About Me
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Food for thought
If any of what you read in my previous post sounds interesting, there is a research paper that goes in between the two passages. For now though here is our bibliography so that you can read up on the areas of the subject you find personally interesting.
Bibliography
Delpit, Lisa and Paula White-Bradley. "Educating or Imprisoning the Spirit: Lessons From Ancient Egypt." Theory Into Practice (2003): 284-288.
Driscoll, Donna, Dennis Halcoussis and Shirley Svorny. "Gains in standardized test scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement." Economics of Education Review (2006): 211-220.
Hong, Won-Pyo and Peter Youngs. "Does High-Stakes Testing Increase Cultural Capitol Among Low-Income and Racial Minority Students?" Educational Policy Analysis Archives (2008).
Koretz, Daniel. Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.
Lemann, Nicholas. The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy. New York: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 1999.
McDonnell, Lorraine M. "No Child Left Behind and the Federal Role in Education: Evolution or Revolution?" Peabody Journal of Education (2005): 19-38.
Mooney, John. "State plan to revamp high school curricula met with tough questions." 2008. nj.com. 16 December 2008.
Rothman, Robert. Measuring Up: Standards, Assessment, and School Reform. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995.
Sacks, Peter. Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can do to Change It. Cambridge: Perseus Books, 1999.
Smyth, Theoni S. "Who is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind?" The Clearing House (2008): 133-137.
Teach For America. Teaching as Leadership Online Rubric (TALON). 2008. 16 December 2008.
US Department of Education. No Child Left Behind: a toolkit for teachers. Government Report. Washington D.C.: ED Pubs. US Department of Education , 2004.
Wood, George. "A View From the Field: NCLB's Effects on Classrooms and Schools." Wood, George, et al. Many Children Left Behind: How the No Child Left Behind Act is Damaging Our Children and Our Schools. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. 33-52.
Bibliography
Delpit, Lisa and Paula White-Bradley. "Educating or Imprisoning the Spirit: Lessons From Ancient Egypt." Theory Into Practice (2003): 284-288.
Driscoll, Donna, Dennis Halcoussis and Shirley Svorny. "Gains in standardized test scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement." Economics of Education Review (2006): 211-220.
Hong, Won-Pyo and Peter Youngs. "Does High-Stakes Testing Increase Cultural Capitol Among Low-Income and Racial Minority Students?" Educational Policy Analysis Archives (2008).
Koretz, Daniel. Measuring Up: What Educational Testing Really Tells Us. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2008.
Lemann, Nicholas. The Big Test: The Secret History of the American Meritocracy. New York: Douglas & McIntyre Ltd., 1999.
McDonnell, Lorraine M. "No Child Left Behind and the Federal Role in Education: Evolution or Revolution?" Peabody Journal of Education (2005): 19-38.
Mooney, John. "State plan to revamp high school curricula met with tough questions." 2008. nj.com. 16 December 2008
Rothman, Robert. Measuring Up: Standards, Assessment, and School Reform. San Fransisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1995.
Sacks, Peter. Standardized Minds: The High Price of America's Testing Culture and What We Can do to Change It. Cambridge: Perseus Books, 1999.
Smyth, Theoni S. "Who is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind?" The Clearing House (2008): 133-137.
Teach For America. Teaching as Leadership Online Rubric (TALON). 2008. 16 December 2008
US Department of Education. No Child Left Behind: a toolkit for teachers. Government Report. Washington D.C.: ED Pubs. US Department of Education , 2004.
Wood, George. "A View From the Field: NCLB's Effects on Classrooms and Schools." Wood, George, et al. Many Children Left Behind: How the No Child Left Behind Act is Damaging Our Children and Our Schools. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. 33-52.
Beginnings and endings
I have referred multiple times to the paper on HST(High Stakes Testing) I have collaborated on without giving away the milk for free I simply say: here is the abstract and conclusion from our paper.
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates accountability issues of standardized tests and their affect on low-income and racial minority student’s ability to acquire cultural capital. While this shall embody a significant portion of this paper, other issues are examined such as systemic issues (validity, accuracy, etc) with educational legislation such as the “No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), as well as the delicacies of conducting research in a highly politicized and “high stakes” topic. The goal here is not to be propagandistic but to be objective and explore these issues in such a manner that it heightens awareness of the many issues relative to standardized testing. Lastly there is an examination of curriculums that are programmed, scripted and designed to improve test scores of urban students in low-income communities.
CONCLUSION
By no means can this be considered a definitive exploration of high stakes testing, and its effects on any of the constituent populations, be they the educators, the administrators, politicians, or consumers (of all socio-economic classes.) We have shown that high-stakes testing from inception (Horace Mann) to current implementation (NCLB), was designed to “close the gap” for immigrant and minority populations, or more generally to equalize the educational aptitude, access, and achievement of all Americans. However, our research, as well as many prominent educational researchers has shown that this has not been the reality created by the indoctrination of high-stakes testing into the American Educational System. There is no magic bullet to wipe out every issue involved with high-stakes testing. At this point, most researchers find themselves in a place where they can only offer suggestions to ameliorate said problems. At best, with a national education plan in place, the best that can be attempted at the state and local levels are stop gap measures. High-stakes testing has effects that reach far beyond the classroom, into the homes and lives of the consumers, as well into the political powder keg of today’s America. Every aspect of this paper, cultural capital, test validity, effects on teachers, the effects on students, accountability, and research methodology are all deserving of their own investigations. That said, this endeavor has provided a solid basis for inquiry into the myriad of issues discussed, as well as additional associated ones not discussed here. High-stakes testing does in fact have high stakes, but unfortunately they are not all for the students.
ABSTRACT
This paper investigates accountability issues of standardized tests and their affect on low-income and racial minority student’s ability to acquire cultural capital. While this shall embody a significant portion of this paper, other issues are examined such as systemic issues (validity, accuracy, etc) with educational legislation such as the “No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB), as well as the delicacies of conducting research in a highly politicized and “high stakes” topic. The goal here is not to be propagandistic but to be objective and explore these issues in such a manner that it heightens awareness of the many issues relative to standardized testing. Lastly there is an examination of curriculums that are programmed, scripted and designed to improve test scores of urban students in low-income communities.
CONCLUSION
By no means can this be considered a definitive exploration of high stakes testing, and its effects on any of the constituent populations, be they the educators, the administrators, politicians, or consumers (of all socio-economic classes.) We have shown that high-stakes testing from inception (Horace Mann) to current implementation (NCLB), was designed to “close the gap” for immigrant and minority populations, or more generally to equalize the educational aptitude, access, and achievement of all Americans. However, our research, as well as many prominent educational researchers has shown that this has not been the reality created by the indoctrination of high-stakes testing into the American Educational System. There is no magic bullet to wipe out every issue involved with high-stakes testing. At this point, most researchers find themselves in a place where they can only offer suggestions to ameliorate said problems. At best, with a national education plan in place, the best that can be attempted at the state and local levels are stop gap measures. High-stakes testing has effects that reach far beyond the classroom, into the homes and lives of the consumers, as well into the political powder keg of today’s America. Every aspect of this paper, cultural capital, test validity, effects on teachers, the effects on students, accountability, and research methodology are all deserving of their own investigations. That said, this endeavor has provided a solid basis for inquiry into the myriad of issues discussed, as well as additional associated ones not discussed here. High-stakes testing does in fact have high stakes, but unfortunately they are not all for the students.
Every teacher is a literacy teacher
I am sick about writing on policy so i have decided to change pace. I recently completed a paper on the role of a science teacher in literacy. I present to you my paper on why every science teacher NEEDS to be a literacy teacher.
A IS FOR ATOM, B IS FOR BACTERIA: LITERACY AND THE SCIENCE TEACHER
Abstract
It is said: “every teacher is a literacy teacher!” But what does that mean? How does this affect subject area teachers? This paper will address those questions as well as assessing: how does one define literacy? How does the science teacher define literacy? How does the science teacher fit into this equation? The growing emergence of new technology, the scientific research field, as well as the infusion of technology into school curriculums has led to the emergence of “techno-literacy” creating a new dimension of literacy instruction for science teachers. Not only is being a literacy instructor a component of being a science teacher, it is a requirement for science teachers in order for them to truly do their jobs.
Every teacher is a literacy teacher! Language Arts and Social Studies/History teachers are the most obvious to fall under this classification. The literacy coach, bilingual, special educations, and speech teachers, not surprisingly are automatically and subconsciously “folded in” with this group. Math and science teachers, though less obvious are also participants in the literacy education of our students.
How then can a science teacher be considered a literacy teacher? This brings us to the fundamental question, “what does this mean for the science teacher?” Rather, how should a science teacher define literacy? What should they be looking to accomplish in terms of literacy education? (What “type” of literacy should they concern themselves with?) And when this is all answered we are left with the functional question of importance: Surprisingly this is not “How is a science teacher a literacy teacher?” But rather: “Why is it necessary for the science teacher to be a literacy instructor, as well, in order to actually carry out their primary objective of being a content area teacher?”
Unfortunately, the situation is not so “cut and dry” as to simply ask how is a science teacher also a literacy teacher? There are many questions that can confound the answer. Literacy is not limited to content area specific literacy for the science teacher…more and more today, content area teachers are finding it necessary to supplement the general literacy instructor. This is for two major reasons, the first being a need to fill the requirements of a curriculum driven more and more towards math and literacy guarded by high stakes standardized testing. The second is a general deficiency in the required skills. More simply, students are not where they should be, or more importantly, where they need to be in order to function at a level where they are capable of learning grade appropriate content. So what “type” of literacy are we talking about? This question needs an answer before we can ask how a science teacher can best fill this role. There is no easy way to answer this, so researchers have come to lump the different types of literacy into an amalgam definition, termed “scientific literacy.” (Van Eijck & Roth, 2007 p.225) (Corder, 2007 p. 38)
At this point, we reach another stumbling block; how do you define literacy? Are we talking about functional literacy? Content area literacy? “High literacy? Without a good working definition of literacy, or better yet, a more focused “type” of literacy such as those listed above, defining the role of any teacher in educating others in it is troublesome at best.
DEFINING LITERACY
So what is literacy? Though there is a vast gradient of ways to define literacy, there will always be two overarching “camps” the “technocratic”, or specific and traditionalist, and the “progressive” or general and overarching. In other words, there are those who feel that being able to read and write constitutes literacy (this would be a technocratic approach) and those whom embrace a more comprehensive view of what literacy means. (De Castell, 1981) De Castell, et al. do, however state that the technocratic approach does tend to “…dominate current educational practice and research.” (De Castell, 1981 p.5)
Beers does a good job of explaining the point that literacy demands (even from the narrower traditionalist POV) have always changed to meet the needs of the times. From pre-WWI penmanship, to 20th century “recitational literacy” through the analysis phase of the 80’s and 90’s and today’s world where she, through Daniel Pink, explains that the focus of literacy will be on connectivity. (Beers, 2007 pp.7-8) She then goes on to tell a story about a boy she met who, while by his school’s traditional standards was not literate, was able to make not only intellectually well thought out arguments, but make them eloquent enough to carry on an academic conversation. (Beers, 2007)
‘TECHNO-LITERACY’
This brings up an interesting point as to why science is particularly suited to be an extension of the literacy classroom in today’s modern world of emerging technologies. Science classrooms are natural places for the instruction in IT or Information Technologies as they are integral in the study and research of many fields of science themselves. Thus, if we take a more progressive approach to defining literacy, specifically an approach in which the student above, who was able to clearly express his thoughts, is considered literate, we must inexorably come to the conclusion that true literacy in today’s world (whether or not it is mirrored in curriculum) includes the mastery of communications technology, information technology, and the like.
