REFLECTION

Last year I enrolled in a course called Strategies for Curriculum Change, (with another professor), and what I found in the first week was a class that was going to change your thinking on educational technology with a lot of assignments that would be considered busy work For whatever reason, I had to drop the class.

I then registered the next semester for the same class, taking a teacher called Bachenheimer. No one had any information on him, (or her, I was not sure), so I basically took it blindly because I needed the class for my requirements.

The first day of class was so low- key and relaxing, that all my inhibitions were gone. What I found was a very educational and useful class (for a change).
Thinking back, we learned how useful technology can and will be in education. With some very alarming facts (Did You Know), we have to realize the importance of technological in our lives. Change, in itself, is and will be important in our lives.

What we have to do is, first, be willing to accept change, in any form. That is hard for some of us veterans who have been doing things a certain way for years. To switch to a new method, and actually learn something new, what are you crazy? We need to analyze the usefulness of what we are looking to “fix.”

I have worked for a boss who had a 2 week window for change. He had all these great ideas to implement, but never had a proper plan of action. He literally would give the project two weeks to evolve and prove itself. If it was not effective in that short time, he would scrap it. Needless to say, we went through many changes in the course of a year, and it drove the staff crazy. Even programs that were very successful were changed, for the sake of change. I am no longer a part of the ship that is sailing aimlessly.

To change, for the sake of change, is not a good thing. To change to fix something is more the answer. Setting long term goals and evolving to achieve those goals is more the answer.

Hey, I learned to create a blog, and I think I might even use it after class.

Orange Middle School

Orange Middle School is just one of the many inner city schools that is experiencing the same issues: poverty, poor parental involvement, gangs, drugs, etc. They have one advantage. They have a staff of educators that care about their kids, as well as a leader that is looking to invoke change in a community that has seen very little success. Orange's staff looks to establish relationships with their students, and build on education based on this.

I think it is a great idea to break down the school into smaller learning communities. Students are taught in smaller environments and given the attention they deserve. They also receive the structure and intimacy not present in their home lives.

It is always a positive asset to establish relationships with students, to an extent. You should find out as much as you can about the student, as a tool to help teach them. Understanding home lives, and personal situations, help you understand why they act certain ways.

Orange needs to improve on the relationship the school has with the parents. Parental involvement is positive in learning communities, and helps education. One way to do this is to offer monthly conferences to parents at the school. Offer incentives for them to attend, possibly feed them. These conferences can cover topics such as drugs, pregnancy, gangs, etc. Awareness is essential in a students growth.

Offering the students a place to be after school is another suggestion, keep them off the street. Offer gym activities, more clubs, after school education programs, etc.

Orange is moving in the right direction. Anything above what they had is an improvement. It all starts with an idea, and then the right plan of implementation. I think they are doing that.

Curriculum Mapping

Curriculum mapping is a way for schools to monitor its curricula in all areas of a subject. In math, those teaching,for instance, Geometry, should all be on the same page. It should also have students that have learned the same areas of Pre-Geometry prior to them getting into this subject. The flow through the subject areas will be easier.

In my situation, mapping is not coming easy. Special Ed in my school is still treated as the bastard step child. We do not even have the same text books, or have access to the same materials as regular ed. The reasons are too numerous to mention, and yes, its not fair.

They talk about scores, and HSPA, but they do very little to help. It would be great to bring the two departments together, on the same page, and hopefully, assist each each other.

Curriculum mapping is a way to bring success to a school district. It is not easy to implement, but as with all other successful programs, it will take alot of work. We have to remember, it is for the benefit of the students, all egos aside.

Schmoker

What a great name

But anyway, buffers exist all over schools, whether you want to believe it or not. A teacher might get defensive and say that he teaches every minute of every period, and he covers the curriculum, and his kids are constantly engaged..... and my response is "Bueller, anyone, anyone."

