Wagner generally does not like tests. This is mostly because tests generally do not actually measure what they are supposed to be measuring and are too high stakes. Wagner does mention that if a test is well designed and well executed then the test is a viable test that will be useful, however this generally does not happen. He does talk about how high school exit exams are too high stakes and how if students do not pass the test then they will not be able to graduate from high school. Wagner thinks that this is wrong and that if a student has met the requirements then the student should be able to graduate from high school. Wagner brings up the point that students spend four years learning what they need to know to be able to pass the high school exit exams which likely makes them feel fatigued about learning. I definitely agree that this is a very good point; we spend most of a students four years in high school preparing them to take one or two tests where if they pass it they graduate and if they do not pass it they have to try again. I agree that the students likely feel very fatigued with learning by that point and have very little motivation to put forth the effort to really learn material if they only need it so that they can pass a test. He also talks about how the tests do not really reflect what is important and how many times they give definitions or things that are not the ones that are truly representative of a poem. I think that this is one of the major problems with tests, that they generally are designed to trick students it seems rather than actually test them on their knowledge and abilities. A problem that Wagner points out is that "37 percent of those students lacked the skills and knowledge needed for college" (Wagner 89). This is a major problem and I would agree with Wagner that one of the problems seems to be the test and how for the test, since it is so major, so much time is devoted towards preparing for it that the truly important skills are left out. I 100 percent agree with Wagner when he talks about how the accountability on schools from the tests is outrageous. I do think that it is very important to be holding our schools accountable for the tests, but the degree which the schools are held accountable for the tests is ridiculous. Having little to no support for schools who are falling behind while still expecting improvement from them is ludicrous. I think it is a very big problem when we as teachers are almost req
Throughout this chapter Wagner discusses his own experience with his credential program and professional development and a professional development that he has run in the past. One thing that he talks about with his own professional development that he has run is that a list of ten priorities is basically equivalent to having a list of no priorities as it is too unfocused to be able to really be accomplished. I think that this is a very important point, that we need to ensure that we are focused in the way that we are trying to improve our schools and that we make sure that that goal is the most important one that we can think of. This also holds very true with our individual teaching practices, if we try to take on too much at once we will never be able to truly improve, whereas if we are focusing on smaller parts of our teaching practice we will be able to improve our teaching practices a whole lot more; this is something that we have discussed multiple times in the program. Another thing that he discussed throughout this chapter is that there seems to be a general taboo of sorts against collaboration with other teachers. We do not go and observe other teachers' classes, nor do we have others observe our classes. This means that it is difficult for us to be able to improve as the best way to improve our teaching practices would be to work together since we are all already probably facing similar problems, or we have faced similar problems in the past. Fortunately we have been able to talk with the professors, our colleges, and our master teachers to figure out solutions to problems that we hav encountered in our practices. I cannot remember many times when either I have gone to my colleges or others have come to me with problems we have experienced and we have worked together to be able to
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google.html?_r=2
The executive in charge of personel at Google talks about what they look for when hiring employees. One of the very first things that he mentions is that a person's GPA is worthless and test scores are worthless for deciding whether or not to hire someone. I think that this is a very powerfull note, and I would have to agree with it in many situations. I especially agree with test scores because I have found that in general they rarely measure a persons ability and are generally testing whether or not someone can be tricked or not. There are of course exceptions, but I believe that in general tests are not the best way to see someone's ability. The probem with GPAs is that it is hard to tell what that GPA actually means, even if you know the specific classes that went into that GPA you cannot know whether or not that person was truly demonstratign their knowledge. This is not haowever to say that GPAs and tests do ot help to assess someone's ability, but they are not as important as they are made out to be. The executive talks about the most important skills for one to have when Google is looking to hire them. The first is cognitive ability by which he means the ability to learn and to adapt to new situations. I think that this is a very valuable skill that we as educators should be promoting. To do this we can give our students more independent learning projects and to help them be more driven to do discoveries of their own. The next thing he says is very important is the ability to lead by which he means the ability to step up and the ability to step down at the appropriate times. We need to help our students cultivate this by giving them more group projects and by scaffolding leadership skills for them. To do this we should first have a rotation so that all students get the opportunity to try leading, we should also set it up so that our students can try to lead at first with guidelines so that they know what to do to lead. We should then take away supports gradually so that in the end they are leading correctly. The next attributes are that students should have humility and the ability to take ownership. This means that they should have the passion to be able to defend their ideas with some amount of fervor, but if someone brings up a valid point be able to reevaluate their stance and make any correct adjustments needed. This is something that can be cultivated pretty easily in math classes by making sure students have the neccessary tools to be able to make arguemtns and to be able to adjust their arguements. This teacher shadowed two students for two days when she became a coach and found out some very valuable information for all teachers to know so that they can improve their craft as much as possible. The teacher noticed that when she was in the classes all day she rarely got the chance to move and was only really able to move in between classes. This caused her to be lethargic and want to move around during the class to help her to be able to actually pay attention in the class. She made the point that even if the classes were engaging, just sitting still all day with no breaks made it bad. I think that something that would aid me in my teaching is putting in times for the students when they can get up and stretch or put in times when they have to move around such as more group activities.
