Blog Post 10

When I look back at all my blog posts, I realize how much I have learned about education. I brought real life experiences, opinions, and lessons together so I could reflect on education in greater detail. I spoke about how I think that schools should not diagnose students left and right with different learning disorders. I also wrote about how I think discussions are very beneficial to students. It allows students to apply their knowledge and answer and ask questions. I also believed that schools need to be safe havens for students, and teachers need to be accepting of all students. I also wrote in a couple blog posts about how schools need less standardized testing and more funding.

The themes that were common were that standardized testing hurts students. I wrote about how at Noble Elementary, they lose funding if they do poorly on tests. Schools also get graded on how well students do on tests. Noble received a poor rating, so now they must provide money to students in the Cleveland Heights and University Heights area who wish to go to other schools. I also wrote about how standardized testing causes teachers to have to teach to the test. Teachers must focus on information that will be tested. It is not bad to focus on material that is tested, but it causes teachers to forget to teach other valuable lessons and skills to students that their students can use to further their education and knowledge.

Introduction

I believe that standardized testing and the Common Core do not benefit students or the educational system. Standardized testing causes students to have more stress in their lives. A couple of tests throughout their lives cannot and should not dictate their future. I believe that education should shape and form students. It should allow students to grow and understand the world around them. Teachers should be able to teach information that applies to what is going on in their community. A school’s purpose is to help students find passions and gain knowledge. Schools should help students find a subject matter that they enjoy and can possibly apply to a job. Standardized tests take the focus away from that and turn the focus onto whether you can do something. Now do not get me wrong, students need to be tested to see if they understand subject matter, but standardized tests are so broad that teachers have to cover too much information. Adding on the that, Common Core causes teachers to not focus on helping students find their passion and gain knowledge. It causes teachers to force information down students’ throats. School should be a safe haven where students can find themselves and learn about the world around them. Teachers should be able to facilitate these ideas and nurture students so they can grow. Standardized Tests and the Common Core cause all growth to be stunted and it turns schools into factories where each student is made to regurgitate information.

Problem Statement

Common Core fails students because it dictates what teachers should teach. Teachers cannot teach students different ways to understand something. This can cause some students to be confused. Common Core and Standardized Testing causes teachers to teach information that will be tested on, or information that is mandated by the government. I think that the idea behind Common Core is good. There should be a standard saying what students should know at each grade level, but it should be flexible and allow teachers to teach the information how they want to. Standardized tests take up too much time in the class room. Teachers give students practice tests. These practice tests take up valuable time in the classroom. Standardized tests also take up time in the classroom because there can be days, up to weeks, dedicated to administering and taking the tests. Standardized testing affects students who are not taking the tests too. This topic is important to me because my junior year of high school I was affected by the mass amounts of standardized tests that were given to freshman. I was in an AP US History class and the teacher was forced to administer the freshman standardized tests. My teacher had to miss over two weeks of class time because of the tests. This caused our class to be behind in the subject matter. Those two weeks of class time that was lost could have helped us learn ore history. The class had only gotten past WWII. In the time that was lost, we could have gotten to present day.  During the test, there was a question that counted for 40% of the exam. It was about the conservatism of the 1980s. I knew nothing about it, and the class knew nothing about it. Because of the time lost to standardized testing, the class performed poorly on the AP test.

There have been many studies that show that students who have been taught with the Common Core have had lower test scores. There have also been studies that show that students who have been taking standardized tests their entire life, are less prepared for college. I think this is because schools have been rewarding students who can regurgitate information, instead of rewarding students who can think critically, make connections with the world around them, and apply what they have learned in the classroom. I also believe that basing a school’s funding off these tests is terrible. The standardized tests a designed to help some students and hurt others. For example, if a student was told to write a story about the time their mom took them to the beach. Can a student without a mom write as good of a paper as one who does have a mom, or can a student who has never left their city let alone gone to the beach write as good of a paper compared to a student who was been to the ocean. A school’s funding should be based on their need and what they will use it for. Standardized tests already cause some students to be at a disadvantage. 

Blog Post 9

Works Cited

"Envisioning a common core curriculum." American Educator, vol. 34, no. 4, 2010, p. 37+. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Journals&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA296963901&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=ab0b2626451b0ff380cff83f50289df7. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source gives different views on the Common Core. Most of the viewpoints in this source say that they dislike the Common Core, but believe there needs to be a standardized core across the country. In the journal, it talks about each specific subject area and how the Common Core fails it. What I like about this source is that then they describe how to fix it in each subject area and what should be focused on. The source also has one person who thinks that the common core is good and that it does not need to be fixed. This opinion challenges people to think of a better core that the government will agree with. This person believes that there cannot be a better Common Core that the government will agree with. This source will add more information on how to fix the Common Core and it will give me opposing viewpoints. Opposing viewpoints allows me to disqualify those opinions with other sources.

