Response to Interviews

I had the opportunity to interview two people involved in the public education system in the Philadelphia area school district recently and their opinions on education were both informative and interesting to hear with regards to their implications for the specific schools where they work and also fro education as a whole in the US. Through the questions that I asked them I was able to gain an insight into how their schools function and into what it means to be a student and also to be a part of that learning community. Of the two people I interviewed one was an administrator who will be referred to as administrator A for the purposes of this reflection and the school that they worked at will be referred to as School B. The other person i had the opportunity to interview was a teacher who currently teaches 7th and 8th grade social studies. The teacher will be referred to as Teacher X and the school they worked at will be referred to as school Y for the purposes of this reflection. I will focus on  a couple key issue that really stuck out to and showed an interesting contrast and agreement of opinions from my interviews and they are ones that I felt really have an impact on education today.

The administrator that we interviewed had interesting response when asked about the performance of the children in school A on the state wide tests that they are required to take every year. They said that a large percentage of the students were not in fact performing up to grade level standards according to the tests that they were being given. Without further information on the statistics and probably access to the test i cannot make a conclusion as to whether or not this is the fault of the school or the fault of the test itself. That however, was not what I found most interesting about the administrator's response though. The administrator then went on to say that they tend to not put too much weight on that metric and prefer to look at how the students perform in class and on the projects that they do for their teachers. In essence they are looking for different metrics of success on which to judge their students which is all well and good but I would worry about the root cause of the low performance and question whether a fundamental problem is being ignored here.   

When I interviewed Teacher X for this assignment I also talked to them about the performance of the students on the tests in the school and Teacher X told me that the students in school Y were also performing below standard on the state tests specifically they found out in reading. With the majority of students in the classroom performing below grade level on the state tests. Teacher X thought that this was a problem and it was brought to their attention by the english teacher who teaches the same kids found in teacher X's classes. Teacher X had a different solution than the Administrator that I interviewed though Teacher X decided to make a word wall in their classroom to help students reading comprehension in a way that could be related to the subject matter they were teaching. This was much different from the issue was dealt with in School B although it is important to note the different positions that the two people I interviewed had on the matters at hand. The Administrator was a much better position to dictate school policy than the teacher was and that probably had an effect on how the problem was dealt with within the schools.     

Another issue that I found out about during my interview process was the disciplinary procedures in the schools and how the students are interacted with. Teacher X had a very interesting take where they told me that the same cycle of behavior happens every year where they find that in the beginning most of the students behave appropriately but eventually there are always a few that figure out they can only be sent home a limited number of times. After that there are really no consequences for acting out in school and this means that the children have no real reason to not act out and creates a difficult environment in which to teach. Teacher X told me that it can be tough especially as they get closer to the end of the year and that you really have to pick your battles when deciding what to call the students out on with regards to misbehavior. I found this interesting and I feel that if there was one thing that teacher X would change it would be that and I know other teachers who I have talked to who work at the same summer camp I do feel the same way and I have heard about that cycle before.

The Administrator had a very interesting school and said that most of the students behaved well there although that school has a unique system of disciplining students where they have a peer court that will decide cases of misconduct. That school has a strong focus on student involvement when it comes to making the rules and I wonder how much of an affect it has on making the students feel obligated to behave when they have a hand in the process of making the rules that they are then forced to follow. Student involvement we have learned throughout our education classes is critical to student success when it comes to work as a student that feels involved in their own process of education is more likely to feel committed to it and to succeeding. It would have been interesting to talk to a teacher in that school to see what their opinions on the disciplinary system are and if they believe it to be more effective just to get another perspective on the issue.  

These interviews allowed me to gain an in depth look into how two very different schools functioned and I was glad to hav the opportunity.

Textbook Analysis

Textbook Analysis

Your Name Alexander Maddams

Grade Level 8th Level of Class Normal_Subject_Social Studies_

                                   

1. Readability Level (Fry’s Readability Scale):
Use the Fry Readability Graph  - FOLLOW the directions and take the AVERAGE of the number of syllables, etc. from 100 word sections at the beginning, middle, and end of the book. You should come up with ONE plotted point for the grade level equivalent of the textbook. Post the grade level (e.g., 8.5) on the form and list it here.

The textbook that I analyzed fell in the 8^th grade range on the fry readability graph however it is important to note that according to the scale it tended to have longer words than would be recommended.

2. Level of Questions (Bloom’s Taxonomy):

Check the end of chapter questions in 3 chapters in the textbook (at the beginning, middle, and end). List the categories of questions found most, next, and least... (e.g., the majority of the questions might deal with comprehension, a few with application and analysis, and none related to synthesis or evaluation).

Most of the questions in the book had to deal with remembering asking students to define or recall information from the chapter. The second most seen questions would be analysis questions where students were asked to compare and contrast different viewpoints. Then there were very few questions that asked students to evaluate the material by suppoting an opinion or conclusion.