As technology continues to develop at an exponential rate, the significance and relative importance of technological literacy (over print literacy in some circumstances) increases with it. This can be seen in the fact that many a well educated, and largely accepted as literate adult will ask a child for help in using a computer program or sending an e-mail. Even in pop-culture advertising campaigns, images of adults befuddles by modern technology are prevalent. Thus we can see there is a need for literacy education in the classroom if not in the classical sense then in the new and emerging classification of technological literacy. While some school districts are trying to embrace a technological infusion into the curriculum, even going so far as to include high stakes testing in information technology , Beers paints the picture in the story of this boy that on the whole, schools are not doing enough to incorporate the technological aspects of literacy into our schools. This sentiment is echoed by Van Eijck and Roth who state that, “Given the central place IT-based research tools take in scientific research, the marginal role such tools currently play in science curricula is dissatisfying from the perspective of making students scientifically literate.” (Van Eijck & Roth, 2007 p.225) If we are supposed to be preparing our students for the next level, be it high school, college, graduate school, or the real world: as science teachers, to not prepare them with the skills to utilize the tools they will need to survive, we are being derelict in our duties.
ELL/LEP AND GENERAL LITERACY INSTRUCTION
Above, we discussed the importance of the role of the science teacher as a literacy teacher with respect to teaching technology literacy. Why though, is the role of the science teacher also so important? To simplify it we can break it down into: “vocabulary” “comprehension” and “literacy skills.” These three words represent three threads which are inter-woven in respect to how they apply to literacy.
As anyone who has taken a science class (especially a life science class such as biology) can tell you, vocabulary is an integral and large component of science teaching. Students are typically taught to use prefixes and suffixes to “decode” the meanings of words they may not know. Without the traditional literacy knowledge of not only learning such parts of speech, but the skill of being able to apply that knowledge to break up a word, student’s might face a brick wall in terms of understanding content.
This however does not have to be the case. Science classes need not be vocabulary driven. As Jay Lemke states in the forward of Language and Literacy in Science Education:
In fact it is possible to discuss a topic very scientifically without
use of technical vocabulary, if you can use the right kind of
language to scaffold deductive and inductive reasoning, formulate
hypotheses, make generalizations, identify exceptions, connect
evidence to theses, classify, relate,organize, plan and persuade. (Lemke, 2001)
In other words, if you teach students how to approach content text (whatever the form) the need for heavy dependence on vocabulary lessons. For example, teaching them how to ask the right questions from a text to extract meaning (QtA) or relating the text to themselves (QAR), et cetera. However, these tools are themselves literary/ literacy techniques which need to be taught to the students, thus reinforcing the necessity of the role of a science teacher including the “hat” of literacy instructor.
Textbooks in general, and science textbooks specifically, are notoriously hard to decode. Graphs, charts and pictures break up the main body of text, while “break out sections” which typically have nothing to do with the specific content being discussed, serve to further confuse the reader. Even some teachers rely on their teacher’s edition to decode and chunk science texts; this is what “literacy skills” refers to above. The need to teach students how to distinguish between caption and paragraph, between title and subject heading are necessary literacy skills that frequently need to be addressed if not completely taught in the science classroom. Again, the role of every science teacher as a literacy teacher is cemented.
The title of this section is ELL standing for English Language Learners. Typically, this term refers to a group of students who are learning English as a “second” language. However, if you look at the situation fundamentally, the term can really apply to any student who is “illiterate” in the traditional sense, or severely struggling with traditional literacy skills to the point where they are years behind where they should be.
The focus of this section is why the presence of this population necessitates the presence of a literacy teacher “within” each science teacher. Above, comprehension was listed. “The skill to read and understand science-oriented information is an important means by which students may enhance their ability to acquire scientific literacy.” (Corder, 2007, p. 38) While Corder’s research focuses on the fact that the lack of these skills is endemic to ELLs, it is relevant to all science teachers for three main reasons. Firstly, as described above, any student struggling severely with literacy can be considered an ELL. Secondly, Corder believes that developing the reading abilities of students can take place in the science classroom. And thirdly, between 1992 and 2003, the ELL population increased by approximately 85%. (Corder, 2007, p. 39) Hence, this is a problem (and a growing one at that) for all science teachers. The bottom line is that not only are science teachers needed to teach content area literacy, or “scientific literacy,” but they are required to teach basic reading and literacy skills, even in the most traditionalist sense, so that their students’ have the foundation for content area development.
FROM QUESTION TO HYPOTHESIS TO CONCLUSION
After each step navigating the minefield of determining what literacy “is” and how it “should” be defined for the science teacher, we have always come to the same conclusion that there is a place, a necessary place, for literacy education in the science classroom. Thus the science teacher is a de facto literacy instructor as well, not out of common practice, but out of necessity! The science teacher must be a literacy instructor as well to support his/her students both in and out of the classroom. As Amy Wilson states: “To help students meet these challenges, it will take the concerted efforts of teachers across the content areas to support their students in understanding, critiquing, and designing a variety of texts.” (Wilson, 2008, p. 156) Thus we return to the opening affirmation of this paper: every teacher is a literacy teacher! And for science teachers, not only due to the emergence of “techno-literacy” as termed above, or “scientific-literacy” as researchers refer to science content literacy, but to support our students completely, literacy is an integral facet of everyone’s education.
Bibliography
Beers, K. (2007). The Measure of Our Success. In K. Beers, R. E. Probst, & L. Rief, adolescent LITERACY: Turning Promise into Practice (pp. 1-14). Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Corder, G. (2007, September). Supporting English Language Learners' Reading in the Science Classroom. Science Scope , pp. 38-41.
De Castell, S. (1981). On Defining Literacy. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation , 7-18.
Lemke, J. (2001). Foreword. In J. Osborne, & J. Wellington, Language and Literacy in Science Education (pp. iv-v). Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Van Eijck, M., & Roth, W.-M. (2007). Rethinking the Role of Information Technology-Based Research Tools in Students’ Development of Scientific Literacy. Journal of Science Education and Technology , 225-238.
Wilson, A. A. (2008). Moving Beyond the Page in Content Area Literacy: Comprehension Instruction for Multimodal Texts in Science. The Reading Teacher , 153-156.
A IS FOR ATOM, B IS FOR BACTERIA: LITERACY AND THE SCIENCE TEACHER
Abstract
It is said: “every teacher is a literacy teacher!” But what does that mean? How does this affect subject area teachers? This paper will address those questions as well as assessing: how does one define literacy? How does the science teacher define literacy? How does the science teacher fit into this equation? The growing emergence of new technology, the scientific research field, as well as the infusion of technology into school curriculums has led to the emergence of “techno-literacy” creating a new dimension of literacy instruction for science teachers. Not only is being a literacy instructor a component of being a science teacher, it is a requirement for science teachers in order for them to truly do their jobs.
Every teacher is a literacy teacher! Language Arts and Social Studies/History teachers are the most obvious to fall under this classification. The literacy coach, bilingual, special educations, and speech teachers, not surprisingly are automatically and subconsciously “folded in” with this group. Math and science teachers, though less obvious are also participants in the literacy education of our students.
How then can a science teacher be considered a literacy teacher? This brings us to the fundamental question, “what does this mean for the science teacher?” Rather, how should a science teacher define literacy? What should they be looking to accomplish in terms of literacy education? (What “type” of literacy should they concern themselves with?) And when this is all answered we are left with the functional question of importance: Surprisingly this is not “How is a science teacher a literacy teacher?” But rather: “Why is it necessary for the science teacher to be a literacy instructor, as well, in order to actually carry out their primary objective of being a content area teacher?”
Unfortunately, the situation is not so “cut and dry” as to simply ask how is a science teacher also a literacy teacher? There are many questions that can confound the answer. Literacy is not limited to content area specific literacy for the science teacher…more and more today, content area teachers are finding it necessary to supplement the general literacy instructor. This is for two major reasons, the first being a need to fill the requirements of a curriculum driven more and more towards math and literacy guarded by high stakes standardized testing. The second is a general deficiency in the required skills. More simply, students are not where they should be, or more importantly, where they need to be in order to function at a level where they are capable of learning grade appropriate content. So what “type” of literacy are we talking about? This question needs an answer before we can ask how a science teacher can best fill this role. There is no easy way to answer this, so researchers have come to lump the different types of literacy into an amalgam definition, termed “scientific literacy.” (Van Eijck & Roth, 2007 p.225) (Corder, 2007 p. 38)
At this point, we reach another stumbling block; how do you define literacy? Are we talking about functional literacy? Content area literacy? “High literacy? Without a good working definition of literacy, or better yet, a more focused “type” of literacy such as those listed above, defining the role of any teacher in educating others in it is troublesome at best.
DEFINING LITERACY
So what is literacy? Though there is a vast gradient of ways to define literacy, there will always be two overarching “camps” the “technocratic”, or specific and traditionalist, and the “progressive” or general and overarching. In other words, there are those who feel that being able to read and write constitutes literacy (this would be a technocratic approach) and those whom embrace a more comprehensive view of what literacy means. (De Castell, 1981) De Castell, et al. do, however state that the technocratic approach does tend to “…dominate current educational practice and research.” (De Castell, 1981 p.5)
Beers does a good job of explaining the point that literacy demands (even from the narrower traditionalist POV) have always changed to meet the needs of the times. From pre-WWI penmanship, to 20th century “recitational literacy” through the analysis phase of the 80’s and 90’s and today’s world where she, through Daniel Pink, explains that the focus of literacy will be on connectivity. (Beers, 2007 pp.7-8) She then goes on to tell a story about a boy she met who, while by his school’s traditional standards was not literate, was able to make not only intellectually well thought out arguments, but make them eloquent enough to carry on an academic conversation. (Beers, 2007)
‘TECHNO-LITERACY’
This brings up an interesting point as to why science is particularly suited to be an extension of the literacy classroom in today’s modern world of emerging technologies. Science classrooms are natural places for the instruction in IT or Information Technologies as they are integral in the study and research of many fields of science themselves. Thus, if we take a more progressive approach to defining literacy, specifically an approach in which the student above, who was able to clearly express his thoughts, is considered literate, we must inexorably come to the conclusion that true literacy in today’s world (whether or not it is mirrored in curriculum) includes the mastery of communications technology, information technology, and the like.
