accept it than do anything about it. This is perfectly acceptable in our society and this is a huge problem. Just questioning things is not enough; action is required to change many of the things that we do not agree with in our society. I hear people talking all the time about unjust practices but it ends at that. We do a lot of talking but that won't get us very far. I suppose it is a beginning; at least we are beginning to at least see that these things are happening but it is time to take the next step. Where do we begin? The "doing" is the hardest part. (Sarah Rousseau)

I agree with both Allie and Sarah and I would like to add one point. Sarah mentions that it is so much easier to go along with society and this is absolutely true. I think it is especially important when it comes to Transformative education. When you incorporate diverse cultures, factors of environment, global awareness, and sustainability, you are talking life changes. If students do not grow up with these things in mind, it adds additional challenges for the teacher. It is much easier, I can imagine, to transform lessons based on what students know. As far as environmental issues, if students come into the class with no background knowledge and no real concern because they are not aware, a teacher is starting from square one. We cannot afford to have teachers who dismiss these topics because it is a challenge. These topics need to be taught because it will affect the future of every single human being. (Laura Vagnini)

I agree with the idea that it is much easier to go with society rather than go against society. I thought it was interesting how Dr. Love said in class it's much easier to walk away from confrontation rather than walk towards confrontation. This reminds me of the whole idea of staying with the norm and not breaking off from it in order to avoid being different from the majority in society or to avoid any negative consequences it might bring depending on what the changes are that one may pursue. However, if this is the case or if this continues to be the case, then how is anything supposed to actually happen? Like Sarah said, where are we supposed to begin? I think everyone would agree that it may seem easier to simply suggest ways that educators can change in order to improve where we are currently at, but the more important part of that is obviously based on what will actually be done. (Mandy Lucente)

This discussion reminds me a lot of Sonia Nieto's lecture on diversity we attended a few weeks ago. A teacher needs to go out into the community and explore it, and children need to do this as well. Everything we talk about now about community involvement goes back to that lecture because she said once you go into the unknown, you come out of it a changed person, mostly for the better. You begin to understand other peoples' points of views and stand in their shoes on certain issues. More teachers need to do this because it's them who will one day become transformative teachers, not the traditional or liberal progressive teachers that Allie mentions. Thinking outside the box requires a lot but you also get much more out of it than you do out of traditional teaching methods. And Sarah, in response to your comment, I agree that "doing" is the hardest part, but what gives me hope is that at least we've got our minds and our hearts in the right place. (Katya Lagun)

I think everyone has the right idea baout going outside of the box. As Katya said, we as teachers need to get out into our community and allow the children to do the same. My thing is, that should already be a part of our lives. It amazes me how many people don't know what is going on in their own community. If you ask how many political figures could they name or name their posistions on issues. we as teachers take on this responsibility to educate our youth and get them to undertand the world they live in. We as citizens should also be doing that. Get the parents involved let them know aout activities that are happening in their area. This goes on to the whole discussion on how we really can make a difference, but the only way we can is if we put the effort into trying. Go to town meetings, watch the news, get involved. I can't say that I do as much as I could, but going through this process shows me how I should appreciate where I live and what it provides me with. We need to participate or there will be nothing left. (Kelly Bates)

Like, Katya, I also was reminded of the Sonia Nieto lecture on diversity. I agree with Katya when she said that "a teacher needs to get out into the community and explore it, and children need to do this as well". I feel that this is very important because both teachers and children need to explore what goes on outside of the school, their home, etc. I also remembered when Sonia Nieto said that once you go into the unknown, you come out of it a changed person, mostly for the better. I feel that this statement sums up the ideas that society and the people you meet always changes you. Like Kelly said, I am also shocked at how many people do not realize what is going on in their community and I feel that people need to step in and get involved. I agree with Kelly when she said that we need to "get the parents involved, let them know about activities that are happening in their area" or community. I feel that as a teacher you can make a difference by taking the kids out into the community like, Mary Cowhey, did, getting yourself involved by going to town meetings and even staying in the loop by watching the news. I feel that if you do not know and understand what is going on in the community then you cannot bring that knowledge into the classroom to help your students learn about these issues and concepts as well. (Jessica Morneault)

