3/7/2011 3:58:50 PM
Not really. It would make sense that the type of parents that buy books for children are also the type of parents that care enough about education to instill those values in many other ways.The same thing is found with parenting books, you don't have to actually read any of them to see results.[Edited on March 7, 2011 at 4:09 PM. Reason : which is actually another topic in Gladwell's Outliers]
3/7/2011 4:08:56 PM
^I actually think the parenting books may have been the thing I was thinking about. Anyway, we need to identify those "types" and those "values" and those "other ways." That's what's still hanging out there for me.Suppose it's actually completely and totally straightforward. Mom went to college. Mom uses college words in the home. Kid learns college words from Mom. Knowledge of college words naturally increases kid's test scores. Well, then the "solution" is simple: all moms need to study and use college words. All kids score well. BAM USA #1! I mean, it's stupid, but in a Western society that relies primarily on text to teach and test, one's ability to read is just about everything. And, excluding unusual cases, one's ability to read (and comprehend--the important part obviously) is ultimately determined by their knowledge of vocabulary. Increasing early (very early!) vocabulary attainment would make a world of difference.But then we'd have to admit that all along we've put our faith in a program that penalizes students for growing up in a home with parents that don't use big words. And we'd have to get real about the fact that it's not about reading story books to your kids before bed. It's about using big words. (I'm not saying this is the case. Just that it could be the case.)[Edited on March 7, 2011 at 5:30 PM. Reason : ]
3/7/2011 5:29:00 PM
To be clear, I'm in no way dismissing the benefits of reading with your children.I'm not sure what I'm saying, and I feel like my post is off-topic.Sorry, guys.
3/7/2011 6:16:00 PM
Read Outliers, its really entertaining and they spend a lot of time talking about exactly that type of stuff. If you're not a big book reader I can try to dig out my copy and can post some information on the actual studies they cite if you would like. He has all of the information on each study he cites in his notes section.
3/9/2011 9:21:10 AM
I've been hearing that book is good. Perhaps it will be with my next Amazon purchase.
3/9/2011 10:37:54 AM
seconded on outliers. I know Gladwell stuff is all hip and shit, but Outliers is by far his best work, and really changed my perspective on how people become experts or successful at what they do.
3/9/2011 10:40:25 AM
Yeah, i almost feel silly recomending it because of how trendy it is, but its a really good read and I think a lot of the material is directly applicable to a discussion on education. Even down to things as simple as cutoff dates and how they affect performance; maybe classrooms should be divided by birthdate so that children are in classrooms with children approximately the same age.
3/9/2011 12:57:32 PM
I know, I know. My mom has been trying to get me to read it for a while now. She even gave it to me on CD so I could listen in my car. I've only read snippets of it though. She's also given me Blink.But I remembered the finding that I was thinking about. It's from Freakonomics, another popular book I haven't read but pieces of. Levvit summarized some studies that indicated that, when it comes to standardized test scores, books in the home are more important than actually reading the books. And that reading to your kid every day or taking them to museums or limiting their television or moving to a nicer neighborhood...these things were not important either. The important things were socioeconomic status, parental education, maternal age, birthweight, speaking English, PTA involvement, and number of books in the home. In other words, it's not what you do as a parent...it's who you are. (I stole all this from wikisummarries.org, by the way).I don't necessarily think this is persuasive, but I've definitely independently doubted some of the benefits of educational games and storybook reading that are getting promoted as good prep for academics. And if it is a "who you are" situation, that's super depressing and suggests we need to change the way we teach and evaluate students, not expect parents to become different people.Tell me about Gladwell, please![Edited on March 9, 2011 at 10:05 PM. Reason : I'm not a big reader.]
3/9/2011 10:02:41 PM
off-topic a little.I read to my son dailly for 20-30 minutes since berf. At about 2 years he decided to start memorizing the books I read him. 2.5 he read them back to me. Yesterday he pulled A Wrinkle in Time off the shelf. At 3 I'm not sure he's ready to tackle that yet. Maybe we'll try reading it together?
3/10/2011 12:04:22 PM
3/10/2011 7:05:12 PM
^Totally!!!! And that kind of stuff is exactly what I mean by "elusive." In a book I actually did read about the Harlem Children's Zone (Whatever It Takes), it quoted Dr. Canada talking about Baby College and how they're trying to train parents to talk to their kids a lot, be positive with their words, and ask their children questions about the world around them, but a lot of parents are still doing the "read with them thirty minutes a day" thing or hoping Head Start/Smart Start/More at Four will prepare their children to "do well in school" (if that's even the most desirable outcome possible).I think we've actually identified some of the qualities that I'm still describing as elusive. But it's elusive because how do we actually inform policy and programs that help parents to relate to their children, the world, school, and learning differently? Should the schools change to accommodate and embrace their different approaches, or should we expect parents to change?Like, I know a parent who realized (waaaaay late) that her daughter was extremely behind in school. Now, she checks her daughter's homework on occasion and reads to her newborn every day (in an effort to avoid repeating the mistakes she made with her daughter). But she's so uneducated (not unintelligent), and how do you tell her: Uhhh, you can continue to watch massive amounts of daytime court TV with your kids, but you should probably stop shit talking people on the screen for their clothes and life choices (where shit talking is the biggest pleasure in your life) and instead, you should start talking about ethics/morality, society, law, poverty, justice, etc...the things you don't know much about (an ignorance you don't want to reveal to your children because you're afraid it would undermine your authority). ?
