1. Why are we so convinced that report cards in the way of letter or number grades are an effective way to determine whether learning has taken place? I have learned over my years of teaching that some students are just not good test takers. For this reason I do not think state assessment data is a complete picture of a students learning. I also think that letter grades in the classroom can be very subjective. I feel learning can be demonstrated in a variety of ways. 2. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or fourth grade with drill-and-kill activities? While I do not think drill-and-kill is the only reason students are no curious, this question terrifies me as a parent. I think with information so easily accessible to us we have lost the ability to really deeply question the world around us. 3. Why are more and more parents opting to provide their children with alternative forms of schooling? I know the next chapter briefly discusses this, but I wonder why this is and the number continues to increase each year.
Three questions from this section stood out to me as the most alarming. These questions worry me because they highlight real challenges we face every day, which are challenges that directly impact students.
1. “How can teachers effectively meet the needs of each learner with 25–35 students in a class?” Large class sizes stretch teachers thin and make it nearly impossible to give students the individual support they deserve. It’s not a lack of effort—it’s a lack of bandwidth. 2. “Why do we cram so much information into 10 months of school and then label students who need more time as failures?” This concerns me because it reveals how rigid our system can be. Students learn at different paces, yet we expect everyone to master everything on the same timeline, and that’s simply not realistic. 3. “Why do we think the way we prepare teachers in universities truly prepares them for today’s classrooms?” I learned a lot in college, but nothing prepared me for managing a class of 30+, differentiating constantly, or supporting the emotional needs of students. The gap between teacher prep programs and real classroom life is bigger than we admit.
Three of the author’s questions stood out to me as especially concerning. The first is why children are naturally curious but seem to lose that curiosity by third or fourth grade. This is alarming because curiosity is what makes kids want to learn, yet school grades and right answers instead of exploration, which can cause students to stress out or to lose interest in the topics being taught. When they fear being wrong, they stop taking risks or making mistakes. The second question that stood out is why we believe teacher preparation programs truly prepare teachers for today’s classrooms. Schools today have many different learning needs. When teachers are not prepared for these realities it causes them to be ineffective teachers and students slip through the cracks. I would assume this causes new teachers to become overwhelmed and burn out faster, The third question that stood out is why we rely so heavily on letter or number grades to measure learning. Grades don’t always reflect true understanding or growth, and they can discourage students who learn differently. Learning is more complex than a single score can show. Overall, these questions are concerning because they challenge traditional practices that may no longer meet the needs of today’s students or teachers. There needs to be change, but no one is willing to put any extra money or time into education… or at least that is how it seems.
The author lists many seemingly unanswerable questions in these pages. From the list, choose 3 that are most alarming to you and explain what concerns you most regarding these 3 questions.
1. Why do we cram so much information into those 10 months and label kids who need more time to learn the material as 'failures'.
2. Why do we force children into a one-sized-fits-all model and when they don't fit that model they get labeled.
3. How can teachers effectively meet the individual needs of 25 to 35 students in their classroom.
I choose these three because these are the ones I have struggled to manage over my years of teaching. I choose the first one because when my middle schoolers come to me, I probably only have 10% at grade level and ready to tackle MS math so I am already starting behind. I have so many standards to get through and most years, I don't accomplish all of them and have to pick and choose the ones I need them to learn so the next few years in MS math will not be challenging. I do some 'early finisher' packets to work on missing skills and to sharpen skills already taught. I don't see students as failures but I blame our state and the amount of information they are wanting students to learn.mThe second and third ones kind of relate to each other in my opinion. I choose them because teachers do need to give several methods when teaching. In math, I try to give several ways to solve problems and when kids solve it in their own way I praise them! This give students the option to think outside the box.
1. How can teachers really meet the individual needs of each student with twenty-five to thirty-five kids in one classroom? This question is concerning because it shows a problem with the way schools are set up and not a problem with the teachers themselves. It’s unrealistic to expect one teacher to personalize lessons, give meaningful feedback, and provide emotional support for so many students at the same time.