I also agree that it is easier to go with the norms of society then go against it. And I also agree that it is easier to walk away from a confrontation than to confront it. But one thing we should learn to do, especially as educators, is to be able to handle a confrontation between two students or even a confrontation between a student and yourself. Students nowadays are taught to speak their mind and unfortunately we are on the receiving end. (Elisabeth dos Santos)

I believe that the majority of people in the U.S. are afraid to go against what the “norm is” and feel as if they will be penalized or look down upon if they go against in what they believe. It is always easier to walk away from a problem rather than to look into the problem and actual create a solution. It is also easier just to accept the fact that things are the way they are and they will never change. Just like the society and school systems, standardized testing oh well I guess students are going to have to go along with it and deal with the requirements. And in fact the testing should be tested and really see how important it is to test and if there are more positives that drawbacks from such ideas. Greg Grochowski

I also agree with the idea that we need to get more involved and get out of our comfort zones. We should try more not to follow the norms, and to not just go with the crowd. We should be our own unique individuals and accept that yes we’re different, but through being different we can learn from another and work together. I also agree with Kelly, when she says that so many of us don’t know what is going on in their community. This is something as a future educator that I must develop, especially if I don’t like what’s going on, I just shouldn’t complain about it, I should try and educate myself on the topic or issue, and learn about both sides of the story. (Tara Gleason)

I really liked the activity we did in this class when Love had us write down Why we wanted to teach and What we thought the purpose of education was, then at the end of the lecture we looked back at what we wrote and a lot of us wanted to add to it after that! haha, I know I did. When I immediately wanted to add "learning and respecting interrelationships" to my purpose of education. I thought that was a very meaningful and overlooked aspect of education. I think if we could teach more of how everything is connected and related to each other, then people would more likely to respect one another and the Earth. I believe that our connections with others and our respect towards Earth are key to humanities existence and happiness. (Jessica Roberts)

I completely agree with the idea of stepping out of our own comfort zones and not doing something that you would normally do. When I think of this, I think back to Mary Cowhey. She did things completely out of the norm, which made her an excellent critical, transformative teacher. She lives what she believes while also teaching what she believes. In doing so, she set up her compassionate community because she made the decision to step out of her comfort zone a bit. For example, when she took her students to a homeless shelter to bring pies she stepped out of her comfort zone because most teachers would not even think of doing something like this with young students. I love how simply making that kind of decision can impact your teaching so much and change the students' lives as well because they're learning more than you think they are by doing activities such as this one. (Danielle Velodota)

There were many goood points brought up in this discussion. one of the points that i agree is what Mandy when she mentioned that yes we choose to go with what society does and says because it is alot easier to go with the society then against. as teacher we are forced to be part of the norm and God forbid if we go differently. Like the standardize teachers NEED to teach the students the material and we are limited to what we can teach. Tara mentioned that we need to get out of our confort, I feel that if we can rise up together as teachers, we are able to make a difference (frances V)


 * Responses to the "Bridging Differences" Blog found at : [] Be sure to clearly state which posting you are referring to.** ** Just as a reminder, everyone needs to post something in this category as well as at least one in the one of the above categories. ** ** You should have two postings total this week. **

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I just read Diane's post from today, April 27th. Her post reflects arguments towards NCLB and RTTT and their erroneous plans to tie teacher's salaries to student's test scores! I pulled out this particular statement, "I asked Dr. Frank to explain the word 'counseling,' and he said that this meant 'feedback on performance for purposes of skills development,' what we might think of as the diagnostic use of an assessment. Dr. Frank also added: 'Assessments should be a counseling resource, not a source of extrinsic motivation, i.e., rewards and punishments for teachers, administrators, and school districts.' Put simply, tests and assessments should inform teachers about student progress and their own teaching, i.e., what can be learned from the test results. But it is inappropriate to use the same test results to hand out bonuses and punishments, promotions and tenure." I agree with this statement! I think assessment and evaluation is necessary for the growth of students, teachers and the community. But I don’t see the influence or practicality of tying scores to salary. There are way too many other factors beside the child’s teacher that plays a significant role in the student’s test scores. I honestly don’t see how it’s possible? (Jessica Roberts)=====

