I am reading a book that is the foundation of CapCity PCS where I will be working starting August 15. The premis of the book is how to manage the classroom to provide opportunities for ethical as well as academic growth. Nel Noddings writes the preface so the book has got to be key to the change that should be made to create more caring individuals through schooling. Charney says that it is about empathy (knowing the child) and structure (seting guidlines and limits)
Quotes: "students need to feel the power to exert self-control" and "students need to feel the power to care which gives them a greater feeling of community" (not directly quoted)
tbc
Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Friday, June 24, 2005
What High School's need...
What the Gates foundation is recommending, again, for better high schools. Now will others listen?
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Change is Good?!
Tuesday was my last day at Timber Lane Elementary, a public school in Fairfax County. I am now employed, as of August 14, 2005, with Capital City Public Charter School in Washington, DC. The reason I am changing schools is first and foremost for professional reasons. When I started my master's degree program at UVA and started reading Deborah Meier and Ted Sizer I knew I wanted to work in a Coalition School like the one's they were talking about. I want to provide families a more intimate school to have their children attend, one where the parents and the children new their teachers personnally. Students in Coalitions Schools aren't just numbers, they are children with value.
Of course, I think that Timber Lane offered that, however, they were too absorbed with testing. They were pressured from their administration to raise test scores or they would lose funding and children could choose to go to another school. Timber Lane was the only school of its kind to not have to offer the choice to parents to go somewhere else because we passed NCLB AYP. Yeah!
The teachers that I worked with were great teachers. They really care for the kids. However, their instruction and pedagogy wained as they tried to teach the random Standards of Learning. They constantly worried about whether or not their children were learning the material; some were, some weren't. Those that could learn it could memorize random facts presented in a disconnected way and still do well on a test. You know the one's. The other students had no clue which way was up or down. They had made no connections to the material presented to them because of the disorganized, teach-to-the-test instruction. You might ask, Why didn't you stay around, Jill? You want organized instruction and radical pedagogy, then change the way it is at Timber Lane.
Here's the thing. Timber Lane is not ready for that. The teachers like to have the standards right their at their finger tips so that when they sit down on Friday to write their weekly lesson plans they know which objectives to teach. They also know that if they mess around with any other sort of radical pedagogy, that means that they are wasting time.
What they don't realize, and I did try to explain it to them as best as I could, is that the children will not learn the material presented unless they make a connection to their own lives. (Good luck with Virginia History, and to the rest of the states who require state history to immigrants and transient students). The students must also have ownership of the material rather than feeling like a receptacle for knowledge. They must have power of their own learning for meaning to take root. Now that seems easy enough, but Timber Lane is not ready for that. The teachers and administration do not feel as if they have the time, nor autonomy to provide this sort of instruction. They must teach the rock cycle, Ancient Civilizations, Butterflies, and more, all in one year.
Anyway, I am moving to a school that has the sort of integrated teaching that I think works for kids and provides them with the knowledge to be good citizens and smart critical thinkers. Now I must go and see if it really is all that I expect. My goal is to take what I learn at CapCity and integrate it into public schools who feel out of control with testing. If I can't do it inside existing public schools, than I can help create teams who are willing to change and provide a new school for children to attend if the shoe fits. I am not talking about vouchers for Catholic schools. That is a whole different topic. I am talking about school choice. Matching school philosophies with families.
Of course, I think that Timber Lane offered that, however, they were too absorbed with testing. They were pressured from their administration to raise test scores or they would lose funding and children could choose to go to another school. Timber Lane was the only school of its kind to not have to offer the choice to parents to go somewhere else because we passed NCLB AYP. Yeah!
The teachers that I worked with were great teachers. They really care for the kids. However, their instruction and pedagogy wained as they tried to teach the random Standards of Learning. They constantly worried about whether or not their children were learning the material; some were, some weren't. Those that could learn it could memorize random facts presented in a disconnected way and still do well on a test. You know the one's. The other students had no clue which way was up or down. They had made no connections to the material presented to them because of the disorganized, teach-to-the-test instruction. You might ask, Why didn't you stay around, Jill? You want organized instruction and radical pedagogy, then change the way it is at Timber Lane.