2. Why do we believe letter or number grades are a good way to tell if learning actually happened? This question is concerning because grades don’t measure true understanding or growth for most students. Grades show students can follow directions, memorize material for a short period of time, and how well they can take tests.
3. Why are so many people writing books and articles about how school failed them? This question is concerning because it shows negative school experiences are not few and far between. They are quite common. This could show there are bigger problems within school systems, and these negative experiences aren’t just individual experiences.
1. Why do we think that the way we prepare teachers in our universities really prepares them for the current realities of our schools? I've had this concern in the back of my brain since starting teaching. I feel like I was not prepared at all for teaching. Some ways I believe it could be improved is more in-classroom experience and have significant classroom experience before a lot of the pedagogical courses, so we can connect what we are learning to what we experienced.
2. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or fourth grade with drill and kill activities? I often look at elementary music teachers to help drive the direction I want to teach in as they frequently put challenges in front of their students and they are excited, but I find when I put challenges in front of students, they don't want to do them.
3. Why do we spend millions upon millions of dollars on error-ridden publisher textbooks and instructional materials? Schools are definitely very underfunded, but it is frustrating that the funding we do get is often wasted or misused. I believe the teachers doing the teaching should have more say in what materials are used.
1. Why ten months of school and 2 months off in the summer? I believe that this could go and we could have school that last the whole year but give shorter breaks off. This way students would retain more and lose less. We could still have a lot of little breaks and we could also go to 4 day weeks. We could also have some 2 weeks off for longer breaks. 2. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or forth grade with drill-and-kill activities? We should always want kids to ask questions. I've seen many teachers in my day not want to answer questions that they themselves don't know the answer to and then scold the student to not ask questions like that. This completely kills the students desire to inquire further into the subject just because the teacher doesn't want to be seen as someone who does not know something that they should since they are teaching the class. the class then becomes more of a power struggle rather that a place for learning. 3. Why do we force children into a one-size-fits-all model, and when we determine that they don't fit, label them academically at risk or behavior problems? Many teachers just want students to learn the way that they also know how to learn. It is much easier to teach students that think the same way that they do. This means that if a student doesn't learn the way that they like that they would rather teach the student to learn their way rather than them trying to teach to accommodate the student. This leads to frustration and a lack of effort on both sides and then labels such a at-risk and behavior child pop up.
1. " Why do we force children into one-size-fits all model, and when we determine that they don't fit, label them academically at risk or behavior problems." This is alarming because not every child learns the same way or they have anxiety or something that interferes with their learning. The teacher will need to adapt their classroom to help these children. If we think every child is going to learn a certain way these other kids will not be successful . That's not their fault. As educators we need to adapt and be more flexible to go outside our normal. To be sure these students can be successful too. We also need the help and the time to be able to do this successfuly. 2. "How can teachers effectively meet the individual needs of each learner with twenty-five to thirty-five students in a classroom? " This is alarming because like I said above every child learns different or dealing with different things in their life. Expecting teachers to do this is not possible. It's really discouraging as educator if the public thinks that this is possible. Most teachers will do anything for their students to help them be successful. We also need additional help and time. So we can do this. 3. "Why are we so convinced that report cards in the way of letter or number grades are effective way to determine whether learning has taken place?" This is alarming because some students are not good test takers and they normally won't do good on their test. It doesn't mean that they didn't learn the material. What they got on the test will be put in the grade book ,but it doesn't give the whole story to the situation. The child just doesn't do well with tests. The child could do well with discussions. Thats says more than what a letter Grade shows. If someone just looks at the child's letter grade. That's all you are going to see and your going miss out what the child is capable of doing.
