Makeda's online assignment 1
makeda huggins
this assignment. I see that most of you have posted and responded to
one another. I will submit this and respond to a few of your most
recent discussions.
1. I wanted to focus on the policy of tracking students which was
addressed in the Hidden Curriculum packet on p.1180: "Because tracking
enables schools to provide educational treatments matched to
particular groups of students,it is believed to promote higher
achievement for all students under conditions of equal educational
opportunities ".(Oakes, 1986,p13)
"With larger and increasingly diverse student populations, academic
tracking and ability grouping are seen as offering teachers efficient
ways to manage and address student differences and thus meet the
individuals needs of more students"(Feldhusen, 1989).
Later this article goes on to assert that tracking leads to
differentiated curriculum. Teachers tailor the instruction to the
perceived needs and abilities of the students. In theory one would
think a classroom of learners of the same ability would allow the
teacher to zoom in and focus on concepts the children need. In oppose
to a classroom of diverse abilities and needs. When the children are
of varying ability it makes me feel less comfortable because I always
feel someone is being short-changed. I am constantly wondering if I am
challenging the higher end of the spectrum, am I addressing the needs
of the middle and the bottom with instructional strategies that will
allow each subgroup to make meaning? I try to keep an informal
teacher observation checklist to make sure that each groups' needs are
being met. I also know that when children are assigned to the same
class by ability level it poses such problems like a class of behavior
problems. This makes it very difficult for the teacher to teach. Also
in terms of the classrooms where the students are meeting or exceeding
the standards the students only see children who are of the same
ability level as themselves and they don't get an accurate view of the
world. They may feel this is representative of what is in every class.
Also they don't have something or someone to model themselves after as
a model for further achievement.
2. Three articles I would like to explore further are : The Dewey
readings, The Hidden Curriculum and Moje and Heath. All of these
readings allow me to reflect on my instructional practices and
critically analyze my pedagogy. The Dewey article and Hidden
Curriculum made me question myself about the incorporation of routines
and the importance of the students voice within the curriculum. In
terms of the Dewey article I had to address whether the routine that I
have in place that serves the purpose of teaching reinforcing calendar/
math skills, recognizing days of the week, months of the year, number
of school days, weather, alphabet/sound recognition, blends/digraphs
drill, sight word drill was really reinforcing concepts for the
children or was it a crotch that I rely on. I feel my routines are a
little long but I am always scrutinizing the components increasing the
difficulty level or retiring something from the routine as the
children needs change or they have significant strides. In the Seminal
Studies article I like this idea of children developing an identity
of a scientist. I think this premiss can also be used for other
content areas. I think getting children to develop a scientific
identity allows students to demystify the taboo surrounded around a
subject they find difficult. I remember observing a kindergarten
teacher referring to her students as researchers and that they had to
follow certain rules to be a good researcher. I thought this was a
good practice that would start students thinking and using scientific
terminology and tools and seeing them selves as researchers.
3.I think the authors of these articles would appreciate that we are a
class of teachers of different grade levels with students of vastly
different backgrounds,levels of achievement, learning styles and
school structures and yet with all of that difference we can all see
how the readings have relevance to our classrooms. This makes me feel
that although our backgrounds are different the implications that the
articles make can serve everyone.
4. I am interested in investigating the idea of establishing not only
scientific identities but carrying this idea to other content ares
making children feel they too can be an author an illustrator a
mathematician etc... I agree with many of the comments brought up in
class. Our children must be empowered to feel that they too can be an
astronomer or what ever they want to be. It doesn't begin in high
school or college. It begins with simple everyday tasks. If they are
writing a response they are trying on their authors hat. If they are
drawing a picture they are trying on the illustrators hat and so on. I
think I want to incorporate this idea of identities into my classroom
so my students can begin understanding a little more about what these
careers entail.
