Class 9 Readings

           

1.      “This relationship involves a narrating Subject (the teacher) and patient listening Objects (the students).”

Anyone who is trying to be a teacher knows that you shouldn’t use the bank system in schooling. Students are not employees and should not be treated like a worker. Students are not just objects or puppets for the teachers to use. As teachers we need do the best we can to get rid of this idea that students cannot have a word. This is not old school teaching anymore, students need to have voices and definitely need to be heard. In order to have a good classroom experience for the students there needs to be a give and take relationship, not just a teacher centered classroom. From this quote, it seems the bank based strategy talks about the teacher and students as if they were test subjects in a chemistry lab. If students just sit there and try to absorb the knowledge there teacher is providing for them, they are not going to recall the information as well as teacher-student interaction.

2.      “Through dialogue, the teacher of the students and the students of the teacher cease to exist and a new term emerges: teacher-student and student-teachers.”

Yes, this is absolutely correct because the teacher and students are actually engaged with one another. Communication is a huge aspect of student-teacher relationships, and if there is no communication between each other than the classroom atmosphere will have tension and no student engagement. If we didn’t let students have choice or discussion, as teacher we would be keeping the students from important aspects of life. These aspects would include communication skills, creativity, self-expression, freedom of choice, decision making, and speaking up about what they may or may not believe in. As a future teacher I expect to have this type of relationship with most of my students. When this quote says teacher-student, it really stands out to me because being a teacher and adult, you in no way know all the answers. As a teacher I know I will learn something new every day I go to school and interact with students. Each time a teacher hears that bell and starts a new class, the roles reverse and teachers are becoming students themselves. Just listening to your students opens up so many more doorways and opportunities for yourself as an educator.

3.      “Problem-posing education bases itself on creativity and stimulates true reflection and action upon reality…..”

When I become an everyday teacher, it sounds to me I will use the problem-based education strategy. This obviously is a great strategy because it allows the students to be creative and have their voice heard in the classroom. I believe that every education class should promote creativity within the student. I am not saying every class needs to use the problem posing strategy, but there are other ways to get the most out of the students. It is important for the students to go through true reflection and action while attending school. Students need to have that choice to reflect upon what they are learning and use critical thinking in order to put that knowledge into action. If a teacher just uses data, test, and standard based teaching than how are those students going to use the knowledge they learned and apply it to real life situation? They are not. And this is where book smarts and street smarts come into play. If a kid is a great student and gets amazing grades on tests, will this child know what to do in an actual situation? That’s where street smarts and critical thinking play a much bigger role than knowing the answers for a test.

4.      “Great teaching has been great because it placed the learner’s needs and interests first.”

If a teacher or future teacher were to look at this quote, I would expect a response similar to “Duh!”  As I learn more about education and take a deeper look at the flaws in the system, it leads me to believe that many educators do not agree with this statement. It seems so simple to understand, the students are the learner, so why wouldn’t their needs and interests be first? Some teachers just teach to do it. I believe some educators in the United States do not care if the students are retaining their lessons, but are just there to give the information to them. Some teachers have the attitude that they are not going to change their teaching styles so students can learn and improve in the subject. In fact, their attitude is, I am not here to improve students grades and make sure they get the material, but I am merely here just to give the information to the students. This would be a clear example of a teacher not doing his/her job correctly and these types of teachers should not have jobs. Great teaching is considered great because the teacher changes his/her teaching strategies in order to help the student’s needs and interests. The teachers actually care about how the students are doing and not just about getting through the material as fast as possible. This is how correct teaching can be so beneficial to the students.

5.      “No standardized test for students can ever inform us of a teacher’s enthusiasm, caring, or belief that students can be successful- three factors that have an enormous effect on student achievement and self-esteem.”

When a student gets a standardized test put in front of them without being prepared, their self confidence is going to drop immediately or they will choose not to care and give up by shutting down. I believe there is way too much standardized testing going on in the public school system and it is taking away teacher and student time from the classes. This quote makes a great point by basically saying students and teachers need that time and it is more valuable than people think. Teachers have the ability to motivate and improve student achievement just giving the students a voice. Sometimes students just want to be heard and know that someone other than his/her parents actually cares. The teacher plays a bigger role than educator, in many ways it plays parent, brother, sister, and role model; therefore keeping these students engaged and involved in schooling. Teachers cannot give up on students, they need to show a fair amount of belief in every student, if not, students will shut down and put education on the back burner.