!. How can teachers effectively meet the individual needs of each learner with twenty-five to thirty five students in the classroom? At what point are we just babysitting? As experience in both SPED and Gen Ed classrooms, the numbers are overwhelming. Sped can do inclusion, but still the focus is just on those students receiving services in that classroom for those specific minutes. As a Gen Ed. teacher, it is almost impossible to scaffold and meet needs for students because of the large classroom sizes. Students are falling through the cracks! 2. Why do we force children into a one-size fits all model, and when we determine that they don't fit, label them academically at risk or behavior problems? We all know about learning styles, but with huge classrooms, teachers can't do learning activities for every learning style every day. There is too much information/curriculum to cover, and not enough time. I especially find that as students get older, we move away from hands on learning, which is why students start to dislike school at the 3rd grade, because we move to sitting and listening for most of the day. So sad! Even adults don't work like that, why do ask kids to? 3. Why are more parents opting for alternative forms of schooling? Speaking from personal experience, I have two grandchildren being homeschooled. Both boys, one 8th grader and one 5th grader. The issues in the school, bullying and safety. The older student was attacked repeatedly on the playground and it was not stopped, and the parents of the attackers absolutely did not care. No apologies and very little consequences from the school. The 5th grader was not receiving academic support from his teacher and was falling further behind. My grandkids are flourishing with the homeschool program and are much calmer, kinder, well educated children.
As an Early Childhood Special Education teacher, the three questions that concern me most are:
Why do we kill curiosity with drill-kill activities? – Young children learn best through exploration and play. When we replace curiosity with repetitive worksheets or drills, we risk stifling creativity and a love of learning before it has a chance to flourish.
How can we effectively meet student needs with large class sizes? – Many of my students require individualized attention and support. Large class sizes make it nearly impossible to provide the tailored interventions and guidance each child needs to succeed.
Why do we force children into a one-size-fits-all option? – Each child develops differently, especially in early childhood and special education. Forcing all students into the same pacing, content, or assessment ignores their unique strengths and needs, which can lead to frustration, disengagement, and missed opportunities for growth.
1. Why are we so convinced that report cards in the way of letter or number grades are an effective way to determine whether learning has taken place? Some students are not always the best test takers and really do better with hands-on learning. My students in my special education classroom don't do well with assessments and can really show what they know in so many different ways. 2. “Why do we cram so much information into 10 months of school and then label students who need more time as failures?” Learning takes place all the time and I feel like telling people that they aren't successful because they need extra time to learn is not helping our education system or the kids we are teaching. 3. Why are more and more parents opting to provide their children with alternative forms of schooling? Our education system is failing and we are having to cut teacher positions because of the amount of students are leaving to homeschooling.
The author lists many seemingly unanswerable questions in these pages. From the list, choose 3 that are most alarming to you and explain what concerns you most regarding these 3 questions.
1. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or fourth grade with drill-and-kill activities? Although I don't question the validity of this statement, I do take issue with placing perceived the culpability squarely on the teacher or schools as it states "we". I would like to interpret the "we" as everyone- teachers, administrators, the school systems, students, parents, students, and the maturing process. First experiences are always memorable, interesting, exciting, and peek our curiosity but as we age they become the norm and expected. Also student interests diverge in to many areas as they mature based on exposure to past experiences.
2. Why do we spend millions upon millions of dollars on error-ridden publisher textbooks and instructional materials? This one has concerned me for sometime and it's not just materials. Education like most government bureaucracies are top-heavy in administration, red tape, and redundancy. I'm not trying to be negative but if you have been in teaching awhile there has been a lot of money through out to reinvent the wheel or as the author states "repackage" old programs. I feel like the money, time, and effort could be better spent. Like fieldtrips!
3. Why do parents request certain teachers and not others? As a parent and a teacher I actually welcome this opportunity and do not view it a a better or worse teacher scenario. Knowing my biological children and most of the staff, my wife and I (both teachers) felt that some teachers might be a better personality fit with one child and a different with the other. It was never a reflection of the quality of teacher or the education they might receive. As a teacher I have had requests and I have actually declined some personal friends as I told the parents it might not be a good idea. Being in a larger school district but not huge affords parents that opportunity. I larger districts they may not know the teachers or smaller districts little or no choices. I welcome the choice just like choosing multi-age, looping, MCL, CTE, extracurriculars, clubs, or dual credit.
