Class Notes

After last week, I feel better about creating class notes that are appropriate for public schools. I was concerned throughout the process because the only notes I have ever made were for a college class with over 250 students enrolled. This was very different. I actually found that I enjoyed making lessons that were highly interactive (thanks to my volunteers, by the way!). I try to do that even with the college lectures, but with such a large class size there is only so much I can do.

The only issue I had - and I guess this will come with time and experience - is that I wasn't convinced that I had put enough information in my powerpoint slides. I felt that the students would be more interested but less informed. I am not sure how to incorporate vocabulary and other terminology into a lesson if I cannot put that information in my class notes. Should I use homework assignments? Class worksheets? I feel like building the information is a great idea, but the students do need to know what things are called. On the SOLs it won't say "the purple thing", it will have a name. How do I find this balance? Any ideas?

An interesting article

I just came across an interesting article on ADHD and thought I'd share it with everyone. According to the article, recent reserach has shown that the best method of curbing ADHD is a combination of providing immediate incentives and 'low' doses of drugs such as Ritalin. Earlier it was purely medical (high doses of drugs).
However, the question posed at the end of the article interested me most.. How practical would this be in regular schools? What are your thoughts on this?

Here's a link to the article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8625741.stm

Lesson plan designing - a laborious, yet satisfying experience !

I designed my first ever lesson plan the other day, in accordance with the 5E model. When I first started off, I was enthusiastic and bubbling with ideas. Brainstorming questions, strategies and ideas, it was pretty exciting, must admit ! And then I got down to actually designing it. Initially it was fun, but as I started advancing through the E's .. it started getting a little frustrating... and after about 2 hours, realized that I had only finished about 30%. I thought to myself, 'Is it going to take me this long to design all my lesson plans?' However, I kept at it... it was a test of my patience. And it was worth it ! Soon it started taking shape, and my enthusiasm revived once again. It took me another 3 hours to complete the job, and another hour to edit, and finally I had my first lesson plan complete in front of me. It was a heartening feeling.

The most challenging segments were 'exploration' and 'elaboration'. As I found later, even though both are distinct categories, there exists a very thin line between them...

The other thing that took a lot of time was coming up with deep, yet simple questions, triggering higher order thinking. My difficulty here was coming up with a sort of 'simple' question. It's a tricky combination - testing a simple concept.

All in all, it was a nice experience. It was certainly a challenge designing the lesson - but a challenge very well worth it !! At one point, I was so discouraged that I didn't feel like going ahead, but I'm glad I stuck to my task, and ended up framing a decent first ever lesson plan.

I think this was the one time in life where I really felt that I reaped the fruits of my labor ! :)

Set the example!

Sir Ken Robinson makes an interesting point about public education by comparing it to a factory of mass production. In our education system we have standard tests and standards for grade levels that “conform” students to specific guidelines and grade levels. He goes on to say that schools today are “preoccupied with certain types of ability.” He says that his aim is to help students find their passion and inspire creativity. Here is where I have a problem in what he is saying…

As a society, I believe that we should have standards because we need to be able to compete with a growing technological society. The problem with our standards in this country is not with the standards themselves. The problem is with the way we teach the standards and the way we “rush” children through the system. We have pushed children through the system not worried about whether or not they will catch up next year or fall further behind. We have labeled children that can’t work at their grade level target as being learning disabled. Maybe we should not worry about years and time lines anymore and allow students to advance in grade levels ONLY when they pass the subject area demonstrating mastery of the content. This would require students to show motivation to move forward and would require those that need help to spend as much time as they need. Why do we have to categorize students by a grade level that requires them to master content in one year? Why can’t students work at their own pace and advance when they are emotionally ready to? Why isn’t there more flexibility?

If we adjusted these requirements it would allow teachers flexibility in teaching by giving them more time to teach. For example, it might be better for students to finish a science subject in 9 months, test, and move on to the next level. Where as, in language arts they should work for 11 months, test, and advance. Currently our students are testing between March and May in Virginia; this means that teachers only have from September to February to teach content material. That is only 6 months! Are we setting our children up to fail? To hate school?

I agree with Robinson, there is a need for more creativity and inspiration in schools. Most teachers would tell you they don’t have time to be creative. However, I feel that there are bigger issues to deal with that would fix this issue.

