Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Class reaction - 04/21
I completely agree with Tyack & Cuban's point about teachers being more involved with reform. They said a good place to start is by asking "teachers what bother them the most and to begin reforms there." But I can also understand and appreciate that teachers do not necessarily have the extra time to be involved. So where is the happy medium? Is it ever going to be possible to balance the two? Could it be as simple as sending out a blanket email to teachers with questions to answer in order to start the process? We have seen that the majority of reforms are "top-down" and most of them are never fully implemented if at all. So even though it is going to take a lot more effort in many different areas, it seems as if the the logical solution is changing our education reform strategy to "inside out" vs "top-down." I know it's a lot easier to look at this from the outside and because I'm not currently teaching I can not possibly fully appreciate all of the demands teachers have on them. But I can hope a compromise can be made and teachers can become more involved because after all the focus and our ultimate goal is to improve learning and who better should know how to do that other than the teachers themselves.
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2 comments:
I agree that our main focus is to improve the learning experience of the students, and that teachers should be involved in the creation of reforms. I am not sure why educators have not been included more in the decision making process, except for that they are too busy working in schools to run for office?? I guess the only solution is for us to try and teach our students the best we can while we have them, and always challenge ourselves to become better teachers. If people are not going to create reforms that work in the real classroom, teachers will have to continuously adjust their strategies and strive to reach all students.
I think part of teacher involvement in reform arises out of necessity. If a teacher is having particular problems with students or parents, or even the administration, the teacher should identify what part of the situation is problematic and how it can be remedied. If the teacher brings these issues before the administration or school board with a proposed solution which can lead to more effective teaching, they have played their part in reform.
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