Mind the Gap

1.  "...I concluded that curriculum and instruction were far more important than choice and accountability." pg.12

•   I am not sure how I feel about this statement.  I believe that curriculum, instruction, choice and accountability are important and I am not sure why we have to pick either or.  Can we not have great curriculum and choice?  Can we not encourage teachers to implement dynamic instruction and hold them accountable for students overall growth/knowledge?   A lawyer needs to be dynamic and they are held financially accountable when they perform poorly.   I think we need to treat teaching like any other job.

"...Letting federal dollars follow poor students to the school of their choice...Since affluent families could choose their schools by moving to a better neighborhood or enrolling their children in private schools, why shouldn't poor families have similar choices?" pg. 8

• I find this fear to be legitimate and something we are seeing destroy community schools today.  Many affluent parents have the money and ability to send their child to whatever school appeases them. The problem with this is that the schools they are leaving become "dumping grounds" for trouble kids and essentially segregated schools.  Oakland is becoming a very gentrified place but still many of those families send their children to other schools while leaving their locals schools with only the underprivileged students.  Similar to the "white flight" of urban areas, this takes away the diversity that brings value to that community.  Allowing choice has basically created modern day segregated schools, leaving children the difficult task of trying to succeed in a school that the community no longer cares about.  No more updated books or facilities, high teacher turnover rates, and under-qualified leaders.

2.  According to Ravitch a well-educated person is one who "has a well-furnished mind, shaped by reading and thinking about history, science, literature, the arts, and politics.  The well-educated person has learned how to explain ideas and listen respectfully to others".  I disagree with Ravitch in terms of a well educated mind having to be shaped by reading and thinking about history, arts, literature, etc. and I agree with the second statement about being able to explain ideas and listen respectfully to others.  In my experience, I have met many academically intelligent people who were not able to hold a conversation or seemed "ignorant" and unable to adjust to real life situations.  I have also met non-college educated people who have impressed me with their critical thinking skills and ability to assess situations and turn out positive results.  The people I try to surround myself with, whether it's friends or someone I am dating, tend to be "intelligent" based on my definition which is: having the ability to hold their ground in a conversation about a variety of topics and the ability to listen and respond to different ideas and concepts. Whether I am talking about Domestic Violence or Beyonce I want to speak with someone who has an informed opinion and can express it in stimulating way.  

3.  What stood out for me during our class discussion on Ravitch was our continued difficulty as educators to pin down a way to evaluate teachers and set standards for all students.  We all agree there needs to be some from of accountability but how we go about that is still up in the air.  The model used at De La Salle High is awesome and I really don't think that idea is a hidden gem that only DLS is capable of discovering.  I honestly think it is something that many teachers in a variety of schools would work very hard to keep away from our schools or avoid all together.  When teachers are outraged about surprise classroom visits, it only perpetuates the belief that most teachers do not work hard to enrich students lives or provide meaningful ways of passing on knowledge unless it is an observation day.  Sometimes I think I talk too much but I find all of our discussions thought provoking.  I pretty much expressed all the things that came up for me during class discussion!

4.  I am looking to improve on my overall grammar knowledge and ability to teach it in a way that allows students to retain that knowledge.  During my first year I taught ESL and it was then I realized that I know what a correct sentence looks like and where to put a comma but I had difficulty explaining why!  There are so many different grammar rules and during this time I had to explain why and how about things that seemed innate to me.  I have found three resources to help fill in the gaps: WEB SITE: Quick and Dirty Grammar ARTICLE:  BOOK:  The Quick and Dirty Grammar was helpful.  It seemed to simplify the many grammar rules that trip us up.  For each grammar rule that I looked up, the author of the site, gave some type of mnemonic device to aid in the memory and recall of that grammar tool.  As a teacher, finding ways to help students retain information is key.  This website should encourage teachers to find creative ways to make grammar stick.  This summer, my goal is to add a mnemonic device to every grammar rule I teach (and add a grammar rule to all of my "quick writes").

5. An, Y. J., & Reigeluth, C. (2011). Creating technology-enhanced, learner-centered classrooms: K-12 teachers' beliefs, perceptions, barriers, and support needs. Journal of Digital Learning in Teaching Education , 28(2), 54-60.

This article promoted a few ideas for me.  I may look further into how teachers view technology in the classroom.  The views of the educator were the primary resource in Reigeluth's piece.  I thought about the new push for technology in my district.  I find most of the new technology being pushed into the classroom are just cool gadgets and not necessarily what I would find useful in the classroom.  Maybe technology hasn't shown and drastic improvement in student test scores because many educators do not "buy into" whatever technology elements they are being told to use.  This article just helped me look at my inquiry question from a different angle.  

McCabe, D. B., & Meuter, M. L. (2011). A student view of technology in the classroom: Does it enhance the seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education?. Journal of Marketing Education , 33(2), 149-159. doi: 10.1177/0273475311411084 

I have to admit that I lost focus with this article.  The attempt to connect everything to the seven principles of good practice did not peek my interest or seem as relevant for my particular inquiry.  The writer was convincing and all that jazz but I will not seek any other articles.  It just didn't grab my attention the way some of the other articles did.  However, I was able to find some possible resources in the reference section so that was nice!


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