3/10/2011 8:14:45 PM
the best thing they could do is teach people to talk to their kids like middle and upper class people do, to fill their children with a sense of entitlement so that they feel secure asserting themselves among figures of authority. that's one of the things that the middle and upper class does that the lower class does now.
3/10/2011 10:02:14 PM
this is what i'm talking about
3/11/2011 12:31:11 AM
3/11/2011 9:32:44 AM
^ could you elaborate on what it is that makes SC so bad? I'm just curious. I live in Charleston and a lot of the Navy people here complain that their kids will be a year behind in school once they leave! And I imagine that rural areas are even worse.
3/11/2011 11:25:13 AM
mock slave auction in 5th grade... class was divided into 'slaves' and 'masters'... guess which side the black boy was placed on...http://www.theroot.com/views/masters-and-slaves?wpsrc=OB00000001&wpisrc=obnetwork
3/11/2011 12:29:53 PM
he probably got picked first though
3/11/2011 12:46:25 PM
qntmfred, I may have to come back and edit some things. I'm sort of letting the video you posted play while I eat lunch and type. It looks like he's talking a lot about mastery (nothing new there) and has some sort of courseware product he/his company made, and that it also provides feedback on individual student and class performance regarding specific objectives.Courseware solutions are all over the place. Some are good, some suck donkey balls. Some are prescriptive (automatlicly piece together which objectives the student needs to cover based on a pre-assessment). Some are not and require the student to go through the entire course. Some are meant for review, some are meant for students going through the course for the first time.The other thing, which he mentions specifically, is that traditional classes have to move on. Time is an issue. Using courseware doesn't change the school calendar. It doesn't change what material needs to be covered within a school year. It'd be great if a student could take as much time as they need to learn material --- some people are faster learners than others. It has nothing to do with HOW MUCH you can learn or your ability to master material, simply how quickly you master the material. --- the problem is that taking as much time as they need isn't practical when you're running a school that is being held accountable based on demonstrated profeciency of very specific objectives. If at the end of the year, you have to know X, Y, and Z... and you've only gotten to Y in the self-paced courseware... what then? Right, the student isn't profecient in Z.As for the profeiciency stuff he's talking about with specific concepts. A lot of school systems look at that type of data for their specific classrooms (as in like every few days so that they can go back and review). Most of the school systems in NC have some type of system to look at formative assessments and see where students need reinforcement.Another problem with courseware is it's ability to teach to a variety of learning styles. It's possible, imo (I have a little experience developing e-learning courses), to teach to different learning styles electronically... but it's very very difficult. Some students learn better through discussion or practice, or reading, etc. Courseware solutions may work extremely well for some students, it may be horrible for others.Another big thing about using courseware is that a lot of it comes down to student motivation. The students who are motivated enough to sit and go through self-paced courseware usually have no trouble in an instructor led classroom... where they don't need to be in front of a PC (funding required).I've talked to sales reps about three different courseware solutions over the past few months. They all sound like this guy.. to some extent --- the peer tutoring concept is interesting and one I haven't seen integrated like this before. -- But this guy is selling a product. He's giving us data on his product, like any other sales person... he's bias. I've seen their presentations, their "reports" on performance... and I've seen them in action. Are some of them good... absolutely. But... there are plenty of cons to go along with the pros.Maybe this one product is the meca of eletronic learning solutions... but I'm skeptical.Until national standards are in place all around the country, you have to be very careful about which courseware solution you use. One may be aligned with California standards. One may be aligned with NC standards and Florida standarsd because that's where their biggest clients are but not be aligned anywhere else. They may claim to be aligned, but not actually be aligned.You want the kid to be able to try a concept over and over until they get it, great! --- How deep is you item bank? How many times can they be assessed on that same concept before they see the exact same questions? Maybe the product has 1000's of questions for any one objective. Maybe they have 20.I've been meaning to come back to your original post about using technology, particularly with modern students.My initial (and unsubstaniated) thoughts are... I don't think students today LEARN any differently than students from the 60's. I think we are TEACHING differently. Learners from the 60's would have benefited (or suffered) the same way "modern" learners will with those methods.Technology is great. But you have to use it effectively. We probably all remember when the use of powerpoint got really big in our college classes. Some teachers use it much more effectively than those who used it because it was "the thing to do." We've all had instructors who stand in front of a powerpoint and read it verbatim --- That's shitty teaching. Sitting a kid down in front of a computer isn't enough in and of itself. At least not with any of the products I've seen.[Edited on March 11, 2011 at 2:35 PM. Reason : .]