As a classroom teacher, you can’t change educational policy on your own. What you can do, is find a method that works best for you. Find what standards and practices go best together and how the students work best with each of them. Create more time in your classroom by find ways to combine content so that you can provide ways for students to demonstrate mastery of material in ways other then testing. When students are able to do hands-on, practical or design based learning activities it encourages them to make connections with content that forces them to use upper level thinking and inquiry skills.

And finally, to inspire creativity and passion in the classroom, teachers must always remember that they create the classroom environment. So, create an environment that encourages creativity and passion for content knowledge. Be the example that you want students to be!

Bringing Choas Back to Education

As a teacher there is one goal I desire to do to help improve the conformist, lazy direction education is heading in. I want to bring reality to the class room. What I mean by this, is not only just bringing real world examples into my science classroom, but also breaking the typical social setting: adult teacher lectures and ignorant students listen and learn. That is not how people learn in the real world. They must experience. They must learn it on their own.

Furthermore while the social and technological world has changed, education has not changed to match it. With a world wide internet, the access to information is unlimited. SO why spend all our time forcing memorization of irrelevant facts when students really need to learn to apply the information they gather to real life situations.

Lastly we need to encourage students to try lots of subjects, etc. until they find what they enjoying learning and doing. THEN we must provide enough flexibility within our school systems to allow students to pursue those goals to see if its really what they are interested. This needs to happen before kids go to college so they are getting an idea of themselves sooner.

Education or Mass Production?

There were several things that Sir Ken Robinson said that formed very vivid images in my mind . I'd like to comment on them first.
The analogy made with children being mass manufactured like products in a factory reminded me of the film, 'The Matrix' - in particular the scene where the machines are creating new species in the 'real world'. To be honest, this is very very scary.... and it's really happening- which scares me more. Is this what our education system has come to? Sir Robinson is correct when he mentions that our education system is based on the principles of 'mass production'. However, this is extremely unfortunate. This has to change... I don't really know how.. but it's not heading the right way.

The second vivid image that came to mind was when he talked about how a plant grows. A plant needs nurturing and the correct conditions to grow. This is very true. It is absolutely imperative, critical, crucial, important, and ESSENTIAL for schools to provide conditions, and teachers to enhance 'personal development' -- this according to me is the KEY to a good education. As Sir Robinson mentioned later, you can't just put the roots in the ground and stick the petals and expect the plant to grow.....

One factor that greatly contributes to this mechanical system is the fact that the government sets very definite targets by which it wants to accomplish extremely challenging feat. The new goal that came with the recently reformed ESEA is, " ..... that by 2020, America once again will lead the world in college competition." I would be really glad if this happened in the next decade. However, I'm just afraid that in order to accomplish this goal, we will resort to narrowing our focus on 'important', yet limited, aspects of teaching. Achieving targets, at the cost of inhibiting personal development, in my opinion is extremely unfair.

In such a system, not only do the students suffer, but so do the teachers. The latter have to teach to a restricted (and not necessarily an educationally prolific) curriculum.
On the positive side, the government has put in a HUGE amount of money into education, which should really help in a lot of ways. Also, the fact that the govt. mentioned that schools not performing well will not be punished, but instead be helped -- this was immensely heartening and encouraging to hear !

As a teacher, I firmly believe that I need to teach my students science in such a way that they understand , enjoy , learn it well, and trigger (in even the smallest of ways) some excitement or fascination for some aspect of science. I would like to provide conditions necessary for healthy personal development, as I believe that this is imperative. I had very few teachers who motivated me well, but I know that if I did, I would probably have learned much more, in a much better way. I wouldn't want my students missing out on this, and will do my best to be an inspiring teacher.
The problems in education are huge, and impossible for a single person to solve. Even though it might be insignificant, I will put in an earnest effort in ensuring that my students have learned the subject well, and nor just for the sake of the exam. If I can succeed in this challenge, I will be really satisfied.

The Road Less Paved?

I went to a conference earlier this fall where a man showed a ppt slide of a "sketchy" neighborhood with run down homes and pot holes in the road. He made the analogy that this was our education system. We keep repaving the road with our "reforms" but essentially the road still leads to the same bad neighborhood. Then today, I saw this on cnn.com.http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/03/17/ted.ken.robinson/index.html?hpt=C1Read this short article and respond to it on the blog. Perhaps you as a single teacher in a classroom may not be able to completely overhaul education - but what can you do to keep from just repaving the same bad road?