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I find the last remarks in Deborah’s blog on April 22nd quite interesting. Her blog talks about the importance of community and the role that schools play in the community. It is the role of the school to provide a community atmosphere and to practice democracy instead of consumerism. With this in mind, her last statement is about her decision not to attend an ivy league school. I can imagine that one of her reasons that deterred her from going is that Ivy league schools only have one type of community. Generally speaking, you will not find diversity of beliefs, race, backgrounds, political views, etc. Yale does not reflect the community in New Haven. I wonder how much students who attend Ivy league schools really go out of the Ivy league community and explore the actual community of the area. Going back to New Haven and Yale, it is like night and day. Can students who attend Yale really ignore the fact that they live in a bubble inside the Yale walls? Even though I do not know the exact reason Deborah’s mother suggested she not go Ivy, I applaud her for wanting a better quality education for her children. (Laura Vagnini)======

My response is to Deborah's post entitled, "Imagine Standards for the Common Good" on April 22, 2010. I thought that Deborah brought up two good points in this post. First, when she asks, "Can everyone have what is best for themselves while still having the best for the common good?" I thought, "Well, it depends on what that something is, but most of the time, no." My theory is that people who work their way up to power get so comfortable in their positions that they stop thinking for the greater good and start only thinking about themselves. I think sometimes they make bad decisions they themselves may not fully agree with ONLY to show who's boss. It has happened time and time again, and I believe it will keep happening. At first the leader can pretend to, or genuinely care about, the opinions and needs of others, but in the long run he or she will get power hungry and start to test his or her limits. Of course it is smart to have people on your side, but when you know that you have the final say in things, you stop caring about those people. Deborah's second point which interested me was when she said, "Schools have a role to play here by creating for their communities a proxy society-a community that cares for one and all and that practices the habits of democracy, not consumerism." This reminded me of the many articles we have read about schools being shut down in communities. In a way, schools represent a community within themselves; they have members of the "town council", if you will, which are the teachers and principals, and you have its members, the students. A school should serve as a model for society and be a place where people can turn to. When you close this school, what else would happen than the neighborhood around it to crumble, too? What I think Deborah is trying to say is that schools should represent the democracy we need and should set an example for the society, and I agree. (Katya Lagun)

I am responding to what Diane said on April 20th, The Lesson of Florida. I feel that this is a great lesson to be learned, that a group of people can stand up for what they believe and what is right in order to make a change and make a difference. Florida has vetoed the law that would rule that test scores be the single largest determinant of teacher compensation. Diane says in her letter, that race to the top is based on the same measure and punishment philosophy has NCLB. We discussed this is class how history is repeating itself and changes for the better are not happening. This is the same with test scores being the single largest determinant of teacher compensation and NCLB. It is not changing with this new law just taking a new face. This isn’t helping the student or the education program at all. We discussed in class that there needs to be a group to stand up to the political leaders and show them what they are doing could not be for the better, but rather for the worse. It is groups like the one of parents and teachers in Florida that can make this difference and bring this attention to those more in power. (Kristie Fergusson)

I am also responding to Dianes post on April 20th, The Lesson of Florida. This article makes me feel like I want to be one of those people with a voice. It brings to light the fact that if we have a strong enough opinion with a strong enough reason we can actually make a difference. These teachers and parents knew what they wanted and they made a fight for it. They fought against teacher compensation based on tests scores and they got the law vetoed. If they didnt do this then, you know all the other states would have followed with merrit pay which I totally disagree with. Students are not going to learn more based on what the teacher is getting paid and I really believe this. We need to see that things could be fought against if we do want to really make a change and this article about the people in Florida who did this really opened by eyes to believe. (Allie Beardworth)

In response to April 20th post I am so happy that the merit pay did not pass in Florida. The last think we need is for teachers to be motivated even more to teach to the test. The worth of a teacher should not be based on students test scores. A teacher should be motivated to teach the students all they need to know to succeed in the future not to succeed on the test to make them money. HAHA that’s the last thing we need. That is almost laughable. And the point is… with merit pay the goal of teaching gets misconstrued. (Elisabeth dos Santos)

