The logical part of my brain understands the points and concepts made by Schmoker in this excerpt from Results Now. But the emotional side of me just can't buy into these ideas and concepts. The words that jumped out at me from this reading included "mediocre", "inferior" and "heartbreakingly rare". These adjectives don't do justice to the educators, students, or parents in my school situation. And I choose to believe that they don't describe the majority of schools in this country. (I could go on and on about this, but I'm going to stop here and try not to be upset.)
With the above stated, I did agree with many of the suggestions made by Schmoker for improving the quality of education and instruction in our schools. Collaboration among teachers and administrators does lead to increased creativity, support, and quality of instruction. Allowing for common planning time is one way to easily allow for this necessary group time that can greatly impact teaching and learning. Additionally, I agreed with Schmoker's suggestions for narrowing the curriculum to focus on math, writing, and reading. By allowing for quality instruction in basic subjects, students should develop stronger skills. Lastly, I thought that Schmoker's points about ensuring that all teachers are following the same curriculum were very important. Teaching the same skills with similar materials is one very important way to ensure that all students receive a comprehensive and equal education.
Socio-economic status and family involvement were two key issues that I felt were not addressed sufficiently in this excerpt (although maybe they are touched upon in other chapters of the book). These two issues greatly effect a child's development, motivation, and ability to do well in an academic environment. Too often school and learning is viewed as a singular and separate component. But poverty and home environment also greatly impact school and learning. Some of the foreign countries (Japan, Norway, Sweden) that consistently outperform the US seem to understand this better than we do.
Public schooling in this country is a huge endeavor. Every child from the age of six through high school is given the opportunity to receive an education. I think this is an amazing feat and I greatly respect the educators that dedicate their lives to helping students achieve this goal. So many of them accomplish it with limited funds, materials, and support. While I do agree that some teachers are not effective, I do believe that the majority work hard and help children to do great things.
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8 comments:
Ellen, I just finished my blog and I even referred to you in it. I thought Schmoker was so negative...was he supposed to motivate to be better administrators? I need to take a break from him and maybe re-read it to see if he is another person who is so quick to criticize educations. ugh....if this whole book is nothing but what is wrong with education that I'm not sure it's on my Barnes and Noble list.
I understand your frustration with Schmoker...what's he schmokin...just kiddin.
Anyway, he did say that there were good teachers.
I don't think he is being negative; I believe he is just pointing out the characteristics that concern him. He is right about isolation and claims that that is what really renders teachers ineffective. I also, think the whole professionalism "thing" regarding isolation was right. Basically, its the isolation that's bad not the teacher.
Ellen, I like that you can sperate logival and emotional, which is a tough thing for anyone, especially teachers to do. Think of evaluations. How many of us take them personally, even when they are supposed to be a professional assessment of our performance?
Perhaps Schmoker is doing just that...or am I thinking like an administrator?
Ellen, I agree with your idea that this article did not address the effects that a child's home life has on learning. So often, children do not have sufficient living situations which negatively effects them in so many other areas of their lives. It is very easy for people like the author of this article to pass judgements without considering something as basic as this.
Ellen you and I work in the same school and I see what you see that those adjectives don't do justice to our school environment. I think there are more schools out there that are like us or I hope to believe that this is true. I also agree with you about the fact that I think collaboration does lead to great things in a school. By working together you can make sure that students at a certain grade level are all on the same page. Each child would be exposed to the same material therefore one child wouldn't have an advantage over another child for the following school year.
He was very negative. It really irrtates me because we are good teachers that values our profession. Hopefully people like us can help change the view of others.
You were right on with what I said. I don't think I seperated emotional from logical. All I kept thinking about was that they are really bashing and insulting our profession.
I agree with yoru thoughts on Schmoker. He seems to have a very negative approach to his views on education. You cannot take the emotional side out of the equation when it comes to educaiton because, unlike other jobs that work with facts/figures and money as the bottom line, education has the bottom line of developing our youth. Teachers care more about their jobs than many other professionals do.
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