I have a big problem with the article/video and Sir Ken Robinson says. Of course education needs reform. Since the education system started we (society) has tried to make it better. That is how life works. The industrial revolution happened to make life easier, and things run better. This is where my next problem comes in. His comparison of educating people to making cars. You can not compare humans to machines or machine manufacturing. If something breaks in a shop it is easy to repair. There are set known solutions to construct/fix the machines that we use. Humans are not machines. We have many solutions to fix human problems but not every solution works for each person. Here enlies my next follie in his article. He sits there and blames the education system for not extending the growth of knowledge to our students and keeping them stimulated, but produces zero solutions. It is easy to sit back and say there are problems and point fingers, and much harder to come up with solutions. It is a long process to come up with ideas on how to engage students in learning. As an education system we need to stop blaming people, pointing fingers, firing people, and work as a unit to solve this problem.
From my time so far teaching, it is very difficult to stimulate my students as a whole. The biggest problem is the extreme laziness of the students. All mine do is wine about doing work. When we do get to do hands on activities they are fine, but when we ask them questions about those activities (challenging them to think, and prove they are learning) they complain about that. Students at my school want the information spoon fed to them in the easiest format possible. I have a small amount of students that are actively engaged and ask questions which is great. There are times where I can try to relate things to students on an individual basis, but becomes hard to do for each student, and becomes more than time consuming. Reform in our education system needs to extend beyond the scope of engaging students. Educators need to know that they are being taken care of in this transition time of reform. There are already more than enough pressures on teachers with SOL's, and other deadlines that it becomes a 24 hour a day job to keep on track with state requirements and find ways to help engage each student. For education reform to really take shape we also needs PARENTS to work harder. I am amazed at the attitudes I have heard already from students and parents. If the parents are not actively involved and helping to engage their child in education, how in the world are teachers supposed to?
Okay that is enough ranting from me. As for my plans to help reform education and engage my students, it is to spend as much time at the beginning of the year to not only get the students used to my classroom and high school, but also to get to know them. The more small talk I can have the more of their interest I can find out. Hopefully I will be able to compile a list of things that seem overall interesting to the students. Then when I am developing lesson plans I will try to relate my topics with these engaging issues that the students like. I am going to also encourage my students to talk and share their new knowledge with their parents as much as possible. If there are ever current issues pertaining to something in my field, I might take a day to cover that topic, even if it isn't that one we are focused on at the time. I want to also try to be involved in my students education as much as they are. If I hear of a students passion for something, I will try to steer them in the right direction, or help provide an appropriate person for them to talk to about that field. I want to make myself available to myself all the time in order to help them no matter what they need. If I can make strides to reform education in my classroom alone, then i am doing my part. If I find things that work well, I will more than share them with other teachers.
Don't let the pressures of reform change who you are as a teacher or a person. Be yourself, have fun, and be confident that we are going to make great teachers. Good luck!
Unfortunately, as teachers I think one of our roles has become parenting. Students who do not have support at home are searching for encouragement and affection somewhere else. I think this makes it even more important that we care for our students and show them they have what it takes to succeed.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that one of the roles that teachers have picked up is parenting. And it's quite unfortunate that some students don't get the support at home. Sometimes the parents just don't know enough, and so Tray, I think it's a great idea for you to encourage communication between the two parties.
ReplyDeleteI know that there is no perfect analogy, but I think what Ken was trying to say exactly what you are arguing against him. Children are NOT like motorcars, you're right! But at this point in our education system, that's the direction we are heading, and it's us, tray, teachers that are well prepared, it's our job to turn that around. We don't want to make cars, we want living, breathing, thinking children.
I want a living, thinking child in my classroom, but I want them to actually take something away from my class. We talk a lot about engagement and relevancy, but all of that is still going to amount to very little in situations where thye go home and are talked down by their parents.
ReplyDeleteWe are at a point in time where everybody is focused on instant gratification and reward. If they do a little task, they want something in return. Students don't come to the classroom thinking, "what can I learn from this class? How can I take advantage of this opportunity?" They come in thinking, "What can I get for doing the basic requirements for this class?" They need external motivation. And that's basically all that many of them get from their parents.
Until this changes, I think we have a long road ahead of us. I'm excited about the challenge. And, like Tray, I intend to communicate as much as possible with parents because it is their job to parent. Not mine. I can be a teacher, tutor, mentor, role model, and many other things, but I will not be their parent.
Sweetdisplayname,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement about the instant gratification society. What are you planning to do in your class to work on use this to your advantage. One technique I do is bring in little 3-7minute clips. I love to teach bell to bell, but sometimes the activity I have ends early. So I pull out the 3-7minute clips that reinforce the concept we just talked about. These are often just goofy things, but the students love them.
I agree with JP and Tray on the parenting issue. I have noticed that parents are more invovled at the middle school level than the high school level. However, even at the middle school level there are parents who think teachers should be doing more parenting in the classroom. The teachers at my school make sure that some students take home their weekly planner and their homework every afternoon and check it when they get to school every morning. I would think that these student's parents would want to be more invovled and check the weekly planner themselves but they do not. It kind of saddens me. I guess thats why JP is right, we have to do everything we can at school to help motivate students and encourage them to succeed.
ReplyDelete