I am writing in response to Deborah's April 22 post, "Imagine Standards for the Common Good". I think she brought up a good point when she talked about Juan Gonzalez who spoke of neighborhood schools as being the epicenter of a commmunity. As a frequent volunteer at Naylor in the Little Italy of Hartford I both concur with this statement and support those educators and citizens who fight for keeping such schools alive. In a time when children of these cities are seceptable to bullying and gang violence members of these communities work together to enstill a rich learning environment on their streets, which they know students walk down. I also have a comment about charter schools in these areas and how city's are pushing to close community schools in order to open "gifted" schools. Why cant these "gifted" schools be developed without closing down the public school? If there is room to build and you can raise funds, why not? I think this would add to both potential coomunities by bringing a different demogrphic of children into a community school neighborhood without robbing that neighborhood of what makes them special. I think this is a step in ecojustice, by bringing people from different walks of life together. (Chris Kyle)

My response is to Deborah’s article on April 22, 2010, “Imagine Standards for the Common Good”. Deborah brings up a good point in her article about democracy. Democracy runs our country and will always be a part of it. The important aspect of democracy is the decisions they make and who benefits from them. Overall, it is one big system. Citizens elect those who they feel they want making decision on their behalf. Those who are in power make their decisions, and we have to live by them. Katya brought up something that I was also thinking about upon reading the article. Do those who play a democratic role really think of all the people in the US and what will be best for them, or do they think mostly of themselves and make their decisions off what will benefit those most? I think it is difficult when schools become democratic because those who suffer when it comes down to it are always the children. Its things like the way No Child Left Behind came into action that democracy plays a negative role in education. I think all political figures need to take a step back and look at the larger picture. They need to analyze all of the situations before making their decision; sometimes data and numbers don’t always prove to be a reliable source of evidence. (Allie French) I am responding to Deborah's post on April 22nd. she brought up the point about how disagreement might just be as important as agreement. This quickly caught my attention and I wanted to see what she meant. The key word to her idea is compromise, and not to be funny but I agree. There is no way for everyone to ever fully agree on decisions, especially those as important as dealing with the educational system. just as we learned in class, there are so many educational philosophies that you can teach to but usually teachers choose and pick aspects of multiple philosophies. It is important while teaching to be able to compromise with your school system and your own personal style. Sometimes we have to include assessments and topics that we don't want to do but there are ways of including those but teaching them and performing the assessments the way you want to. we need to remember what is important with our jobs and choose what we really need to spend our energy on. (Kelly Bates)

I chose the blog from April 15, 2010, titled “Schools: Too Big To Fail.” In this blog Debbie writes to Diane about the efforts to reform public schools, and basically clean it out and bring in the new. Like we have been discussing in class about U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's agenda. And like Debbie writes “it's all the fault of the teachers' unions, recalcitrant and/or stupid teachers, and their "low expectations." In contrast, I'd argue: schools are too big (and too important) to fail. They should be our first priority—before Iraq, before worrying about the morale of the Big Bankers, before spending money to bribe states to pay teachers according to their students' test scores, before giving more tests, looking for the one best curriculum, closing the bottom 10 percent, and replacing them with semi-private schools, etc.” I agree with her statement and her ideas. We are so concerned with all this stuff, we aren’t looking at the children who will carry on in the future. They are the ones suffering too. Here we’re focused on the tests. “Test scores are a symptom, not the evidence, of what a good education is about”, Debbie makes this point; such a strong one. We want great test scores, but what do they really prove? Do they show how well a child can read, a child can act, a child’s imagination? NO- they show a “standard child”. (Tara Gleason)

