Week 2 Blog Posts:
One
of the key points that was mentioned in Ch. 4: “New School Versions,” was the
quote that addresses how teachers meet to discuss problems with
curriculum. Heidi Hays Jacobs
states, “Instead of meeting by department, what if we were to meet around
problems?” I think that this is a
great idea for teachers to collaborate and make connections within the school,
rather than in their grade that they are teaching or the area of content that
they are teaching. I think that
looking at such problems using a school-wide approach can only benefit the
understanding of teachers and where they students are coming from. As educators, we are constantly
asking our students to make connections between topics they are learning across
all areas of content. Teacher
should do the same. A good point
that got brought up in Ch. 4 mentioned looking at math results and analyzing
test scores. If tests are truly
used as tools to see how to modify and assess our own instruction, teachers
should analyze the test under a variety of content “lenses.” This is to say that if a majority of
students get a certain word problem incorrect on a math test, the teacher need to
do their best to determine why the student(s) that those problems wrong. Was it an error dealing with the math
skills and concept, or did the literacy aspect of the problem cause error?
Another
interesting topic that was discussed in Ch. 4: “New School Versions,” was the
idea of, “vertical teams.” While look the specific curriculum that you teach, I
think that you must first understand where the students are coming from and
where they need after a school year under your tutelage. In my experience with teacher grade 6,
I was asked to look at the 5th grade curriculum to see what students
have learned prior to entering the 6th grade. This gave me a rough idea on what the
students have covered in the past school year, allowing me to estimate a point
to start, as far as content, at the beginning of the year. Furthermore, I frequently met with 7th
grade teachers in my school to discuss curriculum relationship and links from
what I was currently teaching.
Vertical teams create a sense of direction for the teacher. By meeting with both 5th and
7th grade teachers and discussing their curriculum, it allowed me to
feel more comfortable and confident with my 6th grade
curriculum.
Meeting around problems...it makes so much sense! And I have always believed that with some time teachers could actually solve the problems that concern them. Too often we spend more time adding up the problems and issues than actually solving them.
ReplyDeleteHer point here is that the we schls are organized inhibit moving forward or solving current issues...especially at the high school level where people are organized around subject matter not the needs and interests of students.
But the rest of the school structure is so entrenched and intractable that is DEFINES everything we do—periods, classes, time frames, lunch—that nearly all learning has to FIT the pre-determined structures. YIKES!
Whoever heard of a workplace where you have 43 minutes to work on a task...then a bell rings and you have to put all your materials away and move to something totally new...and repeat that all day?
But that is the school structure we know and it is very hard to fight that tradition. And the kicker is that adults who would never function that way in their own work, support the school operating that way because it is the only way people know. We think this is the best way to education kids...
Thank you for the comments. Just to piggyback on tradition, I find it interesting that tradition sometimes trumps what we know to be true. It seems like many people in school systems have idea and thoughts about change but they often get pushed aside because tradition tells us otherwise. It is almost like, "This is the way things have been," attitude.
DeleteAlso, when reading your comments about the length of class periods, I couldn't help but laugh! I suppose people in other professions don't encounter bells to signal the end of working on a task, they have a "It's done when it's done," approach?