1. Why are we so convinced that report cards in the way of letter or number grades are an effective way to determine whether learning has taken place? I have learned over my years of teaching that some students are just not good test takers. For this reason I do not think state assessment data is a complete picture of a students learning. I also think that letter grades in the classroom can be very subjective. I feel learning can be demonstrated in a variety of ways.
ReplyDelete2. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or fourth grade with drill-and-kill activities? While I do not think drill-and-kill is the only reason students are no curious, this question terrifies me as a parent. I think with information so easily accessible to us we have lost the ability to really deeply question the world around us.
3. Why are more and more parents opting to provide their children with alternative forms of schooling? I know the next chapter briefly discusses this, but I wonder why this is and the number continues to increase each year.
Three questions from this section stood out to me as the most alarming. These questions worry me because they highlight real challenges we face every day, which are challenges that directly impact students.
ReplyDelete1. “How can teachers effectively meet the needs of each learner with 25–35 students in a class?” Large class sizes stretch teachers thin and make it nearly impossible to give students the individual support they deserve. It’s not a lack of effort—it’s a lack of bandwidth.
2. “Why do we cram so much information into 10 months of school and then label students who need more time as failures?” This concerns me because it reveals how rigid our system can be. Students learn at different paces, yet we expect everyone to master everything on the same timeline, and that’s simply not realistic.
3. “Why do we think the way we prepare teachers in universities truly prepares them for today’s classrooms?” I learned a lot in college, but nothing prepared me for managing a class of 30+, differentiating constantly, or supporting the emotional needs of students. The gap between teacher prep programs and real classroom life is bigger than we admit.
Three of the author’s questions stood out to me as especially concerning. The first is why children are naturally curious but seem to lose that curiosity by third or fourth grade. This is alarming because curiosity is what makes kids want to learn, yet school grades and right answers instead of exploration, which can cause students to stress out or to lose interest in the topics being taught. When they fear being wrong, they stop taking risks or making mistakes.
ReplyDeleteThe second question that stood out is why we believe teacher preparation programs truly prepare teachers for today’s classrooms. Schools today have many different learning needs. When teachers are not prepared for these realities it causes them to be ineffective teachers and students slip through the cracks. I would assume this causes new teachers to become overwhelmed and burn out faster,
The third question that stood out is why we rely so heavily on letter or number grades to measure learning. Grades don’t always reflect true understanding or growth, and they can discourage students who learn differently. Learning is more complex than a single score can show.
Overall, these questions are concerning because they challenge traditional practices that may no longer meet the needs of today’s students or teachers. There needs to be change, but no one is willing to put any extra money or time into education… or at least that is how it seems.
The author lists many seemingly unanswerable questions in these pages. From the list, choose 3 that are most
ReplyDeletealarming to you and explain what concerns you most regarding these 3 questions.
1. Why do we cram so much information into those 10 months and label kids who need more time to learn the material as 'failures'.
2. Why do we force children into a one-sized-fits-all model and when they don't fit that model they get labeled.
3. How can teachers effectively meet the individual needs of 25 to 35 students in their classroom.
I choose these three because these are the ones I have struggled to manage over my years of teaching. I choose the first one because when my middle schoolers come to me, I probably only have 10% at grade level and ready to tackle MS math so I am already starting behind. I have so many standards to get through and most years, I don't accomplish all of them and have to pick and choose the ones I need them to learn so the next few years in MS math will not be challenging. I do some 'early finisher' packets to work on missing skills and to sharpen skills already taught. I don't see students as failures but I blame our state and the amount of information they are wanting students to learn.mThe second and third ones kind of relate to each other in my opinion. I choose them because teachers do need to give several methods when teaching. In math, I try to give several ways to solve problems and when kids solve it in their own way I praise them! This give students the option to think outside the box.
ReplyDelete1. How can teachers really meet the individual needs of each student with twenty-five to thirty-five kids in one classroom?
This question is concerning because it shows a problem with the way schools are set up and not a problem with the teachers themselves. It’s unrealistic to expect one teacher to personalize lessons, give meaningful feedback, and provide emotional support for so many students at the same time.
