EdPsych 490TER: Dr. Sandy Levin
Marty Sierra-Perry
Week Three: Technology and Education Reform One
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EdPsych 490TER: Dr. Sandy Levin Marty Sierra-Perry Week Three: Technology and Education Reform One |
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Realizing the Promise of Technology, Barbara Means, Chapter 7
I read an article in the most recent issue of the American Educator, entitled " Lost in Action" by Gilbert T. Sewell who is concerned that the projects and activities of "engaged learning" may in fact "have substituted ersatz activity and shallow content for the hard and serious work of the mind.(4)" He gives many examples from textbooks of activities that result in portfolios with misspelled words and [that] exhibit almost no understanding of the subject under study (4) .His comments also suggest that teachers are being shamed into activities as "Chalk and talk" and "drill and kill" are derisive names given to traditional classroom practices. On the AP-Listserv, a teacher described the technology workshop that he had attended wherein the presenter showed a student project. This person saw it only as a collage. No evidence to suggest that real learning had taken place. Where is the synthesis? analysis? evaluation?
The reason that I even bring up the American Educator article is that in the article "Realizing the Promise of Technology," by Barbara Means suggests that with systemic reform in place that
Inside classrooms, a range of technologies from camcorders to computers can support inquiry-based learning. Video and computer technology can make possible such new forms of assessment as student and teacher portfolios. Telecommunications can support the two-way flow of information necessary for decentralized decision making. Hypermedia, video, and networking technology can guide teachers' professional development as well as open door to new ideas, practices , and information resources for teachers. In fact, technology may be essential for fully realizing the goals of systemic reform by supporting activities that would otherwise be impossible or prohibitively expensive. (David,1991)
The Means article speaks of the ideal, and the Sewell article points out the shortcomings of going overboard with project-based learning. Both articles call upon teachers to decide the path that classroom instruction takes. Both articles push the teachers to reflect and be able to answer "why" this particular activity is useful and why is that particular assessment appropriate.
Connecting School and Work
Both high schools in the district offer a program that is school to work program. One school has an academy that uses team teaching, block scheduling, and technology to assist students in making the school to work connection. At my school we have just completed the completed the first cycle of our Education for Careers and Professions(ECP) program. The curriculum at the academy integrates the district curriculum with hands on opportunities for students to show their learning. The ECP program is less formal at the ninth and tenth grade because participation in the ninth and tenth grade ECP field trips depends upon the classroom teacher. Then during the junior year students may participate in "shadowing" experiences, and then in the senior year, they may participate in a semester-long internship. A couple of my students invited me to their presentations. One student had developed his own veterinary company from the ground up--literally. He created building drawings, a business plan, and a marketing plan. Another student shadowed a gynecologist at a local hospital. She even got to help deliver a baby! Both students did interesting presentations that showed that they had been engaged in their learning.
One concern that a parent made about the program to me was that students who are in the school's traditional work program seem to be the average students, and the students in the other program are the college bound. The students in the work program are often placed in lower paying service occupations, while the ECP students work with professionals in high-paying jobs. I hadn't really thought about it, but the point this parent was making seemed to be that this was a form of tracking. Something to think about, I suppose.
I was reading this month's Biography magazine, and one of the heroes profiled was Dr. Keith Black, "Brain Surgeon of Last Resort." In one of comments, he noted two significant incidents. One occurred while his family summered in Philadelphia. Keith "wandered around [University of Pennsylvania' medical school] looking for open doors so I could hang out in the research labs. Every once in a while a researcher would notice me and invite me in to look at his experiments." A second incident describes his efforts to present his research experiment on leukemia to researchers at Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University. "The researchers let me into their labs, which they thought was humorous, he said, Ultimately one doctor there let me scrub in on a heart transplant operation on a dog. I was in 10th grade at the time." This suggests that schools connecting students to mentors in high school can be a powerful experience and provide the motivation for learning the classroom "stuff."
An important component in the video description was the teacher being involved in the work place as well. The science teacher was able to bring in the information she learned and the student was able to demonstrate the work in the classroom.
Making Time for Interdisciplinary Curriculum
The schools profiled in the videos were able to provide students with meaningful school to work programs and interdisciplinary curriculum because they took control of the students' day to support their learning. They changed the day through block scheduling. I wasn't sure how large the school was, but I know that around this area, it is more likely that block scheduling is accepted at smaller schools--with the exception of Rantoul. I am on the Block-list serve, and people have very strong feelings one way or the other. I am also on the AP-list serve, and teachers who are on the block lament the loss of instructional time for AP. In most cases they are trying to cram 95 days of material into 45 days. Those who have the class for the whole year say it works because the students have more time, and they have more time--two prep periods. Our district looked into it, but other than TEAM, we are still in 50 minute periods. I would love the double periods I could schedule when I taught American Studies. American Studies is an interdisciplinary course that combines English and social studies. While we may not have covered a lot of content, I felt the depth of study students were able to was worth the tradeoff.
If we are not willing to rearrange the allocation of time scheduled for school, perhaps we should look at extending the day. Then students could schedule their classes for morning through late afternoon. I would not mind a balanced calendar schedule either. My point is that we are informed by best practices that students can achieve quality learning given enough time and practice. Unless we get serious about the use of time, or changing the length of time students are involved in schooling, we will continue to lament the same ills in education.
Opening Schools for the Entire Community
I really like the ideas in this section. We need to make the community feel a part of the school. Working with the community and getting them into our schools would improve their knowledge of what is going on the school. Residents hear lots of bad things about our schools;If we get them into our schools, they could see the many positives. Of course keeping the schools open late would require money and changes in the territorial attitude teachers can easily acquire regarding their rooms and "stuff."