6.      “Every classroom should have not merely a qualified teacher, but a great teacher. But for this to happen, we must move the definition of “qualified” back from quantity indicators (test scores, college degrees, number of years teaching, and other items easily tallied) and onto quality, by teaching teachers about efficacy and caring, about the ways one can empower and engage students, while allowing teachers to retain their “distinctive character”.”

This is my favorite quote from the three weeks of reading because it sums up so much information in a matter of three lines. When observing schools, people pay too much attention to the quantity indicators of the teachers, but what does quantity have anything to do with great teaching? Just because a teacher has college degrees and has a whole lot of teaching years under their belt does not mean they are a great or even good teacher. I have teachers in my major today that have the credentials and all the degrees in the world, but are lack of a better word, awful teachers. A teacher needs to be personable in order to receive great responses from their students. In my opinion you can have the word Doctor in front of your name and not encompass what it takes to be a successful and great teacher. What this quote says is, teachers need to have more than just the mastery of in the information they are teaching. They need to have the characteristics it takes to make a great teacher. These characteristics include efficacy, caring, communication, listening skills, and engaging the students in your classroom. This quote proves that affective characteristics outweigh the cognitive characteristics in being a teacher.

Class 8 Readings

1.      Typically, on one wall, a “Big Goal” poster proclaims the class objective: “Students will, on average, achieve 80 percent of their learning goals based on state standards.” (Alex Diamond-TFA)

This is why I am worried about Teaching for America, because once again the school systems are focusing on state standards as their main goals. The government enforced this strategy in order to try something different to help our education system, but by making the focus state standards again, the education system is going in circles and not forward. I mean this is what the students are going to see once they enter the classroom. Don’t you think if high school students saw this poster they would be intimidated?  Once again education is asking these kids to live up to a certain standard, they want them all to be molded into the same person, but different bodies. I thought teachers were here to promote creativity and individualism, but by bringing more teachers that are promoting standards into school is only adding fuel to the fire that actual educators are trying to put out.

2.      Very few of us, including me, had formal education training prior to joining TFA. Our ideas of how to teach come mostly from a five-week summer training institute that promises to give new recruits the tools they will need to be successful teachers. (Alex Diamond-TFA)

As a future educator I don’t believe that a five week summer training program is going to help the teachers working for TFA. I am a five year senior and as I am about to go out into the field I still don’t believe I am as ready as I can be to teach to students yet. Don’t you think these people should have formal teaching education prior to teaching students? I think they should because they are taking jobs away from people like me and I find it unfair that I m going through the education undergraduate program, busting my ass, and these people are getting to teach students only having 5 weeks of training. What does this say about education? It seems to me that education is easy and anyone can do it. No, that’s false. People who choose to go into education want to make a difference in student’s lives and it is not like I have just been going through the motions these five years. I actually want to be a teacher and I don’t really agree with how these people who are in Teachers of America find something that sounds easy and gives good pay and jump at the opportunity. It is unrealistic that these teachers can get the best tools in five weeks; it is just not going to happen. And maybe this is why the teachers are unsuccessful in their first year.

3.      Because of the way we’re trained, TFA teachers tend to be very test-, data-, and standards-driven. TFA teachers are taught to begin with state standards, break them down into specific skills, and then write test questions for each skill. (Alex Diamond-TFA)

So a TFA teacher admits that the training he received was test, data, and standard driven. So the program is five weeks long and concentrates only on standard driven teaching. Now I definitely do not have anything good to say about Teachers for America. I just don’t understand how the United States is trying to fix the problem by actually using the problem their trying to fix. Standard based teaching is the problem in the first place, so why is TFA using that type of teaching to train the TFA teachers? They are just enforcing the problem. To be honest, if they want success in this strategy they should actually use certified educators to teach in their program. I think people who went to school for education would be great for this program, but the only think they wouldn’t like is usually leaving after two years are spent at one school. The United States needs to let the teachers do their jobs and stop trying to fix something they cannot fix.