Singer, Alan. "Results Are in: Common Core Fails Tests and Kids." The Huffington Post, 2 May 2016, www.huffingtonpost.com/alan-singer/results-are-in--common-co_b_9819736.html. Accessed 12 Nov. 2016. This source talks about how the Common Core failed students. Seniors from 2013-2015 showed that their performance in math dropped and they did not improve their reading at all. Compared to 1992, the seniors were further behind. The source says that only 37% of students are prepared for college due to the implementation of the Common Core. The standardizing of education should not mean that only 37% of students are ready for college. Yohuru Williams, who is a Fairfield University Professor, says that the standardized tests are unfair to needy students and causes students in urban areas to fail. This source will give me data and examples of how the common core is hurting students. The source shows that the Common Core is causing students to digress and not be prepared. The data shows that there needs to be a change in the system.

"The standardized testing problem no one talks about." Washingtonpost.com, 17 Apr. 2016. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=News&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA449824134&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=c738b4ff89ea3829a4703045afbbd60d. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source is about the problem with standardized testing that is rarely talked about. The problem is that students do not care about them. If the students have a mindset that they only have to pass a test, and that getting a good score does not matter as long as they pass, then the students will not try very hard. This causes results to be skewed and not be a true representation of the students learning and knowledge. It also causes schools to look bad. Kids think it is cool or funny to not care about standardized tests. This causes more students to not try their best so that they can fit in with their peers. This source brings up another problem of standardized testing. I can use this source when I am describing why standardized tests are not a true representation of students and knowledge.

"The Test: Why Our Schools Are Obsessed with Standardized Testing--But You Don't Have To Be." American Educator, vol. 39, no. 3, 2015, p. 39. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/AcademicJournalsDetailsPage/AcademicJournalsDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Journals&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA431349001&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=ef63160d256b50878b8efd0c1ff2d8cf. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source talks about how standardized tests should not be focused on. Personal assessment and performance assessment is key. If a student can perform math correctly and pay attention, that is more important than being able to do 20 math problems in 10 minutes. The source also talks about how Common Core is not helping students as much as it helps businesses. Businesses can slap the title Common Core on a book and sell it to schools. Common Core has also caused school to buy new books so it meets standards. Buying new books has allowed book publishers to make more money. Th worst part is that sometimes the books that say Common Core do not actually follow the common core. This source lets me talk about who benefits from the Common Core. It also brings up what kind of assessment should be valued over standardized tests.

Urzillo, Robert L. "Prosperity requires more rational testing: standardized assessments take the art out of teaching and measure wrong skills." District Administration, Jan. 2016, p. 68. Student Resources in Context, ic.galegroup.com/ic/suic/MagazinesDetailsPage/MagazinesDetailsWindow?disableHighlighting=false&displayGroupName=Magazines&currPage=&scanId=&query=&prodId=SUIC&search_within_results=&p=SUIC&mode=view&catId=&limiter=&display-query=&displayGroups=&contentModules=&action=e&sortBy=&documentId=GALE%7CA440551114&windowstate=normal&activityType=&failOverType=&commentary=&source=Bookmark&u=lnoca_brecksv&jsid=99c8d693f5c156f10c669922e62d5368. Accessed 16 Nov. 2016. This source talks about the unnecessary stress that standardized tests put on teachers. It causes teachers to teach to a test and try to teach students how to test. This source explains how standardized tests stress teachers out, but it stresses administration even more. The results of the tests reflect on the school. The problem is that the administration only has standardized tests used as an evaluation of their job. This causes administration to be rougher on teachers and for teachers to not teach students about everything they want to or believe is important to know.  This source shows how the standardized tests put pressure on everyone including administration, and teachers. It shows that you cannot blame the teachers for teaching for tests. You must blame the system or the process that enforces it. In this case, that is standardized tests.

Blog Post 7

         What is greatness in teaching? To me, it is being an ally to students, being helpful and understanding, and being supportive. Greatness in teaching is also teaching in a way that students learn material and can retain and apply it. Last Thursday, we explored what being a good teacher is in the book, To Teach: The Journey, in comics. On page 101, it specifically lists the best parts about school. The book says that students who are comfortable, and believe they can be successful are the ones who have been affected by teaching. I think that all students should be comfortable and feel successful and that it is a teacher’s job to allow students to feel this way.

When I am future planning, I hope to be an ally to students. I was fortunate enough to have had a couple teachers who I could go to with anything and they would help me. I could go to them saying I had a bad day, or tell them about a problem that I was having and they would always be there for me. I would hope to be one of those teachers. I want students to feel comfortable coming to me for help or guidance. Students need to know that school is a safe place, and teachers can help students realize that school is safe.

