Yesterday I was at a training for a "Response to Intervention" program for fractions. The program was full of animation and audible dialog and multiple representations and was built using the latest research and pedagogy about how kids learn fractions. It is all the stuff that research and best practices/lesson study advocates for. Honestly, I was pretty impressed.
Dave Russell
Thinking about it later, I couldn't help but feel defeated knowing that this excellent tool existed, but is only being sold for remediation purposes. The truth, as I see it, is that the program would make an excellent curriculum component. If all kids, especially the youngest learners for whom fractions are new were taught using the program, more kids would have a solid conceptual and procedural understanding of fractions. Instead, kids are exposed to dry factoid textbooks that historically prove to have little success at reaching kids.
If it were truly about the kids and not about the profit, the resources and clever teaching tools that are now reserved for the high profit world of remediation would be instead infused into the mainstream curricula.
Reform efforts need to address the built in ineptitude of the textbooks that are created by publishers who then turn around and offer highly effective remedial programs for a few hundred dollars per child.
I continue to attest that, by and large, the classroom teacher does the best they can with the tools they are given. The tools don't work but, surprisingly, the remediation product from the same publisher does. Teacher evaluation under these circumstances is dead wrong and continuing on this StudentFirst path of only holding teachers accountable without addressing the issue of lousy curriculum/effective remediation is scapegoating teachers for a situation they have no control over and likely cant win in.
Showing posts with label teacher thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label teacher thought. Show all posts
9/10/11
Dave Russell On Students First, Remediation, And Textbooks
(Very slightly edited for clarity--it was just a comment at SF's Facebook page)
4/29/10
I Had An Original Thought: Updated
Here is my thought: allow teachers to use carpool lanes in the morning.
That's all.
Update: Oh, you want to know why? Everyone knows that teachers are poorly paid, yet are national heroes (yes, there seems to be a disconnect there).
Since it is clear teacher-bashing will continue for some time, and salaries are not going to go up any time soon, giving teachers access to the carpool lane would be something that I guarantee every teacher would be thankful for, and it wouldn't really cost society much.
Every morning on my way to the classroom I worry about traffic because, like many teachers, we can't afford to live where we work so we travel many early morning hours to get to work. And if we are late, 20 or so kids are left without supervision. It is good for kids, principals, parents and teachers. Is there a down side? I can't think of one...
So, give us carpool lane access!!
That's all.
Update: Oh, you want to know why? Everyone knows that teachers are poorly paid, yet are national heroes (yes, there seems to be a disconnect there).
Since it is clear teacher-bashing will continue for some time, and salaries are not going to go up any time soon, giving teachers access to the carpool lane would be something that I guarantee every teacher would be thankful for, and it wouldn't really cost society much.
Every morning on my way to the classroom I worry about traffic because, like many teachers, we can't afford to live where we work so we travel many early morning hours to get to work. And if we are late, 20 or so kids are left without supervision. It is good for kids, principals, parents and teachers. Is there a down side? I can't think of one...
So, give us carpool lane access!!
3/16/10
On Rewards
I have never been a fan of rewards for much of anything, especially in education. Motivation needs to be intrinsic, not extrinsic. I don't give stickers, check marks or cute pencils. I don't bribe my students. I excite them and make learning fun and interesting and powerful. Everyone likes power!
I was thinking about this as I saw a headline at HuffPo: Tim Kaine: Those Who Back Reform Will Be Rewarded. I didn't bother reading it, but it's about health insurance reform (not health CARE reform, btw).
Then we have RTTT (race to the top) which, as its premise, is a reward structure based on flimsy-to-erroneous evidence about schools, students, teachers and the rest. RTTT basically makes states and districts 'Do what we (the DOE) want and get a reward, whether what we want works or not.'
Of course we have the bankers who are rewarding themselves for fucking up the economy--with our money.
Can we please get away from rewarding people to motivate them? All it does is make us more disparate, angry, depressed, and individual--to the detriment of society. Rewards should be bestowed, not expected.
For some discussion of rewards for education outcomes, look here, here and here.
I was thinking about this as I saw a headline at HuffPo: Tim Kaine: Those Who Back Reform Will Be Rewarded. I didn't bother reading it, but it's about health insurance reform (not health CARE reform, btw).
Then we have RTTT (race to the top) which, as its premise, is a reward structure based on flimsy-to-erroneous evidence about schools, students, teachers and the rest. RTTT basically makes states and districts 'Do what we (the DOE) want and get a reward, whether what we want works or not.'
Of course we have the bankers who are rewarding themselves for fucking up the economy--with our money.
Can we please get away from rewarding people to motivate them? All it does is make us more disparate, angry, depressed, and individual--to the detriment of society. Rewards should be bestowed, not expected.
For some discussion of rewards for education outcomes, look here, here and here.
3/25/09
I Am In A Foul Mood. You Would Be Too!
We had one of those staff meetings today. You know, the kind where they bring in "data" for us to use to "inform our instruction". The district literacy leader was there to lead a literacy thing. He was very nice. He was not informative or helpful.
We got a piece of paper with a bar graph (just a thought: they could have emailed the Excel graph so we could have looked at it prior to the meeting, and we could each have had a copy instead of 4 of us sharing one, but I digress) that showed our district literacy scores compared to our school scores for the current year. Yes. One year. I asked if there was any data from prior years that we could look at so we had a notion of what trends may exist, so we wouldn't be looking at data in a vacuum. He said, though my point was valid, we didn't need to look at trends to see that some kids are proficient, and some kids aren't.
Now, I didn't mention that knowing this one year's worth of information still informed me of nothing I didn't already know by being their teacher and seeing them every day for over 100 days now, but I let it go. Obviously, valid and important points made by teachers are to be ignored when collaboration, an NCLB sanction, is necessary.