4.      From the perspective of TFA, my lesson would be successful if students were able, on average, to recall 80 percent of that information on my test. (Alex Diamond-TFA)

First of all, who are they to say what measures success in school? And how do they come up with the number of 80 percent? To me TFA is setting the students up for failure again. 80 percent is an unlikely number, especially coming from teachers who do not have the background in education. They are expecting students to recall information that is not being taught well and probably being taught in a teacher centered way. If TFA actually thinks 80 percent is how you measure success than they are never going to see a positive outcome because they are basing this statistic on standardized testing and teaching. You cannot measure of a lesson based on recalling information on a test. There are many things that go into recalling information, yes the lesson is important, but it is how you teach the lesson. But if the students improve from past test scores, isn’t that considered success? In my mind any type of improvement is success especially when looking at previous grades or test scores. TFA does not have the background needed in education to set a bar that high for students, they just don’t understand education.

5.      But TFA training has not included many of the strategies that I find most effective. TFA’s test-based and standards-driven orientation stifles creativity, and nowhere in TFA training did anyone present the type of lesson that I taught on World War I. (Alex Diamond-TFA)

Once again we have someone who is a part of TFA stating that the program has many flaws. Being a future educator it is pretty obvious that TFA does not have the strategies that are the most effective. As a teacher, you strive for the students to utilize creativity and self expression, but test based and standard driven orientation does not promote this type of learning. When reading this quote Alex has learned how to improve is teaching by just being in the field. The last line of this quote proves that he used his student teacher interaction in order to make a successful lesson. This goes back to when I said the best way of learning on how to teach is being in the classroom with the students. I am a semester away from student teaching and I know I still have a lot to learn before I can be a full time teacher, but I know I am going to come away with a lot of knowledge when I go out and student teach. Being in the classroom setting for 16 weeks is going to make a huge difference in how I teach, negatively and positively.

6.      But now, just as my fellow 2008 corps members and I come into our own as teachers, we near the end of our two-year commitment. The students of low performing schools tend to already be victimized by relatively inexperienced teachers who don’t last that long. TFA perpetuates that problem. (Alex Diamond-TFA)

Alex makes a great point in this quote by bringing up the 2 year commitment each teacher has when being a part of TFA. How can students have relationships with their teachers if they are only at the school for 2 years? Maybe the TFA program could work if they make some slight adjustments to it. These teachers will learn how to be better once they get experience under their belt, but how can they make a connection with students if they leave after two years. This school hopping is a huge disadvantage to the teachers and the children; 2 years is just not enough time. As a teacher coming into these students’ lives, you are supposed to gain their trust. By doing this you show your students that you actually care about them and want to see them do well, not only in school, but in life as well. What does this show the students if you just get up and leave with no problem? It gives the students the idea that you never really cared about them and you are like every other educator they have been dealing with since they’ve been in school. And this may also hit home because some students may not have a mother or father, but they saw you as that role model and adult figure, and here you are leaving their lives without any hesitation. It might seem a little too familiar with them.

Class 7 Readings

Class 7 Readings

1.       “The notion that just about any Joe Blow can walk in off the street and take over a classroom is gaining ground. It makes me nervous……The right teacher proof curriculum is not sufficient; children need real teachers, and real teachers must be trained.” (pg 104-Susan Ohanian-Anthology)

I agree with this quote because I to feel as if education is going in that direction. The program Teaching for America is an example of how education, especially in cities, is using untrained teachers. Granted these teachers have undergraduate degrees, they are not specifically trained enough in the field of education.  If the United States is going to fix their problem in the school systems, the politicians need to stop coming up with new ideas and fix the actual problems at hand by using the people who know the schooling the most: Teachers, parents, and students. These three groups of people know the education the best, and instead of avoiding their ideas, politicians need to listen and incorporate the knowledge they bring to the table. Teachers are teachers for a reason, to help and impact the children that are learning from them. The only way public education can improve is if schools and government trust the trained teachers. Why is it teachers get stepped all over when they are the ones who have the most impact on the students?

