EdPsy490TER: Technology& Educational Reform • Dr. Sandy Levin
8:00 -9:30 p.m.
Marty Sierra-Perry
JMST Small Group Discussion #4
Members: Jamyce Punch, Marty Sierra-Perry, Steve Ramsdell, and Terri FranklinTopic: Discuss among yourselves what you have learned in this course and identify the issues/topics that have had the greatest impact on the way you view technology and education reform.
Communication Method: WebBoard
MS-P's Individual Reflections:
While my son struggled with a new scale and his music teacher patiently went over the notes, I was catching up on my journal reading. I am working my way backwards through a stack and was reading the December issue of T.H.E. Journal.
Consider the following . . .
Re-conceptualize Education as Driven by Learning
These are key indicators of a student learning environment as reported in an article by Wm. Benjamin Martz, Jr. that appeared in the December, 1999,T.H.E. Journal (35). While these indicators were discussed in the context of an educational partnership between an insurance company and an institution of higher learning on the West coast, for me they encapsulated the effect of the reading, writing, collaborating, and reflecting that this class has had on my thoughts about technology and education reform.
The articles in the Learn and Live series inform us of the complexity of learning based on the recent findings of brain research. They challenge us to think about and identify "skills and knowledge essential for literacy in each of the academic disciplines." They dare to even suggest that our classroom practices be held up to review. What are our sacred cows? Am I willing to embrace change when change means I give up my Iditirod unit? We are asked to rethink how we teach and to create curricula that reflects best practices.
McGreal asks us to commit to the district's change process and structure our professional development plans to achieve district goals and the commonly shared goal: to improve student learning and achievement. We take responsibility for our own learning. We write grants and proposals to obtain financial support to provide opportunities for students to direct their learning.
We reshape authority in the classroom when we redefine our roles as teachers, and we invite community experts and parents to be a part of the change process in our classrooms and our schools. Instead of the mythical Key School, we have real schools like The Saturn School of Tomorrow.
We adopt a relational learning approach by creating a sense of community in our classrooms and model collegiality and collaboration with teachers outside our disciplines. We encourage students to develop the spirit of camaraderie as they work in small groups.
We change the way we look at vocational education, school to work programs, and work co-operatives, as they provide a context for students to practice and learn what we teach. Here's an aside. As the standards writing teams were developing, the standards were referred to as The Illinois Academic Learning Standards. As we became more informed and members from businesses and other agencies gave us reason to broaden our own understanding of learning, we agreed that it would be appropriate to refer to our work as The Illinois Learning Standards. We felt that this name--if only symbolically --showed that we valued and aknowledged the complexity of learning.
Finally, what excellecnt models of livelong learners we are. In my small group discussion team consisting of teachers of math, science, and English, we have held a variety of jobs, and we meet McGreal's demographic, but we are not obstacles to change. To paraphrase, we seek "the courage to change the things that [we] can, and the wisdom to tell the difference."
Respectfully submitted,
Marty Sierra-Perry