My Planning Guide is:

-to always be an ally to students

-have a no tolerance for bullying policy

-be supportive and understanding

-teach to the best of my ability

Field Post 3

How can a teacher challenge students in the classroom?

When I went to Height High, I was put in an honors biology class. The class had students from all backgrounds. On the day that I was observing, the students were going to be working on a lab. The students got to work with their friends during the lab. The teacher challenged her students by having the students create their own experiment to test diffusion. Normally students have to perform a lab that the teacher assigns. By letting students create the experiment, it caused them to be more engaged. I wish that I would have been challenged to create an experiment of my own so that I could apply and practice the scientific method, and critically think about how to test an idea. By having students create the experiment, it forced them to think critically and work with others to come up with a way to test diffusion. Ayers and Freire would have liked seeing students apply their knowledge and not just regurgitate information. In a way, performing a cookbook lab (lab with directions) is almost like having students sit through a lecture. Only in this format, the students get to move around.

How can a teacher help students learn without lecturing?

At Heights high, the teacher forced students to create experiments, but she also allowed them to make mistakes. When she walked around the room, she let the students think of new ideas and ways to test ideas. She only took control if students got off task, or they would not be able to test their ideas in the time allotted. When I was at Heights High, I saw kids enjoying learning and enjoying others company.

BLOG POST 6

For homework, we were assigned to read chapter 8 of the book, Educational Foundations. While we were reading, we were told to put post it notes in sections of the book that interested us, caused us to have questions, or areas where we were confused. When I was reading, I put a post it note on page 104 for the first paragraph. The section is about how teachers make students into “receptacles” who memorize information and regurgitate it. I put a sticky note there because I agreed with the idea. I think that teachers sometimes just teach to the test or relay information. They do not care if you understand it, they just want you to do well on the test.

I brought that up in class when we were broken up into different groups. My partners agreed with me. We both felt like many teachers just stand and lecture and expect students to spit back the information. To me, that is not what learning is. Yes, there needs to be some lecture but there should also be discussion. There should also be application of the material so students can see what the know and apply the material before they take an exam on it. This seems to be a problem in college because there are so many lecture classes and for some classes, the only hands on application or discussion is when students are taking an exam.  Education is not just depositing information, but reflecting on the information and drawing new conclusions or asking questions.

Blogpost 5

Rofes believes that there needs to be more changes done for the LGBT community to be accepted. There are liberal and radical approaches, and liberal approaches are more common. The problem though is that liberal approaches do not bring radical change. It is true that liberal approaches are more common. Many high schools have GSA’s and support systems for students. There are also many websites, support centers, and programs for LGBT people. Rofes thinks that there needs to be more education for the people against LGBT people. Those people are the problem. LGBT people are not causing any problems.

My junior year of high school, students at my high school tried to create a GSA. The students who were trying to create the club were all close friends and they told me about all the backlash the principal gave them about the GSA. In the end, the principal allowed the GSA to be formed. Unfortunately, my senior year, seven of the eight founder of the club graduated and the person left in charge of the club stopped caring about it. They only held one meeting the entire school year. A reason the GSA was not a priority was because the president my senior year was not LGBT and did not feel any discrimination. I think that no matter what, people should care about the hardships LGBT people go through. They may not be public, but problems still happen.

When I in vision the school that I will be teaching in, I think of a school that is very accepting of students. I would hope that the staff and faculty were open minded and supportive of all students regardless of race, sexual identity, or identity. I would want to be a teacher that was welcoming to all and a safe haven to all students. I would listen to students’ problems and support them. I would also have a zero tolerance for bullying of any kind.

Field Post 2

This past week, we attended Shaker Heights Middle School. I went to two science classrooms. One was a seventh grade class and the other was an eighth grade class. When I was in the seventh grade class, the students were learning about energy transfers. The students were split up into table groups. Each table had boys and two girls except one table had 3 boys and two girls. The students were working on a worksheet that forced the kids to communicate with each other to find the answers. The teacher walked around the room and allowed the kids to struggle a little bit before he helped them, so the kids would at least attempt the worksheet before giving up. In the eighth grade class, the teacher was leading a community circle. During this time, students get to talk about a specific question to the entire class and build a greater sense of community. The teacher allowed everyone to speak and only let one child speak at a time. In order to ensure that only one child spoke at a time, she passed around a talking stick and made the rule that only the person holding the stick could talk.

What Ayers means by building bridges, is that students need to make connections and grow as a person due to those connections. In all of Ayers examples, the bridge built helps the child learn and grow. In the eighth grade science class, the student built bridges between each other because they all got to express their opinion. The students were able to feel closer as a class and gain more of a community in the room.