She also noticed that she spent most of the day passively absorbing information and the students had little time in every class where they had time to give their input and have their voices heard. When she asked the students she was following if she thought that the student's absence would have an effect on the rest of the class, the student just laughed. I think this is very bad and I unfortunately think this is true at my school and sometimes in my classes. Therefore I think it would be important to make sure that I am giving the students time to work together in groups and encourage them to make sure that their voices are heard. I do very much like her suggestion that we should address any confusions that students have about the material at the beginning of class allowing students some control over what they are having taught to them and allowing them to have their confusions cleared up. She noticed how much of the time sarcasm and snark are directed at students and how much students can feel like they are just nuisances in classes. I like her comment that sarcasm just creates a barrier between the students and their teachers, and that it does not really accomplish any kind of learning. I feel like I am pretty good at avoiding this kind of mistake. I find that I rarely use sarcasm directed at my students. I agree with her comment that questions are a good way to connect with students and by replying to students with sarcasm this breaks the connection and makes it so that the student feels devalued. Overall I have found some good things to do to improve my teaching. Dan Meyer at TED
https://youtube.com/watch?v=BlvKWEvKSi8&list=PLbRLdW37G3oMquOaC-HeUIt6CWk-FzaGp Lack of initiative, perseverance, look for formula, lack of retention, aversion to word problems. These are the symptoms that you are teaching math wrong. There is an impatience for irresolution, no problem is worth solving if there is no challenge. The way that math textbooks present problems are extremely formula driven, you can pass a unit without knowing any of the material, as long as you know how to decode a math textbook. This is an extremely big problem, we need to ensure that students are notjust following a formula, but are actually understanding the ideas behind the information. We need to eliminate all of the substeps then get them to try to guess what they think the answer might be. Give them a real world example. bait the hook. I think this will help students to join the mathematical conversations in the class. Talking about the sources of error provides extremely good conversations. Redefining what a word problem is helps. Use multimedia to combat initiative. Have students create the problem as Einstein says, this works really well. Math makes sense of the world, we need more patient problem solvers. Dan Meyer brings up extremely good points in this video that will help me to become an even better math teacher. I have faced many of the problems that are discussed in this video and know that the solutions he presents will aid me in becoming a better teacher. I think that it is important to make students understand that math is the language of the world and can help them to break it down. It also is important to have them decide what questions to ask. Ken Robinson Do Schools kill creativity?
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity I think that Ken Robinson brings up so many good points in this video. One big point that I will take with me when I become a teacher is that the current system of education is that it prepares students for university work rather than preparing them for life. He make the point that this means that if an alien would look at our education system to try to figure out the goal he would say that the ones who"win" in education would be the ones who become university professors. Something else I find very valuable is that he mentions that there are many different types of intelligences. Therefore we need to make sure that we are targeting students different types of intelligences and make sure that we recognize the values of these intelligences. He gives the example of a professional Ballet coordinator who was diagnosed in school as being disruptive and would not be able to succeed in school. However a psychologist noticed that she loved to dance and told her mom to take her to a dance school where the student succeeded immensely. This si something that goes along very will with the idea of multiple intelligences. We need to make sure that we are cultivating these types of intelligences in our students. Ever since I was a student I have seen that the current system of education forces students away from creative thought and makes them follow a set pattern. When I become a teacher this is one of the biggest things that I want to work on with my students and make sure that they do not lose their creativity. Gluten Free CookingI would like to learn how to cook gluten free products such as: pasta, tortillas, and pizza. I would like to know what is required to do the substitutions for the cooking. Do I need to know anything about the possible substitutions that I could use? What are the advantages of going gluten free for dietary reasons? What are things that can be done to increase the flavor of the gluten free products? Why is gluten bad for us? What should be avoided when trying to cook gluten free?
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Andrew PrimesMath Student Teacher working at Rancho Buena Vista High School Archives
May 2015
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