Session 2: Mind the Gap

1.       Chapter 1: Choose 2 statements, quote them and personally respond.

·         “Over the years, I have consistently warned against the lure of ‘the royal road to learning,’ the notion that some savant or organization has found an easy solution to the problems of American education. As a historian of education, I have often studied the rise and fall of grand ideas that were promoted as the sure cure for whatever ills were affecting our schools and students.”

I think that this is such a key statement when it comes to evaluating our school system. There is no easy cure that can be implemented in only a couple of years. While I would like to think a major overhaul of the whole system would make a huge difference in how our school system is funded, resourced, and implemented, I also know there will still be problems. I also think this view reflects America and our general way of thinking about most things. Our society looks for easy fixes, such as finding a magic pill or antidote for every ill, or throwing money at a problem, rather than taking the time to evaluate the problem and finding the best way. When did this laziness or impatience become such a part of our general American viewpoint?

·         “We must ensure that students gain the knowledge they need to understand political debates, scientific phenomena, and the world they live in. We must be sure they are prepared for the responsibilities of democratic citizenship in a complex society. We must take care that our teachers are well educated, not just well trained. We must be sure that schools have the authority to maintain both standards of learning and standards of behavior.”

I find this to be a very important quote because the focus of our government and school boards, etc. always seems to be on meeting the standards through STAR testing and other unnatural measures. Yet, we do not seem to evaluate if our education system is creating productive, caring citizens. As educators, we teach our children to evaluate the world, see problems as they are and look for ways to solve them that help everyone, not just themselves. This takes teaching compassion, connecting knowledge, and critical thinking, not just if they can add 2+2. These things are not a part of our standards, yet society expects us to teach these things as well, but does not hold students or teachers accountable. I believe that if we do not refocus education’s purpose and include these sorts of things in education’s accountability, they will be lost as important components of a moral and just America.

2.       Quote Ravitch’s definition of a well-educated person (wep). How would I characterize a wep? What should any wep know in today’s world?

·         “Knowledge and skills are both important, as is learning to think, debate, and question. A well-educated person has a well-furnished mind, shaped by reading and thinking about history, science, literature, the arts, and politics. The well-educated person has learned how to explain ideas and listen respectfully to others.”

I agree with Ravitch’s definition of a well-educated person. I would characterize a well-educated person as someone who is well-read enough to understand a variety of points-of-view, can construct opinions on many topics based on sound knowledge and fact, and can express themselves clearly and respectfully.  The opinions I speak of relate primarily to what is important in today’s world. Part of the essential knowledge to be a well-educated person today is to know about the past and how efforts in the past affect today. Many of the problems we have today have been previously addressed and knowing what they are, if they worked or not, and why are keys to preventing repeated mistakes. Knowing our history is key for a well-educated person. And by history, I mean in literature, politics, governments, scientific principles & discoveries, inventions, medical research, etc. History is not limited to major events throughout U.S. history. With increasing globalization, it is even more vital than before to be aware of the entire world’s happenings and keep updated on these.

A well-educated person questions!

3.       Thinking about the class discussion on the book, what stands out? Anything not said?

In class, we discussed education as a business model. The main difference is the end result of education versus the end result of a business. A business creates a product to make money. Education creates a product. But the product is not cultured to make money. Education’s goal is to nurture and guide children to become the best people they can be. This is a benefit to society as a whole but very much is not a financial one. This is why education cannot be successful with a business model. The end product does not end with the type of means the investment expects.

I learned a lot about national versus state standards from the book and our discussion. The history of the standards movement particularly interested me in that national standards are not allowed to be imposed on states because education is a right given to the states to create and enforce. However, I believe that national standards could be a great uniting force to get states to use each other’s strengths to find the best practices and curriculum possible for all of America’s children. It is sad that after only one large debate, our government decided to simply give up on the national standards rather than work at editing to find standards everyone could accept. Having national standards that states can look at as reference and as a basis could also help America get back on track in its goals of education. If done well, they could help us back away from such a heavy focus on testing, and get back to a focus on the student.

4.       Choose one gap from my subject knowledge. ID 3 resources: web site, article, and book that can help fill this gap. List and discuss what I learned from one.

Because I will be teaching Kindergarten in the fall, I decided to see if there are areas in the Common Core Kindergarten curriculum I was not comfortable with. Unsurprisingly to me, the history section is one gap in my knowledge. Not only do I feel I need to learn the true history behind many of America’s holidays, but a few of the people listed as American legends (Pocahontas, George Washington, Booker T. Washington, Daniel Boone, and Benjamin Franklin), I know little about. So I chose Booker T. Washington to focus on as I know very little about him.

Book: Up from Slavery by Booker T. Washington

Article: Bly, A.T. (2008). Navigating the print line: Shaping readers’ expectations in Booker T. Washington’s autobiographies. Alabama Review, 61(3), 190-215.

http://vezproxy.stmarys-ca.edu:2048/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ofm&AN=509925533&site=eds-live

Web site: http://www.biography.com/people/booker-t-washington-9524663

                This website gives a good, but brief biography of Booker T. Washington’s life. It outlines his early life, education, his founding of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial institute (to train young African Americans to be productive, contributing members of society), and his death and legacy. What I found most interesting was the many videos the website had about Booker T. Washington. The combination of pictures from the time period and testimonials from many experts on Washington was very educational. Washington was willing to trade political and voting rights for economic rights for African Americans, while others such as W.E.B. Du Bois clashed with this view. Du Bois fought for full rights.  Washington believed that subordination to whites was a necessary evil until African Americans proved they were worthy of full economic and political rights. He wrote books and essays about his beliefs and gave speeches to both white and black audiences. He was the first African American invited to the White House (by Theodore Roosevelt in 1901).

5.       Discuss in detail why/how two of my resources were useful to my topic. Consider listing specific info I did not know before, how this leads to other questions/sources, why writer was convincing, look for other articles by same author?, anything else!

Resources:

1.       Palmer, R. G., & Stewart, R. A. (2005). Models for using nonfiction in the primary grades. Reading Teacher, 58(5), 426-434.

2.       Correia, M. (2011). Fiction vs. informational texts: Which will kindergartners choose? Young Children, 66(6), 100-104.

Both of these resources delved into the use of nonfiction in the primary grades. In the first article, I learned more about how different models of teaching nonfiction can be very helpful in teaching children how to completely comprehend nonfiction and how to utilize non-fiction sources independently. This article was particularly helpful in the amount of sources it used to summarize these models and the research behind the author’s writing. I plan to use many of these resources in expanding my content knowledge and to apply to my literature review.

The second article was very interesting because the author did a small experiment and conducted observations of her kindergarten class’s genre preferences. This was not an empirical study that used specific methods and critiqued the implementation of the observations, but all the same did give insight into how kindergarteners think and how they feel about non-fiction. The focus on motivating young students to read by using non-fiction text was really interesting as I had also believed that young students really did prefer fiction and stories over informational texts. I also liked how the author describes using all types of informational text [“…cereal box covers, brochures from amusement parks and museums, magazines like Sports Illustrated for Kids, and colorfully illustrated children’s cookbooks.”(102)], rather than only non-fiction books.

Teaching children to be positive, productive, caring human beings!

Commented on:
Hilary Kuhn
David Bowen
Erin Brindley