As technology continues to develop at an exponential rate, the significance and relative importance of technological literacy (over print literacy in some circumstances) increases with it. This can be seen in the fact that many a well educated, and largely accepted as literate adult will ask a child for help in using a computer program or sending an e-mail. Even in pop-culture advertising campaigns, images of adults befuddles by modern technology are prevalent. Thus we can see there is a need for literacy education in the classroom if not in the classical sense then in the new and emerging classification of technological literacy. While some school districts are trying to embrace a technological infusion into the curriculum, even going so far as to include high stakes testing in information technology , Beers paints the picture in the story of this boy that on the whole, schools are not doing enough to incorporate the technological aspects of literacy into our schools. This sentiment is echoed by Van Eijck and Roth who state that, “Given the central place IT-based research tools take in scientific research, the marginal role such tools currently play in science curricula is dissatisfying from the perspective of making students scientifically literate.” (Van Eijck & Roth, 2007 p.225) If we are supposed to be preparing our students for the next level, be it high school, college, graduate school, or the real world: as science teachers, to not prepare them with the skills to utilize the tools they will need to survive, we are being derelict in our duties.
ELL/LEP AND GENERAL LITERACY INSTRUCTION
Above, we discussed the importance of the role of the science teacher as a literacy teacher with respect to teaching technology literacy. Why though, is the role of the science teacher also so important? To simplify it we can break it down into: “vocabulary” “comprehension” and “literacy skills.” These three words represent three threads which are inter-woven in respect to how they apply to literacy.
As anyone who has taken a science class (especially a life science class such as biology) can tell you, vocabulary is an integral and large component of science teaching. Students are typically taught to use prefixes and suffixes to “decode” the meanings of words they may not know. Without the traditional literacy knowledge of not only learning such parts of speech, but the skill of being able to apply that knowledge to break up a word, student’s might face a brick wall in terms of understanding content.
This however does not have to be the case. Science classes need not be vocabulary driven. As Jay Lemke states in the forward of Language and Literacy in Science Education:
In fact it is possible to discuss a topic very scientifically without
use of technical vocabulary, if you can use the right kind of
language to scaffold deductive and inductive reasoning, formulate
hypotheses, make generalizations, identify exceptions, connect
evidence to theses, classify, relate,organize, plan and persuade. (Lemke, 2001)
In other words, if you teach students how to approach content text (whatever the form) the need for heavy dependence on vocabulary lessons. For example, teaching them how to ask the right questions from a text to extract meaning (QtA) or relating the text to themselves (QAR), et cetera. However, these tools are themselves literary/ literacy techniques which need to be taught to the students, thus reinforcing the necessity of the role of a science teacher including the “hat” of literacy instructor.
Textbooks in general, and science textbooks specifically, are notoriously hard to decode. Graphs, charts and pictures break up the main body of text, while “break out sections” which typically have nothing to do with the specific content being discussed, serve to further confuse the reader. Even some teachers rely on their teacher’s edition to decode and chunk science texts; this is what “literacy skills” refers to above. The need to teach students how to distinguish between caption and paragraph, between title and subject heading are necessary literacy skills that frequently need to be addressed if not completely taught in the science classroom. Again, the role of every science teacher as a literacy teacher is cemented.
The title of this section is ELL standing for English Language Learners. Typically, this term refers to a group of students who are learning English as a “second” language. However, if you look at the situation fundamentally, the term can really apply to any student who is “illiterate” in the traditional sense, or severely struggling with traditional literacy skills to the point where they are years behind where they should be.
The focus of this section is why the presence of this population necessitates the presence of a literacy teacher “within” each science teacher. Above, comprehension was listed. “The skill to read and understand science-oriented information is an important means by which students may enhance their ability to acquire scientific literacy.” (Corder, 2007, p. 38) While Corder’s research focuses on the fact that the lack of these skills is endemic to ELLs, it is relevant to all science teachers for three main reasons. Firstly, as described above, any student struggling severely with literacy can be considered an ELL. Secondly, Corder believes that developing the reading abilities of students can take place in the science classroom. And thirdly, between 1992 and 2003, the ELL population increased by approximately 85%. (Corder, 2007, p. 39) Hence, this is a problem (and a growing one at that) for all science teachers. The bottom line is that not only are science teachers needed to teach content area literacy, or “scientific literacy,” but they are required to teach basic reading and literacy skills, even in the most traditionalist sense, so that their students’ have the foundation for content area development.
FROM QUESTION TO HYPOTHESIS TO CONCLUSION
After each step navigating the minefield of determining what literacy “is” and how it “should” be defined for the science teacher, we have always come to the same conclusion that there is a place, a necessary place, for literacy education in the science classroom. Thus the science teacher is a de facto literacy instructor as well, not out of common practice, but out of necessity! The science teacher must be a literacy instructor as well to support his/her students both in and out of the classroom. As Amy Wilson states: “To help students meet these challenges, it will take the concerted efforts of teachers across the content areas to support their students in understanding, critiquing, and designing a variety of texts.” (Wilson, 2008, p. 156) Thus we return to the opening affirmation of this paper: every teacher is a literacy teacher! And for science teachers, not only due to the emergence of “techno-literacy” as termed above, or “scientific-literacy” as researchers refer to science content literacy, but to support our students completely, literacy is an integral facet of everyone’s education.
Bibliography
Beers, K. (2007). The Measure of Our Success. In K. Beers, R. E. Probst, & L. Rief, adolescent LITERACY: Turning Promise into Practice (pp. 1-14). Portsmouth: Heinemann.
Corder, G. (2007, September). Supporting English Language Learners' Reading in the Science Classroom. Science Scope , pp. 38-41.
De Castell, S. (1981). On Defining Literacy. Canadian Journal of Education / Revue canadienne de l'éducation , 7-18.
Lemke, J. (2001). Foreword. In J. Osborne, & J. Wellington, Language and Literacy in Science Education (pp. iv-v). Philadelphia: Open University Press.
Van Eijck, M., & Roth, W.-M. (2007). Rethinking the Role of Information Technology-Based Research Tools in Students’ Development of Scientific Literacy. Journal of Science Education and Technology , 225-238.
Wilson, A. A. (2008). Moving Beyond the Page in Content Area Literacy: Comprehension Instruction for Multimodal Texts in Science. The Reading Teacher , 153-156.
Supplement to my annotated bibliography
A while ago i posted an annotated bibliography. The day I published it, I decided to partner up with someone else to collaborate on a paper. I have never done this in my upper academic career, certainly not on the post graduate level. It goes without saying that i was concerned initially and without cause. IT HAS BEEN A VERY REWARDING AND ENRICHING EXPERIENCE.
It started off with a challenge, how do you find a thesis, when only the topic is in common. I present my collaborator's annotated bibliography:Annotated Bibliography
Driscoll, Donna; Halcoussis, Dennis; Svorny, Shirley (2008). Gains in Standardized
Test Scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement: This is an examination of issues related to test scores which are initially high and why they only yield modest gains in the long term.
California: Economics of Education Review.
Many studies examine the characteristics of schools that achieve high or low test scores; however, little is know about issues relative to gains over the long term. Financial awards for high achieving schools, teachers and administrators are used as a motivational tool. If test results reflect the actions of school administrators and teachers then the awards should be discernible. Various factors that influence high test scores over time are examined.
Hannafin, Robert D.; Foshay, Wellesley R. (2008). Computer-Based Instruction's (CBI)
Rediscovered Role in K-12: An Evaluation Case Study of One High School's Use
of CBI to Improve Pass Rates on High-Stakes Tests: This is a case study about
how a high school implemented a remediation strategy to help students at risk of
failing the math portion of a state wide test.
Educational Technology Research and Development
This study investigates the overall effectiveness of the schools remediation strategies which included: CBI coursework, better alignment with state standards, staff development, improved delivery of traditional instruction, standards-based lesson planning, and helping at-risk students improve study and organizational skills. The study focuses more on the CBI component. Teacher’s performance ratings are directly tied to the performance of student test. There is a direct correlation between test scores and federal funding.
Annotated Bibliography
Smyth, Theoni Soublis (2008). Who Is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind? This
is an evaluation of the NCLB( No Child Left Behind) and its effect on soci-economically disadvantaged students six years after its implementation.
Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas.
The NCLB is working for the privileged elite not for the economically disadvantage students. It is flawed legislation that puts pressure on all educators, especially teachers. This study recognizes the inequities inherent in the NCLB and how it negatively affects minorities, students with special needs, and second-language learners. This paper points out how the NCLB is money driven and how politicians use the aggregate testing data for their political platforms.
Delpit, Lisa; White-Bradley, Paula (2007). Educating or Imprisoning the Spirit:
Lessons from Ancient Egypt: This article examines the dehumanizing effects of
of mandated instructional programs designed to raise test scores of urban children.
Theory Into Practice.
Stereotyping is a handicap that has crippled intelligent minds. Teachers who care about honing their craft should willingly connect with their students and use their platform to develop inquisitive thinking minds. Children should not be classified by their socio-economic status because it’s morally destructive and dehumanizing. There are many questions to be answered but one that poignantly stands out is; Do we want to educate students spirits or incarcerate them?
November 3, 2008
Annotated Bibliography
Supon, Viola (2007). Implementing Strategies to Assist Test-Anxious Students:
Smith, Emma (2005). Raising Standards in American Schools: The Case of "No Child
Left behind"
McDonnell, Lorraine M. (2005). No Child Left Behind and the Federal Role in
Education: Evolution or Revolution?
Hollingworth, Liz (2007). Five Ways to Prepare for Standardized Tests without
Sacrificing Best Practice: This paper proposes five methods for test
preparation that may keep educators motivated without comprising their
teaching practices.
Reading Teacher
It started off with a challenge, how do you find a thesis, when only the topic is in common. I present my collaborator's annotated bibliography:Annotated Bibliography
Driscoll, Donna; Halcoussis, Dennis; Svorny, Shirley (2008). Gains in Standardized
Test Scores: Evidence of diminishing returns to achievement: This is an examination of issues related to test scores which are initially high and why they only yield modest gains in the long term.
California: Economics of Education Review.
Many studies examine the characteristics of schools that achieve high or low test scores; however, little is know about issues relative to gains over the long term. Financial awards for high achieving schools, teachers and administrators are used as a motivational tool. If test results reflect the actions of school administrators and teachers then the awards should be discernible. Various factors that influence high test scores over time are examined.
Hannafin, Robert D.; Foshay, Wellesley R. (2008). Computer-Based Instruction's (CBI)
Rediscovered Role in K-12: An Evaluation Case Study of One High School's Use
of CBI to Improve Pass Rates on High-Stakes Tests: This is a case study about
how a high school implemented a remediation strategy to help students at risk of
failing the math portion of a state wide test.
Educational Technology Research and Development
This study investigates the overall effectiveness of the schools remediation strategies which included: CBI coursework, better alignment with state standards, staff development, improved delivery of traditional instruction, standards-based lesson planning, and helping at-risk students improve study and organizational skills. The study focuses more on the CBI component. Teacher’s performance ratings are directly tied to the performance of student test. There is a direct correlation between test scores and federal funding.