Another implication that I will continue to evaluate in terms of
my classroom practice is the lack of the children's voices in the
writing workshop process. Our writing workshop is usually fueled by
the other content areas which leaves very little room for topics that
will allow the true voice of the children to come alive. I was
reminded of writing prompts that the children usually enjoy like a:
How To of making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, jumping in a
puddle, jumping on the bed. These are all experiences that most if not
all children have experienced and have prior knowledge of. However it
is no longer a part of my writing workshop list of topics because
other prompts take precedence. These other writing prompts like
writing a memoir, or comparing Native American nations can be useful
too, but I don't think they should consume the writing curriculum.
Essentially when we allow these content area generated writing prompts
to consume the writing curriculum we are saying our children's voice
is not important. I want to work on negotiating that and bringing my
students' voices back into the writing curriculum. I would like to
incorporate more writing opportunities that allow the voice, childhood
and experience of my students to shine through.
Peanut
Hope all is well. I believe your post is on time due to the extension.
I am just posting my final posts as well.
I like the point you made reference to about the conflicting nature of
ability groups in order to meet the needs of children. I like to also
add that individual needs are not being met within an ability
subgroup. Only identical needs within the groups are being met. Many
of the children in the lower group may not be struggling with the same
weakness and this may leads to students comparing themselves with
others within the group. They already know that they are the low
functioning group so they try to show that they are not the lowest
within the low group by putting down others within the group. I
experience this in some of my guided reading groups. I still think
that differentiation within the classroom is still a step further than
the pull out program that they used to have and may still have in some
school. Even with the ELA test coming up some children who are
"potential level 4" are selected for Saturday School for four weeks.
This does not make any sense to me. First, the weekends should be time
for the kids to do some incidental learning outside of school. Second,
shouldn't the students who are struggling go to Saturday school?
Doesn’t this create a greater gap between "successful" and
"unsuccessful students", based on how we the schools define success?
Reyna
I like the idea of including your children’s voices in the writing
workshop. I find it very valuable and rewarding when students select
their own topics and thus I have always strived to do so. However I
must admit that it is hard in terms of management. In my school many
teachers prefer to give everyone in the classroom a specific topic
because it is easier for them to manage. What I found to be helpful
is to have students work in inquiry groups. Last year, my sixth
graders were required to complete a research project. Instead of
assigning everyone the same topic or having 28 different topics to
manage, I told them to write a few topics they wanted to explore and
then convince two or three of their classmates to explore the same
topic. I end up having six topics to manage and each student was able
to focus on the areas they were interested in. In regards to content
generated writing prompts you can try RAFT where students brainstorm
possible Role, Audience, Format, and Topic they want to address in
their writing about a specific content. They then select one from
each list and create their own writing prompt. Using this strategy
will help you address the content and allow students to have a voice
in what they have to write. I think this strategy also helps you to
incorporate the idea of identities in the classroom. When learning
about lets say World War I, students can select to write from the
perspective of the president (Role), to the people of the United
States (Audience), a letter (Format) about why the United States will
get involve in the war (Topic) or they might want to be a soldier
(Role), writing to their family (audience), a poem (format) about
their experience during the war (Topic).
On Mar 21, 6:45 pm, makeda huggins <makeda.huggi...@gmail.com> wrote:
jasmijn quon
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jasmijn quon
I think you made a valuable point in the fact that we need to keep in mind students' psyche states in mind and attend to these problems as well. It reminds me of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, where you need your psychological needs first met in order to meet the subject and curriculum needs. Perhaps if we did more personal and social building in the early years, we might have less of the issues in the later grades- I don't know. However, I also think that these lessons of social can probably be taught through our POSITIVE hidden curriculum, perhaps or with attempts thorugh good literature, which then we could connect to social justice and activism since students would (if their perspectives shifted) practice what they preach! Maybe this is the way teachers change the world 1 kid at a time (daunting, but good work....).
-Jasmijn
Subject: Re: Makeda's online assignment 1