End of EDC 533

In this course, I thought that the book was a well chosen book and I feel like I learned from it.  I really liked the "Habits of Mind" and I plan to share them with my students to help them to choose to be better learners in the 21st century.  As for this blog, I would like to continue to use it in a professional development light in the future, and I'm positive that I'll return to it occasionally (especially since it is linked to my Google account).  I think that the biggest enemy to my continued use of this blog is the enemy that plagues us all: TIME.

Week 6: Post 1

In reviewing chapters one through four of Heidi Hayes Jacob's Curriculum 21, I have come up with one overarching key idea that Ms. Jacobs is trying to tell us.  Education now and in the coming years will be very different than it was in the past.  In chapter one, she discusses the past of education and changes that need to be made regarding structure and types of education.  In chapter two, she discusses assessment types and changes that need to be made in that area.  In chapter three, she offers changes in content areas.  In chapter four, she discusses forms of school and how changes need to happen in that area.

It's not necessarily a change for us at Penobscot Job Corps, but different forms of education definitely fits in with what we do.  Our students are in a vocational program that is very individualized so that it works for each student.  We have a different form of education than the public schools, and for many of our students the new form works.

Persistent Issues in Curriculum

In my Persistent Issues in Curriculum assignment I talked about the use of tests as the primary indicator of learning.  This method is used quite often with our students at PJCC.  I talked about how our students are repeatedly tested in order to determine their learning improvements.  Also our students who were high school drop outs are tested all the time in order to receive their High School Equivalency.

The biggest solution that I offered was to offer more forms of assessments such as portfolios and performance-based assessments.  It's not likely to happen, but I'd love to see a HSE test that asks the student to produce something such as designing an experiment.

Week 5 - Post One

This week's topic in EDC 533 was the Common Core State Standards.  There's a lot of people on both sides of the issue, some for adoption of the CCSS and others against them.  In this post I'd like to discuss my view of the CCSS.

The Common Core State Standards are just that, standards.  They are not a curriculum, they are guidelines to follow.  States, districts, schools, or teachers should be able to add to or omit certain topics or standards as they deem necessary.  The CCSS offers a common set of standards for all of the states in the country to follow.  If they are developed to cover the basic concepts that are deemed important and not put forth any particular detailed requirements, then they will be adoptable and successful for all states.

I think that in general, the CCSS are a good idea.  As long as they are thought of as guidelines and not set in stone then they can be successful.

Mabry Middle School

Wow!  I was impressed by the development of the technological and student production program at Mabry Middle School. MabryOnline.org.  The school was a successful middle school before the introduction of  the project-based learning.  After, the students produced high quality podcasts and vodcasts of their learning.  This is extremely impressive as this started nearly ten years ago at the infancy of podcasts and vodcasts.

This is an example of a school that is ahead of its time.  That is what is important as we move further into the 21st century.  Schools that adopt new technologies and use them in new ways will be helping their students to be successful in their future.  I think that the future of introducing students to and using technology for learning is coding.  Students who learn to code will be able to not only troubleshoot computer issues, but they will be able to use their creative abilities to develop new Apps, tools, and skills.

Some places for kids to learn coding today are: CodeCademy, Scratch, KhanAcademy, and Code.org.  There are some other paid options, but I haven't included them.

Charter Schools Trend

Diane Ravitch's article "The Myth of Charter Schools" really exposes the trend in education of today.  In her article, Ravitch discusses the faults of Davis Gugenheim's film "Waiting for 'Superman'", which is a biased presentation comparing charter schools and public schools.  Her phrase "For many people, these arguments require a willing suspension of disbelief." really sums up her thoughts about the film.  The film looks at some of the best charter schools and ignores those that are failing while focusing on the worst public schools while ignoring those that are successful.

In my view, the reason that some of the charter schools are successful for two important reasons: student/teacher ratio and expenditures per student.  In many charter schools the student to teacher ratio is much smaller than in public schools and the expenditures per student are much higher than public schools.  In other words, public schools have less money for more students.

I feel that the answer is not to abandon the large ship for a life raft when the ship is sinking, but to patch the little holes to keep the larger ship afloat.  So, instead of providing vouchers or waivers for parents to move their kids from public school to a charter school, just find out where public schools are struggling and work to find a way to improve those areas.

