A Recipe for Failure

I hold technology in very high regard, but I also recognize its limitations. It cannot solve all problems or remedy every ailment, and education is one example. The other day I visited a school to help a local high school use a computer-based program in his high school classes. During our time together, he mentioned that his class sizes average around 34 students per class. 34! Imagine taking over 30 adolescents with a range of abilities and attitudes, managing them in an orderly fashion, instructing them in an engaging and meaningful way, and then monitoring each student's learning while adjusting for each one's proficiency and deficiencies- all in 60 minute segments. Oh, and then do it over 4-5 more times with different kids each day! Is this the way to ensure a highly educated populace? Maybe that could happen with some kind of mega star teacher but...

Let's look at the incentives for teachers, I mean, they get their summers off right, so they got it made. Actually, gutter rats might get better treatment these days. In Michigan, Governor Snyder and his team have worked to restrict collective bargaining while pushing for reductions in school funding, and, as a result of that, the majority of Michigan districts have frozen or lowered salaries while requiring teachers to pay for a higher percentage of their benefits. So, heavier workloads, bigger class sizes, less support, and reduced pay and benefits- makes you want to jump into the profession right? The best people are more likely to jump off a cliff.

Now for the kicker- the state of Michigan is increasing its cut scores for standardized tests from around 40% to 65% in all content areas. The cut scores are the scores that students need to get in order to be deemed proficient. Granted, 65% is a reasonable goal, and we should strive to reach at least that; however, when the public sees the results of these scores, the main focus will be on how many students failed to be proficient.

Perhaps a more reasonable approach would be to increase the cut score by 10% each year and invest a little more in the strained schools and teachers instead of taking away their resources. If the current plan is carried out, an outcry will likely occur when test results show low proficiency rates, and people will curse public education and demand change. The environment will be ripe for making some drastic changes in the name of the common good.

Let's review: the state is increasing expectations of students and schools while cutting funding and treating teachers (the ones most responsible for increasing student achievement) like disposable lunch sacks. It's apparent that the government is up to something: possibly diminishing public education so that quality schooling will only be available in private schools. Elitism? Class warfare? I'll let you decide. I'm pretty sure no technology exists to fix it though.

Blogging in the classroom (629)

Blog, the word is still relatively new in our lexicon, and yet it has permeated our world. Any internet search will likely list a blog in the first page of options, and any Tom, Dick, or Harry can make one in 5 minutes. Estimates for the total number reach as high as 1 billion! Blogs can be used as a communication tool, a place for topical commentary, a medium for venting, and much more. When applied to education, all these uses are viable options that can enhance or even guide the classroom environment.

In my first blog experiences as a high school English teacher, I created a blog to use as a forum with my students. I posted discussion questions and students were required to answer the question and respond to others (I think I used Edublogs for this). Partly because I implemented it poorly, the process did not go well, and most students just posted very basic responses. At the same time, my colleague had each of his students create a blog in his science classes, and they were required to post notes and responses to class materials. It was bascially their lab book/ class notebook. He reported that students liked it but that the overall results were unsatisfactory.

I am now starting to use this blog as a way to post and discuss interesting professional material that I come across. I intend to use it as part of my professional development and professional learning community. Hopefully it will attract followers that will respond and share their own insight and links with me.

Most of the classroom uses for blogs (discussion, posting of material, individual commentary) can be achieved through other means, so I am not sure I would recommend teachers instructing students to set up blogs as a centerpiece of a class. If one does, it would require time for students to establish accounts, learn the features, and understand the etiquette of proper posting of content. Perhaps the best use of student blogs is as an option for representation of learning (i.e. a project or a portfolio collection). I think teachers can also effectively use them as a posting tool to which students can respond and discuss. As with anything, it is up to the teacher to make sure the process is smooth and worthwhile.

What do you think?

Laptops or tablets

I was just involved in a meeting today that was focused on choosing the best tablet for a 1 to 1 initiative in a local high school. I went to the meeting hoping to convince them that a laptop at a similar price range was probably more logical because they can do everything the school wanted as well as provide better typing features and more durability. The problem: the school has until the end of the month to spend the grant money, and there is no time for bidding anymore. So... they are going with an Asus model on the Android operating system. They are pretty sweet. I just hope it works out for them- I will be working a lot to help the implementation, which should be cool.