2.       “When I wasn’t inventing projects, I was taking courses: cardboard carpentry, architectural awareness, science process, Cuisenaire rods, Chinese art, test construction and evaluation, curriculum development, and so on.” (pg 105, Susan Ohanian, Anthology)

This is a prime example of how hard a teacher has to work in order to improve all the areas of teaching. This quote shows how dedicated some teachers can be to provide the best education for their students, but the key word in the sentence is some. Not all teachers are this dedicated, but the ones who are can have a very good response from their students because it shows the students the teacher actually cares. I feel as if in your first couple years this is the type of dedication every teacher should strive for. Granted this example may be a little over the top, it still demonstrates the passion that teachers need to have for their students. If a teacher is not passionate about his/her job and students, they will hate their jobs and students will not give them the respect and cooperation they need from them to be successful.  I think it is very important as a teacher to be involved in as much professional development programs and clubs to advance your classroom learning environment.

3.       “All I could manage at first was to teach as I had been taught. But as I learned more about the students and about ways to get around the assigned curriculum, a more ideal classroom began to emerge in my head.”(pg 108, Susan Ohanian, Anthology)

I feel that this is a normal occurrence as student teachers graduate from college and receive their first job in education. Future educators go through so many classes about how to be a better teacher and I feel as if our professors want to mold us into a certain type of teacher. But the truth is you do not become better teachers until you have the experience out in the field and you interact with the students. Yes, everyone learns a lot of necessary information through their college professor regarding education, but future teachers do not gain the most knowledge until they are put out into the classroom setting. I think it is funny how teachers actually have to work around the curriculum to get the most success out of their students. From what I keep reading, hearing, and observing I feel as if teachers would be better off making their own curriculum for each class. I really feel that the teachers of the class are the only people that know what is right for their classroom and how their students will react to the material. Just some food for thought.

4.       “In the last two years, 50,000 kids attended summer school in Chicago in the name of standards. Tens of thousands were held back a grade.”(pg 185, William Ayers, anthology)

This statistic surprises me, but doesn’t surprise me considering the road our education system is going down. When I read that 50,000 kids have attended summer school in the state of Chicago in the last two years it makes me think that are public school systems are failing in big cities. Even though Chicago is the only city mentioned in this book that has a clear statistic, I guarantee other big cities such as Los Angeles, New York, Houston, and Miami have a similar statistic. The key phrase in this quote that really stuck out at me was “in the name of standards.” If a clear statistic like this is out in the open, then why hasn’t anything changed in education dealing with the standards? This quote attacks standard based teaching and learning and how this type education is not benefiting the students. So why are public schools so intent on using it? 50,000 students in one city, how does this type of statistic not affect the curriculum? This proves that the achievement gap between minorities and whites is not making baby step, but in fact taking steps backwards.

5.       “If city schools are to be retooled, streamlined, and made workable, and city schools are to become palaces of learning for all children, then we must fight for a comprehensive program of change.”(pg 185, William Ayers, Anthology)

Again another quote that makes city schools the main target for improvement. These students are lucky enough to have a free education, but are the kids benefiting at all? From reading this quote, I don’t think these students are receiving beneficial education. From the living and family situations that these students may be coming I think school needs to be the place they escape to in order to get away from their personal turmoil. But instead, it is a struggle to even get these students to attend school and even stay enrolled in the school. I believe it is the teacher’s jobs to keep the students motivated and wanting to learn the material in school, but from reading this quote it seems to me teachers are giving up on certain students and only caring about the ones who are gifted.  From the reading I just don’t see the fight by certain educators to make a change in the public schools, but I believe if anything is going to change for the positive it has to come from the educators and students, no one else.

