Very Interesting

I received this in an e-mail from a friend:

Teaching Ambassador Fellowship positions at the Department of Education
for the 2008-09 academic year. These positions will offer highly
motivated and innovative public school teachers the opportunity to
contribute their knowledge and experience to the national dialogue on
education. The program includes two tracks. Up to five Washington Fellows will
become full-time federal employees in Washington , D.C. ,
participating in policy discussions and working on education programs. Up to 20
Classroom Fellows will remain at their local schools under their regular
teaching contracts and be paid for various assignments and projects
throughout the school year on a part-time basis. All fellows will be
selected on their record of leadership, impact on student achievement, and
potential for contribution to the field. Only highly qualified public
school teachers who have spent at least three years in the classroom
are eligible to apply. And, to ensure collaboration, fellows must have
the full support of their principals. Applications are due by April 7.
Fellows will be named by early summer. FOR MORE INFORMATION, PLEASE
GO TO http://www.ed.gov/programs/teacherfellowship/

Enduring Understanding

This concept of enduring understanding is what made me want to be a history teacher, although I need a lot of work in successfully working with my students to reach this level. The lessons that are learned in history can and should be used as a political tool today. While many students may say "We study history so we don't make the same mistakes again," many of them see no relevance whatsoever. Even that phrase in and of itself has been repeated to them over and over again that they can recite it at will but have very little understanding of what it actually means.

To have a student not only remember important data from history but also translate how it works today is the greatest challenge teachers face. Apart from the way teachers teach, however, the way that the educational system is set up is also at fault. Students don't see the connection between world history and calculus, or physics and english. Therefore, when they learn information from one area, they don't know how to convey it to other areas.

Once students begin to truly understand the development of history (I'll use that since that is what I teach), then they will begin to see themselves as agents of change, and that the world isn't static, but constantly changing, and all of our actions affect how it changes.

Novice Teacher

Being a novice teacher is never an easy task. For the first time, you have a classroom all to yourself, you have to learn the curriculum, develop lesson plans, have some type of classroom management system, and at the same time go to graduate school. So what characteristics does a novice teacher need to overcome all of this?

I think that the ability to self-reflect is very important. Teaching, whether in your first year or twentieth year, is always a process. A process that can allow a teacher to become better and better everytime they go through it. The ability to sit down and think about what they are doing and how they are doing it is extremely important in developing as a teacher.

Another important characteristic is the ability to accept criticism. The first few years are tough, and if you can accept the criticism given to you from your peers or even students (many times they will give it without asking, thats how great they are), you can grow as a teacher as opposed to feeling defeated and demoralized.

Enthusiasm is probably one of the most important characteristics of a teacher. Many students, especially in high school, do not look forward to coming to school, particularly in the late winter months. Your enthusiasm will go a long way in building a relationship with the students. If your students see that you are interested in what you are teaching some of it will rub off on them.

There are other characteristics that are important, such as organization (which I still struggle with), patience, diligence, and confidence that can carry a teacher through those beginning years. And although this is about novice teachers, I have found that many of these characteristics are found in successful teachers that have been teaching for over 25 years.

Tough Choices or Tough Times

Since its inception, The No Child Left Behind Act has gotten a tremedous amount of publicity, and for the right reasons. Its unreasonable goals (not that it is ok for children to leave high school illeterate or poor in math, but between funding and 50 years of anti-intellectual culture) put educators and students in stressful positions that will eventually lead to failure. So we need to ask ourselves, what was the purpose and what are the goals? While NCLB may not be forever, the future of schooling will not remain the same. In 2007, a group called the NAtional Center on Education and the Economy issued a report called Tough Choices or Tough Times. While it was clear that the purpose is to reinvent the educational system so that the United States, the suggestions that they gave are pretty shocking. According to them, conventional high school would end at 10th grade and students would be funnelled into different areas - either to tech school to work, college track, or other "additional academics."

This would make one wonder the real intentions and purposes of all this. Is this part of a wider change that is going on in the world? Or is it simply another way to ready the population to take part in a democratic society?

Curriculum & control

Curriculum is the entire process that goes into the educational system. From the content knowledge, the way something is taught, the atmosphere in which it is taught, and the end goal that one wants to achieve. Since curriculums influence not only what people learn but also how they learn, we can't look at is as a neutral entity, able to be controlled by whomever wishes. Instead, curriculum design is highly political, as stated by Levin. But it is much deeper than that. In public schools, curriculum is controlled by those who control the same political-economic system. Those that benefit most from capitalism are those same people that dictate how and what students will learn. I agree with many others that the educators, students, and parents should play a majopr (primary) role in shaping the curriculum, but a deeper understanding of who controls the education system and for what purposes will lead to a more critical view of the entire social system. As Dead Prez said "The same people who control the school system control the prison system and the whole social system."