Annotated Bibliography
Smyth, Theoni Soublis (2008). Who Is No Child Left Behind Leaving Behind? This
is an evaluation of the NCLB( No Child Left Behind) and its effect on soci-economically disadvantaged students six years after its implementation.
Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas.
The NCLB is working for the privileged elite not for the economically disadvantage students. It is flawed legislation that puts pressure on all educators, especially teachers. This study recognizes the inequities inherent in the NCLB and how it negatively affects minorities, students with special needs, and second-language learners. This paper points out how the NCLB is money driven and how politicians use the aggregate testing data for their political platforms.
Delpit, Lisa; White-Bradley, Paula (2007). Educating or Imprisoning the Spirit:
Lessons from Ancient Egypt: This article examines the dehumanizing effects of
of mandated instructional programs designed to raise test scores of urban children.
Theory Into Practice.
Stereotyping is a handicap that has crippled intelligent minds. Teachers who care about honing their craft should willingly connect with their students and use their platform to develop inquisitive thinking minds. Children should not be classified by their socio-economic status because it’s morally destructive and dehumanizing. There are many questions to be answered but one that poignantly stands out is; Do we want to educate students spirits or incarcerate them?
November 3, 2008
Annotated Bibliography
Supon, Viola (2007). Implementing Strategies to Assist Test-Anxious Students:
Smith, Emma (2005). Raising Standards in American Schools: The Case of "No Child
Left behind"
McDonnell, Lorraine M. (2005). No Child Left Behind and the Federal Role in
Education: Evolution or Revolution?
Hollingworth, Liz (2007). Five Ways to Prepare for Standardized Tests without
Sacrificing Best Practice: This paper proposes five methods for test
preparation that may keep educators motivated without comprising their
teaching practices.
Reading Teacher
A little goes a long way
Just a short post this time. Last weekend, I attended both a debate competition and a robotics competition both of which had my 8th graders participating. I literally drove over a third of the state. ( I live in a different one all together.) While the robotics team didn't fair so well, the debate team kicked some serious tail. Two of my home room students (Girls A&S) won 8th place out of 160 teams of two. A won 14th place of all of the speakers.
What amazed me more was the respect they all have given me since i attended. I guess they really just need to see that you care, and are willing to go that extra mile to be there for them when someone else can't.
A little goes a long way.
It was a pleasant and teachable moment.
What amazed me more was the respect they all have given me since i attended. I guess they really just need to see that you care, and are willing to go that extra mile to be there for them when someone else can't.
A little goes a long way.
It was a pleasant and teachable moment.
Who are you?
SO I started a forensic science extracurricular club for my 8th graders. It is amazing to see how focused, dedicated, and mature they can be when they are interested in the subject matter. It makes me wish even more that we tailored education plans for our students at an earlier age. I would have liked to have been an academic during the Renaissance Age as an apprentice. If only i could get my students to behave and take notes in class on the material they will actually be tested on. I might have put the cart before the horse though as now i have 40+ interested students and the school can't find the money to order the kit/materials. The only crime scene investigation might be my own when the students find out :x
Its not on the test
When i told my friend that I was researching high stakes testing, he told me about a website called "Its not on the test" http://www.notonthetest.com/ Please check it out. It is primarily a music video by Tom Chapin (not ashamed to admit i was in a music video of his when i was a young child.) Though the song is very political, the site and the song talks about all of the areas of learning that students are missing out on because of legislation like NCLB. While I as a mad science teacher focus primarily on the lack of science my students get. (some classes get as much literacy instruction in a day that they get science in a week.) Tom is mostly referring to the decrease in the arts in our public schools. WHAT DECADE ARE WE IN!?! WASN'T THERE A DRAMATIC CUT IN THE ARTS ALREADY? Before we know it all we will be teaching is math and literacy, nothing else!
Seeing Red.....Tape
I have found that cutting through the red tape of a bureaucracy can be a more difficult task than formulating a project, or completing it. The implementation phase can be the most difficult. Rather than blathering on, fuming from frustration, I refer you to an excerpt from a recent research paper I wrote about High Stakes Testing that talks about some of the research difficulties I faced.
In designing the research methodology for this investigation, it seemed that a two pronged approach would produce the most accurate results. This investigation was initially designed to look at the effects of high stakes testing through the evaluation of prevailing educational literature as well as being driven by data gathered through surveying current educators (teachers of all levels including collegiate teachers in the field of education, administrators, etc.) as to how they viewed the effects, if any, of high stakes standardized testing. However, what was learned from attempting such an approach was how highly volatile and politicized the subject was. There are strict procedures set in place to ensure the validity of such an investigation, and due to the importance of the subject at hand, it is with good cause. Quintessentially, our literature review led us to develop certain questions which, when asked to such educators, would provide an accurate, realistic, and somewhat less biased portrait of the situation.
In designing the research methodology for this investigation, it seemed that a two pronged approach would produce the most accurate results. This investigation was initially designed to look at the effects of high stakes testing through the evaluation of prevailing educational literature as well as being driven by data gathered through surveying current educators (teachers of all levels including collegiate teachers in the field of education, administrators, etc.) as to how they viewed the effects, if any, of high stakes standardized testing. However, what was learned from attempting such an approach was how highly volatile and politicized the subject was. There are strict procedures set in place to ensure the validity of such an investigation, and due to the importance of the subject at hand, it is with good cause. Quintessentially, our literature review led us to develop certain questions which, when asked to such educators, would provide an accurate, realistic, and somewhat less biased portrait of the situation.
Too many cooks spoil the pot
It has been a while since I have written a blog for the sake of blogging. It has been really hectic at my school, as the superintendant recently came for a visit. Additionally, I had three separate, yet simultaneous observations today, two of them were unannounced. It has come to my attention in no unclear terms that the compartmentalization endemic to large school districts (which are often urban school districts) such as the one I serve, not only eat away at the budgets we all clamor for a piece of, but they detract from the ability of the teachers to do their jobs. For example, in our school, as is the district’s policy: modules (like connected math) are used to SUPPLEMENT the curriculum. We are explicitly instructed not to stick only to the modules. However, when the math department came in to observe a colleague’s math class, they told her that she could only post student work that came from the connected math module. It seems to me that the more people you have doing the same job, the less it actually gets done. One hand reaches left while the other stretches right all while the legs are walking backwards. I am reminded of a quote from “clerks the animated series”: “If it wasn’t for the customers, this job would be great.” I would love it if I could just wake up tomorrow, walk in to work and teach my students. HAHAHA! I must be dreaming already.
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Amazing Things Happen as You Go
Amazing Things Happen as You Go
I HATE clichés. Love puns, but I hate clichés.
So believe me when I tell you that it pains me when I can only describe “Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons From an Urban Classroom” as a story whose overarching message is that “its not the destination, but the journey that matters.”
In addition to the book, I looked at the class’ website (www.projectcitizen405.com) a video documentary posted online made by the students as part of the project, and a very interesting review of the book online at Arizona State University’s “Educational Review.” (Appelbaum, http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev712.htm)
Though it is sad that a new school was not built, I always hope for better educational circumstances for all children, in a perverse way, that was the book’s strongest point to me. As an instructor affiliated with a national teachers corps, the case of the “white hero riding in on his/her high horse to rescue the poor minorities” is a cliché (and a misconception) that embodies why I hate clichés.
That said this was not one of those stories. There was no miracle, there was no hero, the teacher had no magic bullet, and he was not one himself. In fact, the story was not even about a teacher who “challenged the curriculum” as the book’s rear cover describes, but rather it is the story of a teacher who did his job in taking the curriculum and making it work to enrich the education and lives of his students.
This book was also particularly inspirational for me as a new teacher, who is (as described by veteran teachers) “transitioned into the ‘disillusionment phase” of my teaching career. To see what a second year teacher can accomplish is no small motivating factor for me.
Schultz shows us that even through our failures, we can achieve so much. As I go to post this, I look at the quote above the computers in my classroom
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!” –Les Brown
I HATE clichés. Love puns, but I hate clichés.
So believe me when I tell you that it pains me when I can only describe “Spectacular Things Happen Along the Way: Lessons From an Urban Classroom” as a story whose overarching message is that “its not the destination, but the journey that matters.”
In addition to the book, I looked at the class’ website (www.projectcitizen405.com) a video documentary posted online made by the students as part of the project, and a very interesting review of the book online at Arizona State University’s “Educational Review.” (Appelbaum, http://edrev.asu.edu/reviews/rev712.htm)
Though it is sad that a new school was not built, I always hope for better educational circumstances for all children, in a perverse way, that was the book’s strongest point to me. As an instructor affiliated with a national teachers corps, the case of the “white hero riding in on his/her high horse to rescue the poor minorities” is a cliché (and a misconception) that embodies why I hate clichés.
That said this was not one of those stories. There was no miracle, there was no hero, the teacher had no magic bullet, and he was not one himself. In fact, the story was not even about a teacher who “challenged the curriculum” as the book’s rear cover describes, but rather it is the story of a teacher who did his job in taking the curriculum and making it work to enrich the education and lives of his students.
This book was also particularly inspirational for me as a new teacher, who is (as described by veteran teachers) “transitioned into the ‘disillusionment phase” of my teaching career. To see what a second year teacher can accomplish is no small motivating factor for me.
Schultz shows us that even through our failures, we can achieve so much. As I go to post this, I look at the quote above the computers in my classroom
“Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!” –Les Brown
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Annotated Bibliography
Jones, M. Gail, Brett D. Jones, and Tracy Y. Hargrove. The Unintended Consequences of High-Stakes Testing. (Lanham, MD) Rowman & Littlefield, 2003
http://www.amazon.com/Unintended-Consequences-High-Stakes-Testing/dp/0742526275/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225990646&sr=8-1
• Book focusing on the “unintended consequences of high-stakes testing as expressed by students, parents, educators and researchers. The authors take a “school based” approach to the research. Rather than looking at the history of testing and making assumptions based on the context of the environment in which they are examining the subject, they enter the classroom and ask the people affected by the issue to tell their stories. The authors are very upfront with their educational philosophy and there seems to be no hidden agenda. What I like about this book is its apparent transparency. They acknowledge that they can’t completely separate intended from unintended consequences. I also like the focus on the impact on curriculum and the effect on how teachers are changing their teaching. I also like how they have a section on the effect of teachers preparing students for tests (this has a personal ring to me as I will be forced to deviate from the curriculum to do a unit on NJASK-prep this year). While I am not sure if there is enough focus on urban centers and Newark at all, I believe that this book touches on many, if not all of the facets of the issue I wish to address in my paper and in this way will be a valued, if not my primary source. The down side is that it is a secondary source with some primary quotes, but more primary source material will be necessary. Again, the authors make it a point to say that they are not attempting to make a judgment call about high-stakes testing, but rather pointing out the unintended consequences. I think this is the strong point of the book (as a source) since it agrees with my POV on HS testing.