Any person would get defensive if it came to a question of whether they worked all the time, and how effective they are. Just look at NCLB. Besides all the reasons to dislike it, the underlying response from all teachers is "Why should I be held accountable?" This is just another way of saying that I do my job well, and you should not have to observe me doing it to believe me, take my word.

I am sorry if I am offending teachers, that is not my purpose. We need to really look at ourselves. I think we all take breaks, and give worksheets, and do puzzles. I also think we are a breed set apart from everyone else. REMEMBER! NOT EVERYONE CAN TEACH.

Back to Schmoker... I think buffers definitely exist, right up the ladder of education. I mentioned teachers, but departments will constantly publish the good the school is doing, with pictures of kids doing community service. A school is often measured by how successful its sports program is. Back to school night- the entire janitorial staff works overtime to beautify the school. Teachers hang tests with "A's". All this is done for the sake of the parent? Wrong. All that is done to defer the parents thoughts. Johnny is always doing great on back to school night. Buffering is rampant. When was the last time that a school voluntarily admitted to its failures, or its discipline problems.

On line class

I have to be honest, I am not use to this format. I am one who needs the structure, knowing I have to be in class every Thursday. When left to the freedom of doing my assignments "whenever," I find myself putting it off. Plus the fact that my household is busy, and my wife thinks I am fooling around at the computer rather than doing assignments. I need a more quiet area, and a chaueffer to drive my kids around.

Otherwise, I do like not having to drive to MSU, and find parking, if you can. I am open to the online process, but it will still need some getting use to, and a discipline to spread my work load over the two weeks. I do like the format you have set up, with short assignments, rather than a larger task. Videos, to me, are more effective than readings, because some of these readings are a little old, and stiff.

I would take another hybrid course in the future, and I am currently looking into a full online course with another institution.

UBD Lesson

I implemented this lesson into todays English class. The class is full of Freshman, and two juniors. I guided the lesson to a format of all open ended questions, where they actually had to think, predict, create scenarios, etc. How dare I.

The lesson went well. The creativity and the open discussions went very well, and occupied the whole class, so much that they did not want it to end. We will continue tomorrow.

I was very pleased with the responses to some of the questions, and the follow up discussions about each answer. They actually can think.

The one drawback, if there was one, was the fact that they were not use to not having one concrete answer. They kept asking me for the correct answer, and I kept leading them into new discussions, building on their answers with new questions

I thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and look to incorporate it into my lessons.

Response to Template....

As a math teacher, I find it a little difficult following this particular format. For one, my lessons are so sequential, and it is hard to come up with Essential questions. There really is only one answer to a problem, and there are very few open ended questions to contemplate.

As for my English class, I am always looking to expand the minds of my studenst, and force them to think, and be creative. This lesson plan set up is perfect for this task.

I will implement it this week.

English Lesson Plan Template

English High School
Stage 1: Desired Results
Established Goals: English I (Freshman)
"Of Mice and Men"
All students will read texts, chapter by chapter, with comprehension
and critical analysis

Understandings:
Students will understand that:
Friendship comes in many forms
People generally are all the same

Essential Questions:
How can someone kill his best friend?
How can greed control your life?
Was greed a factor in the killing?
How are people different?
Are people really different?

Students will know:
Key vocabulary terms
Underlying tone of story
Essential character make up

Students will be able to:
Analyze and interpret character thoughts
Develop an understanding for all characters
Apply reading strategies
Critically come to a conclusion

Stage 2: Assessment Evidence

Performance Tasks:
Why did George shoot Lennie?
You are part of a police task force (CSI) to determine why Lenny was shot.
You are to prepare a one page answer on why you think George shot Lenny, taking
into account all parts of the story previously discussed, as well as your

interpretations.
Your answer should have evidence to back your conclusion.

