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Lauren Carmichael
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Lauren commented on the article |In elementary school we once spent an entire night simulating the Underground Railroad. We had to walk through the woods silently for what seemed like forever, and if we talked we got yelled at. We were "sold" as slaves, and we really learned what it was like for those people during the time of slavery. I've never remembered a lesson better than that.
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Lauren commented on the article |Being a teacher is one of the most criticized jobs in the nation. It is sad that in these days, the days of "teaching to the test", teachers have no freedom to express any of their own beliefs (I'm not talking religious here, but more just political/social beliefs). It is a scary thought that a teacher can be fired for making his/her class read the wrong book, or even just telling an opinion about our government and our world today.
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Lauren commented on the article |
Being in school 6 days a week for 11 months a year would obviously give more time for students to learn... But how many of those students would be paying attention by the 6th day of the week? Working in schools has shown me that by Friday, kids are jumping out of their seats, so by the 6th day of the school week, can we imagine how difficult it would be for them to actually learn anything?
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Lauren commented on the article |
One change necessary to meet the needs of highly capable students, particularly minority or ELL students, is that teachers need new specified, and MORE, training. Many teachers go right from college into the teaching profession with little training on motivation strategies and techniques to help underpriveleged students. I think with newer and more specifically focused training for teachers, these highly capable (but perhaps currently underperforming) students have a higher chance of learning and performing at a higher level.
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Lauren commented on the article |I really appreciate this article and its accuracy. The five controversies mentioned really are the biggest debates in public education-- with the high stakes testing controversy probably being the most prominent.
Just yesterday there was an article in the Daily Hampshire Gazette (www.gazettenet.com) written by a teacher about ways to test students and evaluate schools and individual teachers. His biggest concern was that while there is no concrete way of federally evaluating a school's progress other than standardized testing right now, there is absolutely no way of testing a school's ability to provide and enable student growth in other ways. I think that this is where a huge question must be asked: should schools, teachers, and students be evaluated more on academic test scores or should they be evaluated more on how students learn to progress socially, physically, and academically? How can we test and evaluate other aspects of education other than the purely academic part?
That also begs the question that this article asks in number 5: what is the purpose of education? Should education's sole purpose be to learn math, science, social studies, and language arts, or should its role be expanded to also encompass personal growth in other areas?
I may have inadvertently made this article and comment more complicated than necessary, but I think those are important questions to ask about education. Until the United States government and education system can come to a consensus, these issues will remain just what they are: controversy and debate.
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