I remember back in 4th grade being assigned to read a variety of books. When we would have to do book reports, or pretty much any assignment, I would put it off till the last minute. When I finally got around to completing the work I felt so stressed that I didn't get to enjoy the assignment no matter what it was.
Our teacher forced us to read the book Misty of Chincoteague in class and to do a book report. I put it off and when I finally read it, I hated it! However, that following summer my mother placed an order with a book club. She included Misty of Chincoteague in her order. When I received it my first reaction was oh no not that book again. It was like a nightmare. The book was following me even into my summertime. However, since I didn't have a lot to do in the summer I decided to give it a second chance. I picked up the book and as the saying goes I couldn't put it down. Of course I could put it down because otherwise it would have been difficult to shower or get dressed. I do remember finishing the book in a short period of time and truly enjoying it.
What is the point of this discussion? It is the idea that when forced to perform a task in school I put up a mental block against to it. I have seen that with other children when I was a teacher. During a couple of years when I was teaching we had a program which tested the students after they read books. The students picked the books that they wanted to read and then scored points as long as they got 70% or more on the test. I know one of the incentives was the desire to get more and more points, but what made it real fun for the kids was that they got to pick books to read. It's like being told the exact job you have to do or who you are going to marry. This has been part of certain societies in history and still goes on in many others. We live in what is supposed to be a free country. How can we teach freedom while at the same time telling them what to do on a subject matter where them having choice is beneficial to them and society?
Part of the problem is the idea of accountability and how it has been enacted. Schools are being told from the top down what standards need to be met and what testing has to be performed. Why is this? Just follow the money trail. My reference point is California where I live and taught. Due to laws including proposition 13 that were enacted in the early 1970's, the money flows from the top down for most districts. The districts have to follow the state and federal testing requirements. This is a problem because by the time testing is completed and scored, the results won't come in until the end of the year if then. What happened in my experience was that I got results of my new students who had been tested on different areas in their previous grade than what I was preparing them for currently. I couldn't follow progress because I didn't have direct control.
What is my solution? It is not simple, but if the testing was mainly controlled at the school site then I could test my kids in the class at the beginning in standards then in the middle of the year. Based on those results I could see how my studentts were progressing and adjust accordingly. The principal at the school site could and should be responsible to review the results with teachers and report accordingly. This could be audited by the state and federal government and with computer technology this could be highly effective.
Who knew that back in elementary school a book I hated so much to start with would have had such an impact in my life. A horse by any other name wouldn't read as sweet.
Showing posts with label standards. Show all posts
Showing posts with label standards. Show all posts
Thursday, February 4, 2010
Monday, February 1, 2010
A Lady Gaga Coming to a City Near You.
I need to start off by saying I am definitely not a huge music fan. The c.d. part of my car radio has been broken for years and I have hardly missed it. The car radio dial(is it still considered a dial?) time is split between talk radio and National Public Radio (NPR). However, I did take time to watch a bit of the Grammys tonight and like it or not I have a few thoughts about that I am going to share.
Many people seem to have a strong negative towards Lady Gaga. For those of you totally out of the loop, she is a singer who prides herself in wearing some of the oddest outfits known to man. I never thought that someone could make the shoulder pads worn by Linda Evans seem miniscule. While I don't know a lot of Gaga's songs (or should I call her Lady) I do respect her individuality. In a culture and society where we are pushed to keep up with the Jones's and buy what others say is best, it is refreshing for someone to go out on a limb. That is even if that limb is fuschia and made of cheese.
I guess these thoughts bounce around in my head for a variety of reasons. One is that during high school I was a closet punker. My wildest outfit was a black and yellow shirt that others mocked. I was too afraid to stand out so instead I walked around with my head down and thought of myself as the biggest geek in the world. I was a geek, but so were many others and really who cares? Could I ever imagine dressing anything close to Lady Gaga? Hell no! This is not because she is a woman, but because it takes guts to be different. It is also important to our society for people to think differently. Innovations only occur when someone is willing to think outside the box as it is said and try something different. If Bill Gates listened to other's opinions then I don't think we have a lot of the innovations we have today.
