Week 2 Reading Response Disrupting Class

It was nice to see an outside educator refer to Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences within teaching. Teaching is not a one sided approach, but the way we learned definitely was. We teach in the same model we learned from our teachers, yet this is not the way we learn. We always debate over Gardner's multiple intelligences, but it seems it is never put into practice.

The Ford Model T steel die was a very interesting story. They weren't able to use the materials other companies supplied for them, so what did they do? They decided to make their own facility to compensate for the specifications needed for their production facility. To think what would happen if individual schools had the capital to duplicate such a process.

Standardization is cheap, personalization is very expensive, as was mentioned from Microsoft and the coding within the system. It is easy to create one package with a single code to function for all computers. However, it is very expensive to personal each computer to individual user specifications. This is a great metaphor for teaching also. It takes many resources to package teaching to each individual student. A lot of time and money is needed to ensure success for the student. It is so much cheaper to create a single curriculum and lesson plan for all students. If the lesson doesn't fit the specifications of the student, then too bad for the student.

I agree with the idea of temporal interdependencies, but I disagree with the justification to move students on. If students don't understand the content, and the content is necessary to accomplish later assignments and comprehension of higher level material, who does it benefit to move the student on? If a student is incapable of adding numbers, how will they ever be able to multiply? Will moving them on with their peers help them? This may be true, if there were another support system there to help those students struggling in the material. So I disagree with the idea of moving students on to the next grade level is there are no additional resources there to help them.

Every student is unique, yet only special students get the extra funding (ELL or IEP). Are some students more special than others? I understand some students need more support over others, and they deserve those additional resources. However, it is our job as educators to teach ALL students, not just the ones who can work independently and succeed or to help those with intricate disabilities. I believe not that we should take resources away from those programs, but to add more resources to those students who are overlooked the most in schools, the students who "shuffle" from class to class and skirt by school without learning.

Schools used to be based on personalized education, and as it grew standardization fell into place. It was stated that progressives encouraged the idea of an increasing classroom. However, I believe the author fell short of explaining what was meant in that statement. I want to know if the author believes that progressives wanted every student the opportunity to pursue education and that it should be open to all, or if they thought larger class sizes would be beneficial to the learning process.

Reading Response 5 (Extra Credit) Teacher's Revloving Door

I chose this article because I wanted to know what steps I could take to avoid being burnt out of teaching within the first 5 years of teaching. It seems this is an overwhelming problem, and knowing what I was getting into would be a great first step to ensuring sanity while teaching.
The article focuses on steps which are vital to keeping teachers.
1) Hire professionals, particularly of color.
2) Improve teacher retention
3) Create Residency or support programs.

It seems as if having support, especially as a new teacher, is crucial to have, however, it is also expensive to pay for mentors and programs. However, the big thing to take away from this piece is we as educators can create our own support programs and not rely on the school to provide that support for us. It's the same principle that Jeff Heil spoke up when keeping connections in the community after we start our teaching.

Reading Response 5 (Extra Credit) Creating Democratic Schools

I was hoping to read about how teachers establish a democratic classroom where power is equal between students, and between the teacher and the student. The article itself was about experimenting with changes in teaching, and how it is successful in small schools rather than large schools. Teachers are able to contribute to decision making rather than feeling like “guinea pigs” to the decision makers on how to approach curriculum.
I need to learn to get more involved with the intricacies with decision making in the school I am working at, yet at the same time, balance my own viewpoints while being in the position of a student teacher/first year teacher. Outside of the article, I believe students need to be involved in the decision making process.

Reading Reflection 5 Getting to the Heart of Quality Teaching

I chose this article because I wanted to learn what the author considered to be quality teaching, and what defines a quality teacher. However, this article defined the problems in how we assess teachers to be quality, such as NCLB and AYP. However, it also states there are factors which make teaching more effective, such as smaller class sizes, adequate school funding, mentoring programs for teachers, and time for in depth assessment of student work and progress.
Unfortunately, most of this information has been known from either the university program, the discussions regularly conversed about in relation to public education with classmates, through the news, and through the many articles deemed as required reading throughout the program. However, I will spend more time to evaluate my student assessments and progress than I have before. I do not believe I have spent enough time on understanding my students abilities and comprehension.

Reading Reflection 4

The first chapter defines what group work is, and how teachers can act as engineers to delegate tasks rather than being the sole body every student looks up to for information. Students learn from each other, whether through discussion and debate to mirroring tasks, and the teacher should be there as a manager,
We’ve learned these theories a lot in Dr. Lawler’s mathematics content course on how teachers can effectively delegate tasks to students and to have students explore on their own. However, all of the settings in such a case have been demonstrated through an interactive mathematics approach. How can it be adapted to a more traditional mathematics curriculum?

The second chapter explains why group work is an effective strategy to teaching in the classroom. It has been explained in other texts learning through interaction greatly increases knowledge retention, and what is lacking in the traditional curriculum is associating problem solving with experiences.
I’m curious in what would happen if we related all learning content with experiences. I would imagine students retain content for longer periods because it is different than the traditional methods of teaching. More often we remember things which are unique, but if all the content we learn is through experiences, it will no longer become unique.

In chapter 3, the author discusses the problems faced with group work in the classroom, specifically the status of each of the student’s affect the outcome of the task. Just as there is a status hierarchy among adults, there exists such a hierarchy in students as well, and depending on that status, whether it be knowledge based or socially based, students have implicitly set roles according to their status. However, assigning roles to individuals can alleviate the problems associated with this type of thinking.
This has equity written all over it. Students come to class with different needs and status’. The teacher ends up providing equity among individuals by providing roles to certain individuals over others.

Group work takes a lot of time to establish in the classroom. I believe it is a really important concept to teach students, especially because any workplace requires group work, yet so many individuals are hesitant to work with others. How can we implement group work into the classroom in such little time, while covering content when other teachers are not mirroring group work as essential. Establishing the base to have students work in groups in a fluid manner takes time, and given 4 week periods in my specific case, can I establish it while covering content?

Classroom Discipline Plan

Safety in the Classroom
Students need to be aware the classroom is a safe and friendly environment. I will not tolerate any physical or emotional harm towards anyone in the classroom or school. A natural consequence would be someone getting hurt.

Be Respectful to Each Other
Students need to know everyone is their equal. This includes calling each other inappropriate names or using derogatory terms towards one another. A natural consequence is losing the respect from others. Peers will look down upon each other and will less likely work with one another.

No Electronic Devices
When teaching a new lesson and students are supposed to be listening, students should not be using electronic devices. It shows students are not paying attention to learning the content they are being taught. A logical consequence would be to take away the electronic device and bagging and tagging it.

Ask Questions
Students have difficulty understanding and learning new content. Clarifications need to be made such that they can get a better understanding of what is being taught to them. A natural consequence would be for students to not understand a concept being learned.

No Copying
The point of doing individual work and taking individual assessments is to gauge an individuals understanding on content. If students are copying from another, they are not learning the material, rather learning how to get around the system in an unethical fashion. A natural consequence would be to not understand the material, and to have a guilty conscience for in immoral act.

Building a Transformative Teacher