Madaus, George F. “The Distortion of Teaching and Testing: High-Stakes Testing and Instruction.” Peabody Journal of Education. 65.3 (1988) pp. 29-46
Accessed via JSTOR @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/1492818
• Article from the late 80’s in which the author analyzes the relationship between HS-Testing and “…how teachers teach and students learn.” He makes the argument that the presence of the test itself is an influencing factor on the above quoted aspects of education. Additionally he argues that this affect negates the value of the test itself as an accurate tool. The article also provides a brief history of the emergence of HST from the 60’s to the 80’s. On the down side, the author has obviously made conclusions, and based on that the evidence might be twisted to fit those conclusions. Also the article is dated; though this might also be its most attractive selling point for a valid source. Pre-NCLB and “W” it avoids the political motives that might be associated with a modern article on educational policy.
McCaffrey, Daniel F., Laura S. Hamilton, Brian M. Steecher, Stephen P. Klein, Delia Bugliari, Abby Robyn. “Interactions among Instructional Practices: Curriculum and Student Achievement: The Case of Standards-Based High School Mathematics.” Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 32.5 (2001) pp. 493-517
Accessed via JSTOR @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/749803
• Paper researching the “effects of curriculum on the relationship between instructional practices and student outcomes.” This paper turned out not to be exactly what I was looking for. It mainly focuses on the relationship between how we teach and how that affects student achievement. They used surveys to get data on what instructional practices were being used and they used a standardized test to gauge student achievement. Also it focused on the subject of mathematics, and the professional development reforms being recommended within the field. While the article doesn’t speak directly to my question, it does have the potential to provide a strong supporting argument on one of the links in the chain. If HS-Testing affects instructional practices and curriculum, and this article shows a correlation between those and student achievement, than one can make the argument that there is a correlation between testing and achievement.
Shepard, Lorrie A.; Katherine Cutts Dougherty. Effects of High-Stakes Testing on Instruction. Chicago: Speech/Paper Given at “Annual Meetings of the American Educational Research Association” 1991. ERIC Document Reproduction Service ED337468
Accessible via Eric @ http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED337468
or the Author’s web page @
http://www.colorado.edu/education/faculty/lorrieshepard/PDF/Effects%20of%20High-Stakes%20Testing.pdf
• Paper presented regarding the influence of HS-Testing on instruction. The study was a highly detailed study. Conclusions were data-driven and the author admirably admits to her own preconceptions pre-study and her change in perspective. The value of this source is that it is as close to a scientific (or statistically appropriate) study. Though I don’t know how much I will use it, I find the author verbose and confusing, I do see the value in having a statistical component to my paper.
Wideen, Marvin F., Thomas O’Shea, Ivy Pye, and George Ivany. “High-Stakes Testing and the Teaching of Science.” Canadian Journal of Education/ Revue canadienne de l’éducation. 22.4 (1997) pp. 428-444
Accessed via JSTOR @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/1585793
• Report on a pilot case study in two school districts as well as interviews with students, teachers, and administrators. Found “decrease in the variety of instructional approaches from grade 8 to grade 12” (page 428) Reached two conclusions, both negative effects. Teachers pushed away from utilizing strategies that encouraged “active student learning” (p. 428) and a negative, minimizing, effect on the language (“discourse”[p. 428]) in the classroom. They start out putting the study in context, almost justifying the results. It has merit (focuses on science). Plus- diversity of perspectives looked at. Major drawback- it is a study of the Canadian educational system. There are limitations as to the extrapolations I can make. I can still make the argument that the fundamental concepts are still there. However, the study did look at a large metropolitan area school district, so there are implications of possible alignment with urban education.
http://www.amazon.com/Unintended-Consequences-High-Stakes-Testing/dp/0742526275/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225990646&sr=8-1
• Book focusing on the “unintended consequences of high-stakes testing as expressed by students, parents, educators and researchers. The authors take a “school based” approach to the research. Rather than looking at the history of testing and making assumptions based on the context of the environment in which they are examining the subject, they enter the classroom and ask the people affected by the issue to tell their stories. The authors are very upfront with their educational philosophy and there seems to be no hidden agenda. What I like about this book is its apparent transparency. They acknowledge that they can’t completely separate intended from unintended consequences. I also like the focus on the impact on curriculum and the effect on how teachers are changing their teaching. I also like how they have a section on the effect of teachers preparing students for tests (this has a personal ring to me as I will be forced to deviate from the curriculum to do a unit on NJASK-prep this year). While I am not sure if there is enough focus on urban centers and Newark at all, I believe that this book touches on many, if not all of the facets of the issue I wish to address in my paper and in this way will be a valued, if not my primary source. The down side is that it is a secondary source with some primary quotes, but more primary source material will be necessary. Again, the authors make it a point to say that they are not attempting to make a judgment call about high-stakes testing, but rather pointing out the unintended consequences. I think this is the strong point of the book (as a source) since it agrees with my POV on HS testing.
Madaus, George F. “The Distortion of Teaching and Testing: High-Stakes Testing and Instruction.” Peabody Journal of Education. 65.3 (1988) pp. 29-46
Accessed via JSTOR @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/1492818
• Article from the late 80’s in which the author analyzes the relationship between HS-Testing and “…how teachers teach and students learn.” He makes the argument that the presence of the test itself is an influencing factor on the above quoted aspects of education. Additionally he argues that this affect negates the value of the test itself as an accurate tool. The article also provides a brief history of the emergence of HST from the 60’s to the 80’s. On the down side, the author has obviously made conclusions, and based on that the evidence might be twisted to fit those conclusions. Also the article is dated; though this might also be its most attractive selling point for a valid source. Pre-NCLB and “W” it avoids the political motives that might be associated with a modern article on educational policy.
McCaffrey, Daniel F., Laura S. Hamilton, Brian M. Steecher, Stephen P. Klein, Delia Bugliari, Abby Robyn. “Interactions among Instructional Practices: Curriculum and Student Achievement: The Case of Standards-Based High School Mathematics.” Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. 32.5 (2001) pp. 493-517
Accessed via JSTOR @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/749803
• Paper researching the “effects of curriculum on the relationship between instructional practices and student outcomes.” This paper turned out not to be exactly what I was looking for. It mainly focuses on the relationship between how we teach and how that affects student achievement. They used surveys to get data on what instructional practices were being used and they used a standardized test to gauge student achievement. Also it focused on the subject of mathematics, and the professional development reforms being recommended within the field. While the article doesn’t speak directly to my question, it does have the potential to provide a strong supporting argument on one of the links in the chain. If HS-Testing affects instructional practices and curriculum, and this article shows a correlation between those and student achievement, than one can make the argument that there is a correlation between testing and achievement.
Shepard, Lorrie A.; Katherine Cutts Dougherty. Effects of High-Stakes Testing on Instruction. Chicago: Speech/Paper Given at “Annual Meetings of the American Educational Research Association” 1991. ERIC Document Reproduction Service ED337468
Accessible via Eric @ http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED337468
or the Author’s web page @
http://www.colorado.edu/education/faculty/lorrieshepard/PDF/Effects%20of%20High-Stakes%20Testing.pdf
• Paper presented regarding the influence of HS-Testing on instruction. The study was a highly detailed study. Conclusions were data-driven and the author admirably admits to her own preconceptions pre-study and her change in perspective. The value of this source is that it is as close to a scientific (or statistically appropriate) study. Though I don’t know how much I will use it, I find the author verbose and confusing, I do see the value in having a statistical component to my paper.
Wideen, Marvin F., Thomas O’Shea, Ivy Pye, and George Ivany. “High-Stakes Testing and the Teaching of Science.” Canadian Journal of Education/ Revue canadienne de l’éducation. 22.4 (1997) pp. 428-444
Accessed via JSTOR @ http://www.jstor.org/stable/1585793
• Report on a pilot case study in two school districts as well as interviews with students, teachers, and administrators. Found “decrease in the variety of instructional approaches from grade 8 to grade 12” (page 428) Reached two conclusions, both negative effects. Teachers pushed away from utilizing strategies that encouraged “active student learning” (p. 428) and a negative, minimizing, effect on the language (“discourse”[p. 428]) in the classroom. They start out putting the study in context, almost justifying the results. It has merit (focuses on science). Plus- diversity of perspectives looked at. Major drawback- it is a study of the Canadian educational system. There are limitations as to the extrapolations I can make. I can still make the argument that the fundamental concepts are still there. However, the study did look at a large metropolitan area school district, so there are implications of possible alignment with urban education.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Culture (Shock) Collage
OK, Ill just jump right in:
Well, not really. First I must apologize if anything doesn't make sense, I have a terrible stomach virus, and can't think straight.
Question: How does viewing and discussing the culture collages effect my teaching style/career?
Answer: Pun definitely intended, there are a mosaic of ways that the experience will affect me. (Get it....mosaic=collage?...No?)
Anyway, there are two main categories in which I would consider the experience having a significant impact: The ways that affect my view on culturally relevant issues (both with myself and my students) and those that affect my teaching style pedagogically.
TO address the first point: there was obvious light shone on the fact that we all have diverse backgrounds that affect our culture and therefore who we become. These differences cannot be ignored in the classroom or they will lead to misunderstandings, misconceptions, and just a general lack of fulfilling potential on both the students' and teachers' behalf.
ON the other hand, even with some of the collages (and people) who were sooo different, there were some (and occasionally many) commonalities. This is a very important lesson to take away from the experience/experiment. Regardless of how different we may be, there is always something to find in common between two people, even if it is just that we are both human animals.
On a completely different side is the affect the exercise had on my teaching style. Given the same assignment with the same instructions, each and every person took the project in a different direction. How interesting that was to me. It reinforced the concept that we are all different learners and the same question, note, word, sentence, instruction, etc. means different things to us all.
SO: Giving assignments with general instructions has given my students the opportunity to exercise their creativity and take ownership of their assignments. On the other hand, when assignments call for a specific format, the students need to be "walked through" the assignment/directions step by painful step to ensure that everyone completes it in the appropriate way. NOT THAT THIS SHOULD BE THE CASE EVERY TIME!!!!! However, students need to know how to follow explicit directions.
All in all, I think the experience was practically beneficial, educational, and enlightening. I am better for experiencing it.
___________________________________________________________________
On another note, I experienced my first professional encounter with racism yesterday. Not from a student, not from a family member, but from another "professional" colleague. I have quit jobs before because of anti-semitism, but this was the first time I was not only called a racist (not in those explicit words, but the sentiment was clear) but was outwardly stereotyped because of my race. I want to keep this post positive, so I won't belabor the issue, but it was certainly a "gut-punch" and a reality check.
Class dismissed
--The Prof.
Well, not really. First I must apologize if anything doesn't make sense, I have a terrible stomach virus, and can't think straight.
Question: How does viewing and discussing the culture collages effect my teaching style/career?
Answer: Pun definitely intended, there are a mosaic of ways that the experience will affect me. (Get it....mosaic=collage?...No?)
Anyway, there are two main categories in which I would consider the experience having a significant impact: The ways that affect my view on culturally relevant issues (both with myself and my students) and those that affect my teaching style pedagogically.
