Thread: Contradiction?

Ah ... too many chiefs and not enough indians. One would hope that the higher ups at central office would communicate with one another but in the meanwhile... perhaps you could differentiate your instruction in a standardized way? (GRIN)

This reminds me of a scene from Star Wars where Hans Solo is telling his furry companion to slow down and not be obvious about slowing down as their shuttle approaches a force field.

"GRRRRR?" asked the wookie.

"I don't know," replied Han Solo. "Fly casual."

Originally Posted by David Chin

Ah ... too many chiefs and not enough indians.

I think I'm going to incorporate that phrase into the discussion during the meeting next week. It made me chuckle.

Originally Posted by David Chin

perhaps you could differentiate your instruction in a standardized way? (GRIN)

as for this comment.... uh, sure... um, thanks.... yeah, that was helpful :lol:

It's desperation in the office to find a way to get the test scores up. The standardized test issue has warped teaching to the point that our school is loosing good teachers because of it.
When we get the nerve to refuse them, we will be able to get back to teaching.
Another problem is when "no child left behind" creates a class that has:
1 banker's kid
1 savant
1 total retard
1 with attention problems/needs
1 walking calculator
etc
all in the same room

My family member who teaches has said that it is about to make her quit and they will loose a really good teacher who likes kids and likes to teach.

shame, shame, shame ....

.

Originally Posted by Tom (Houston)

It's desperation in the office to find a way to get the test scores up. The standardized test issue has warped teaching to the point that our school is loosing good teachers because of it.

Exactly. Accountability via standardized testing AND standardized evaluations has essentially dumbed down education. When teachers are required to implement standardized instruction, we essentially eliminate individual creativity and lose instructional flexibility in favor of teaching to the lowest common denominator i.e. the level of the weakest teacher on the grade level.

While pursuing an improvement in standadardized test scores (which only test MINIMUM standards), we essentially ignore those students who are on or above grade level. For that matter, I also worked in one district where I was literally instructed to ignore students who were academically deficient because there was no way that they could be brought up to speed to pass the grade level test.

I was told to focus instruction on those students who were marginal i.e. just below grade level.

I wasn't a teacher anymore. I was an educational bookkeeper.

For shame indeed ...

(sigh)

That sounds like such a cluster that you really think anyone gives a rip what you do? I'd say no - do what you want. Chances sound pretty good that no one really would know the difference anyway...........

TPFKACSW

That's the odd thing. Our scores are generally pretty good, way above the state average. It's just odd that they have so many gifted educators and they are trying to tie our hands behind our backs and ask us to teach 180 different lessons every day in 6 classes (just like the teacher in the next room).

I can't figure out which way is trying to "raise the scores". Is the the differentiation, or the lockstep?

Sounds like a case of incompetent politics. The most incompetent politicians I know of are school boards and school administrators. They're just dreadful.

TPFKACSW

That kind of thought is gonna kill us! It is we teachers and our individuality and our ability to reach a ton of students from a myriad of backgrounds that makes what we do a combination of science and art.

This is one of the things I like about being at a school where I am the only algebra teacher. Everyone is in lockstep

Originally Posted by Mathematical Mary

I can't figure out which way is trying to "raise the scores". Is the the differentiation, or the lockstep?

I tend to prefer diffentiation over lockstep. Standardized instruction is simply too inflexible. What happens if a child just "doesn't get it?" What happens if children fall behind? For that matter, standardized instruction doesn't take into account teacher creativity and/or individual strengths and weaknesses or years of teaching experience. Why should anyone care if Ms. Morris teaches multiplication this way instead of that way? So long as the instructional objectives are achieved within a given time frame and so long as the students experience success, who cares? And yet, in schools that have adopted standardized instruction, administrators get very upset if anyone deviates from the standardized lesson plans.

Standardized instruction works best if you have a lot of novice teachers who are still finding their way. I don't believe this practice should be used when you have a group of highly dedicated and experienced teachers since it essentially negates their individual experience.

Teachers in standardized schools are only teachers according to their job descriptions. They're facilitaors of input/output - dispensing daily allotments of educational gruel to children standing on factory conveyor belts.

Truly - is this all we aspire for our children? Minimum standards of achievement?

It is small wonder that there's a growing exodus from the public schools with enrollments in home school programs and private schools on the rise.

Thanks to GB and the No Child Left Behind initiative, homeschooling has increased in this country by 7% over the last four years. There are currently 2.1 million American children enrolled in homeschool programs and another 5.6 million enrolled in private schools.