Stage 3: Learning Plan

Learning Activities:
Introduce Essential questions, as well as final task and rubric
Break into groups of three
Read and discuss text, chapter by chapter.
Take notes on key points of relationship between George and Lenny
After reading book, view movie to get visual interpretation of story
Come to conclusion
Write paper

SHIFT HAPPENS

After viewing the video on youtube entitled "Did You Know," it has to make you sit and wonder of the changes that will take place in the up coming years. Am I worried that I will not be able to keep up? Not really. In the past, we have been able to adapt and change to conditions. I think we will do just fine.

Watching the video astounds me and raises many points that peak my curiosity. First of all, all the statistics about the growth of China and India may not be a good thing. As a country grows, so do many factors, such as poverty, unemployment, etc. They may have more scholars than we have students, but that is only one aspect of the equation.

Our students face a greater challenge, to keep up with technology, and they seem to adapt alot better than us. Ask any of them how to text message, or IM. We as educators have to adapt our curriculum to meet technological needs, and I think that will come.

Do we need to change? Absolutely. Just think of our parents who have never even use a cell phone, or possibly a computer. They have adapted their lives as best as they could to avoid this, unless there was an occasion where they might have had to use it, such as a job. What did they do? Learn just enough. I don't feel that we have to be computer geeks, or to be one step ahead. I think that we can get by by learning just enough. We need to be open to these advances, and offer lessons that will include technology.

As Ken Robinson said in the other audio piece, we still need creativity. We, more than any of these countries think, and make choices. We are not programmed robots, with our destinies predetermined. We will have 10-14 jobs by the time we are 38, by choice. We will not settle for complacency. We can test the waters, and try something out, and move on if we "no like." Most of these countries can't say the same thing

"Reading Don't Fix No Chevys"

We have to think back to a time in our life, when responsibilities were few, and time was abundant, and the only person we had to concern ourselves with was ourself. That is when we were most passionate about a certain activity, or topic.

It's not that we can't have passion in our lives about a certain sport, hobby, event, or activity, it is just that we as educators, parents, students, ADULTS find that we have very little time for the fun events. I, myself, love to participate in sports, and when I am at my peak, the passion exudes. I think that we have limitations in life as we get older. My body is physically unable to compete at the level I wish anymore.

If we have experienced a passion at some point in our life, and experienced the "flow," we can somehow translate these feelings to our students. Making lessons more enjoyable, bringing a passion to our teaching, anything to get the students excited and somehow experience "flow."

Dear Congressman Payne and anyone else who will listen.......

October 1, 2007




Congressman Donald M. Payne:

I am a special education teacher at Nutley High School, in your ward. In the next few weeks, I will be putting aside my curriculum to prepare my students to take standardized tests. These same students are all classified with either learning or emotional disabilities.

During the course of a normal class period, I make sure these children are on task at all times, either through continuous work, or in the form of some activity. These students have trouble remaining focused for long periods of time, and are usually medicated to combat this aspect of their disability. Some students have trouble reading directions and understanding what is being asked, unless the directions are actually read aloud to them. Then there are the ones that have learning disorders, of which accommodations have been made to give them smaller, easier tasks broken down to basic form.

All of the students I have mentioned are included in the statistics for No Child Left Behind. They will be allowed some accommodations while taking the tests, such as added time, or oral directions, but will still have great difficulty remaining focused for 3 hour exams in 3 consecutive days.

We have created an insurmountable task that needs to be accomplished by asking these students to be proficient on these standardized tests. Can you think of anything as inane as that?

I am not saying to lower the standards by any means. We still offer a curriculum on par with any other school system.

When NCLB comes up for reauthorization this fall, please consider reassessing it, and possibly alter it. I do think that accountability is important in education. I think NCLB has kicked us in the pants to take stock in the type of teachers we all are. Where we lack is that all students should not be included in the totals, especially those that we know are incapable or would have extreme trouble being considered proficient by NCLB standards. Maybe there could be an alternate form of assessment that can be performed, or possibly, omit their scores from the totals.

As an elected official, I do hope that you would give this matter your utmost attention.


