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.