“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.
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