So we were to focus on 4 or 5 students who are below proficient (as are many kids in the middle of the year. Don't they get all year to make it to proficient?) and decide on some new interventions. I asked, why would I need new interventions based on the fact that some kids do well and others don't? Isn't the world sort of made up with bell curves in it? Aren't there kids who shine, and kids that don't? Remember that NCLB requires that all students be proficient. Like all college football teams will win their division. Impossible. Mathematically, sociologically impossible.
We are to come up with a new something (curricular material, lesson, enrichment activity?) to help these kids. As if I am not helping them now! Fuck you!
This is what we get. We get treated like children who need to be told how to do something. Administration does this because they, like my principal, have decided that schools, and especially, teachers (now that the administrators are no longer teachers) are how the achievement gap will be closed. No ideas for what we should do. We just meet and talk about kids. And look at meager data, too meager to hold anything like statistical significance. So we talk, look, and never have anything of value happen. Ever. Oh, and the sycophants who mutter things like, "Hmmm, interesting" and "That's a good idea". These people are thought of as thoughtful, yet they are not thinking, they are kissing up. Brown-nosing. Fuck them too.
Apparently, the gap will be closed by NOT eliminating poverty; by NOT offering better social services; by NOT funding art, or music; by privatizing the schools and NOT listening to parents and teachers.
What a fucking disaster.
Rant over.
We got a piece of paper with a bar graph (just a thought: they could have emailed the Excel graph so we could have looked at it prior to the meeting, and we could each have had a copy instead of 4 of us sharing one, but I digress) that showed our district literacy scores compared to our school scores for the current year. Yes. One year. I asked if there was any data from prior years that we could look at so we had a notion of what trends may exist, so we wouldn't be looking at data in a vacuum. He said, though my point was valid, we didn't need to look at trends to see that some kids are proficient, and some kids aren't.
Now, I didn't mention that knowing this one year's worth of information still informed me of nothing I didn't already know by being their teacher and seeing them every day for over 100 days now, but I let it go. Obviously, valid and important points made by teachers are to be ignored when collaboration, an NCLB sanction, is necessary.
So we were to focus on 4 or 5 students who are below proficient (as are many kids in the middle of the year. Don't they get all year to make it to proficient?) and decide on some new interventions. I asked, why would I need new interventions based on the fact that some kids do well and others don't? Isn't the world sort of made up with bell curves in it? Aren't there kids who shine, and kids that don't? Remember that NCLB requires that all students be proficient. Like all college football teams will win their division. Impossible. Mathematically, sociologically impossible.
We are to come up with a new something (curricular material, lesson, enrichment activity?) to help these kids. As if I am not helping them now! Fuck you!
This is what we get. We get treated like children who need to be told how to do something. Administration does this because they, like my principal, have decided that schools, and especially, teachers (now that the administrators are no longer teachers) are how the achievement gap will be closed. No ideas for what we should do. We just meet and talk about kids. And look at meager data, too meager to hold anything like statistical significance. So we talk, look, and never have anything of value happen. Ever. Oh, and the sycophants who mutter things like, "Hmmm, interesting" and "That's a good idea". These people are thought of as thoughtful, yet they are not thinking, they are kissing up. Brown-nosing. Fuck them too.
Apparently, the gap will be closed by NOT eliminating poverty; by NOT offering better social services; by NOT funding art, or music; by privatizing the schools and NOT listening to parents and teachers.
What a fucking disaster.
Rant over.
3/8/09
Merit Pay: Other Professions Do It!
Do they? I suppose there are lots of situations where someone gets paid for performance: sports, CEO, chef, waiter, actor, salesman, and many more.
I can also think of a few where it doesn't happen, I think; this is where you, readers, come in. I am going to list some jobs that I don't think offer merit pay: police officer, firefighter, teacher, postal worker, census taker, burger flipper, and many more. Am I right about these not giving merit pay? Because that is my premise. Let me continue, regardless any erroneousness.
This whole nonsense about merit pay for teachers being reasonable because everyone else does it is a straw man, right? Besides, how the hell do we rate teachers? Based on the scores of their students who show up each day with variables out of the school's control? Or should it be on student happiness? Or parent satisfaction? Or are there different evaluative processes for different kinds of teachers?
Instead of trying to find a way to pin student outcomes squarely on teachers, let's help pass health care reform, revamp the tax code to make it fair for all Americans, and get principals out of the business of evaluating teachers!
Just some thoughts on this Sunday evening.
I can also think of a few where it doesn't happen, I think; this is where you, readers, come in. I am going to list some jobs that I don't think offer merit pay: police officer, firefighter, teacher, postal worker, census taker, burger flipper, and many more. Am I right about these not giving merit pay? Because that is my premise. Let me continue, regardless any erroneousness.
This whole nonsense about merit pay for teachers being reasonable because everyone else does it is a straw man, right? Besides, how the hell do we rate teachers? Based on the scores of their students who show up each day with variables out of the school's control? Or should it be on student happiness? Or parent satisfaction? Or are there different evaluative processes for different kinds of teachers?
Instead of trying to find a way to pin student outcomes squarely on teachers, let's help pass health care reform, revamp the tax code to make it fair for all Americans, and get principals out of the business of evaluating teachers!
Just some thoughts on this Sunday evening.
11/15/08
Teacher Thought
Every child has a right to an excellent education. Right?
Wrong.
Every child has a right to an opportunity for an excellent education. Whether they make use of the opportunity to get an education, or not, is entirely up to them.
To promise more is a false promise.
Wrong.
Every child has a right to an opportunity for an excellent education. Whether they make use of the opportunity to get an education, or not, is entirely up to them.
To promise more is a false promise.
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