TO address the first point: there was obvious light shone on the fact that we all have diverse backgrounds that affect our culture and therefore who we become. These differences cannot be ignored in the classroom or they will lead to misunderstandings, misconceptions, and just a general lack of fulfilling potential on both the students' and teachers' behalf.
ON the other hand, even with some of the collages (and people) who were sooo different, there were some (and occasionally many) commonalities. This is a very important lesson to take away from the experience/experiment. Regardless of how different we may be, there is always something to find in common between two people, even if it is just that we are both human animals.
On a completely different side is the affect the exercise had on my teaching style. Given the same assignment with the same instructions, each and every person took the project in a different direction. How interesting that was to me. It reinforced the concept that we are all different learners and the same question, note, word, sentence, instruction, etc. means different things to us all.
SO: Giving assignments with general instructions has given my students the opportunity to exercise their creativity and take ownership of their assignments. On the other hand, when assignments call for a specific format, the students need to be "walked through" the assignment/directions step by painful step to ensure that everyone completes it in the appropriate way. NOT THAT THIS SHOULD BE THE CASE EVERY TIME!!!!! However, students need to know how to follow explicit directions.
All in all, I think the experience was practically beneficial, educational, and enlightening. I am better for experiencing it.
___________________________________________________________________
On another note, I experienced my first professional encounter with racism yesterday. Not from a student, not from a family member, but from another "professional" colleague. I have quit jobs before because of anti-semitism, but this was the first time I was not only called a racist (not in those explicit words, but the sentiment was clear) but was outwardly stereotyped because of my race. I want to keep this post positive, so I won't belabor the issue, but it was certainly a "gut-punch" and a reality check.
Class dismissed
--The Prof.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Unequal Childhoods (Lareau, UCAL Press 2003) Social Science is STILL Science
The NJRCL basically redefines what poverty means and describes the need to make resources available to empovershed families. The report makes a point to mention that the current Federal standard for determining the poverty level and access to supportive resources has the following flaws:
1) Standards are based the cost of food
2) Assumes a two parent family with a stay at home wife
3) Doesn’t distinguish between employed families and unemployed families
4) The poverty line is consistent across all geographic locations
(NJ Real Cost of Living Index (NJRCL) from the Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ))
The author talks about many of the same resources and institutions that some of the families from “Unequal Childhoods” (Lareau, 2003) interface with on daily basis to survive. Changing the definition for how families, and which families, qualify for such programs would have a direct impact on said families. Redefining this definition could give families like the Brindles or the McAllisters more access to essential programs that would allow them to better provide for their families. Possibly this could give parents more time with their children allowing them to take a more direct role in their child’s education. This could have a profound impact on both those families that utilize the programs, and the families that don’t but whose taxes would be affected by a redefinition of poverty.
The first finding of the poverty report “living in poverty” maintains that employment is necessary for economic self sufficiency, but it doesn’t ensure it. This puts a face on the harsh reality that poor families have to deal with. Not only does employment not guarantee economic self-sufficiency,(and these poor families are typically in low income jobs), many of these families are also facing unemployment or are in single adult families, thus increasing the chance that the families will not be economically self sufficient. The second finding only compounds this issue: single mothers, (it was usually the case that the mother was the primary caregiver) are more likely to suffer from income inadequacy, but those with children (the subjects of the book) are also more likely. Suffice it to say, these families probably suffer from income inadequacy. They cannot afford the simple cost of the necessities of life.
Education is directly connected to income adequacy, at least according to the study in the report. More specifically, the more access you have to higher levels of education, the less likely you are to suffer from income inadequacy. In reality, this creates a self-perpetuating cycle where those without enough money don’t have access to higher education. Therefore, their families are less likely to have access to higher levels of education and so on and so forth.
The second article on poverty, “GROWTH OF POVERTY” basically criticizes the system with which government deals with the growing poverty epidemic in this country, It calls for a shift in the way we deal with poverty, curing the problem instead of simply treating it with programs like welfare.
I feel that this information is incredibly useful to me as a new urban teacher. Understanding the problems that some families are facing allows me to approach certain situations in a different, more effective manner. For instance, initially, I did not believe that students had absolutely no access to a computer, and held them to a real high level. I didn’t take into account that they really had no free time, and didn’t have the access to resources I assumed they must simply by living in proximity to them.
In terms of what I need to learn, I need to become better at working the system (as a member of the middle class) on my students’ behalf, or at least: how can I work around these issues so they don’t stifle the children’s ability to get a quality education.
Though I hate the cliché, this was a real eye opener in terms of modifying my frame of reference. It is one thing to hear about the achievement gap, it is one thing to hear about socio-economic disparities, it is one thing to hear about the different ways in which poor, working, and middle-class families raise their children indoctrinated through an educational institution or even the current presidential election campaigns. To see actual examples of children and families detailed, broken down, evaluated on the same characteristics by the same observer and to juxtapose them so, makes the issue all the more real. Even as I entered the classroom today, I started to approach issues with regards to lack of access in a very different light.
Enough of my fill in the blank answers for now, later I will update this entry with how I personally felt reading about the socioeconomic gap and the differences in child rearing styles eg: concerted cultivation.
Hasta--
--The Prof.
1) Standards are based the cost of food
2) Assumes a two parent family with a stay at home wife
3) Doesn’t distinguish between employed families and unemployed families
4) The poverty line is consistent across all geographic locations
(NJ Real Cost of Living Index (NJRCL) from the Legal Services of New Jersey (LSNJ))
The author talks about many of the same resources and institutions that some of the families from “Unequal Childhoods” (Lareau, 2003) interface with on daily basis to survive. Changing the definition for how families, and which families, qualify for such programs would have a direct impact on said families. Redefining this definition could give families like the Brindles or the McAllisters more access to essential programs that would allow them to better provide for their families. Possibly this could give parents more time with their children allowing them to take a more direct role in their child’s education. This could have a profound impact on both those families that utilize the programs, and the families that don’t but whose taxes would be affected by a redefinition of poverty.
The first finding of the poverty report “living in poverty” maintains that employment is necessary for economic self sufficiency, but it doesn’t ensure it. This puts a face on the harsh reality that poor families have to deal with. Not only does employment not guarantee economic self-sufficiency,(and these poor families are typically in low income jobs), many of these families are also facing unemployment or are in single adult families, thus increasing the chance that the families will not be economically self sufficient. The second finding only compounds this issue: single mothers, (it was usually the case that the mother was the primary caregiver) are more likely to suffer from income inadequacy, but those with children (the subjects of the book) are also more likely. Suffice it to say, these families probably suffer from income inadequacy. They cannot afford the simple cost of the necessities of life.
Education is directly connected to income adequacy, at least according to the study in the report. More specifically, the more access you have to higher levels of education, the less likely you are to suffer from income inadequacy. In reality, this creates a self-perpetuating cycle where those without enough money don’t have access to higher education. Therefore, their families are less likely to have access to higher levels of education and so on and so forth.
The second article on poverty, “GROWTH OF POVERTY” basically criticizes the system with which government deals with the growing poverty epidemic in this country, It calls for a shift in the way we deal with poverty, curing the problem instead of simply treating it with programs like welfare.
I feel that this information is incredibly useful to me as a new urban teacher. Understanding the problems that some families are facing allows me to approach certain situations in a different, more effective manner. For instance, initially, I did not believe that students had absolutely no access to a computer, and held them to a real high level. I didn’t take into account that they really had no free time, and didn’t have the access to resources I assumed they must simply by living in proximity to them.
In terms of what I need to learn, I need to become better at working the system (as a member of the middle class) on my students’ behalf, or at least: how can I work around these issues so they don’t stifle the children’s ability to get a quality education.
Though I hate the cliché, this was a real eye opener in terms of modifying my frame of reference. It is one thing to hear about the achievement gap, it is one thing to hear about socio-economic disparities, it is one thing to hear about the different ways in which poor, working, and middle-class families raise their children indoctrinated through an educational institution or even the current presidential election campaigns. To see actual examples of children and families detailed, broken down, evaluated on the same characteristics by the same observer and to juxtapose them so, makes the issue all the more real. Even as I entered the classroom today, I started to approach issues with regards to lack of access in a very different light.
Enough of my fill in the blank answers for now, later I will update this entry with how I personally felt reading about the socioeconomic gap and the differences in child rearing styles eg: concerted cultivation.
Hasta--
--The Prof.
Friday, October 3, 2008
Frames of Reference
Urban Schools and Me
Frames of Reference
As an undergraduate, I only took one class on anthropology. The teacher loved to talk, and I frankly didn’t understand much of what he said (or find it interesting, hence the one Anthropology class.) One thing did stand out: the concept of the frame of reference as a descriptor of how our previous experiences and prior “knowledge” skew how we see things and contribute to our expectations of others, other situations and therefore shape our actions. Gee applies this same concept to what he terms “discourses” or literacies specific to one group (with their own vocabulary, accepted processes/customs). We belong to multiple “discourses” all of which add up to our total being.[1]
There is no way that any two people, their personal experiences being unique, can ever see the same situation in the same way. Even if every descriptive factor (age, sex, religion, country of origin, country of residence, etc.) was the same between two people, they would never see something in the same exact way. Ironically, this in turn changed my own personal frame of reference and any paper I wrote since them, I looked at critically to see if my personal beliefs clouded my objectiveness, thereby negating the real truth of my writing. As such, I understand that all of my beliefs (those based on assumptions and those based on personal experience) are not 100% true, and many are just flat out wrong. I know, that these beliefs and assumptions shape the way I affect my classroom, my classroom affects me, and the teacher I am as well as the teacher I am to become.
In the City
To understand how I feel about urban schools, I must first explain some beliefs that I have about urban centers themselves. I must first start out by saying that I was born and spent a good part of my young life living in an urban center and harbor no ill will towards them, rather I feel a sort of kinship with them.
I believe that the fundamental nature of the role of urban centers has not changed. The Senior Fellows at the Annenberg Institute hit the nail right on the head when they stated that “Cities are civilizing forces…Cities bring together vital aspects of social, cultural, aesthetic, political, and economic activity.”[2] From the time of ancient Greece, when the first major “cities” developed, this has been the role of urban centers. Along with this constant role comes a constant set of problems; with a wealth of opportunity comes a wealth of people seeking that opportunity. Therefore, while on one hand urban centers are beacons of human achievement, they are also home to some of the poorest populations in the country, rivaled (if not surpassed) only by those in very rural areas. This is supported by Hodgkinson’s data as he leads into his paper on demographics.[3]
The urban center is a unique entity. Manhattan and Buffalo, though across the state of NY, they have much in common because of their status as urban centers. As a unique entity, urban centers are subject to stereotypes much the same as many racial/ethnic/economic groups. I believe that the stereotypes and prejudices against urban centers as well as the socio-economic groups, which reside therein, are a major cause of the problems that urban centers face.
Finally, with respect to the urban centers themselves, I agree with Hodgkinson’s affirmation about the highly transient populations that dwell within these urban centers.[4] That is, both from preconceptions about urban centers and my experiences working and living within them, I believe that the populations, more specifically the lower economic rungs, are prone to moving around based on the ability to capitalize on opportunity (e.g. available jobs, changing custody of children to place them in better schools because of their location, etc.)