Curriculum 21 - Chapter 10

In general, I have enjoyed reading Heidi Hayes Jacob’s Curriculum 21.  That being said, I found Chapter Ten: “Educating for a Sustainable Future” by Jaimie P. Cloud to be absolutely unreadable.  It’s not that it was difficult to read, but it read a lot like a late-night infomercial for the author’s business: the Cloud Institute.

I’m certain that the Cloud Institute does good things and that their methods and curriculum can help schools and students to create a sustainable future, but the entire chapter seemed to be an advertisement for something that the author wanted the reader to buy into.

Although I am not impressed by the chapter, I am all for green initiatives and sustainability.  It is the only way that we will be able to create a livable future for future generations.  In the past few years, Penobscot Job Corps has made great strides towards becoming more green and sustainable.  We switched to Natural Gas, increased our recycling while decreasing our trash, reduced water use by 30%, and started a non-irrigated vegetable garden (irrigated with only collected water).  All of these improvements made Penobscot Job Corps the second recipient of the title “Center of Environmental Excellence.”  About three years ago the curriculum committee at the national level also instituted “Green” requirements for each student to meet in their vocational training program.  For instance, two of the Welding items are “Explain how the use of safe welding practices in accordance with OSHA and EPA guidelines are designed to protect the environment and workers” and “Give several examples of reducing waste in welding.”

Curriculum 21: Chapters 5 and 12

These chapters focus mainly on technology in education. Technology can be a very useful tool in any classroom, but some educators don't use the technology to help their students learn.  For instance, I have a neighboring classroom that has an interactive white board and learner response system which can be used to bring many interactive lessons to the students.  Unfortunately, the teacher in the classroom prefers using a whiteboard and markers with the occasional projector for video clips.  In my classroom, I have two outdated computers which are slow and are clearly not enough to do full class one-to-one lessons.  I'm hoping to incorporate some more tech related aspects to my classroom activities, but I have some big constraints to work within.

Curriculum 21 - Chapter 4

At two or three points in chapter 4 of Curriculum 21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs she used the phrase "The whole is the sum of the parts" in reference to school structure and form.  It may be the fact that I am an optimist, but I believe that she should have rephrased this to "The whole is greater than the sum of the parts."  In any organization the individual pieces may function well separately, but is only when they work well together that you can achieve something greater.

This is why interdisciplinary studies is important in school.  When the English, Social Studies, Science, and Math departments (and possibly other departments, too) team up for the students to work on a single project the students really win because they are experiencing what research in the working world is really like.  For example, Scientists doing research (Science) gather data and analyze it (Math), they use historical information to help them make new discoveries (Social Studies), and write reports and publications to share their discoveries (English).

Summer Break

Summer Break for me, working at Penobscot Job Corps, is different than in public school.  We only get about two weeks instead of 2-3 months.  This year, my wife and I are taking a trip down to southern Florida to visit her father for the first week.  I'm very excited about that.

After coming back, I'll be in the classroom.  Summer break each year allows me to recharge myself and gives me a chance to update and revise my lesson plans and the Micro-curriculum that I use in my classroom.  I'm very glad that break is coming up, because I've been meaning to update some of my lessons and try to improve student interactivity in the classroom.

My Experiences with Curriculum Development

My experience is much more involved in lesson planning than in Curriculum Development.  I work at Penobscot Job Corps Center and what I teach is determined by a document called the Training Achievement Record which is essentially a checklist of what our vocational students need to learn in order to graduate from our program.

I currently work with Welding students to prepare them with the basics before fully entering their vocation.What I teach is determined by the TAR and then I plan the lessons.  In my class I teach Basic Construction Safety and Applied Mathematics Skills.  With some of my more advanced students, I am able to teach them more Advanced Math topics such as the Pythagorean Theorem and basic Trigonometry.

In the past, I worked with Medical students and at one point, I created a curriculum of Applied Math and English skills so that all of the students learned some skills that would be valuable when they go out into the working world.

I would like to someday be involved in curriculum development at higher level, but in my current position, curriculum and content is dictated at the Federal level.