2. Why do we believe letter or number grades are a good way to tell if learning actually happened?
This question is concerning because grades don’t measure true understanding or growth for most students. Grades show students can follow directions, memorize material for a short period of time, and how well they can take tests.
3. Why are so many people writing books and articles about how school failed them?
This question is concerning because it shows negative school experiences are not few and far between. They are quite common. This could show there are bigger problems within school systems, and these negative experiences aren’t just individual experiences.
1. Why do we think that the way we prepare teachers in our universities really prepares them for the current realities of our schools?
ReplyDeleteI've had this concern in the back of my brain since starting teaching. I feel like I was not prepared at all for teaching. Some ways I believe it could be improved is more in-classroom experience and have significant classroom experience before a lot of the pedagogical courses, so we can connect what we are learning to what we experienced.
2. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or fourth grade with drill and kill activities?
I often look at elementary music teachers to help drive the direction I want to teach in as they frequently put challenges in front of their students and they are excited, but I find when I put challenges in front of students, they don't want to do them.
3. Why do we spend millions upon millions of dollars on error-ridden publisher textbooks and instructional materials?
Schools are definitely very underfunded, but it is frustrating that the funding we do get is often wasted or misused. I believe the teachers doing the teaching should have more say in what materials are used.
1. Why ten months of school and 2 months off in the summer?
ReplyDeleteI believe that this could go and we could have school that last the whole year but give shorter breaks off. This way students would retain more and lose less. We could still have a lot of little breaks and we could also go to 4 day weeks. We could also have some 2 weeks off for longer breaks.
2. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or forth grade with drill-and-kill activities?
We should always want kids to ask questions. I've seen many teachers in my day not want to answer questions that they themselves don't know the answer to and then scold the student to not ask questions like that. This completely kills the students desire to inquire further into the subject just because the teacher doesn't want to be seen as someone who does not know something that they should since they are teaching the class. the class then becomes more of a power struggle rather that a place for learning.
3. Why do we force children into a one-size-fits-all model, and when we determine that they don't fit, label them academically at risk or behavior problems?
Many teachers just want students to learn the way that they also know how to learn. It is much easier to teach students that think the same way that they do. This means that if a student doesn't learn the way that they like that they would rather teach the student to learn their way rather than them trying to teach to accommodate the student. This leads to frustration and a lack of effort on both sides and then labels such a at-risk and behavior child pop up.
1. " Why do we force children into one-size-fits all model, and when we determine that they don't fit, label them academically at risk or behavior problems."
ReplyDeleteThis is alarming because not every child learns the same way or they have anxiety or something that interferes with their learning. The teacher will need to adapt their classroom to help these children. If we think every child is going to learn a certain way these other kids will not be successful . That's not their fault. As educators we need to adapt and be more flexible to go outside our normal. To be sure these students can be successful too. We also need the help and the time to be able to do this successfuly.
2. "How can teachers effectively meet the individual needs of each learner with twenty-five to thirty-five students in a classroom? "
This is alarming because like I said above every child learns different or dealing with different things in their life. Expecting teachers to do this is not possible. It's really discouraging as educator if the public thinks that this is possible. Most teachers will do anything for their students to help them be successful. We also need additional help and time. So we can do this.
3. "Why are we so convinced that report cards in the way of letter or number grades are effective way to determine whether learning has taken place?"
This is alarming because some students are not good test takers and they normally won't do good on their test. It doesn't mean that they didn't learn the material. What they got on the test will be put in the grade book ,but it doesn't give the whole story to the situation. The child just doesn't do well with tests. The child could do well with discussions. Thats says more than what a letter Grade shows. If someone just looks at the child's letter grade. That's all you are going to see and your going miss out what the child is capable of doing.
!. How can teachers effectively meet the individual needs of each learner with twenty-five to thirty five students in the classroom? At what point are we just babysitting? As experience in both SPED and Gen Ed classrooms, the numbers are overwhelming. Sped can do inclusion, but still the focus is just on those students receiving services in that classroom for those specific minutes. As a Gen Ed. teacher, it is almost impossible to scaffold and meet needs for students because of the large classroom sizes. Students are falling through the cracks!