6.       “I began to realize that when I gave students multiple ways to express learning or gave them a say in how they could show what they knew, more students were engaged.”(pg 188, Carol Ann Tomlinson, Anthology)

This is an example of great teaching because he is giving students different ways to show him the answer. As a teacher you have to remember that all students learn differently and respond to questions in many ways. If a student is not a good writer than it is your job as a teacher to adapt to that child’s learning by allowing that student to answer the questions orally. This is a perfect example of keeping a student engaged because you keep their self-esteem high because he/she has given you the right answer, but not on strict terms. This will motivate the students to stay involved in the class because now they know they do not have perform assignments or come up with answers one way and one way only. As a teacher, it is important to remember that student engagement is one of the most valuable factors in having a great learning environment. If you do not have student engagement in the class it becomes teacher centered and this will lose whatever engagement you have left.

class 6 readings

1.       Do kids who go to school like these enjoy the days they spend in them? Is school, for most of them, a happy place to be? (Kozol, ch 7, 163)

Students want to go to a school that has nice facilities and school supplies. I think it is tough for the children to be motivated if they go to a school that has nothing. School needs to be an outlet for some students because of their bad family life and their living arrangements, but having school in bad condition is not a place students want to be.  I don’t think it is a happy to be and to be honest once students get in the school, they probably shut down. By this I mean, they don’t care about learning or getting an education once they enter that school.  A huge part of motivation is scenery and the looks of things, and if students don’t have that surrounding them than they will not be motivated. Educators have to remember that students attend school to get away from the reality and walking into buildings that are the same as the ones they are trying to get away from, students will shut down.

2.       When a boy gave him a good and careful answer to a question, he reached out his hand, palm flat, and met the child’s hand, palm flat as well…. (Kozol, ch 7, 166)

I love this quote in the book because I feel like I have been reading so many negative things about education and teaching, to finally hear something like this is great. We finally have an example of good teaching. Yes, feedback is important for these children, especially at a young age. It takes me seven chapters of reading to come across something positive about educators. This is a perfect example of keeping children motivated to learn. This type of feedback keeps the child’s confidence up and if confidence is up than the child will want to learn more. Some people might look at this and say, there is no need for high fives in the classroom. My response to that is, why not? Just because children are in a classroom setting, does not mean they are not allowed to enjoy themselves.  It is important for children to receive that encouragement in the classroom, rather than the pressure. It is pretty obvious to me that students respond much better with positive feedback and providing this to the students will increase the students will to learn.

3.       “Chemistry labs with no chemicals at all, literature classes with no books, computer classes where we sit there and talk about what we would be doing if we had computers.” (Kozol ch 7, 171)

What are the kids learning if they do not have the materials that correlate with the class? I understand if the school does not have money to supply these materials, but on the other hand I think the teachers need to take initiative and provide some materials themselves. As a teacher, you need to figure out ways to gain your students attention and keep them wanting to learn. Two movies come to my mind when thinking of this, Dangerous Minds and Freedom Writers. The two teachers in these movies do a great job trying to do whatever they can in their power to provide their students with a chance of learning. They provide students with materials and field trips out of the schools budget, and this teaching strategy works. Once again the students need to be motivated, and giving them different environments and materials will keep them interested in learning. On the other hand, a school should not be open if it has these conditions. You cannot have classes without these essential materials, and that’s why I feel schools need to join together and become one, or schools that have materials need to share them with other schools.

4.       “I saw a rat in room 28.”   “The room smelled very bad and it made me sick to my stomach. There was blood all over the place.” (Kozol ch 7, 172)

I don’t know even know how to react or respond to this quote. Neither children nor adults should be in this type of environment, especially not a school. This type of environment is not healthy for anybody to be learning or teaching in, and I am amazed that there are schools like this in the United States. If I was a teacher or student in that school I would never want to show up. No one should be learning in that type of environment. I don’t have anything else to say besides; it is ridiculous that school have come to this. From reading this, school is not a safe haven anymore.

5.       Because of the way the schedule was arranged, roughly half the children had no summer break; a child completed one grade in the final week of june and began the next grade three days later. (Kozol ch 7, 173)

I feel as if students should not have this type of schedule in school. An overload of students like this should not be going on in cities, if it is than they need to come up with some type of resolution. Students are at school for more than half a year, and then you expect them to continue school during their only real break. Yes, summer school is a good thing for students, if they need it, but to expect students who have been busting their butts in school to go to school during the summer is ridiculous. Overloading schools with population is becoming a huge problem in big cities, but finish one grade at the end of june and start another in july is out of control. They are still kids and need their breaks, and summer is really the only one they have. IT should not be taken away from them; that is the one privilege they always get.