3. Bias (text, images, content coverage):

List or make a notation regarding any bias you find in the textbook... the bias could be in the pictures/images displayed, the examples given, the coverage (or lack of coverage) of events, ideological orientation, etc.

The only bias I saw in this textbook was that everything seemed to come from a very American viewpoint. None of the dialogue or images seemed to give way for another viewpoint in the chapters that I looked through. It should be noted however that at this grade level the history being taught is primarily American history.

Social Force

The Social force that I chose is the socioeconomic status of the students that attend the school and the socioeconomic status of the area around the school. The U.S. has one of the lowest measures for intergenerational mobility in the developed world according to the Gini index. This index shows the distribution of wealth in a country and can be an indicator for how easy it is to raise your socioeconomic status. What this means for the US is that it is very unlikely that people will be able to achieve a much higher socioeconomic status than that of their parents. This unequal distribution of wealth has a direct impact upon the way that students are taught and the resources that their schools are given. Areas with low socioeconomic status are more likely to have problems funding their schools and this means that they will not have the same resources that other schools in higher status areas will have. A schools funding is directly impacted by the taxes it collects from its district and the lower the status of that district the harder it is for a school to raise funds. This would also have a direct influence on the Curriculum that the school can offer to the students that attend. Schools in areas with higher socioeconomic statuses are more likely to have better funded and a higher variety of extra curricular and elective courses for students to take. A great example of this would be that in my middle school we had shop class where we were taught how to sodder and how to make things with our hands. We also had a music program with instruments that students could use if they did not have their own. Areas that are less fortunate than my school would have less programs for students to participate in and those that they do have would no be as well funded. 

When I talked to my cooperating teacher and by watching him teach I see that he feels the same way about the students that he teaches. He knows that the area he is teaching in is not the best but he always encourages the students to do their best. He also is quick to mention that college is not the only path to success he mentions that trade school is a viable option and that anyone who dedicates themselves to working hard can be successful in life. He wants these students to be successful despite the challenges that he knows they will face as they try to reach for success.He and I both agree that as long as you can work for it you can achieve it.

Central Park East Video Reflection

EDC 336

“Central Park East” Reflection Questions

1.     According to the documentary, what are the problems in education today?

According to this documentary we can see that the problems in education today include an adherence to outdated traditions and a public-school system/ curriculum that is failing to reach students and make them feel involved in their education.

2.     What do you believe are the root causes of low-performing schools? What do you believe should be done to improve them?

I believe that the root causes of low-performing schools are a lack of funds required to create an effective educational environment and a failure to create a sense of connection to education in our students. To fix these two problems we would need to redistribute or rework the current funding provided for public education and create a stronger sense of community and involvement in our schools through our actions.

3.     Describe the philosophy behind the curriculum and methods used by the teachers in CPE.

Their philosophy is definitely progressivist in nature as they tend to see the teachers as facilitators, they want the students to be responsible for their own learning so that they can feel involved and committed to their ongoing education.

4.     Teachers and the curriculum are a main factor behind student success or failure.  How is the curriculum and philosophy of schooling observed in the video different from your own observations in schools? 

The system in the video values student involvement above all else and does not feel tied to the traditions that tend to dictate how all of my school environments functioned. Central Park east created a place for students to have a voice in their own learning compared to all my schools where we were told what we were going to learn.

5.     How should we change the curriculum in our secondary schools to focus on 21^st century learning of essential skills & knowledge?

We should add more life skills to the curriculum or change the way that we teach current subjects to reflect how the skills learned in the classroom can be applied to the real world.

6.     Describe how parents and families can partner with teachers for student success?

Parents and families can work with their schools to make sure that their students voices are heard and that their concerns are addressed. They can also get involved in the schools that their students attend to be an active part of the learning community that their children are a part of. This will encourage involvement and commitment and ultimately create an environment that helps students succeed.

Philosophies reflection Essay

Throughout my life i have had the privilege of having many great teachers but with regards to educational philosophy there are two that really stick in my mind after having learned about the different philosophies.

The first would have to be Mr. Princilus who taught 8th grade science at my middle school and was a great example of progressivism in education. He believed that his role in the classroom was not to teach but to facilitate and he made this known from day one. He would say that we were responsible for our learning and that we needed ask questions of ourselves to find the right answers. To do this effectively we would almost always work in groups and have frequent class discussions to go over our labs and to discuss the topics we were currently learning about. He would also go always make sure to tell us the significance of the things we were learning relating them to the real world and helping us to understand the impact of our growing knowledge base. In these ways he exemplified the ideals of progressivism.

The second teacher would be my 11th grade english teacher Ms. Weiner and she was the embodiment of a Perennialist educator. We would read the classics in her class focusing on the great poets and playwrights of old. This was the first class where I was exposed to Shakespeare and Keats and others. She believed that if we were going to learn about poetry we should first look at the examples of it from the past to learn how the same principles that governed them still had an effect on the art today. This approach to teaching embodies perennialism and in fact was a great way to learn about the classics.