Here's the thing. Timber Lane is not ready for that. The teachers like to have the standards right their at their finger tips so that when they sit down on Friday to write their weekly lesson plans they know which objectives to teach. They also know that if they mess around with any other sort of radical pedagogy, that means that they are wasting time.
What they don't realize, and I did try to explain it to them as best as I could, is that the children will not learn the material presented unless they make a connection to their own lives. (Good luck with Virginia History, and to the rest of the states who require state history to immigrants and transient students). The students must also have ownership of the material rather than feeling like a receptacle for knowledge. They must have power of their own learning for meaning to take root. Now that seems easy enough, but Timber Lane is not ready for that. The teachers and administration do not feel as if they have the time, nor autonomy to provide this sort of instruction. They must teach the rock cycle, Ancient Civilizations, Butterflies, and more, all in one year.
Anyway, I am moving to a school that has the sort of integrated teaching that I think works for kids and provides them with the knowledge to be good citizens and smart critical thinkers. Now I must go and see if it really is all that I expect. My goal is to take what I learn at CapCity and integrate it into public schools who feel out of control with testing. If I can't do it inside existing public schools, than I can help create teams who are willing to change and provide a new school for children to attend if the shoe fits. I am not talking about vouchers for Catholic schools. That is a whole different topic. I am talking about school choice. Matching school philosophies with families.
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Sunday, May 01, 2005
Resources :: The Forum for Education and Democracy
Resources :: The Forum for Education and Democracy
This and other resources will be handy when I think about how I want to help a school grow to become a strong school that teaches kids about their rights and responsibilities to be citizens in this country. It is not just about voting.
This and other resources will be handy when I think about how I want to help a school grow to become a strong school that teaches kids about their rights and responsibilities to be citizens in this country. It is not just about voting.
Monday, March 21, 2005
High school standards
HoustonChronicle.com - Perry backs challenge to feds on student testing: "A total of 13 states have signed on to support the American Diploma Project, which aims to get all students ready for college or work. Specifically, the states committed to:
� Align their high school standards and tests with the skills required in college and the workplace. Colleges and universities would have to clearly define the skills required for their credit-bearing courses, and states would be expected to adjust their English and math standards.
� Require all students to take a test of their readiness for college or work so that children can get help where needed while still in high school.
� Require all students to take a core curriculum that prepares them for college or work. States would have to ensure that rigorous-sounding courses have the content to match.
� Hold high schools and colleges more accountable for graduating their students. States would have to improve data collection to track individual students through all grades and college.
-- The Associated Press"
What this could potentially mean is that there is less of a chance for students to experience a brad range of curriculum whether it be vocational or academic in nature. Will they have more opportunities to make connections to real life? or is this just tracking?
Another thing, this will lead to a downward shift to the middle schools and elementary schools and possibly change their curriculum to aide the high school curriculum. It is a dominoe effect.
� Align their high school standards and tests with the skills required in college and the workplace. Colleges and universities would have to clearly define the skills required for their credit-bearing courses, and states would be expected to adjust their English and math standards.
� Require all students to take a test of their readiness for college or work so that children can get help where needed while still in high school.
� Require all students to take a core curriculum that prepares them for college or work. States would have to ensure that rigorous-sounding courses have the content to match.
� Hold high schools and colleges more accountable for graduating their students. States would have to improve data collection to track individual students through all grades and college.
-- The Associated Press"
What this could potentially mean is that there is less of a chance for students to experience a brad range of curriculum whether it be vocational or academic in nature. Will they have more opportunities to make connections to real life? or is this just tracking?
Another thing, this will lead to a downward shift to the middle schools and elementary schools and possibly change their curriculum to aide the high school curriculum. It is a dominoe effect.
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Work and the Moral Woman. Deborah Stone.
I found this while searching about Deborah Stone. Here she writes about women and their place in society as defined by society. Good connection to Michelle Bolton.
http://www.prospect.org/print/V8/35/stone-d.html
http://www.prospect.org/print/V8/35/stone-d.html
Sunday, February 20, 2005
Sunday, February 06, 2005
Thursday, February 03, 2005
Merit Pay in Texas, Perry's proposal
DallasNews.com | News for Dallas, Texas | Education: "Would the promise of an extra $5,000 a year spur teachers to get more out of their students on testing day"
This being the most important thing, right? Wrong! What we need is for the "real teachers, please stand up!" (thoms). This is key here, why don't people get this?
