Sunday, February 21, 2010
Monday, February 15, 2010
Week 3 Reading Response
3 things that you learned/connected with; 2 thing you disagree with or have questions; and 1 thing you would really like to learn more about. . .
Agreements
1) Ohhh, I really connect with the point where in one culture, it can be considered right, but in a different culture, it would be considered as wrong. Take for instance eating at the dinner table. In Korea, it is polite to eat with your hand underneath the table so you don't bother the person sitting next to you. However, in Japan, it is considered highly disrespectful to do that (probably because people hid weapons for assassination in history).
2) Probability/Correlation Propositions and Predictions are at times highly accurate, while at other times are not. Even if the prediction is true, we as teachers still need to still hold high expectations for our students.
3) Last big point that hit me was the idea that a good ethnography isn't the ability to answer questions, but to make clear how the audience or subjects are affected by the research. The project isn't a documentary with a telephoto lens, but an interactive project with the subjects.
Disagreement
1) I disagree that the classroom is an economic system of behavior. Students listen to the teacher not for kind treatment and purveying of knowledge, but to get a good grade or credits for the course. I want this student mentality to change, but currently, that is what I see as a teacher.
2) I don't exactly disagree, but I am confused in the portion on myths. I read a lot of common events and names, and I can understand there may be some tall tales associated with the names, but is it assuming that a majority on the information on the subjects are myths?
1) I found it odd about the section where the teacher touches the heads of students. I assume this is for appreciation or acknowledging the students for positive behavior or academic progress. However, this seems as if it were for a younger crowd of students, such as elementary school, or maybe even the lower grades of middle school. What is the target audience for this ethnography?
Agreements
1) Ohhh, I really connect with the point where in one culture, it can be considered right, but in a different culture, it would be considered as wrong. Take for instance eating at the dinner table. In Korea, it is polite to eat with your hand underneath the table so you don't bother the person sitting next to you. However, in Japan, it is considered highly disrespectful to do that (probably because people hid weapons for assassination in history).
2) Probability/Correlation Propositions and Predictions are at times highly accurate, while at other times are not. Even if the prediction is true, we as teachers still need to still hold high expectations for our students.
3) Last big point that hit me was the idea that a good ethnography isn't the ability to answer questions, but to make clear how the audience or subjects are affected by the research. The project isn't a documentary with a telephoto lens, but an interactive project with the subjects.
Disagreement
1) I disagree that the classroom is an economic system of behavior. Students listen to the teacher not for kind treatment and purveying of knowledge, but to get a good grade or credits for the course. I want this student mentality to change, but currently, that is what I see as a teacher.
2) I don't exactly disagree, but I am confused in the portion on myths. I read a lot of common events and names, and I can understand there may be some tall tales associated with the names, but is it assuming that a majority on the information on the subjects are myths?
1) I found it odd about the section where the teacher touches the heads of students. I assume this is for appreciation or acknowledging the students for positive behavior or academic progress. However, this seems as if it were for a younger crowd of students, such as elementary school, or maybe even the lower grades of middle school. What is the target audience for this ethnography?
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Week 3 Post
Surprising thing in the classroom has to be:
how my students responded and was excited and engaged for once. Usually they are pretty inactive unless they have their own social agenda with their buds going on in the classroom. Too bad they were engage on a non-math related subject. I guess I should tell you peeps the story.
A student made a negative derogatory comment to another student using the word gay/homo. I addressed it and told them it was inappropriate and then asked them why they used that word. Eventually we got into a pretty intense class discussion on minorities and how my students were a minority. We also covered the issue of multiple perspectives and not getting information from a single source and not basing facts off a solitary sources. Pretty much all the students were adding to the conversation, some of the shy quiet girls stayed quiet, but they were listening intensely at the discussion.
If only I could get this kind of discussion going about math. How to make math more controversial.....
how my students responded and was excited and engaged for once. Usually they are pretty inactive unless they have their own social agenda with their buds going on in the classroom. Too bad they were engage on a non-math related subject. I guess I should tell you peeps the story.
A student made a negative derogatory comment to another student using the word gay/homo. I addressed it and told them it was inappropriate and then asked them why they used that word. Eventually we got into a pretty intense class discussion on minorities and how my students were a minority. We also covered the issue of multiple perspectives and not getting information from a single source and not basing facts off a solitary sources. Pretty much all the students were adding to the conversation, some of the shy quiet girls stayed quiet, but they were listening intensely at the discussion.
If only I could get this kind of discussion going about math. How to make math more controversial.....
Week 2 Question (Oops)
Forgot I had to post stuff on this website thing. Just been overwhelmed with anything you could possibly imagine.
Best high school book has to be: "The Ugly American"
I agree that "Catcher in the Rye" was a great book also, but I went to boarding school and did that whole east coast thing. "The Ugly American" on the other hand was a great short book. Each chapter was a short story which was interesting, entertaining and historical. You know how history teachers always try to introduce that 1 text which shows the opposing point of view of the loser of a war and how they would wrote their view/version of history. Well this book is full of those stories from the minority point of view which was historical. A short quick read which is well worth it. I wonder where my copy went now that I think about it.
Best high school book has to be: "The Ugly American"
I agree that "Catcher in the Rye" was a great book also, but I went to boarding school and did that whole east coast thing. "The Ugly American" on the other hand was a great short book. Each chapter was a short story which was interesting, entertaining and historical. You know how history teachers always try to introduce that 1 text which shows the opposing point of view of the loser of a war and how they would wrote their view/version of history. Well this book is full of those stories from the minority point of view which was historical. A short quick read which is well worth it. I wonder where my copy went now that I think about it.
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
What really hit me the most from the reading on Rethinking High School would be the idea of small schools. It seemed like the school was more of a small community where students moved out of elementary school and middle school directly into a classroom across the hall into high school. With this much intimacy between grade levels, students don't even have the option of skulking and hiding in the shadows of such a closely knit environment.
I attended high school school at a boarding school on the east coast, and it was tiny. Everyone knew everyone else, and if something happened, everyone would know the next morning, whether it warranted a congratulations or a sorrow sigh. It was a great environment if you wanted to forge ahead academically or if you fell behind. Teachers knew you oh too well and could find you at an instance's notice if they thought you needed help. You never got the chance to fall behind even if you wanted to, unless you really worked hard at failing.
It seems as if research continually shows that the size of schools and classes play a large role in determining the success of a student. Yet quite the opposite seems to be happening in the present time. Classes are not only getting larger, but teachers are being discarded like yesterday's newspaper. Why would we spend so much more money on so many more tester programs and administration and paperwork while we know of a successful solution already? Not only that, but why are we cutting out the very successes that research says time and time again works? The world never makes any sense, and I guess it shows as I am choosing to become a teacher.
I attended high school school at a boarding school on the east coast, and it was tiny. Everyone knew everyone else, and if something happened, everyone would know the next morning, whether it warranted a congratulations or a sorrow sigh. It was a great environment if you wanted to forge ahead academically or if you fell behind. Teachers knew you oh too well and could find you at an instance's notice if they thought you needed help. You never got the chance to fall behind even if you wanted to, unless you really worked hard at failing.
It seems as if research continually shows that the size of schools and classes play a large role in determining the success of a student. Yet quite the opposite seems to be happening in the present time. Classes are not only getting larger, but teachers are being discarded like yesterday's newspaper. Why would we spend so much more money on so many more tester programs and administration and paperwork while we know of a successful solution already? Not only that, but why are we cutting out the very successes that research says time and time again works? The world never makes any sense, and I guess it shows as I am choosing to become a teacher.
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