Innovative Learning Blog
When I read about Hammond's "Meaningful learning goals" it seems like she's referring to Common Core. I agree that we need standards. A lot of people do not like Common Core, but I appreciate the standards because they serve as a guide as to what students should be learning. I think it is the curriculum that muddles the bigger picture laid out by the standards.
When reading about Hammond's "Intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems", a phrase stood out to me, which was that a successful learning environment is one that guarantees "adequate and appropriate resources". I think this will never be addressed until you address "equitable and adequate resources". Unless, the funding changes from an equal distribution of resources to an equitable distribution of resources, the school systems will never have "intelligent, reciprocal accountability systems" as well as "equitable and adequate resources". I agree with Hammond that educators are "the most fundamental of all resources" and should be held with the highest standards and given the highest support. The day when teachers are given stipends to further their education in areas that interest them, and when teachers are well compensated, is the day when other people will begin to respect the profession instead of feel sorry for the profession. People often make cliched comments like "Good for you. We need good educators. Educators are so important for the future. I thank you for what you do." What they are really saying is: "Wow, everyone knows how difficult it is to educate one child let alone 25-35 of them. How do you do it? I'd rip my hair out. In addition, you get paid about as much money in a year as I make in a month (or a week or a day). Despite the craziness of common core, kids bouncing off the walls, society blaming you for "gaps" in education, and making wages lower than the person who picks up my garbage once a week, thank you for educating the youth. You are important because the people I higher today for my successful business may have been influenced by you." The wealthy elite don't have an incentive for educational change. Money can purchase the type of successful education that is talked about by Hammond. The incentive has to come from those who still believe in public education, especially from those who have no choice because they can't afford private education. The last key element, "Schools organized for student and teacher learning" to me is all about teacher collaboration. Teacher collaboration can be awesome, and I believe that it is effective, however, there are also pitfalls to teacher collaboration. One of the pitfalls is having all the teachers educate with uniformity instead of creativity. I agree with Dewey's quote: “What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must we want for all children in the community. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy”. We need to treat each child as our own. I believe one of the biggest issues with education today is lack of professional intervention. A good educator, who works one on one, will connect, motivate, and empower any child. Sometimes we don't have enough educators to intervene, and sometimes we don't have enough good ones. Intervention should never be done unless you are highly educated and highly qualified.
1 Comment
12/10/2016 02:53:51 pm
I love it!!! This is how I feel most of the time! I love the parts you wrote about what people really mean when they compliment you as a teacher. The subtext is spot on! I also know that we have to find why we teach. I had a tough time last year coming to terms with the fact that our district does not penalize the student for not achieving. I am going to bootstrap for a second, but if you failed a class when I was young you had to retake it in the summer or the next year or something. They just make it so the students now just are not able to walk at their 8th grade promotion. So, kids who don't do anything all year will be moved on to the next grade still lacking the knowledge they didn't get the year before. That was a bitter pill to swallow when I first figured that out.
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AuthorMy name is Joe Hall. I am an elementary bilingual teacher in Napa, CA. Archives
July 2017
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