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This TED talk touches on some recent themes in our blog - gamification, distance education, and the potential of technology. As well, be sure to watch to the end, as there is a surprise guest. link
This map is amazing. It shows by state how much parents have power over their children's education by how much choice is available to them. Too bad we can't make map like that in Canada yet. Who has the power? Not us.
There’s a great article in the fall Education Next on transforming teacher education. If you’re wondering where THE PROBLEM starts - it starts at ed school. Most faculties of education use faulty criteria in selecting their students, inculcate flawed philosophies of education, and - worst of all - fail to teach prospective teachers practical and effective pedagogical techniques. This article shows it doesn’t have to be this way.
New York’s Relay School of Education breaks the mold. I excerpt a couple of paragraphs from the Education Next article to give you an idea, but it’s really worth reading the whole thing to see what’s possible.
“Relay’s method flips the classroom, with an online lesson at the start of every module or teaching unit (about 40 percent of instruction is online) and in-class discussions and exercises afterward. Twice-monthly night classes, once-monthly Saturday classes, and two summer terms are taught by master teachers and charter school heavyweights….
“Modules vary in duration and range from the nitty-gritty of classroom management - how to arrange furniture, how to grade papers, how to deal with families, how to open and close a lesson - to big-picture subjects, including literacy instruction, writing development, learning disabilities, unit planning, and character development. For a class called Benchmarking and Tracking Progress, scheduled to last 11 hours, the catalog says Relay students will create a spreadsheet to track their own students’ progress against year-end goals, and use the data to customize their teaching. In a class called Behavior Management Plans, Relay students will write a set of classroom rules and learn ‘how to engage in the very necessary practice of correcting students when they misbehave’.
“I logged onto an online lesson for a module titled Engaging Everybody, taught by Doug Lemov, managing director of Uncommon Schools. In the 4-hour lesson, Lemov lectured for three or four minutes on each of the four techniques that he promotes to keep youngsters involved in class, techniques he labels ‘wait time’, ‘everybody writes’, ‘cold call’, and ‘call and response’. Each of Lemov’s minilectures was followed by a few pages of online reading from his book Teach Like a Champion, and an essay question or two that students answer online…Then came several short videos showing teachers using each technique in the classroom, with Lemov noting the teachers’ use of an apt pause of effective gesture.”
A column in today’s Globe and Mail perfectly illustrates why our mission (to significantly improve student learning in Canada) is so hard. Usually sensible and well-informed, Gary Mason lauds the BC education minister’s plans to de-emphasize facts in favour of those more important problem-solving skills (a false dichotomy, if I ever heard of one).
It’s amazing. Most people appear to think that kids still sit in rows and are force-fed facts for subsequent regurgitation. But this hasn’t been the case for many decades. The emphasis on higher-order skills that Mr. Mason is so starry-eyed about has been in place since at least the seventies. It didn’t work well then, and it still doesn’t.
That’s because, contrary to Mr. Mason’s bromide that an emphasis on facts was put in place back in the days before it was understood how people learned, it would be more accurate to say that an emphasis on problem-solving skills was put in place back in the days before it was understood how people learned. Dan Willingham has written two important articles on the relationship between cognition and knowledge. here and here The bottom line: “The ability to think critically…depends on domain knowledge and practice.”
We who have taught, or love children who have been taught, know this is funny!
From the diary of a Pre-School Teacher:
My five-year old students are learning to read. Yesterday one of them pointed at a picture in a zoo book and said,
"Look at this! It's a frickin' elephant!"
I took a deep breath, then asked..."What did you call it?"
"It's a frickin' elephant! It says so on the picture!"
And so it does...
" AFRICAN Elephant "
Hooked on phonics! Ain't it wonderful?
Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often
H/T LL
In Chicago, the teachers are in the second week of their strike. According to this article, the majority of the public in Chicago support the teachers. As JE points out, it’s noteworthy that the Chicago teachers were able to get the public on its side, whereas the Ontario unions appear to be going in exactly the opposite direction. Perhaps the Ontario teachers’ unions should take notes.
Jay Greene makes an interesting point when he observes that Chicago charter school students are doubly fortunate. Not only are they not affected by the strike, but also they are learning more.
In any case, it’s hard to see how striking teachers are good for kids.
