Have you ever had the feeling that searching the web (from the comfort of your couch) for information ends up taking more time than the old fashioned method of just driving to the library and doing research there? Well, I've had one of those evenings where I have spent way too much time aimlessly (or so it feels) searching the web. I've been trying, without much success, to find articles to go with the njcccs assignment that we are doing. I think the problem is that I am not entirely sure what I am looking for...
...anyhow, during the course of my search, I ended up on the pbs site, and I wanted to share the link with you because they had some cool lesson plans on there for a variety of subjects. Here it is http://www.pbs.org/. I hope you find it helpful.
...back to searching!
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
The unplanned curriculum!
The three forms of curriculum present in school as identified by English and Larson are “formal, informal, and hidden curricula” and the idea that curriculum includes all planned and unplanned experiences of the children in a classroom (Mullen 13) are intriguing to me. Really, the thought is almost overwhelming. Normally when thinking about the curriculum, I think about the “game plan” (or lack there of…in my district) for any given course. I tend to think about the knowledge/skill base of the course—don’t get me wrong I try to link it to the kids’ lives and make it meaningful for them so they will wan tot to continue to learn, but still the underlying curriculum goes back to the skills or base knowledge. But according to the above definitions, EVERYTHING whether intended or not, whether teacher or peer generated etc. is part of the curriculum. It becomes part of the students’ education.
This all encompassing idea of education curriculum wouldn’t be so daunting if there weren’t so many horrendous things that transpire in an average day in a high school (okay, specifically mine). As a teacher and a human, I try to be a “good” person and uphold a high level of ethics and to set a good example, but I never thought of it as part of the curricula, but based on both of the above definitions, it is. The students are learning from me and I am mindful of that and act in appropriate manner and send out positive messages. The irony is that I am biased. We all are! Of course, I consider myself to be a positive influence. However, what I consider to be “good” or “appropriate” or “positive” is based off of value judgments. Furthermore, there is a flip side to this; what about the teachers, fellow authority figures, who have sexual relations with the students or share stories about partying with them or disrespecting other staff or administration in front of the students or lying and cheating (by the way all things that have occurred in my school)? I am sure that most of these people feel that they are justified in what they tell and do with the students. That is a lot of “negative” hidden curriculum coming from those teachers. I don’t even want to think about all of the negative values the students are presented with via their peers on a daily basis.
It really is very overwhelming when you think about it. In my school, they have actually started a program that deals with some of the hidden curriculum and negative events that the students normally experience. However, even though the administration is trying to reach out to the students on issues relating to bullying and what not and to set up the STAT program so the students can start to feel a connection to a faculty member, many of the faculty members are not on board with the program. Therefore, the program is not very effective and more negative messages are being sent out to the students.
As usual, the readings have stimulated more questions for me than they answered. What can an administrator do to try to get the entire faculty on board with sending out an agreed upon message of what is good or acceptable? For that matter, how can there be a consensus on those definitions? Is it possible for there to be positive peer-pressure among the staff to get everyone involved (without it turning into a “gotcha” situation)?
This all encompassing idea of education curriculum wouldn’t be so daunting if there weren’t so many horrendous things that transpire in an average day in a high school (okay, specifically mine). As a teacher and a human, I try to be a “good” person and uphold a high level of ethics and to set a good example, but I never thought of it as part of the curricula, but based on both of the above definitions, it is. The students are learning from me and I am mindful of that and act in appropriate manner and send out positive messages. The irony is that I am biased. We all are! Of course, I consider myself to be a positive influence. However, what I consider to be “good” or “appropriate” or “positive” is based off of value judgments. Furthermore, there is a flip side to this; what about the teachers, fellow authority figures, who have sexual relations with the students or share stories about partying with them or disrespecting other staff or administration in front of the students or lying and cheating (by the way all things that have occurred in my school)? I am sure that most of these people feel that they are justified in what they tell and do with the students. That is a lot of “negative” hidden curriculum coming from those teachers. I don’t even want to think about all of the negative values the students are presented with via their peers on a daily basis.
It really is very overwhelming when you think about it. In my school, they have actually started a program that deals with some of the hidden curriculum and negative events that the students normally experience. However, even though the administration is trying to reach out to the students on issues relating to bullying and what not and to set up the STAT program so the students can start to feel a connection to a faculty member, many of the faculty members are not on board with the program. Therefore, the program is not very effective and more negative messages are being sent out to the students.
As usual, the readings have stimulated more questions for me than they answered. What can an administrator do to try to get the entire faculty on board with sending out an agreed upon message of what is good or acceptable? For that matter, how can there be a consensus on those definitions? Is it possible for there to be positive peer-pressure among the staff to get everyone involved (without it turning into a “gotcha” situation)?
Monday, September 24, 2007
Sunday, September 16, 2007
Education Statistics
The problem with reading statistics like those in “A Public Education Primer” is that they generate more questions than they answer. I found myself repeatedly asking questions while reading the packet. For instance, after reading the statistic on page 6 about more public school students attend school in suburbs, towns, and in rural areas, I found myself asking, “Why are there less public school students in urban areas?” Then of course that lead to more questions… “Are there fewer children in urban areas than the other areas (which doesn’t make sense—higher population more kids, right?)? Do more children in urban areas go to private schools? Did the statistic refer to all three areas combined verses urban areas?” Another topic that I found interesting that triggered a lot of unanswered questions was on page 16. The statistic referred to the discrepancies between the schooling requirements in varies states. Sure they told me what some of the discrepancies were, such as required years of attendance and number of school days on a year, but they didn’t tell me how it affected the overall achievement of the students. I want to know if the students benefit by going to school for 186 days verses 173 or what the pros and cons are for the students that are required to attend school for 13 years verses those students who are required to stay in school for a lesser time. I also want to know why there is such a big discrepancy between varying states—Are the biggest discrepancies between the more agricultural states verses industrial ones?
Even more frustrating is when they list conflicting information for the same exact area of research. For instance, on page 28 they had conflicting information about the rate of high school completion. There was a fairly sizeable variance in the data between the four different groups who did the research. Why did it vary so much and which one is the closest to the truth? Or is it all true just with a little bit different spin on the numbers?
Do you see how I could make myself a little batty reading something like this? I could actually write for pages about all of the questions that popped into my mind, but I had very few answers…
Even more frustrating is when they list conflicting information for the same exact area of research. For instance, on page 28 they had conflicting information about the rate of high school completion. There was a fairly sizeable variance in the data between the four different groups who did the research. Why did it vary so much and which one is the closest to the truth? Or is it all true just with a little bit different spin on the numbers?
Do you see how I could make myself a little batty reading something like this? I could actually write for pages about all of the questions that popped into my mind, but I had very few answers…
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