When I went into teaching I had this odd idea that I was supposed to teach kids how to think for themselves. Yes, we did encourage them to give their opinions in papers, but only if they supported their argument in a certain way. State standards indicated what was supposed to be taught throughout the year. During each year students were graded against standards that all were expected to meet. Some people learn at a different pace than others. That doesn't seem like a revolutionary concept, but it goes against the expectations nowadays. I have to teach my kids that when they graduate they can be whatever they want to be, but while they are in school they have to limit their thinking to the essays given out and the standards politicians create.
Basically we are telling these kids not to think too differently through high school, but then suddenly open their minds in college. Sounds like educational schizophrenia to me. The school I was at was so into keeping things simple for those running things to keep others "accountable" that students were forced to wear uniforms. So we can't trust kids to think differently, learn differently, and now we can't allow them to dress differently! Oh my gosh they may find that some kids are able to have nicer clothes than others. This would mean that maybe teachers and/or parents would have to explain to kids that clothes don't define them. They might have to have a discussion where students could talk about feelings that don't fit in with the standards of their particular grade.
Do I think we need more Lady Gagas out there? Yes, in a way I do. I don't want them to all dress or act like her because that defeats the idea of individuality. However, having the only difference between singers being a dress and a hairstyle then that isn't very fun. Our world is much more interesting when we have Lady Gaga, Cindy Lauper, Twisted Sister, etc. to keep us entertained.
Many people seem to have a strong negative towards Lady Gaga. For those of you totally out of the loop, she is a singer who prides herself in wearing some of the oddest outfits known to man. I never thought that someone could make the shoulder pads worn by Linda Evans seem miniscule. While I don't know a lot of Gaga's songs (or should I call her Lady) I do respect her individuality. In a culture and society where we are pushed to keep up with the Jones's and buy what others say is best, it is refreshing for someone to go out on a limb. That is even if that limb is fuschia and made of cheese.
I guess these thoughts bounce around in my head for a variety of reasons. One is that during high school I was a closet punker. My wildest outfit was a black and yellow shirt that others mocked. I was too afraid to stand out so instead I walked around with my head down and thought of myself as the biggest geek in the world. I was a geek, but so were many others and really who cares? Could I ever imagine dressing anything close to Lady Gaga? Hell no! This is not because she is a woman, but because it takes guts to be different. It is also important to our society for people to think differently. Innovations only occur when someone is willing to think outside the box as it is said and try something different. If Bill Gates listened to other's opinions then I don't think we have a lot of the innovations we have today.
When I went into teaching I had this odd idea that I was supposed to teach kids how to think for themselves. Yes, we did encourage them to give their opinions in papers, but only if they supported their argument in a certain way. State standards indicated what was supposed to be taught throughout the year. During each year students were graded against standards that all were expected to meet. Some people learn at a different pace than others. That doesn't seem like a revolutionary concept, but it goes against the expectations nowadays. I have to teach my kids that when they graduate they can be whatever they want to be, but while they are in school they have to limit their thinking to the essays given out and the standards politicians create.
Basically we are telling these kids not to think too differently through high school, but then suddenly open their minds in college. Sounds like educational schizophrenia to me. The school I was at was so into keeping things simple for those running things to keep others "accountable" that students were forced to wear uniforms. So we can't trust kids to think differently, learn differently, and now we can't allow them to dress differently! Oh my gosh they may find that some kids are able to have nicer clothes than others. This would mean that maybe teachers and/or parents would have to explain to kids that clothes don't define them. They might have to have a discussion where students could talk about feelings that don't fit in with the standards of their particular grade.
Do I think we need more Lady Gagas out there? Yes, in a way I do. I don't want them to all dress or act like her because that defeats the idea of individuality. However, having the only difference between singers being a dress and a hairstyle then that isn't very fun. Our world is much more interesting when we have Lady Gaga, Cindy Lauper, Twisted Sister, etc. to keep us entertained.
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