I read a excellent article this morning in defense of the Standards, by Jason Zimba, one of the writers of the Common Core.   I suggest it to all of you!
Find it here:http://www.edexcellence.net/commentary/education-gadfly-daily/common-core-watch/2013/critics-math-doesnt-add-up.html

Things I have learned…

            There are actually schools out there (project-based learning, expeditionary learning, technology-focused schools, and more!) that are using innovative, creative, challenging curricula that inspire both students and teachers.  I have truly enjoyed learning about each of the different types that are being used throughout the United States, and would love to see parts of them incorporated into my own school.

            I have learned an immense amount of information about new uses of technology available for use in the classroom, from classroom blogs, with class scribes, to audio podcasts and video podcasts, as well as possibilities with VoiceThread.  I would like to try a few of these in my own classroom this year, including a class blog for each class.

            The chapter of Habits of Mind really struck a chord with me, especially the shift in learning from knowing the correct answer to “knowing how to behave when the answers are not readily apparent” (p.223)  I would like to try to keep this as a challenge to myself and my students throughout my classes.

            I was both encouraged and enlightened by a number of articles by international educators (Yong Zhao, Se Hoon Park), who said that America offers a much better balanced approach to education than a lot of other countries who are scoring better on international tests, and given a choice, parents in those countries would send their children to school in the United States. 

            The information about test scores, and the article about how countries that don’t use test scores to penalize schools or teachers, but rather to inform instruction, are doing better than the U.S., was not anything I had ever heard before.  Everything we hear in this country is that our students don’t compare well to other countries, and we need to test them more and more.  Also, one author addressed the issue (not usually mentioned by critics of the U.S. education system) that America tests all of our students (including the economically challenged, the homeless, the transient population, those with mental handicaps) in our state and national tests, while many of the countries who do better than us on international test comparisons don’t test these populations.  I am glad that in America we teach everyone, not just those who will do the best on our tests.  I was encouraged that there is much to emulate in the educational system in the United States.

Key Ideas

“As educators, our challenge is to match the needs of our learners to a world that is changing with great rapidity.”(p.7, ch1)

 “Form should support function and not lead it.”(p.14)

        Rethinking our views of the school schedule, grouping of students, grouping/usage of teaching personnel, and use of space is a major topic in Chapter 1.  A drawback of the standards movement is addressed as well – the negative focus on testing.   “…One dominant influence in schools during the first decade of the 21st century has been the focus on establishing clearly delineated standards as a means of setting high learning targets. I have often heard the catchphrase “standards, not standardization.” The implication is that teachers need latitude to help individual learners reach proficiency targets. Yet, in practice, classroom experience too often locks in rigid standardization with an overemphasis on low-level testing and dated standards. The intention may be to help schools reach for targets, but the reality is that often educators feel that teaching to the test is what counts, and the tests are often suspect in terms of value.”(p.9-10)

         In addition, Jacobs addresses some myths about education in society at large, one being that “too much creativity is dangerous – and the arts are frills”(p.17).  This really resonated with me, after all the reading and research we have done in this class.  The students of today need to be educated and proficient in technologies that don’t even exist yet!  They need to be able to creatively problem solve, and to figure out how new technological tools work on their own (usually by trial and error, like our own children, not by reading a manual.)  These are talents that are utilized by the creative right-side of the brain.

            In Chapter 2, Heidi Hayes Jacobs encourages us to make a commitment to replace assessments slowly and thoughtfully over time, adding to a pool of potential 21st century assessment types such as documentaries, podcasts, blogs, screenplays, films, and websites.  She challenges us to deliberately upgrade one assessment type each semester.  I believe that this is a commitment I can make for the coming year, and would like to encourage my fellow educators to do so as well.

            Upgrading content is the focus for Chapter 3.  “What content should be kept? What content should be cut? What content should be created?” (p. 30)  Jacobs challenges us to examine our curriculum from a global perspective, focusing our individual subject matters in a multi-national way.  For example, using the Galls-Peters Projection Map of the world, which displays all areas according to size, as opposed to the traditional Mercator map, which distorts the size and shape of large objects, could help our students have a more accurate view of the world.   English classes can include international perspectives in genre studies.  Math could look at world economies with statistical data analysis, using graphs and charts at all grade levels.  Exposure to world languages and cultures should started at the youngest age, and built upon over the years, instead of being studied by only some students for two years at the high school level.

            In Chapter 4, Heidi Hayes Jacobs elaborates in much greater detail some of the material from Chapter one.  Scheduling, grouping of students, use of space, and group patterns of professionals are the four topics she addresses.  One thing that really struck me  is her discussion of rethinking how we schedule our school day.  Instead of asking, what can we fit into our 40 minute block of time, we should ask “What type of time frame matches the nature of the task? What kind of time do my learners need to carry out a specific task?”(p.64)  This truly could help our focus as we plan our school days.  Cross-discipline collaboration has occurred at my school, where freshman team teachers shared blocks of teaching time, adjusting class times based on activities planned in other classes.  Although this has only been used for a couple of years, I believe it has a lot of potential.