The post I am responding to is from Deborah to Diane on April 15, 2010 titled "Schools: Too Big To Fail". I liked this post because it really focused on how badly we need the RIGHT voices to be heard; those voices from parents, teachers, students, or the comumunity, rather than business men, officials, and other individuals who seem to have all the power when it comes to decision making in education but no knowledge or concrete evidence because they aren't even in the schools themselves. I also agreed with Deborah's comment saying "even if the schools conditions were 100% perfect, the conditions families face outside of school are certainly not". There are so many other factors that effect students and their families which as a result might effect the child's performance in school, which then might further effect their test scores, finally effecting the teacher and her job in the end. If the teachers within the school are completely focused on the students and having a well-rounded "learning setting" then I think this would help improve other issues that we face in the classroom. Even though this isn't applicable to all teachers out there today, there are still teachers, as I have seen, who continue to use creative approaches in their lessons, try to minimize the direct instruction, and who use as many resources and tools they can get there hands on to accomodate all the kids and make the learning experience beneficial for everyone. This is what is most important for the children. (Mandy Lucente)

I am responding to the post **April 20, 2010** 12784 The Lesson of Florida, in which Deborah conclude with a question to the masses of who will be the martin luther king for the educational rights movement. I agree with Deborah that the public accomplished an amazing feat in but down those who have money. However I am still concerned that this bill was only shot down in a last ditch effort by public crys to the governor. Should it really have to go that far? How can the Governor not make that decision on their own? Why can't they see the wolf in sheeps clothing in such a bill? (Tim Walczak)

My response is to Deborah's post entitled, "Imagine Standards for the Common Good" on April 22, 2010. Schools play a prominent role in the community. I think that it is very important for schools to reach out to the community and enforce what is being taught in the schools outside of the schools. If the community feels as though their school is a good thing they will be more likely to support it and promote it. Not go against the teachers. I feel as though a lot of times the community does not know that whole truth behind everything that they claim to be supporting. They only hear bits and pieces and then make their whole decisions based off that. It is our jobs as teachers to promote our programs to the communtity.( Kari M)

I am also responded to Diane's April 20th, post, "The Lesson of Florida." While I do agree with Tim that this may only be one success amongst a sea of failures, it is definitely something to be happy about. This goes to show that when we come together for a common cause we really can make a difference. Hopefully people will see that we can in fact change our educational system for the better if we all work hard to make "them" listen. I found it interesting that Diane addresses the question "who will step up and lead the educational rights movement." I would hope that we would all step up. Do we need to have one leader? We have just proved that together we can make a greater change than alone. Why not continue on and work as one voice. (Sarah Rousseau)

I am responding to Diane's post, "The Lesson of Florida," on April 20, 2010. I think that it's awesome that teachers and parents took the responsibility of taking political action and organizing something that would be so beneficial in the end to the education system. When Sarah said, "This goes to show that when we come together for a common cause, we really can make a difference," I could not agree more. This relates to when Diane says, "The friends of public education in Florida provided people a powerful lesson: united we stand, divided we fall." If we "come together" and are united then we have stepped up and done our part, however, if we try to do this alone, then we will fall and fail. Many voices are always better than just one and many leaders are also better than just one. When a group doesn't shy away from what they believe in, great changes can and DO emerge! (Danielle Velodota)

I am also responding to Diane's post, "The Lesson of Florida," on April 20, 2010. I am so happy that Governor Charlie Crist of Florida vetoed the law that "would have made test scores the single largest determinant of teacher compensation". I am so happy that people pulled together and used their power. Diane said that "the friends of public education in Florida provided people a powerful lesson: united we stand, divided we fall". I agree with Danielle when she wrote that "if we "come together" and are united then we have stepped up and done our part, however, if we try to do this alone, then we fall and fail". I agree with this because I feel that strength is in numbers and that some things are done more efficiently and when a group of individuals are working as a team. (Jessica Morneault)

"Imagine Standards for the Common Good" on April 22, 2010 was a good post, this was interesting because it mentioned the relation ship that the community played in the school system and visa versa. Katya and Laura brought up good points, laura, mentioned how diane had choose not to go to the fancy school, and she had a good theory of the type of community. I feel yes as Deborah mention community is important, because if you have a well diverse community you will have a more postive environment and help students appreciate one another more. Katya mentioned that can people do things with out involving their personal interest. And that was such a great point, because with society now in days you can count the people who do things with out having thier own interest in mind. That is something that does not occur often. and it has affected society and people in society for many years. (frances V)