Standards, Standards, Standards!

Standards. A word that you hear hand in hand with education with much critique. Before reading up on standards all I knew were the basics. That teachers teach to the standards. I pretty much have a different concept the more I read up on them. My concept of learning standard is they are the overall goals of what students are expected to know by the end of the lesson or the unit. Every state has their own standards except Iowa. State and local standards are more common and more specific and grades four, eight and twelve are important years for standards. The first subject which introduced standards was mathmatics in 1989 by the National Council of Teachers of Mathmatics, and in the same year Congress adapted eight educational goals. Soon to follow were history, geography, science, the arts, and civics. There are two standards: Content and Performance. Content standards are what students should know and be able to do, while performance standards measures the student's work. It is important for schools to have standards because it is a unified goal and focus for everyone to look to. Teachers, students, parents, and the community all have one clear idea what is expected of schools. It is a way of teachers to keep track of how students are performing and where areas they need further assistance in. It also lets students know what is expected of them and what they should be able to accomplish at the end of a lesson or unit.

Whether people are saying standards are a good thing or just makes teachers "teach to the test", I believe that standards are an organized goal that can put everyone on the same page. It lets teachers and students know what is expected of them in each grade, and lets parents in on what is going on in their child's classroom. Even though it can make a class cut and dry, teachers can find creative ways to teach their students to meet the standards. It should not have to fall all on teaching by the textbooks. If a teacher can make teaching fun and interesting I do not see any problem with standards being an ultimate focus and goal for everyone to share!


This is the website that my professor Dr. Smirnova gave us for a reference, and where I got most of the information to guide me through my standards journey!
Standards Website

Theories, Wordle, and Lesson Plans

Last week in class we covered a wide range of topics. To start off, two weeks ago we divided into groups to venture into Teaching/Learning Philosophies. Our group's goal: Behavorism. A very cut and dry theory, information gets poured into student's brains and the student is expected to give the information back. Positive and Negative Reinforcement is a main aspect of this theory. It is a very popular theory that is commonly used with trainingd dogs. My job was to research the theorists of this philosophy. It was pretty interesting to learn about the history since I was never fully aware of how it came about. I can't say I was surprised since Aristotle, Pavlov and Skinner was involved with creating this philosophy, so it was very interesting to reseach! Overall, I think that our group did a pretty good job. It all came together quite nicely thanks to Google Docs. I developed a love for Google Docs while doing this project. I have never even thought of creating a Google email before this project but I am so glad I did! I don't have PowerPoint on my computer since I never really thought to download it when I first got my laptop a few years ago so Google Docs is soooo nice! It lets you do PowerPoint which is amazing news for me since it is the only way I can access it on my computer! Without Google Docs, this project would have been a lot more difficult. I think we had pretty great teamwork and really interacted a lot during the week we had. I think our presentation went pretty well, it was nice being the first group to go. One downfall was we didn't think we had enough time to go over the quiz with the class. We were pretty focused on making sure our presentation was only seven minutes. Aside from the quiz, I think it went well! Also, I think that all the other groups did great with their presentations!! It is always nice to learn from your classmates, and they all made it very easy to understand their theories.

One thing that I loved about class was Dawn's microteaching and the fact that she introduced us to Wordle. I think that is such an awesome site to use both teaching, and in everyday life. That is one thing that I love about class. It has only been about a month, and Dr. Smirnova has introduced about fifty new websites that I never knew existed!

A little overwhelming was the introduction to Unit Planning. It seems a little scary, but after hearing Dr. Smirnova's past student talk about at the end everything will come together, I am very excited to start this journey! It seems like it might be a difficult one, but I am ready for the ride!

Yay, I actually know something!

At first when I was researching Perennialism and Essentialism for the JOT chart I was very confused and kept mixing these two philosophies up. It was the first time I actually heard of them, and jumping into researching these head first it was a little overwhelming. When we actually got to class and put the 'jigsaw' learning to use, it all started coming together. Doing group work in class really lets me understand and see how everything I am learning will one day come to help me in the classroom. Here is the Quizlet that we took in a class a few weeks ago, I was actually surprised that I got all these right!

