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.