6.       “Sometimes I feel when we go to testing, we are actually missing big part of a class….and you never know when a class will make you see life differently.” (Kozol ch 7, 184)

This is an amazing quote to me because it comes from a student that people may never listen too. It comes from someone who hasn’t been given the chance to prove themselves. But most of all, the quote is written down for people to read. It came from a question that Kozol asked students to answer. I think when things are written down, they have so much more meaning and they seem to be more truthful. To see and read what this student wrote to Kozol, makes you realize as a reader, what these kids are going through in their schools. It is obvious that this student hates testing and wants to be in the classroom. To actually hear that from a student is something a teacher always wants to hear. This student actually wants to learn because they what they learn can be useful to them in the future. What does standardized testing do for their future? Students need to have the opportunity to soak up as much knowledge as they can, and standardized state testing jeopardizes this.

class 5 readings

1.       “Some go further and fake an address in an upscale catchment area that has an excellent zoned school” (Kozol, ch 6, pg 137)

It is obvious from this quote, parents want their children in a good school, and will go to extreme measures to achieve it. But in my opinion parents should not have to resort to this. Why can’t cities and towns make their zoning restrictions different? If cities and towns widened their zoning districts, it would give many less-privileged students an opportunity of a lifetime. It could give them an opportunity to finally experience a good education. Some parents have to be careful though because they risk the chance of actually putting the daughter/son into a bad school. Just because the school has great test scores and good facilities does not mean it has good educators and curriculum. Therefore parents really have to do their homework and check out the future schools they want to send their children to.  I just don’t get why we do not give all children an equal chance of going to good schools. Now states have lotteries for children to see if they can get a better education. Really? All they have to do is open up the zoning districts. This way you will have much more mixed schools and you will be giving much more opportunities for children of race.

2.       Twenty six years ago, in 1979, black students represented nearly 13 percent of Stuyvesant’s enrollment; today they represented only a meager 2.7 percent. (Kozol, ch 6, pg 140)

Hard to think that schools back in the 70s had more black students than they do today. It is obvious when I read Kozols book, racism and segregation are still very much alive. We supposedly ended racism almost 40 years ago, but if you look at schools in the city, many of them are segregated. Why is it the percentages of black students in schools have lowered and not gone higher? That’s a question that may have many answers, but I can tell you one reason is that cities have schools in lower income area; therefore most of the students that would go to that school would be different ethnicities. The states are only hurting their education by keeping these lower level schools in business. They really should join schools around the area so all students of color have the same opportunities as one another. This segregation is not helping the students because there is no diversity in the schools and the all black schools do not seem to be focused on the good of the child. It is pretty ironic that education in cities is more segregated than it was back in the 1970s.

3.       “Seventy percent of the students at the school were Level Ones; this is usually the last chance for these children.” (Kozol, ch 6, pg 142)

First of all, who are these teachers to categorize students into different levels? When reading Kozols book I found that teachers and schools classify students into levels 1-4; Level four being the best and Level one being the worst. Our education has gotten to the point of grouping the children in our school systems; doesn’t this seem a little wrong? Yes, some students need guidance once they reach middle and high school, but to call them level ones is demeaning, especially coming from people in education. By grouping students into levels like this, they are basically telling the parents and educators which students are good and which students have no chance to succeed. This goes against everything that a teacher is about. Teachers are supposed to be people who find the good in students, and help them improve in school throughout their educational years. When I read this quote, all I hear is a teacher that has given up on “level one” students. What kind of impression does that give to the students? Educators need to be the back bone of the students, because you never know what type of family life they have or what kind of childhood they went through. School needs to be the students escape from these types of tragedies, and when reading this I feel as if the students do not have an escape, instead they have teachers grouping them and disregarding them.