From the Quizlet Dr. Smirnova created:

2 Written Questions

1. This philosophy believes that education should focus on the whole child, rather than on the content or the teacher. This educational philosophy stresses that students should test ideas by active experimentation, constructing meaning. Learning is rooted in the questions of learners that arise through experiencing the world. It is active, not passive. The learner is a problem solver and thinker who makes meaning through his or her individual experience in the physical and cultural context. The emphasis is on process-how one comes to know. This education philosophy was established in America from the mid 1920s through the mid 1950s. John Dewey was its foremost proponent. One of his tenets was that the school should improve the way of life of our citizens through experiencing freedom and democracy in schools. Shared decision making, planning of teachers with students, student-selected topics are all aspects. Books are tools, rather than authority.

   CORRECT: Progressivism

2. This philosophy believes in the personal interpretation of the world. It is based on the view that the individual defines reality, truth and goodness. As a result, schools exist to aid children in knowing themselves and their place in society. Students learn what they want and discuss subjects freely.

   CORRECT: Existentialism

2 Multiple Choice Questions

1. This educational philosophy is a philosophy that emphasizes the addressing of social questions and a quest to create a better society and worldwide democracy. Educators focus on a curriculum that highlights social reform as the aim of education. Theodore Brameld (1904-1987) was the founder of this philosophical trend, in reaction against the realities of World War II. He recognized the potential for either human annihilation through technology and human cruelty or the capacity to create a beneficent society using technology and human compassion. Education is considered to be the means of preparing people for creating this new social order, curriculum focuses on student experience and taking social action on real problems, such as violence, hunger, international terrorism, inflation, and inequality. Strategies for dealing with controversial issues (particularly in social studies and literature), inquiry, dialogue, and multiple perspectives are the focus.
   1. Essentialism
   2. Progressivism
   3. Existentialism
   4. CORRECT: Reconstructionism
2. This is a very conservative and inflexible philosophy of education. It is based on the view that reality comes from fundamental fixed truths. It believes that people find truth through reasoning and revelation and that goodness is found in rational thinking.
   1. CORRECT: Perennialism
   2. Existentialism
   3. Essentialism
   4. Progressivism

1 True/False Question

1. Essentialism → This philosophy believes in the personal interpretation of the world. It is based on the view that the individual defines reality, truth and goodness. As a result, schools exist to aid children in knowing themselves and their place in society. Students learn what they want and discuss subjects freely.
   

   CORRECT: This is false.

   It should be Essentialism → believe that there is a common core of knowledge that needs to be transmitted to students in a systematic, disciplined way. The emphasis in this conservative perspective is on intellectual and moral standards that schools should teach. The core of the curriculum is essential knowledge and skills and academic rigor. This philosophy accepts the idea that this core curriculum may change. Schooling should be practical, preparing students to become valuable members of society..

Philosophy of Education

So I just took a self-assessment to find what education philosophy best describes me. It was very clear that the type of philosophy that best fits me are the ones on the Post Modernity, Contemporary and Liberal, and Non-Authoritarian side of the spectrum. Humanism and Progressivism both scored the highest with a tie. Both philosophies focus on the individual and freedom. The student is the focus and are involved in the learning process. Education focuses on the student and interaction with others including active learning and group decisions. I feel that these philosophies best describe how I feel about how a classroom should run. I feel that the textbook style of learning is outdated and that students today are different from previous years. Today students are more aware of technology and are interested in new ways of learning. I feel that these days using textbooks is not a good way to keep students interested in the lesson. The students need to be more involved in learning so they will keep focus on what is being taught. By engaging in group activities and active learning the student becomes part of the lesson and has a better chance to retain information. I feel that Humanism and Progressivism best describes my philosophies of learning.

Hi! This is my first time using a blog so I hope I am not to boring! I never thought of starting a blog, but for my class Curriculum Planning and Development it seemed like a good reason to. This class is opening my eyes to a whole new world of teaching and learning. I am learning so many things I never knew existed in the teaching world, and enjoying learning new techniques that I can use one day as a teacher. There is such a huge world online of teaching blogs and websites that I never were out there. Websites such as Slideshare.com and delicious.com and teaching programs such as Inspiration are some things this class introduced me to and look forward to using. I am also learning a lot through the readings which has opened my eyes to a whole new world. For example, I learned that curriculum is not just simply the content teachers give students during the year. I learned that there are a bunch of different types of curriculum. I learned that curriculum exists outside of the classroom such as phantom and societal curriculums. There are also concepts I was aware of but this class taught me more about it. For example, active learning is a concept I was aware of but gained more knowledge of. I thought it was interesting that there is little active learning occuring in classrooms but it is easy to bring in to a classroom. I learned that mock trials is a great way to bring active learning in the classroom. Ok that is all for now but I will post later on in the week!