3/11/2011 2:33:04 PM
3/11/2011 3:33:46 PM
^makes sense then that SC would end up so socially conservative^^lrn2spelplz: proficient, biased, youralso "Mecca" is capitalized and has two "c"sbtw for rbrthwrd: entitlement
3/11/2011 8:41:27 PM
... way to contribute. I'll give you proficient since I misspelled it a couple of times. I left the "ed" off of biased during a long post I was typing while doing other things, and there was a single instance of your where I didn't type the "r."The issue there is proofing, not spelling (except for maybe proficient). I don't proof tww posts.Save that shit for chit chat.[Edited on March 11, 2011 at 9:02 PM. Reason : .]
3/11/2011 8:58:14 PM
^ you seem pretty knowledgeable on this subject. what do you do for a living? i really appreciate your thoughtful responses, and i'll follow up on those at some point. thxp.s. here's an essay by ncsu's dr schwalbe about eduction + public policy http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/03/11-3[Edited on March 11, 2011 at 10:44 PM. Reason : link]
3/11/2011 10:39:34 PM
In just five short years in the classroom, I have watched my school system jump on any number of educational trends/programs only to abandon them in a shockingly inadequate time period to measure real results. If you want to make serious money as a salesman, re-package the same old ideas in slightly different ways with shiny new data and watch administrators become downright giddy.
3/11/2011 10:58:06 PM
^ yep. Truly assessing any kind of new method or academic program takes time. Administrations, in my experience, seem quick to jump ship if they don't see immediate results. And they do so without even making sure they've eliminated variables which may be causing them to not see the results they were expecting.^^ you have PMs . I have a teaching degree and work for a school system here in NC, but I'm not a teacher.
3/12/2011 2:47:26 AM
3/12/2011 12:27:56 PM
haha i tutored kids in math in Charleston and they had to use calculators to divide by 1. These were 9th graders. plus they knew a lot of naughty words and the classrooms were equipped with one of those lockdown buttons. so if the kids got out of control, security would come running. now i tutor 4th graders in massachusucks and they are way better.
3/12/2011 10:45:37 PM
Interesting video.Toward the end, Kahn and Bill Gates are talking about incorporating game mechanics into learning modules. This sounds a lot like a book (which I haven't read yet) that I heard about at a conference recently:James Paul Gee's Good Video Games and Good Learning (New Literacies and Digital Epistemologies)Here's an excerpt from a review on Amazon:
3/14/2011 11:25:01 AM
The Failure of American Teachershttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/randy-turner/public-school-teachers-fail_b_835174.html
3/15/2011 1:08:15 PM
all the idiots need to stop squirting out more idiot crotch fruit
3/15/2011 3:24:01 PM
while the merits of the particular solutions presented in this video are certainly up for debate, i think the first minute or so makes a great point. i have a very hard time believing that the primary framework and environment in which we educate children was perfected decades if not centuries ago. i really wish there were significantly more opportunity for experimentation in our school systems
5/5/2011 1:22:32 AM
what kinds of methods are new teachers being taught in their education programs? It would seem that the "this is the way it's always been done" approach doesn't start when the teacher enters the K-12 classroom, but at the very top when they enter their own classroom to become a teacher. If those people training our new teachers are from the old way of thinking where is the ability for a new approach able to enter the fold? Are the methodologies that are producing new teachers in this country as archaic as those we see in the public school system or does the schism form elsewhere?