4.       If other choices did exist, she said, they were not mentioned.  Nobody had told her that the problems here were every bit as grave as those from which she thought she had rescued him. (Kozol, ch 6, pg 144)

It seems to me people in education leave out the important facts when dealing with parents. When a parent wants to do best for his/her child they expect to get the best information on the schools at hand, but are parents being left in the dark? From reading this quote, I gathered that educators leave many points in the dark when talking to parents about new schools. This is why parents cannot trust anybody when it comes to schools for their children. Parents need to do their research before sending their child to a school. It is important that they are not left out in the dark because it can lead to a bad choice. Word of mouth is not always the best way to go about things, because you cannot always trust what you hear. If parents want to make the right choice they need to ask question and do their own homework on the schools at hand. From reading this quote it is obvious you cannot trust anyone in the education field when it comes to schools, so parents need to take things into their own hands. This parent was obviously left in the dark and sent her child to a school that had just as many problems as the other one she was trying to get her child away from. So when it comes to placing your own flesh in blood in a school, trust no one.

5.       I had the sense instead that they did not know how to voice their feelings on a matter fraught with so much anger without using words like these. That hard edge softened somewhat when I turned to one, and then another, and addressed them individually. (Kozol, ch 6, 146)

When talking to students that have come up in an awful education system it is clearly hard for them to voice their opinion without any anger. They have dealt with so much when it comes to education. These kids do not have the resources, the facilities, or the teachers; you expect them to be very angry. And when someone comes into their school asking questions of course they are going to have attitude.  These kids have been screwed over so much in their education; they do not trust anyone, especially a white person. People have taken them for granted and gave up on them at an early age of their lives. They do not know any better than to react with such hate towards the school system, they feel mistreated.  But when Kozol talked to these students individually, the kids felt at ease to open up to him and tell them how they feel. Kozol showed real interest in the students, he showed that he cared and actually listened to them. The students at the school have probably never had someone do that for them. They might not have someone that cares enough to listen to them. It is obvious these students just wanted to be heard and understood; Kozol was able to give the students that opportunity.

6.       The Bronx High School of Science, I discovered when I took a walk around the neighborhood, is only two long blocks from Walton High. It might as well be in another country. (Kozol, ch 6, 150)

Honestly, two blocks away from each other, but two totally different schools. The Bronx High School of Science has great facilities and a great reputation when it comes to teachers and curriculum. Only a mere two blocks away there is Walton High, awful facilities, teachers who have given up on the students and a school that is very segregated. So if The Bronx High School of Science just put up new facilities and is a great school for students to attend, why doesn’t the state of New York change their zoning district, so students from a driven down Walton High, have the chance to attend a beautiful Bronx High School of Science. Is it really that hard to make this happen? Education is a huge topic of conversation these days, especially in the cities, but I don’t feel as if they are doing everything possible to improve it. Instead of having a lottery for student to attend a good high school, allow students to join other schools, especially if that school has the facilities to make it happen. Our education in urban setting can be improved drastically by making one change, but it can also improve students well being as well.

class 4 readings

1.       I  don’t know many principals and teachers who believe that the repeated measuring of children’s skills by standardized exams has had a positive effect upon the processes of education; I know many more who feels it has the opposite result. (Kozol, Ch. 5, pg 110)

There is always going to be educators who are pro standardized test and anti standardized tests. The repeated measurements of these tests take away from the actual learning that the teachers are there to provide for the students. Ok, I think we all agree that having standardized tests are good for the children, but there are so many tests out there now that the process is getting repetitive and a bit ridiculous. Children are being tested from the ages of 4 to 18 during their educational process, but are it really necessary to be this extreme with these standardized tests? I know I never really had to deal with all these tests because I went to private school since the age of 8, but feeling the pressure of regular classroom tests overwhelmed at a young age, I could only imagine all the pressure these children are feeling when it comes to an overload of state testing. This state testing is not allowing teachers and principals to do things their way, it is forcing them to do everything the states way.

2.       “If the road does not lead to Rome, we don’t want it followed.” (Kozol, Ch.5, pg. 111)

This quote really bothers me because I cannot fathom how a teacher can say this about education and learning. What I am gathering from this quote is that students need to perform a certain way in order to be successful. Once again this brings up the topic of students being molded into the “perfect” students. This educator says there is only one road to lead to success. Who is this person to say that Rome is the ultimate goal of a student? And to be honest there is always more than one way to get to a destination; therefore students can take many different roads in order reach Rome. This quote goes against everything an educator is about, saying students cannot be creative or use self expression to find their way. Has state testing brainwashed our schools system so bad, that educator have resorted to saying this type of crap. This is the type of pressure that standardized testing has put on our students, if they do not perform well on these tests; teachers are not going to waste their time on them. What kind of message does this send to students that are not great test takers?

