Academic Divides.........and Chasms ,and Testing
Stephanie Stevenson (cco)
How can I intervene best so that the
learner experiences the positive emotional states as much as possible,
and the negative ones as little as possible?
I returned to an 8th grade science classroom this fall in a large urban
county in Florida. I choose the school only because it was the feeder
school for my daughter's high school. WHAT A RELVALATION in education
today.
The classroom was filthy, so I cleaned it, but could do nothing about the
peeling paint as preplanning was over by the time I cleaned the room. The
air conditioning did not work for the first two weeks of school-AUGUST in
Florida. When it was finally fixed.. there was a terrible moldy odor..many
students became ill with allergies at that point. I had a 286 computer and
no phone line. Students were allowed to turn over trash cans between
classes, the custodian cleaned the walkways during classes. In many of my
classes I had quite a few 15.9 year old boys and girls waiting for the
magic age of 16, when they can quit. They liked attention in any form and
enjoyed throwing paper and irritating others as the best form of
education. Referrals were frowned upon. That is the emotional tone set by
the school.
I no longer work there, but it was an eye-opener for me. We talk about how
the teacher can effect change in the classroom with affective behavior.
That is VERY critical to student learning, but the whole school
environment sets the emotional context. These students had adapted to
chaos. They operated in and thrived on chaos. SADLY!!!!!the most effective
thing I could do with them was lots and lots of paper work teaching them
the minimal vocabulary of science.. this actually soothed them and made
DEMONSTRATIONS possible.. hands-on??? I did some of that..it was chaos..we
did create shoe box marble rolls..but only 15 students IN ALL Brought shoe
boxes.. I brought enough so every table could do an experiment.. some
tables tore theirs up.. later regretted it and used all my tape to tape
them back together.. the tape was stolen while I was helping other
students.. remember I did not have permission to ask these students to
leave..
What I learned is that this system was far to big for ME to impact.. can
you imagine how a 14 year old feels?
I agree with you Barry, but setting the right emotional tone depends on
much more than just making learning contagious.
Steph
Barry Kort
Investors are pouring insane billions into Internet startup ventures,
while our most important investment -- children's education -- is being
neglected.
It does not bode well for the long term future of our culture.
Barry
Stephanie Stevenson (cco)
will arise in the universe".
-The Tao
I created a poster of this for my classroom. It said it all:)
I am a great supporter of technology and the Internet. I am currently
doing teacher training, but I am deeply concerned for the children in
schools and homes that do not value them. They have no respect for
themselves or for others. I am concerned for a principal who would
disregard teaachers and students environmental needs. I
have worked in another school that was child and teacher centered. That's
where I had the freedeom to grow and create using technology and the
Internet. Sometimes I think we do not realize how truly terrible some of
our schools are and what a wasteland students go home to so that they can
wear Tommy Hilfiger and nike to school the next day.
Steph
Larry
> It saddens me to note how profoundly disvalued children are in our culture.
>
> Investors are pouring insane billions into Internet startup ventures,
> while our most important investment -- children's education -- is being
> neglected.
>
> It does not bode well for the long term future of our culture.
Truth in a nutshell.
Larry
Stephanie Stevenson (cco)
It is truth in a n nutshell.. so what are we to do? LArge urban areas here
in Florida, ex. Orlando, JAcksonville, Miami?Rita? have a shortage of
teachers and a high incidence of no show substitute teachers. It is one
thing to say we need more dedicated teachers, but I think we all know that
is not the problem. I am a dedicated teacher, but I am going to teach
those who want to learn in an environment where learning can take place.
This is a culture problem. We have the opportunity to mold the culture.
Rita wrote me a wonderful note about parent involvement. I intend to print
it and send it to those parents who I know are active at the school I was
teaching. I am shocked by what I found. I know that I was very fortunate
to have taught in the Santa Rosa County, Florida School system. My drop
out prevention students had a chance in that context. I am concerned for
the mainstream in the context I left this year.
Steph
Larry
thank you for your reply.
At 22:21 +0900 on 02/02/99, Stephanie Stevenson (cco) wrote:
> It is truth in a n nutshell.. so what are we to do? LArge urban areas here
> in Florida, ex. Orlando, JAcksonville, Miami?Rita? have a shortage of
> teachers and a high incidence of no show substitute teachers. It is one
> thing to say we need more dedicated teachers, but I think we all know that
> is not the problem. I am a dedicated teacher, but I am going to teach
> those who want to learn in an environment where learning can take place.