5/5/2011 8:04:20 AM
^ it really depends on the university the teacher attended, especially if their degree is in education.[Edited on May 5, 2011 at 8:12 AM. Reason : Rawr]
5/5/2011 8:12:01 AM
As an educator, the methods used (by teachers doing what they are supposed to be doing) in the classroom today are research based and updated/modified according to the body of literature available, informal shared best practices among colleagues, and finally specified to specific classroom/student needs. Teachers also have strengths and weaknesses, and most teachers will use a variety of methods which play on their strengths. I will say that the classroom today is completely different than the classroom 10 years ago... and the things that teachers did 10 years ago do not fit the needs of students today. (not to mention 20 or 30 years ago)One of the big pushes for today is to emphasize "21st century skills" There is a new evaluation rubric used for teachers in NC that include the following main categories:
5/5/2011 11:10:48 AM
I agree with Smath. My grad course work emphasized new literacies/media more than anything else. Our trainings in the county typically stress the importance of 21st century skills and media, encouraging teachers to get with the times and meet students where they are information-wise. I recently completed a training in Young Adult literature that stressed meaning-making across multiple media types using programs like Presi, Voicethread, TodaysMeet, Glogster, and the like. On top of this, NC schools are moving towards the national common core standards rather than the traditional (read: last updated 2001) standards. We're currently working to update curriculum to meet the new standards.http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards
5/5/2011 12:47:12 PM
I'd like to open a charter school focused on trades... mechanics stuff, plumbing, electrical, construction, etc. There is a large group of kids currently being pushed through a college prep track and if they fail at it they are looked down upon. not every student should go to a 4 year school (right away at least) and should be supported and trained to be a productive member of society when they graduate.thing is i don't know the first thing about working on cars or the like so i don't know if i'd be the right person to open a school like that.
5/5/2011 9:28:43 PM
Welders can make $40 to $50 an hour if they're good. But they have to be willing to work hard.At the company I work for, Foreman average out at $25 to $27 per hour and are productivity bonus eligible. They work outside, run a 4 man crew, and operate heavy equipment. The skills that are needed are simple maths (addition, subtraction, percents, fractions, etc), algebra, ability to read plans, computer skills and trigonometry do not hurt. We have tried to hire people from operators schools, but the guys that go to these schools are not (lower level) manager types. Sure, its a hard living and it is not glorious work, but it does pay well with drive and a little experience.I agree with you Smath74, trades are definitely underserved in public education.
5/6/2011 10:51:17 AM
^,^^It is a serious shame. We miss out on a lot of people who would be really amazing craftsmen and tradesmen.
5/6/2011 4:08:48 PM
So awesome!
5/15/2011 11:46:34 PM
I feel bad for not reading anyone else's opinion, but people make the education system TOO complicated.Here are the fixes:1. This is a FREE country. Stop making school mandatory. 2. Make the system of rewards and punishment for students Rewards for doing good in school and the punishments for doing poorly in school should be made more polarized. Those that excel should get rewarded with medals, money credit for college, recognition. Those that do poorly, don't try, skip school should not be able to move on to the next grade until they get a C or better. If the student interrupts the class, remove them from it. This is a time penalty that they can fix by simply trying. If they can't get past a grade, then why send them into higher, more difficult class and waste people's time? Eventually they'll get tired of being held back and/or just drop out altogether since no one is forcing them to be there.3. Make the system of rewards and punishments for teachers Rewards for teachers where students feel they learned the most. Rewards for teachers for students with good test scores. Rewards for teachers that go above and beyond. Punish teachers who students chronically complain about. There is a difference between students that complain a teacher is too hard (this is a good complaint) versus a teacher that just sucks at teaching (I had a teacher that was impossible to understand due to his accent and sucked at teaching period).4. Give teachers guidelines for what to teach but let them teach it how they want to teach it.Stop firing teachers for going off the guidelines!!!5. Let adults who didn't recognize the importance of elementary school when they were children go back to school to start the education system all over. In college, I had people that were 60 years old in my classes when I was 19. It sounds weird to have children and adults in the same class, but it'll only be weird for a little bit. Some children are smarter than adults and some adults are dumber than children.Keep it simple, stupid.
5/16/2011 2:10:08 AM
5/16/2011 4:57:54 AM
And your plan is what, troll?
5/16/2011 7:20:17 AM
5/16/2011 8:13:44 AM
This is great: funny too
5/16/2011 5:21:13 PM
http://education.ted.com/
4/27/2012 9:55:01 AM
That's pretty cool. Flipping is a big deal right now, and is great when it's done well. It's nice to see a tool like this that helps teachers create resources.
4/27/2012 10:25:29 AM
i kinda hate that TED named that feature flipping thoughcus now we have "flipping the classroom" and "flipping the video"[Edited on April 27, 2012 at 1:56 PM. Reason : i think overloading the term like that is going to confuse people if this platform catches on]
4/27/2012 1:55:40 PM
Yeah, and I'm not sure "flipping the video" even really makes sense here. It's a pretty terrible name for a few reasons. What about the video as actually being flipped? Flipping the classroom is flipping where the different types of instruction take place -- that makes sense.This tool could really be used to enrich the flipping the classroom concept, so I get why they wanted to include it "flipping." Instead of simply using something like youtube, which mostly just hosts the video, this will host and provide the additional features (adding instructions, questions, etc. in a structured format). -- Those features and the structure could add a lot to the "independent" learning piece of the flipping concept. So cudos to them for the the platform... not so much for their naming.[Edited on April 27, 2012 at 2:28 PM. Reason : .]
4/27/2012 2:26:47 PM