"the way to encourage strong teachers is to reward their work." True...but how we judge good teaching is very subjective if we are not basing it on test scores. If we do base it on test scores, then how do we know that the teachers aren't teaching to the test, rather than, as Parker PAlmer says, really teaching and making the subject come alive? That is the goal.
see article for places it didn't work.
This being the most important thing, right? Wrong! What we need is for the "real teachers, please stand up!" (thoms). This is key here, why don't people get this?
"the way to encourage strong teachers is to reward their work." True...but how we judge good teaching is very subjective if we are not basing it on test scores. If we do base it on test scores, then how do we know that the teachers aren't teaching to the test, rather than, as Parker PAlmer says, really teaching and making the subject come alive? That is the goal.
see article for places it didn't work.
Decoding Why Few Girls Choose Science, Math
Decoding Why Few Girls Choose Science, Math (washingtonpost.com):
"Teachers and scientists say that there are greater differences in learning styles within each sex than there are between the sexes and that any school or teacher that doesn't approach students as individuals is missing the mark. "
This topic relates nicely to the recent comment by Harvard Pres. Summers about women being inherantly weaker in the maths and sciences.
George T would ask, however, what are we doing wasting kids time with Math. The argument gets old...but he has a point. Even Nel says so. How can we get the kids to care? and love math and science?
"Teachers and scientists say that there are greater differences in learning styles within each sex than there are between the sexes and that any school or teacher that doesn't approach students as individuals is missing the mark. "
This topic relates nicely to the recent comment by Harvard Pres. Summers about women being inherantly weaker in the maths and sciences.
George T would ask, however, what are we doing wasting kids time with Math. The argument gets old...but he has a point. Even Nel says so. How can we get the kids to care? and love math and science?
Sunday, January 16, 2005
connection to Courage to teach, by Palmer
New Horizons for Learning Online Journal: Winter 2005
articles in issue of New Horizons for Learning's online Journal. Discussion that takes place surrounds topic of direct teaching approach that so many teachers are doing to meet the standards while forgetting about the joy of learning and teaching.
"They offer principles and tools that will not only help students to learn more effectively but will help them to enjoy the process and be intereted in continuing to learn throughout life..."
articles in issue of New Horizons for Learning's online Journal. Discussion that takes place surrounds topic of direct teaching approach that so many teachers are doing to meet the standards while forgetting about the joy of learning and teaching.
"They offer principles and tools that will not only help students to learn more effectively but will help them to enjoy the process and be intereted in continuing to learn throughout life..."
Monday, January 10, 2005
Root Causes: An Interview with Wangari Maathai
Root Causes: An Interview with Wangari Maathai
I think that Maathai's efforts are really the epiotme of trying something different. Through her grassroots Green Belt Movement she became an activists for the environment as well as for women's rights.
I think that Maathai's efforts are really the epiotme of trying something different. Through her grassroots Green Belt Movement she became an activists for the environment as well as for women's rights.
Friday, December 10, 2004
Monday, December 06, 2004
Drum Major Institute
Drum Major Institute
The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy is a non-partisan, non-profit policy institute founded during the civil rights movement. DMI's approach is unwavering: we do not issue reports to see our name in print or hold forums for the sake of mere talk. We influence policy by conducting rigorous research, leveraging our strategic relationships to engage policymakers and opinion leaders in our work, and offering platforms to amplify the ideas of those who are working for social and economic fairness.
The Drum Major Institute for Public Policy is a non-partisan, non-profit policy institute founded during the civil rights movement. DMI's approach is unwavering: we do not issue reports to see our name in print or hold forums for the sake of mere talk. We influence policy by conducting rigorous research, leveraging our strategic relationships to engage policymakers and opinion leaders in our work, and offering platforms to amplify the ideas of those who are working for social and economic fairness.
Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Wangari Maathai in the news
BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Africa 'makes excuses on climate'
James brought up good point of how Maathai claimed the position she is in today. It would be an interesting comparison to make to how other female leaders got to power: i.e. Margaret Spellings.
James brought up good point of how Maathai claimed the position she is in today. It would be an interesting comparison to make to how other female leaders got to power: i.e. Margaret Spellings.
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