ReplyDelete2. Why do we force children into a one-size fits all model, and when we determine that they don't fit, label them academically at risk or behavior problems? We all know about learning styles, but with huge classrooms, teachers can't do learning activities for every learning style every day. There is too much information/curriculum to cover, and not enough time. I especially find that as students get older, we move away from hands on learning, which is why students start to dislike school at the 3rd grade, because we move to sitting and listening for most of the day. So sad! Even adults don't work like that, why do ask kids to?
3. Why are more parents opting for alternative forms of schooling? Speaking from personal experience, I have two grandchildren being homeschooled. Both boys, one 8th grader and one 5th grader. The issues in the school, bullying and safety. The older student was attacked repeatedly on the playground and it was not stopped, and the parents of the attackers absolutely did not care. No apologies and very little consequences from the school. The 5th grader was not receiving academic support from his teacher and was falling further behind. My grandkids are flourishing with the homeschool program and are much calmer, kinder, well educated children.
As an Early Childhood Special Education teacher, the three questions that concern me most are:
ReplyDeleteWhy do we kill curiosity with drill-kill activities? – Young children learn best through exploration and play. When we replace curiosity with repetitive worksheets or drills, we risk stifling creativity and a love of learning before it has a chance to flourish.
How can we effectively meet student needs with large class sizes? – Many of my students require individualized attention and support. Large class sizes make it nearly impossible to provide the tailored interventions and guidance each child needs to succeed.
Why do we force children into a one-size-fits-all option? – Each child develops differently, especially in early childhood and special education. Forcing all students into the same pacing, content, or assessment ignores their unique strengths and needs, which can lead to frustration, disengagement, and missed opportunities for growth.
1. Why are we so convinced that report cards in the way of letter or number grades are an effective way to determine whether learning has taken place? Some students are not always the best test takers and really do better with hands-on learning. My students in my special education classroom don't do well with assessments and can really show what they know in so many different ways.
ReplyDelete2. “Why do we cram so much information into 10 months of school and then label students who need more time as failures?” Learning takes place all the time and I feel like telling people that they aren't successful because they need extra time to learn is not helping our education system or the kids we are teaching.
3. Why are more and more parents opting to provide their children with alternative forms of schooling? Our education system is failing and we are having to cut teacher positions because of the amount of students are leaving to homeschooling.
The author lists many seemingly unanswerable questions in these pages. From the list, choose 3 that are most alarming to you and explain what concerns you most regarding these 3 questions.
ReplyDelete1. Why is it that children are born curious and we kill that off in about third or fourth grade with drill-and-kill activities? Although I don't question the validity of this statement, I do take issue with placing perceived the culpability squarely on the teacher or schools as it states "we". I would like to interpret the "we" as everyone- teachers, administrators, the school systems, students, parents, students, and the maturing process. First experiences are always memorable, interesting, exciting, and peek our curiosity but as we age they become the norm and expected. Also student interests diverge in to many areas as they mature based on exposure to past experiences.
2. Why do we spend millions upon millions of dollars on error-ridden publisher textbooks and instructional materials? This one has concerned me for sometime and it's not just materials. Education like most government bureaucracies are top-heavy in administration, red tape, and redundancy. I'm not trying to be negative but if you have been in teaching awhile there has been a lot of money through out to reinvent the wheel or as the author states "repackage" old programs. I feel like the money, time, and effort could be better spent. Like fieldtrips!
3. Why do parents request certain teachers and not others? As a parent and a teacher I actually welcome this opportunity and do not view it a a better or worse teacher scenario. Knowing my biological children and most of the staff, my wife and I (both teachers) felt that some teachers might be a better personality fit with one child and a different with the other. It was never a reflection of the quality of teacher or the education they might receive. As a teacher I have had requests and I have actually declined some personal friends as I told the parents it might not be a good idea. Being in a larger school district but not huge affords parents that opportunity. I larger districts they may not know the teachers or smaller districts little or no choices. I welcome the choice just like choosing multi-age, looping, MCL, CTE, extracurriculars, clubs, or dual credit.