…and i’ll find me a soapbox where i can shout it

See, I DO Care What Other People Think – My Comments April 15, 2007

I have shown my wisdom through the following comments:

http://stephcj.wordpress.com/2007/01/16/eng-310-opening-statement/

http://kooikema.wordpress.com/2007/02/24/want-to-feel-better-write-some-poetry/

http://tesslynn.wordpress.com/2007/02/21/to-let-the-kids-decide/

http://burchi501.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/death-by-powerpoint/

http://canknight.wordpress.com/2007/03/14/a-view-from-the-other-side/

http://trishcabobb.wordpress.com/2007/03/01/boy-trouble-edit/

http://andi12.wordpress.com/2007/04/12/does-it-even-work/

http://roersm.wordpress.com/2007/04/11/10/

Thank you to all who made comments on my blog and did not take complete offense to my sometimes outlandish statements.

So What Does It All Mean? April 15, 2007

I have spent over three months writing on a blog dedicated to No Child Left Behind and have been a part of many discussions centered around it this semester.  Before creating this blog, I was vaguely familiar with what NCLB was and the issues surrounding it.  I will admit there are details and issues that still seem allusive at this point, but I feel I have a better grasp of this piece of legislation and have the ability to support an argument from both sides.

I remember thinking that I was going to take a completely neutral approach to NCLB, and for the most part I think I did.  I had been surrounded with so much negativity towards NCLB that I wanted so badly to find things that have worked with it, that are helping our students receive a better education.  I understand that I am overgeneralizing here, but what I found is that nearly all teachers are opposed to NCLB as it stands today.  This is not to say that all teachers want to see it erased completely, but I think it does show a flaw in our democracy.

It is hard to talk NCLB without talking politics, something I usually don’t have a problem with.  Yet, even I can only take so much.  There is no question that we are all after the same thing – giving our students the best opportunity at an education that will give them whatever skills or knowledge they need to lead successful lives (or some variation of this).  Politics unfortunately stands in the way between our goals and our actions.  How else can one explain how the majority of those who teach are teaching based on standards they don’t completely agree with?

One of the big issues with NCLB is standardized testing, and I feel my final post would not be complete without mention of it.  My viewpoint on standardized testing is probably what has changed the most since I started this blog.  I used to be completely against it, and although I still disagree with the way in which it is implemented, I have come to the conclusion that it is not going anywhere.  “Teaching to the test” – these words make me angry thinking about them.  What I now realize is why.  I used to think that less emphasis should be put on content and more on the skills that students acquire.  Teaching to the test meant rote memorization for the most part – students wasting their time storing useless facts and teachers wasting there time teaching them.  I now see that getting rid of the tests is probably not going to happen, but teaching to the test does not have to be such a bad thing.  When we can develop tests that effectively measure how well students apply the skills they have acquired in the classroom, teaching to the test and just teaching will be the same thing. 

NCLB is flawed and I will not deny this.  Instead of cringing everytime I hear those letters now, I start to wonder if maybe NCLB is the inevitable first step towards bettering our student’s education.  As a country, our educational system was lacking behind others and something needed to be done.  I think many of the moves made towards catching us up have not been effective, but it has gotten all of us talking about education and is that such a bad thing?  Maybe failed policy is needed in order to fix a problem.  If anything, NCLB has given this country the chance to make mistakes, and hopefully we can learn from them.

I Received Bright Ideas at the Bright Ideas Conference April 14, 2007

Waking up at 6:00 a.m. is not the way I like to start my day.  I was looking forward to attending the Bright Ideas Spring Conference at Michigan State, yet unless waking up that early on a Saturday would result in either free pizza or a rollercoaster I was probably going to be slightly disappointed.  Instead there was free coffee and some pretty good information, so I guess I’ll take it.

The keynote speaker was author Jacqueline Woodson.  She explained her writing process, and a lot of the advice she presented were things that we have discussed in English 310.  The idea of writing anything, of just getting words down on paper, sounded like it came straight from Peter Elbow.  In fact, her somewhat lack of focus and ability to go off on tangents during her speech sounded Elbowian (yes, it’s an adjective) as well.  She also made reference to Anne Lamott, another author we have discussed in class, and the idea of writing one step at a time.  Woodson read some of her own work aloud, which was probably the most enjoyable part of her speech.

The first workshop I attended dealt with using mass media in the English classroom.  Its emphasis was on using wikis, youtube, and graphic design.  The discussion on Wikipedia and its legitimacy was interesting.  Students should know why Wikipedia is not a valid resource as it stands today, and by having students create wikis and understand how they work, they can understand this.  Talk about youtube was a big part of the section regarding journalism and its potential biases, and a possible lesson was presented to make students aware of the motives behind those broadcasting the news.  The graphic design part was interesting, yet it seemed we got a lot of information about something that can very loosely be related to the English classroom.  The idea of creating something visual as opposed to writing for a lesson is something that I liked, however.

The second workshop I attended dealt with peer revision and creating a comfortable classroom environment, something I was very interested in.  The presenter did an excellent job showing different ways in which the teacher can create an atmosphere where students feel comfortable sharing their writing.  We went over a few techniques regarding peer revision between two students, ways in which they can share their writing and talk about it in a more personal and less evaluative way.

Overall, waking up at 6:00 a.m. turned out to be a pretty good decision.  A lot of the information was not very new to me, although I did get some ideas that I would want to use in my classroom.  I think just being in an environment where I am completely surrounded by English teachers, people who are all there to try and learn something in order to make them better teachers or better prepare them for teaching, has a way of getting me motivated and excited to teach.