School Days
I begin this section by addressing the question of how my beliefs are shaped/ where they come from. As previously stated, I believe that our frame of reference is an end result of our collective previous experience leading up to the moment of thought/action. But what does “previous experience” mean? Many factors contributed to my belief system; how I was raised by my parents (their thoughts/belief systems, what they taught me, what they provided for me, etc)exposure to information through the world media outlet, assumptions based on no/not enough evidence to make an educated guess, my higher education (going to a more liberal university for a degree in history I’m sure leaves one with a much different perspective than someone who went to a more ‘conservative’ school or even someone who has studied abroad.) Finally, and probably most significantly, are the actual experiences I have lived through.
Most of my disillusionment with the educational system in urban centers comes from my personal experience living on an urban center and going to school within such a system. Living in an urban center in NY, I did not have the most inspiring of teachers. I went from an enthusiastic reader and student who did 6th grade math in kindergarten to a 1st grader that they wanted to put in self contained classes. When my parents saw what a negative impact the schools were having on me, they decided to move to an area where I could receive a better education. Day 1 at the suburban school, my parents received a call suggesting I be skipped ahead a grade. (If I wasn’t so short, they might’ve said yes.)
That said, I believe that it is easier to receive a good education outside of an urban center; harder, but not impossible to receive one within an urban center. This is excluding charter and magnet schools, I believe that there are some truly outstanding urban schools out there, but to find one and receive a great education from one are two separate and difficult tasks. I believe that the prejudice against poor and ethnic populations, lack of proper funding and resources (which I feel is the primary cause of burnt out teachers), an institutionalized educational process with players unwilling to change[5], and national education policy which favors already successful schools all play a role in causing this problem sometimes identified as the education or achievement gap.
Finally, I believe that this fact is a reversible one through hard work, dedication and public policy designed with the children in mind, and aimed at figuring out why there is such an achievement gap and how to erase it, not policy that directs practice through the carrot and stick.
Between You and Me
I don’t know if one can measure to what extent that their personal belief system affects their interactions with the people they work with and the people they interact with on a daily basis. The easy answer is that they affect such interactions both subtly and intimately. Every conversation you have, every impression you make or is made on you is predicated on your expectations going into a given situation. These are inexorably linked to your belief system, a.k.a. frame of reference.
Based on what I thought I knew about urban schools, only fueled by my summer at a teaching “training institute”, I expected to find a school full of burnt out teachers, locked into the system who didn’t care anymore. To combat this, my strategy for my initial interactions was one of mixed trepidation and skepticism, thinking I already knew a better way because I had a mission and my mission was true. To say that I was quickly humbled would be an understatement, but did I inadvertently burn down some bridges in the process? Only time will show the outcome but it is a further effect of my ever-changing frame of reference.
Similarly, my classroom was to be a “safe-haven,” a “last refuge” for my students to learn before they were kicked out of middle school in to the harsh cold waters of high school. I knew, not thought, that my students would be more than grateful for a teacher who pushed them hard, expected more out of them and truly believed in them and their potential for success through hard work. Boy did I miss the ball with 14 year olds. (Not about their potential, but with their gratitude to be challenged with hard work and be held to such high standards. [Though some have risen to the challenge.]) How many students did I “lose” when I pushed so hard, so fast? Again time will tell, but I know that my personal beliefs and opinions drove my actions.
As I am faced with thoughtful, caring and dedicated teachers/staff and a student body constantly posing new challenges, my frame of reference continues to shift and my interactions with students (it turns out I am more of a disciplinarian than I thought I was) and teachers (I don’t know if it is fortunate or not that I have seemingly already found my niche within the school) continues to change as my perceptions of the people around me change as well through my daily experiences which add to my collective experience and around and around.
The Future
I am a goal driven person. I find that much like a maze, it is easier to start at the end and work backwards. Again, my summer spent “learning to teach” has strengthened my faith in “backwards planning.” Because of this, my frame of reference will significantly impact and shape the type of professional I will become. Through my assumptions, I will form my expectations about what my goals need to be. Based on that it will influence my course of action, my decisions, and what I anticipate my professional career will be like. Aside from the disillusionment one feels when expectations and reality aren’t in line (I am dealing with this now) actions have consequences; and as stated throughout my self-investigation, these consequences will impact my professional “alliances” (it’s not just the students who are cliquey in schools) and my experiences in the classroom, both of which are in my mind the primary factors in shaping/determining the type of professional I will become.
Exit Ticket
It is slightly different for me to write this paper as I have been in the classroom for almost a month now. This has given me in one way an edge in that I can see how my perspective effects how I develop as a professional and how my perspectives change/ have changed. On the other hand this is, in a way, harder for me to write since my perspective has changed since I began.
The issue is that I can’t tell just how much my perspective has changed, how much my frame has shifted. How many new “discourses” do I have? (My Spanish has definitely improved, and I am learning slang.) How many “discourses” have I pulled away from? All of the possible outcomes addressed above are still up in the air, how will they turn out? The process of change/development, my metamorphosis has been so fluid so organic, that I honestly cannot remember just where I started compared to where I am now.
There is no question for me that my frame of reference is an important factor in shaping who I am. Not just professionally, but in every aspect of my life. I am the accumulation of my experiences, and each experience is shaped by how I approach it (which is based on my previous experiences.) It is the hidden, yet inescapable, loop that we are all caught in. The biggest question is just how much will it affect who I am and who I become as a teacher?
[1] Gee, James Paul. “Reading as situated language: A sociocognative perspective”. The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. May, 2001. pp. 714-725
[2] Annenberg Institute for Social Reform, “The Promise of Urban Schools” Brown University (Providence, RI) ©2000 p.1
[3] Hodgkinson, Harold. DEMOGRAPHICS: What teachers should know. “Educational Leadership” ©December 2000/January 2001. pp. 6-8
[4] ibid
[5] Haberman, Martin. “The Pedagogy of Poverty Versus Good Teaching” Given as a lecture at the “Curriculum and Instruction Leadership Symposium” (Pacific Grove, CA) ©2005
Frames of Reference
As an undergraduate, I only took one class on anthropology. The teacher loved to talk, and I frankly didn’t understand much of what he said (or find it interesting, hence the one Anthropology class.) One thing did stand out: the concept of the frame of reference as a descriptor of how our previous experiences and prior “knowledge” skew how we see things and contribute to our expectations of others, other situations and therefore shape our actions. Gee applies this same concept to what he terms “discourses” or literacies specific to one group (with their own vocabulary, accepted processes/customs). We belong to multiple “discourses” all of which add up to our total being.[1]
There is no way that any two people, their personal experiences being unique, can ever see the same situation in the same way. Even if every descriptive factor (age, sex, religion, country of origin, country of residence, etc.) was the same between two people, they would never see something in the same exact way. Ironically, this in turn changed my own personal frame of reference and any paper I wrote since them, I looked at critically to see if my personal beliefs clouded my objectiveness, thereby negating the real truth of my writing. As such, I understand that all of my beliefs (those based on assumptions and those based on personal experience) are not 100% true, and many are just flat out wrong. I know, that these beliefs and assumptions shape the way I affect my classroom, my classroom affects me, and the teacher I am as well as the teacher I am to become.
In the City
To understand how I feel about urban schools, I must first explain some beliefs that I have about urban centers themselves. I must first start out by saying that I was born and spent a good part of my young life living in an urban center and harbor no ill will towards them, rather I feel a sort of kinship with them.
I believe that the fundamental nature of the role of urban centers has not changed. The Senior Fellows at the Annenberg Institute hit the nail right on the head when they stated that “Cities are civilizing forces…Cities bring together vital aspects of social, cultural, aesthetic, political, and economic activity.”[2] From the time of ancient Greece, when the first major “cities” developed, this has been the role of urban centers. Along with this constant role comes a constant set of problems; with a wealth of opportunity comes a wealth of people seeking that opportunity. Therefore, while on one hand urban centers are beacons of human achievement, they are also home to some of the poorest populations in the country, rivaled (if not surpassed) only by those in very rural areas. This is supported by Hodgkinson’s data as he leads into his paper on demographics.[3]
The urban center is a unique entity. Manhattan and Buffalo, though across the state of NY, they have much in common because of their status as urban centers. As a unique entity, urban centers are subject to stereotypes much the same as many racial/ethnic/economic groups. I believe that the stereotypes and prejudices against urban centers as well as the socio-economic groups, which reside therein, are a major cause of the problems that urban centers face.
Finally, with respect to the urban centers themselves, I agree with Hodgkinson’s affirmation about the highly transient populations that dwell within these urban centers.[4] That is, both from preconceptions about urban centers and my experiences working and living within them, I believe that the populations, more specifically the lower economic rungs, are prone to moving around based on the ability to capitalize on opportunity (e.g. available jobs, changing custody of children to place them in better schools because of their location, etc.)
School Days
I begin this section by addressing the question of how my beliefs are shaped/ where they come from. As previously stated, I believe that our frame of reference is an end result of our collective previous experience leading up to the moment of thought/action. But what does “previous experience” mean? Many factors contributed to my belief system; how I was raised by my parents (their thoughts/belief systems, what they taught me, what they provided for me, etc)exposure to information through the world media outlet, assumptions based on no/not enough evidence to make an educated guess, my higher education (going to a more liberal university for a degree in history I’m sure leaves one with a much different perspective than someone who went to a more ‘conservative’ school or even someone who has studied abroad.) Finally, and probably most significantly, are the actual experiences I have lived through.
Most of my disillusionment with the educational system in urban centers comes from my personal experience living on an urban center and going to school within such a system. Living in an urban center in NY, I did not have the most inspiring of teachers. I went from an enthusiastic reader and student who did 6th grade math in kindergarten to a 1st grader that they wanted to put in self contained classes. When my parents saw what a negative impact the schools were having on me, they decided to move to an area where I could receive a better education. Day 1 at the suburban school, my parents received a call suggesting I be skipped ahead a grade. (If I wasn’t so short, they might’ve said yes.)
That said, I believe that it is easier to receive a good education outside of an urban center; harder, but not impossible to receive one within an urban center. This is excluding charter and magnet schools, I believe that there are some truly outstanding urban schools out there, but to find one and receive a great education from one are two separate and difficult tasks. I believe that the prejudice against poor and ethnic populations, lack of proper funding and resources (which I feel is the primary cause of burnt out teachers), an institutionalized educational process with players unwilling to change[5], and national education policy which favors already successful schools all play a role in causing this problem sometimes identified as the education or achievement gap.
Finally, I believe that this fact is a reversible one through hard work, dedication and public policy designed with the children in mind, and aimed at figuring out why there is such an achievement gap and how to erase it, not policy that directs practice through the carrot and stick.
Between You and Me
I don’t know if one can measure to what extent that their personal belief system affects their interactions with the people they work with and the people they interact with on a daily basis. The easy answer is that they affect such interactions both subtly and intimately. Every conversation you have, every impression you make or is made on you is predicated on your expectations going into a given situation. These are inexorably linked to your belief system, a.k.a. frame of reference.