Thank You For Your Time

Carl Nastasi
Voting Member of the 10th District

SABER TOOTH CURRICULUM

The Saber-Tooth Curriculum can be considered a satirical version of modern day education. In the story, a character called New Fist is trying to construct a basic curriculum on how to “grab fish with bare hands,” “horse clubbing,” and finally “saber tooth tiger scaring with fire.” He would be considered a progressive educator, by our modern day standards, because of his desire to improve and invoke change into the current system. As he put it, the children had no purpose in their play, and he felt the need to structure their activities. It would also serve the future of the tribe in that the children would acquire the skills for the survival of themselves and the tribe.

His system seemed to work until some of the conservative elder members of the tribe resisted the modernization or change. They can be equated to several members of the educational community (administration, board members, veteran teachers), or even associates of education (parents) who feel that current values are fine and in no need of improvement. Usually those that are reluctant to change have either implemented the current system and do not feel it is flawed, or are just afraid to partake on new ventures because of complacency in their lives.

Then as years go on, the system in the satire became obsolete, and needed updating, as similarly in the current move to invoke technology into all curriculums. But what is missing is the need to teach the basics, the concepts that will get them to the point where they can build and improve on curriculum.

We are so caught up in teaching modern, new-improved lessons, as well as upper level concepts to students at earlier ages and grades every year. We often take for granted that the basic concepts are the most important aspect that we should be instilling. Anything taught above that will have its rightful place later.

"180"

I have only been in education for about 6 years. My wife has been teaching for over 20. I remember having discussions with her about "only" teaching 180 days, and how easy it was, and that she should try and teach (work) for twelve months. That was before I started teaching. Now I am in total agreement with her. Teachers need to be on their game always, or the kids will suffer, pick up on it, and the lesson would lose its effectiveness. A teacher needs that 2 month break to rejuvenate their batteries. Think about the added hours we work at home, preparing lessons, copying, just rethinking techniques and topics. ENOUGH SAID ABOUT A TEACHER........

Looking at the "180" opened my eyes to certain things: how little time we do have to teach. It is correct in showing the interruptions to daily lessons, some of which are necessary, but also, that we really have such a short window to present our lesson, and cover material. We have a mind set that we have plenty of time to cover all curriculum, but we really don't.

Are We Really Reluctant to Change?

We are quick to say that education is too slow to change. That may have been true in the past. I think that as technology continues to grow, we have to integrate technology into our daily lessons, either through supplemental programs, or simply by creating interdisciplinary lessons to bring that technology into our classrooms. Older, more experienced educators resist accepting change, in general.

It is in our very nature to resist change, or to have fears about it. Many times, change is thrust upon us, rather than through selection. We have lost jobs or have been forced to go down a new road in our life. This is not a choice of ours, but most of us make-do and restructure ourselves, sometimes with different priorities. Change can come also by choice, either in selecting a new job or career, or in relocating our families. But even in that, it is rare that we do it without some reluctance.

In education, change is a constant. We teach new concepts, we change a technique, we adapt to the changing student. We never reinvent the wheel, but we constantly look to improve on it.

With change, we sometimes also get excited. We hope a student becomes more motivated. We hope to change a bad situation into something positive with more potential growth opportunity. So, change is not always bad. We just have fears that it won’t work out.



November, A. Hopes and Fears, http://anovember.com/

PRENSKY CHALLENGE

The purpose in the "Prensky Challenge'" as I see it' is to have us as teachers look to an alternative way of teaching. He poses a 2 part school year, with the essential material being covered in the first. If it is completed, and the standardized tests all passed, then the goal is to have a second semester doing activities that they would do every day anyway- like nintendo, ipods, cell phones, etc.
Is it really an incentive. Possibly. But old school teachers and parents believe that success should be the carrot, and not games, and toys, etc. We sometimes forget to instill this into our children's minds. I am an old school parent, and I try not to play that game. Maybe I am the minority.