Final Exam- transforming public schools

1) Schools in the 21st century will become harbors of tolerance and diversity to educate the individual pupils that make up our nation. These institutions will be developed with redesigned and reengineered schools that challenge old curriculum ideals while transforming lessons, assessments, teachers and students. There will be a large focus on the implementation of technology and cooperative work between the student body and an ever increasing role of collaborative work between teachers. In order for this nation to remain a leader in the world, I envision classroom activities and ideologies that center around student learning through equity and adapting curriculum that is fair and challenging to the next generation of students.

2) One way I plan on moving toward this vision is to create an assignment that allows for students to investigate historical content through political, economic, and religious aspects, but also through culture, and the lens of individuals that were the silent minority. My assessment is a project during my World War II unit. I will have students create a newspaper that highlights battles, people, events, and machines at war. I also will have students use art to depict the suffering of war during this time. Students will investigate the roles of minorities and disabled Americans in the work force. They will also view the roles of women and a segregated military and people by looking at internment camps. My students will be placed in groups that allow the talents of each individual to shine by establishing roles within the group which include an editor, publisher, photographer, and writers. Each group will have to collaborate and create a newspaper that depicts events both on the home front and on the battle field. This will also include information that was never published in newspapers of the 1940's.

Hopefully this action will catch on, and as a department, we can look at both the positive and glorified version of history, but also we can observe the historical aspects that are never talked about because they are not America’s proudest moment. Just because the history books don’t contain the information about different people, cultures or events that would be seen as negative, does not mean we have to forget about them.

3) I would try to collaborate with teachers and try to make an Interdisciplinary Thematic Unit that unifies different disciplines to help students engage academic material on a cooperative scale that helps them navigate through the academic day while making connections with the material to each discipline, but also their communities and the world. This aspect can only be achieved with support from administrations, but also other teachers. As educators, we would need to collaborate on lessons, assessments, and other aspects to make the ITU meet content standards, but also to create a unit that would hook students into pushing their academic enlightenment.

This activity moves students into cooperative learning, creating a sanctuary of knowledge that is interrelated helping them break down academic and cultural walls. The ITU would bring teachers together to create lessons that would reflect the vast diversity of the student body will create a stronger equity of education for them. The assessments would be collaboratively discussed and revised to make superior work.

4) I would most likely run for public office like school board. As a board member, I can help to install and ensure best practices and equity in education. This may occur 10 plus years into teaching, but as a member of an elected committee, I can create change to strengthen the academic experience of my local school.

5) All three of these aspects feed off one another. The first deals primarily with my students, the second with teachers and administration, and finally with the community. I will create lessons that are cooperative in nature, and can be used in an ITU that enables teacher collaboration. The curriculum, assessments, academic structure, and roles of the staff raise the bar in student academic achievement by ensuring equity and meaningful work that will help students prepare for their futures in the 21st century.

Reading Reflection: Chris: Change Agent

Many new teachers don’t fully understand their power in students live, let alone the power they have in society in general. Some teachers are remembered because of projects, field trips, how they made students feel, and many other positive and negative aspects. New teacher strive to be the best, and often fall short early, but do rise to become great educators because of practices that include SDIAE or cooperative learning, ITU’s and much more. As an agent of change one must start small with one student, then a class, then classes to an entire generation. Many teachers stay within the ways of the classroom to bring fourth society change.

Teaching is a “progressive” interpretation of enlightenment on a massive scale. Teaching can be ones way of life and it could also be a day job. Teachers need to people outside the classroom, according to the reading. Teachers are people that lead lives away from the students and classrooms. However, teachers are also a breed of people who embrace ideology and theory, then try to make it become reality. Many teachers are leaders and will stand up for their beliefs and values, especially when it comes to the profession they love.

As an agent of change, I find myself looking more at the macro-level of thinking instead of the micro aspect of teaching. Everything teacher is under the microscope of parents, communities, and politicians. Teachers are very effective when all three of these aspects come together and support education. However, we live in a society that education is used as headlines, political talking points and leverage. Instead of being educators to students, teachers must become educated in the movements both social and political to really effect change in a meaningful way. Teachers must also be students and I find myself searching for anything that will effect education negatively or positively. I see myself having a life away from the students and four wall of as classroom, but I am learning, listening, understanding and educating individuals within our field. Unfortunately politics rules the day of educators in California and across the U.S. I just so happen to follow and comprehend what is being said and done, and I find myself as a person who can articulate these political repercussions to fellow educators to help lead one voice and ensure quality education in our schools.

Reading Reflection 5- I'm Thinking...

As the year progresses I find myself pushing the limits of the content knowledge I have to bring into the classroom to make my lessons meaningful and engaging. I have read 5 books in the last 2 months that are related to my subjucts, and I still believe that the material I have is not enough. History is so broad and can be viewed from a very gernal to a very focused concept. I understand that I have to hit the content standards, but I find myself torn between concepts and which theme or event is entitled to more of my class lessons.

I am also conflicted in what types of projects I should produce. Should I make a class newspaper, portfolio, posters or have no projects. Should I have students read outside novels and books and make a report. My cooperating teachers think all these ideas are great, but they say it is up to me to impliment them. They are supportng whaterver desision I make, which is great, however, the guidence is rather limiting. It is a double edge sword. I can do what I want with complete academic freedom, but I have so much freedom no one is saying that might be to much or this one will work better. It is driving me crazy becuase my personality whats to be impressive and do it all. I want to be a great teacher and impress not only the school and my fellow teachers, but capitvate my students as well. I just need alittle more guidence instead of the "blank check" I am being given.