Yes, a high rate of "no show" would indicate that there is a fundamental
problem in a school. And it is true that one can only teach people who want
to learn, so I would make exactly the same choices as a teacher (assuming I
can make such a choice). That sets up a vicious circle, however, as others
on the list have previously pointed out in different contexts: when all a
school has are those teachers who either don't care or have given up or
have no choice, then it is not likely that things will change to the better.
> This is a culture problem. We have the opportunity to mold the culture.
> Rita wrote me a wonderful note about parent involvement.
I recall a book the title of which escapes me right now. It was about "blue
ribbon schools" in the US, and the one factor that the better quality
schools had in common, whether they were located in richer or poorer areas,
or whether they were situated in a black or white cultural context, was
*parent involvement*.
The future of our schools? That depends directly on the future of our
culture. And I am afraid my opinion on this topic, particularly since it
relates to economic issues, is neither optimistic nor, perhaps, quite
appropriate for this list.
Regards: Larry
Scott Garrigan
It's very easy to find bad models for schools (or anything). We need good
models to show what can be done rather than bad to excuse why things aren't
working.
In schools, a good model is the work of Deborah Meier, "The Power of Their
Ideas, Lessons for America From a Small School in Harlem," and other titles.
Citing all the gloomy statistics isn't as illuminating as a single model
that works year-after-year.
The issue isn't that a discussion of parental involvement and educational
ideals is out of place in this list, but rather that technology and
networks are powerless without passionate, dedicated teachers and parents.
The baloney about kids not "wanting to learn" is a copout -- they just
don't want to learn what they think we want to teach them. In many cases, I
don't blame them.
Barry's idea's about what we know about how the brain learns are incredibly
important, but it doesn't replace the caring parent, teacher, and
community, which will still be needed after we have learned all there is to
know about the brain.
Cheers,
--Scott
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Scott Garrigan Coordinator of District Networking
Bethlehem Area School District email: sgar...@beth.k12.pa.us
Bethlehem, PA 18017 voice: 610-807-5571 fax: 610-807-5526
Peter Jones
all models it is not a perfect one but we can learn much from it. I would
like to suggest some others that can be looked at with discerning eyes for
both their success and their failures. A great book, Bold Plans for School
Restructuring (Sam Stringfield, Steven Ross, Lana Smith, Editors) looks at
a number of recent reform models with a critical eye two years after
implementation and highlights some of the difficulties in school reform.
More importantly it accentuates what can be done successfully.
One last note in agreement with Scott: I have not met a child yet that was
not enthusiastic about learning. I have met children who struggled to be
motivated in learning environments. Isn't the struggle really about how we,
as teachers, can create dynamic, interesting learning environments wherein
children will be motivated? Do some of you really believe that children
DON'T want to learn. Come to think of it I don't think I have ever met a
motivated adult who did not want to learn something. I believe it is in our
human nature to strive to discover new things.
Thanks for your constructive and positive spin Scott.
Peter
Peter Jones
Graduate Student Researcher
Department of Education
Berkeley Place, Suite 2001, Room 2040
University of California at Irvine
Irvine, CA 92697-5500
PH: (949) 824-7853
FAX: (949) 824-2965
jon...@uci.edu
Barry Kort
The liberal view is that a child sets her own learning agenda. To my
mind, a good analogy is the assembly of a jigsaw puzzle. In a jigsaw
puzzle, there are islands and continents and many loose pieces. There
is at all times an evolving frontier. All the work takes place on the
current frontier, as that is the only place where new pieces can be
fitted in.
It is at the frontiers where the puzzle assembler's attention and interest
are focused. Deep in the well-established interior, there is no work to
be done. Spending time there is boring. Well beyond the frontiers is
utter chaos and bewilderment. Only at the frontiers can any productive
and emotionally satisfying work be done.
When I engage in mentoring or tutoring, I let the learner guide me to
their current frontier. Where are they most curious, most fascinated,
most intrigued, most frustrated, most anxious? That's where intervention
may have a prayer of effectiveness.
This model of learning, which was well-known to the Greeks, has largely
been forgotten in our present system of mass education. Instead we have
a coercive system in which the adult authorities set the agenda. Not
surprisingly, it doesn't work very well. What children learn is how
to survive in a coercive culture.
An alternative model is based on the notion that every day, everybody
is ready to learn *something*. Suppose the educator approached the
learner with the attitude, "What are you most ready to learn today?
Let's learn that."
Barry Kort