Based on what I thought I knew about urban schools, only fueled by my summer at a teaching “training institute”, I expected to find a school full of burnt out teachers, locked into the system who didn’t care anymore. To combat this, my strategy for my initial interactions was one of mixed trepidation and skepticism, thinking I already knew a better way because I had a mission and my mission was true. To say that I was quickly humbled would be an understatement, but did I inadvertently burn down some bridges in the process? Only time will show the outcome but it is a further effect of my ever-changing frame of reference.
Similarly, my classroom was to be a “safe-haven,” a “last refuge” for my students to learn before they were kicked out of middle school in to the harsh cold waters of high school. I knew, not thought, that my students would be more than grateful for a teacher who pushed them hard, expected more out of them and truly believed in them and their potential for success through hard work. Boy did I miss the ball with 14 year olds. (Not about their potential, but with their gratitude to be challenged with hard work and be held to such high standards. [Though some have risen to the challenge.]) How many students did I “lose” when I pushed so hard, so fast? Again time will tell, but I know that my personal beliefs and opinions drove my actions.
As I am faced with thoughtful, caring and dedicated teachers/staff and a student body constantly posing new challenges, my frame of reference continues to shift and my interactions with students (it turns out I am more of a disciplinarian than I thought I was) and teachers (I don’t know if it is fortunate or not that I have seemingly already found my niche within the school) continues to change as my perceptions of the people around me change as well through my daily experiences which add to my collective experience and around and around.
The Future
I am a goal driven person. I find that much like a maze, it is easier to start at the end and work backwards. Again, my summer spent “learning to teach” has strengthened my faith in “backwards planning.” Because of this, my frame of reference will significantly impact and shape the type of professional I will become. Through my assumptions, I will form my expectations about what my goals need to be. Based on that it will influence my course of action, my decisions, and what I anticipate my professional career will be like. Aside from the disillusionment one feels when expectations and reality aren’t in line (I am dealing with this now) actions have consequences; and as stated throughout my self-investigation, these consequences will impact my professional “alliances” (it’s not just the students who are cliquey in schools) and my experiences in the classroom, both of which are in my mind the primary factors in shaping/determining the type of professional I will become.
Exit Ticket
It is slightly different for me to write this paper as I have been in the classroom for almost a month now. This has given me in one way an edge in that I can see how my perspective effects how I develop as a professional and how my perspectives change/ have changed. On the other hand this is, in a way, harder for me to write since my perspective has changed since I began.
The issue is that I can’t tell just how much my perspective has changed, how much my frame has shifted. How many new “discourses” do I have? (My Spanish has definitely improved, and I am learning slang.) How many “discourses” have I pulled away from? All of the possible outcomes addressed above are still up in the air, how will they turn out? The process of change/development, my metamorphosis has been so fluid so organic, that I honestly cannot remember just where I started compared to where I am now.
There is no question for me that my frame of reference is an important factor in shaping who I am. Not just professionally, but in every aspect of my life. I am the accumulation of my experiences, and each experience is shaped by how I approach it (which is based on my previous experiences.) It is the hidden, yet inescapable, loop that we are all caught in. The biggest question is just how much will it affect who I am and who I become as a teacher?
[1] Gee, James Paul. “Reading as situated language: A sociocognative perspective”. The Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. May, 2001. pp. 714-725
[2] Annenberg Institute for Social Reform, “The Promise of Urban Schools” Brown University (Providence, RI) ©2000 p.1
[3] Hodgkinson, Harold. DEMOGRAPHICS: What teachers should know. “Educational Leadership” ©December 2000/January 2001. pp. 6-8
[4] ibid
[5] Haberman, Martin. “The Pedagogy of Poverty Versus Good Teaching” Given as a lecture at the “Curriculum and Instruction Leadership Symposium” (Pacific Grove, CA) ©2005
Saturday, September 27, 2008
"I will shoot you!"
As a teacher, I am now a mentor as well.
This post is a little past due, but last week a little bit of drama unfolded in my class......
So there I was, innocently teaching my class when a student in the front of the room on the side asked a question that required individual attention. As i was working with that student, I heard (shouted) from across the room: "I'LL SHOOT YOU!"..."I WILL SHOOT YOU!!!"
I looked up and was surprised to see the nicest, most kind hearted, student in the 8th grade standing up and shouting at a female student. I won't deal here with the minutiae of disciplining the student, sending him to the office, the family mediation with the police, the phone calls in tears (the student's tears, not mine).
What I will talk about is the conversation I had with the student when he stopped by to apologize after school.
---The student is one who is enthusiastic about his education. When he has an answer or gets a question right, he shouts out that fact, beaming with pride. He tries harder than most (or at least it is most apparent that he is trying hard). And for this, does he receive praise from his classmates? Do they admire his commitment and laud him for it? Of course not, children are children and for all his effort, he gets flak :(
--Sooooo..... what does a normal 13 year old do when faced with this situation? Does he see that his true respect will come in 15 years at his 10 year high school reunion when the students who were hard working in school (like him) are successful and the students who "act ghetto" (his words) are much less successful (on average)? Again, of course not, because "children are children" and he sees that in order to gain the respect of his friends and classmates he needs to "act ghetto."
We sat and talked for a while (well me talking and him nodding his head.) He was very open to thinking critically about his behavior and I saw in him the opportunity for his teachers to make a difference in his life above and beyond the classroom, and show him that he can gain respect in more constructive ways. That his self esteem could be built up and he could be happier.
-Thus I became a teacher and a mentor.
--The Prof.
This post is a little past due, but last week a little bit of drama unfolded in my class......
So there I was, innocently teaching my class when a student in the front of the room on the side asked a question that required individual attention. As i was working with that student, I heard (shouted) from across the room: "I'LL SHOOT YOU!"..."I WILL SHOOT YOU!!!"
I looked up and was surprised to see the nicest, most kind hearted, student in the 8th grade standing up and shouting at a female student. I won't deal here with the minutiae of disciplining the student, sending him to the office, the family mediation with the police, the phone calls in tears (the student's tears, not mine).
What I will talk about is the conversation I had with the student when he stopped by to apologize after school.
---The student is one who is enthusiastic about his education. When he has an answer or gets a question right, he shouts out that fact, beaming with pride. He tries harder than most (or at least it is most apparent that he is trying hard). And for this, does he receive praise from his classmates? Do they admire his commitment and laud him for it? Of course not, children are children and for all his effort, he gets flak :(
--Sooooo..... what does a normal 13 year old do when faced with this situation? Does he see that his true respect will come in 15 years at his 10 year high school reunion when the students who were hard working in school (like him) are successful and the students who "act ghetto" (his words) are much less successful (on average)? Again, of course not, because "children are children" and he sees that in order to gain the respect of his friends and classmates he needs to "act ghetto."
We sat and talked for a while (well me talking and him nodding his head.) He was very open to thinking critically about his behavior and I saw in him the opportunity for his teachers to make a difference in his life above and beyond the classroom, and show him that he can gain respect in more constructive ways. That his self esteem could be built up and he could be happier.
-Thus I became a teacher and a mentor.
--The Prof.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Blogging Prompts
Some prompts for starting a blog:
1) Having a conversation with yourself or others...
2) I once thought...
3) Who is saving whom?
4) I am << insert emotion >>
5) Read someone else's blog
6) Free write (babble is good)
7) I agree/disagree
8) Make it an opinion piece (don't forget to back it up)
9) I read/heard/saw this...
just a thought...
also, on True TV (formerly Court TV) at 9 and 9:30 is "Principal's Office" give it a shot.
--The Prof
1) Having a conversation with yourself or others...
2) I once thought...
3) Who is saving whom?
4) I am << insert emotion >>
5) Read someone else's blog
6) Free write (babble is good)
7) I agree/disagree
8) Make it an opinion piece (don't forget to back it up)
9) I read/heard/saw this...
just a thought...
also, on True TV (formerly Court TV) at 9 and 9:30 is "Principal's Office" give it a shot.
--The Prof
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Introductions to a mad man's mind
When I was reading Hodgskinson, I reflected on my first week as a teacher, this past week. I also thought back to the family, school, and temple trips I had taken to Ellis Island. Hodgskinson talks about transience (the increasingly non-stationary population coming into urban schools.) He talks about what is sometimes called white flight and the increasing diversity (socio-economically speaking, country of origin v. ethnicity) Again, I reflected on the first day of school and my familial experience of Ellis Island. When I walked through the halls of my school, taking stock on my first day as a teacher (during my very small 30 minute lunch break) I was caught off guard.
As I rounded the corner to the front of the school, I was immediately met with images that could have come right out of the exhibits at Ellis Island. The office and hallway were crammed with students and families desperately trying to register for school. WE WERE ALREADY HALFWAY THROUGH THE FIRST DAY!!!!! (Still, after 1 complete week, students are still entering my class for the first time.) These families were new to the area, to the school, or returning and challenging IEP’s or classroom placement. Many didn’t speak English, and while I speak some Spanish, I could not understand what was being said between the parents, children, and staff. What they were saying to each other, I couldn't understand. I have seldom felt so isolated.
Across from the main office is the nurse’s office. Parents, guardians, and their children were shuttled across the hall and back waiting for medical examinations, waiting to be “cleared” to enter school. Much like my great (and great great) grandparents went through when they immigrated into this country. To say I was befuddled would be an understatement (unless I’m misusing the word.) I saw the urban public education system from yet another viewpoint…an insurmountable bureaucracy for some. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
As to the “Annenberg Promise” and the hopefulness it expressed about the potential locked away in urban schools, I mainly reflected on two points: The challenges I will face in helping this diverse group of students make strong personal connections to the content/ develop a personal identity (as a White, Jewish Male in a largely Hispanic environment) as well as the irony of the dichotomy what Urban centers have become.
I guess to begin, I understand the importance of making personal connections to what we learn, not just pedagologically speaking, but also in terms of forming a personal identity, as well as becoming a productive, contributary member of society. However, despite my educational background (an urban primary education) my students see me as an outsider. As someone who can never understand what they are going through in life because I am White and wear a tie and therefore am rich and spoiled. How do I help them to make strong and meaningful connections, when I am so removed from the culture myself? This I have pondered, and still I have no answer.
What also spoke to me is the allusion to the fact that the urban center was once a drawing point for the apex of society, technology, culture, finance (though maybe not today if you follow the news) and people. Yet now urban centers have become more like cities out of futuristic scifi movies where the best of society, the areas which receive the most attention, science, politics, fiinance, etc. are surrounded by the MOST NEGLECTED (BUT BY NO MEANS THE WORST)people. How can we spend millions upon millions on entertaining diversions such as movies (like Watchmen ) and then abandon the project after the movie is done, while on our city streets, there are people in abject poverty struggling to survive, many straining to raise a family. There are no words. As a nation we should be ashamed, looking outwards before we look within.
Enough of me for now, im getting angry, and I never type angry…keyboards cost too much :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)