Cooperative Training II

To view the work being done in World History visit me and my Coopartaing Teacher at: http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/dheflin/

To viem the work being done in U.S, History vist me and my Coperating Teacher at:
http://teachers.sduhsd.k12.ca.us/dhartley/

Reading Reflection 4 Group Work

An area of the reading that interested me was cooperation and anti-social behavior. This section of the book describes how to deal with group work when their is a problem with student discpline over matters that may or may not be apart of the the assignment. What brought me to the conclusion that this part of the reading requires more time is that as a new teacher I will most likely have to deal with students that may have discipline issues. With group and cooperative work being used as a neede tool for the 21st century classroom, I do believe it important to know the functions that can enable students to to ove past disputs.

Some of the examples that are used helps teachers train thier students in confronting other opinions and ideas. Instead of going off on each other and name calling, students can change their body language and word ussage to establish different ideas but students are using rational, logical approaches to justify thier oppinons instaed of verbally abusing the other student.

When I establish group work, I always make sure the groups or organized into teams that can work well with each other. I never let them choose their groups and I am constently moving to each group making sure their are no issues that require mediation. If I do have a class that is hostile and group work might be an issue, I have no problem eliminating group work from future lesson plans.

Reading Reflection 3-Groupwork ch 1-3

Chapter 1: American Culture provides few opportunites to learn group work. This book will establish theories of group work to help students establish a firmer grasp on there education.

I have read this same ideal from other educational books and the csusm education dept.

With this established, I question why, with all this push to have more group work in school, why dont we see it.

Chapter 2: Cooperative learning is an affective strategy in helping studentsunderstand and retain information as well as improving their basic skills. Group work can help EL students understand English better and help ito integrate and desegregate classrooms.

My experiance as a substitute teacher has established that integration and paring students into groups to help EL learners is a mute point in many classroom that have massive majorities of EL students.

I do wonder that if grouping is based on the best outcome of pairing strong and weak students together, what happens if you have classes of only weak students. How does one pair them.

Chapter 3: This chapter is about finding equality and equity within the group setting without having groups dominated by individual students that are not thinking in terms of working together to answer the academic questions.

I am curous to discover how long teachers must profile their class before grouping their individual students together.

To be an effective teacher in the 21st century, can one not group students to perform academic work?

School Reform at Lunch

This is a B.E.S.T. school that is segregated among gender.

APS Middle School Transformation Initiative
The opening of two single-gender academies this school year is the first phase of the Middle School Transformation Initiative. The district selected the Benjamin S. Carson Honors Preparatory School based on the challenging demographics of the community and the need to improve student performance. Consequently, The Coretta Scott King Young Women’s Leadership Academy for 6th grade girls and the B.E.S.T Academy for 6th grade boys at Ben Carson opened in August 2007. Each school opened with a 6th grade class and every year another grade will be added. Eventually the two academies will have a grade 6-12 grade configuration, creating a seamless transition from middle to high school on the same campus. Research is clear that single-gender schools improve academic achievement, significantly increase graduation rates and produce a higher number of students attending college. 100 Black Men of Atlanta and the Atlanta Cluster of the Links, Inc. have partnered with the academies to provide resources, mentors and support services. In addition, several programs are being piloted in select middle schools during the 2007-2008 school year.

In formation retrieved at, http://www.atlantapublicschools.us/186110108171719813/site/default.asp

Reading Reflection 2- BPHS

Best Practice High School has three very improtant aspects that establish it as a fine academic instutition. The first is developing Powerful Teaching and Learning which establishes a collaborative approach between students and teachers making it easy for students to buy into their education. The more teachers and students communicate, the easier learning becomes. Second, is the aspect of Restructuring the School. They made sure the school stayed below 500 stduents ensuring that every student recieved the individual attention they need to be successful. Any more students and some of the student body may start to slip through academic crakes. Finnaly, Creating Curricular Paths to Success enables students to see connections between academic courses allowing them to get a full circle view of the "theme" they are studying.

Honestly, I found no practices that lead to any support of these topics at my first school. Everything was test based. Professionalism, ideals of themeatic units, powerful teaching, concepts outide the standardized tests were not even thought of beucase the test scores were all that mattered. In fact, teachers labeled students and limited them by profiling then established where they could or could not go beyond the boundries of high school. In fact, the school I was at is the model school used to establish why best practices was created.,

Reading Response 1-Rethinking High Schools

Like many books on education, I found this book offering some of the same language. Reforming, scaffolding, standardized tests, democracy and other buzz words that relate to creating a better school for students, teachers, parents and the community. Much of the language was used in a very general, idealistic approach to creating a school that was a community of students with diversity, strong test scores, and personal relationships.

The idea of Technology and materials that was breifly brought up is an idea that will not revolutionize the education of our youth. Technology is seen as this great tool and equlizer in academic circles, however, some major research institutions shy away from technology becuase they feel its usefulness to teaching students is limited. Technology does not make students stronger, but great teachers do.

One aspect that I thought was very important to reforming schools and educationb was class size. It is an old concept, but evryone knows that small class sizes create an environment more condusive to education then larger class sizes. In order to truely reform and improve schools, class size must be the first item addressed.

The concept one should focus on is the view that adolescence is a negative time filled with struggle, misery, and just an overall curse. Some students do strugle and never truely servive this processs, while other thrive and beat down this era of their lives. As educators, we should actively discover the issues that plague our students to help understand them and thier issues. Looking at the "times" is an anthropologist way to understand their culture and ultimatly the key ti understanding them.

At home online