GUEST BLOG BY NANCY WAGNER, SQE TREASURER
It seems from recent news coverage, that more and more Ontario students are being affected by teacher-union “work to rule” actions. In my local paper today, one parent expressed his frustration on finding out that his daughter’s grade 8 grad has already been cancelled. This on top of the cancellation of all school sports! The parent stated that he would usually have sympathy for the teachers, but is now angry and offside.
When teachers fought against previous governments (remember “cuts hurt kids”, and “teachers working conditions are your child’s learning conditions”), many parents were onside. This is no longer the case. Families have been dealing with cutbacks, downsizing and frozen wages for some time now. There is little sympathy for employees in sectors protected from the effects of an underperforming provincial economy. And that lack of sympathy will quickly turn to resentment if tone-deaf union leaders don’t wake up!
Meanwhile, we still have students who will miss out on the extra-curricular activities that keep them engaged in their school careers. There isn’t much parents can do to replace the loss of sports teams. Apparently, regulations require that a certified teacher be on hand to coach. But when it comes to events such as class trips and grad dances, parents could and should get together and make these things happen for the students. For instance, a class trip to visit the parliament buildings (now cancelled at one local school) can still happen. Parent volunteers can book a bus and schedule the trip on a Professional Activity day.
When my oldest was in Grade 8, his end-of-year class trip was cancelled by the principal, due to misbehavior on the part of a couple of the students. The class teacher thought this was an over-reaction and totally unfair to the majority of the class. He quietly let it be known that he thought parents should take over and continue with the plans. For obvious reasons, he could no longer be involved.
So that is exactly what we did! The trip was to a Blue Jays game and took place on a Sunday. It was a resounding success!
Parents, if your child’s grad has been cancelled, form a committee of volunteers, book a venue, and hold a dance for your kids. Do not let anyone use your children as pawns!
In this clip, TVO explores Ontario’s testing process. All of the panelists do a good job, in my opinion - especially David Johnson (who is heading up our study of Edmonton student achievement, btw) - except for the representative from a faculty of education who, if nothing else, demonstrates the heart of the problem. link H/T DW
There is an editorial in today’s Mop and Pail regarding a request from conservative Muslim and Christian parents that public schools accommodate their religious faiths by exempting their children from various programs, such as sex education, environmental worship, and values-neutral education. The Mop opines that this is a reasonable request for certain topics, but not for others. What a can of worms that is! For example, who is going to arbitrate which topics are off-limits and which aren’t? The Mop and Pail? Really?
Adding to the confusion is the problem of how the various topics are treated. It has been my observation that the kinds of teachers who are attracted to teaching contentious topics - sex ed, environmentalism, ethics - are not necessarily the sort of people I want broaching such sensitive topics with my kids. For example, while I am very tolerant of various sexual orientations (I mean, really, who gives a damn?), I nevertheless deplored the way this topic was treated at my children’s school - you know, now children, homosexuals are GOOD. I felt such emphasis gave sexual orientation hugely greater importance than it warrants in the overall scheme of things. So I would have much rather the school had minded its own business (that would be the three R’s, in case you hadn’t guessed). And I wasn’t thrilled by the teacher who taught my son how to shoot up (true story) or the teacher who took it upon herself to teach my too-young daughter very graphic sexual details, scaring and horrifying her.
The comments to the editorial tend to be quite hostile to the request from the conservative Muslim and Christian parents. The commenters are obviously assuming that the public schools will treat sensitive topics in a reasonable, responsible manner. And of course, most teachers will. But some teachers are jerks or incompetents, and they seem to disproportionately enjoy teaching sensitive topics. Children are in school for something like 14 or 15 years, meaning the odds are pretty good that every child will encounter at least one of these lemons. Do we really want to give these folks permission to mess with our kids’ minds?
GUEST BLOG BY PETER McLARTY, RETIRED TEACHER, SAULT STE MARIE
A news report regarding the EQAO test results for the Huron-Superior Catholic District School Board (my former employer) leaves me speechless. http://www.sootoday.com/content/news/details.asp?c=47060
How can the board brag about these results! How long is the public going to put up with these pathetic results? All of this testing and analysis and still more than one-third of the students are not making the standard….especially in mathematics. And yet students continue to be pushed along.
One of my greatest regrets in teaching senior level chemistry was that most of the unsuccessful students failed not because of their lack of scientific knowledge but from their inability to do the applied mathematical problems! Sadly, I see little hope for change because all those now employed in education are products of this disfunctional system. A little harsh, but that is the way I see it.
I have moved away from educational conflicts and am enjoying more rewarding persuits. I have totally lost faith in public education.