Hoffman writes:
If the terms of the argument include “if we simply focus on something and spend more money on it, it will get better,” then can’t we focus on something more direct than tests? Why can we improve testing but not teacher preservice education, for example?
Yeah.
Surfing trash television tonight, I accidentally landed on a rebroadcast of the School District of Philadelphia School Reform Commission’s January 21 meeting. It’s the sort of thing that makes one long for TiVo.
The Commish was patting its collective back for updating SDP’s “Declaration of Education.” The way these people were carrying on, you’d have thought it was the other declaration. At one point, Chairwoman Sandra Dungee Glenn actually attempted to compare the two.
I’d not heard of the Declaration of Education, which surprised me given the District’s usually crackerjack communications department. Curious, I went looking. And, I found it.
The thing that hit?
We believe all children can reach their learning potential and that the achievement gap can be eliminated.
Now, I had taken potential to be an ever-moving goal, furthered by each productive step one took toward it. I’ll never reach my potential because I’m always building on what I can be. I’ll always have more potential.
According to the Commish, though, we’re going to get kids a whole lot closer to self-actualization than Maslow ever expected. I wonder what that moment looks like, “Well, Johnny, I know you’re in sixth grade, but our tests show you’ve reached your learning potential. Scurry along, now. Good luck.”
No, exactly.
What kind of interesting person tells people she’s reached her learning potential? “Yeah, I finished the latest Doris Kearns Goodwin and realized I’d reached my learning potential. It’s a shame too, I really enjoyed reading.”
I know this can be boiled down to semantics, and the easy counter-argument is that this really doesn’t matter. But that only saddens me more. This is our Declaration of Education – a document wherein we establish what we believe and want for the education of those entrusted to us. No better place exists for us to carefully craft a message to inspire and invigorate a sleeping profession.
Let the document read:
We believe all children can build upon their potential and achieve more than they ever dreamed possible.
If we’re making declarations, let’s not ignore the pursuit.
Chris made a comment the other day to the effect that buzzwords are more than buzzwords in the hands and minds of people who can play with big ideas. It was a statement that had been buzzing around in my brain for quite some time.
Here’s the exception – 21st Century Learner/Teacher/Skills/Anything. Imagine if teachers had said at the outset of the 20th Century, “Let’s develop a skillset we believe important for all students in the country to master, and then build schools around those skills.”
Wait a minute! That’s exactly what happened, and we’ve been fighting against it since the start of the panini effect that Friedman guy’s been yammering on about.
I understand how calling there things 21st Century _________ makes for some sexy packaging, but two things happen:
New Zealand’s Interface Magazine has the ridiculously named “Eight habits of highly effective 21st century teachers.” Andrew Churches lists the habits as:
You think naming them “Eight habits of highly effective teachers” would be misleading?
Churches opens with:
Now, that’s just silliness. Yesterday’s teachers needed those skills as much as today’s teachers need those skills as much as tomorrow’s teachers will need those skills. Again, I get the temptation to package these things in something a little more attractive that lends itself to highfaluting rhetoric where we talk about the loftiest of ideas.
Problem is, when teachers leave these discussions and return to their students, they need tangible examples to get them where they want to go. Finding out you’ve been sold nothing more than a big idea can lead to abandoning the idea for its lack of curricular tether. Man, I love a good tether.
Photo Credit: Jeff Monroe http://flickr.com/photos/43856553@N00/340408585/
It’s a snow day, so I thought I’d read a bit about sex and technology. Luckily, The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy and Cosmogirl.com were there to provide me with some light reading on the subject.
The basics:
Duh.
Tell me more.
But why?
Ah-ha!
Let’s sum this up: Teens and twenty-somethings are engaging in sexually curious behaviors that could lead to difficult and potentially dangerous choices. Their reasons are mixed, but can be broken down to the basic response of “It’s fun.”
The report might as well have been called, “Yup, it’s all pretty much the same. Adolescents like the sexy.”
Ignore the technology. This is about educating kids about sex. I’m guessing many will look at the survey results and argue the ghost is in the machine.
They’re right, if they realize the machine, not unlike soylent green, is people.