3.       “Our entire 90-minute literacy block was knocked out all last week in second, third, and fourth grades.” (Kozol, ch 5, pg 112)

So trying to mold students into the states standardized norms, teachers are made to give up their class periods. Well, instead of a literacy block, why doesn’t the state make classes that are only dedicated to the state testing?  It seems to me the education is more focused on testing the children than teaching the children. Cutting ninety minutes of teaching time is ridiculous to me, especially at the grades of second, third, and fourth. These kids are so young, and many students at this age enjoy waking up and going to school five days a week, but implementing these standardized tests into class time is going to turn students away, and make them hate school.  If standardized testing takes a hold of the education, children will not want to attend school because of the pressure they are feeling. What happens to students that do not attend school in the urban setting? I think that means they end up on the streets, either homeless, selling drugs, or becoming a gang member. School is supposed to be something that children enjoy, not despise and I am afraid that students are leaning in the opposite direction of enjoyment.

4.       Kindergarten is not like it used to be. (Kozol, ch 5, pg 115)

This quote is pretty self-explanatory, kindergarten and elementary school is not the way it used to be. Starting children at such a young age with standardized testing is not healthy for education, parents, and the children. These tests are putting way too much pressure on these young students. These students are not adults, their kids; 4, 5, and 6 years of age. I remember when I was in kindergarten, it was fun and I loved going to school every day. I didn’t think it would change so dramatically for the worse seventeen years later. Everyone is so concentrated on doing what is best for their children, but do not realize what they are doing is hurting them. They are in kindergarten, let them be kids and enjoy school. Do not put all this pressure on them, at this age they shouldn’t even feel pressure or even know what it is. Just because a kindergartener does not have the scores he/she should have at that age, does not mean he/she will not succeed or get smarter. They’re children and they have a lot more developing to do, so instead of jumping to conclusions and forcing pressure upon them, let them be in the moment and enjoy their childhood.

5.       “We are intent on improving academic performance, you don’t do that by hanging on the monkey bars.” (Kozol, ch 5, pg 120)

This quote correlates with the quote one above. I cannot understand how schools could cut recess out of the academic day. Yes, recess has nothing to do with academics, but I cannot stress this point enough, these are children the teachers are dealing with. They need to have their free time while at school. You cannot have students this young cooped up in a school for 7-8 hours a day and expect them to participate and perform to their fullest, it’s not going to happen. I agree teachers need to start improving academic performance at a young age, but schools can achieve this goal by using the class time. Teachers need to use their classroom time wisely. This means teaching everything that is on the lesson plan, not worrying about testing the children and their results. Their performance has nothing to do with the 30 minute recess they get every day, it has to do with using correct time management and teaching the students what they actually need to be taught.

6.       But I walked into the office of the school one day in mid-July and found the principal in tears. There were her test scores in The New York Daily News! (Kozol, ch 5, pg 123)

This absolutely blew my mind when I read this. Not only does standardized testing put pressure on the students taking them, but the principal of the school has to worry about the media making them public. Why does the public have the right to see these scores? Maybe this is a reason teachers and principals put a huge amount of pressure on the students. I guess the principals are trying to save their own ass, so by doing that they overload their students with standardized testing. Great idea. I do not agree with a newspaper having the scores for the public to see, but maybe it is some type of karma, so the school systems go about the whole testing thing a different way. It still boggles my mind to think that state test scores are all that people care about. Just because someone does not perform well on state tests does not mean they are a bad student or dumb. I remember all throughout middle school and high school I was diagnosed with test anxiety, and I barely performed well on standardized testing. I like to think I have done pretty well for myself. Our school systems have to limit the state testing, it is only making education worse, taking away from class time and putting a numerous amount of unneeded pressure on students.