The Death and Life of the Great American School System & Teacher Ed. Article

The Death and Life of the Great American School System was a book title that caught my attention the other night while watching a PBS interview. It was interesting to hear, especially in light of our many discussions regarding testing and accountability measures. For those of you interested, here’s more about the text and the video of the conversation:

http://www.dianeravitch.com/news.html
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201004/20100413.html
http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/archive/201004/20100413_ravitch.html?vid=1467888185#video

As we also discussed the nature of teacher education, I still reflect back on my own teaching experiences. Yes, we need standards, but I was amazed to see the number of students in English 102, American Literature, and even Business Writing classes who could not formulate their ideas on paper. Seeing it firsthand, I recognize there is a need for reform, radical or otherwise, in our current system. As educators, I think we need to truly reflect on our assessment practices and encourage thorough and thoughtful feedback that requires our students to write, reflect, and synthesize, not just check a multiple choice answer – even little ones can do this, if we give them the tools to be thoughtful, reflective thinkers and writers.

Monday night’s PBS documentary The Hobart Shakespeareans touched me as a former English teacher who has taught those works. Part of my decision to change careers was the apathy I saw and heard each semester… “We have to read Huck Finn, As I Lay Dying, Thoreau…why!? – Well, at least it’s better than taking British Literature!” Over the course of the semester, I hope I changed some narrow mind sets and helped them realize that indeed literature and reading and discussing literary works does matter – words matter. I like to think it makes it you a better human being who can relate to others who are often different than you.

I truly believe in public education and I also believe that when students are young, they are the most impressionable. As a teacher, I want to be the one who helps that child see things differently, and understand and appreciate the joy of learning. Seeing a teacher such as Esquith reach a diverse group of 4th graders with such sophisticated and challenging works illustrates that when we are creative in our teaching, wonderful things occur! The scene when the child is so moved by Huck’s choice speaks volumes. We as teachers have to think outside the traditional box of standards and use innovative ways to reach our students. I firmly believe that reading and examining challenging and thoughtful materials is the key. As a society we want to simplify, but life is full of choices and nuances. These kids get that. I can only hope I can maintain a level of passion such as Esquith and reach my students in innovative ways while continually learning myself and reflecting on the best ways to reach a variety of learners.

Teacher Ed article from the NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/07/magazine/07Teachers-t.html