Promising Futures

Abstract

The Maine Commission on Secondary Education created the Promising Futures: A Call to Improve Learning for Maine Secondary Students in 1998 to change the direction of Maine high schools. Its core principles promote a safe, respectful, and caring environment; high universal expectations with a variety of learning opportunities; understanding and actions based on assessment data; teacher practice which values and builds upon the contributions and needs of each learner; equitable and democratic practices; and coherence among mission, goals, actions, and outcomes. There are fifteen core practices for learning and teaching, some of which include: every student is respected and valued by adults and by fellow students (1); every teacher tailors learning experiences to the learner’s needs, interests, and future goals (2); and every teacher has sufficient time and resources to learn, to plan, and to confer with individual students, colleagues, and families (11). The document also includes some current practices that high schools should start to phase out, especially those that oppose the core practices. To make these changes a success it will take the participation of educators, parents, students, policy makers and many others.

Reflection

The idea of Promising Futures schools has been needed in Maine high schools because it places an emphasis on learning rather than the scores on a test. One quote I really liked states: “A good teacher is one who makes it O.K. to make mistakes and makes us go back over things you don’t understand, correct it, and learn it…” (25). I agree with many of the core principles and practices mentioned in the document, but I think a lot of them should be expected. I would love to teach at a Promising futures school because it is nothing like a typical high school. Since being published in 1998, I’m surprised that more high schools have not adopted this philosophy.

The 8 Educational Theories

Abstract
The eight educational theories are Essentialism, Behaviorism, Perennialism, Positivism, Progressivism, Humanism, Constructivism, and Reconstructionism. Essentialism is a teacher-centered locus of control which reflects the belief that there is a basic core of knowledge and skills that an educated person must have. The curriculum focuses on subject matter that includes literature, history, foreign language, and religion. Essentialists generally agree about teaching the laws of nature, and the accompanying universal truths of the world. Behaviorism is a psychological and educational theory that holds that one’s behavior is determined by environment rather than heredity, and states that human behavior can be explained as responses to external stimuli. Behaviorists believe that the school environment should be organized and the curriculum based on behavioral objectives. Perennialism is an educational theory that focuses on enduring principles of knowledge; nature, human nature, and the underlying principles of existence are considered constant, undergoing little change. Positivism is a social theory that limits truth and knowledge to what is observable and measurable. It requires schools to develop content standards that represent the best understandings of experts, and students are encouraged to master these understandings and to develop their own skills of observation, classification, and logical analysis. Progressivism is a student-centered locus of control and emphasizes that ideas should be tested by experimentation and that learning is rooted in questions developed by the learner. This theory views the individual as an experiencing, thinking, exploring individual. Humanism is a theory that contends that humans are innately good, that they are born free, but become enslaved by institutions. It seeks ways to enhance the individual development of the students, unlike a group-oriented educational system. Teachers who follow humanistic theory emphasize instruction based on student interests, abilities, and needs. Constructivism is an educational theory that highlights hands-on, activity-based teaching and learning during which students develop their own frames of thought. Constructivist curriculum focuses on the personalized way a learner internalizes, shapes, or transforms information. Reconstructionism is an educational theory that calls on schools to teach people to control institutions and to be organized according to basic democratic ideals.

Reflection

The two educational theories that I feel reflect my views as a teachers would be progressivism and constructivism. Progressivism favors the scientific method of teaching and learning, allows for the beliefs of individuals, and stresses programs of student involvement that help them learn how to think. Constructivism emphasizes the hands-on, activity-based teaching and learning. I think students should be given the opportunity to explore and discover ideas for themselves, and at the same time keep the functions of school in place.

Educational Issue: Classroom Management

The presentation of classroom management covered lesson planning, staying organized, grading, class rules, and ways to set up the classroom. The group presented different lesson templates that teachers can use, and they are all organized in different ways for teachers can use the one that works best for them. Many schools provide an online grading system, rather than a grade book, with a variety of other things a teacher can use. They can add comments, set up a point system, average grades, e-mail parents, and use many other helpful tools. Where the online grading tools are fairly new, as a teacher I would still record grades in a grade book as well, but the online grading can do so much more for teachers. Classroom rules should be short and simple, established early on, and include a zero-tolerance policy so students can feel safe and comfortable. I think students should be involved in creating classroom rules to some degree because they will follow the rules more often if they had a say in what they are. There are many ways to set up a classroom, and I liked the activity where we could design our own classroom on the website. I will probably use a variety of set ups in my class, but I like how teachers are branching out from the rows facing the front of them room.

Chapters 33-38

After loosing the election, Erin found herself feeling alone and in debt. She began speaking out at conferences and events to pay for some bills, but Erin soon found herself traveling all over the country speaking to everyone from businessmen to teachers about her experiences with the Freedom Writers. She never had a script, but she always found a way to connect to the audience. Before one specific event, Erin and her old student Maria met Hank Aaron, and Erin quickly called her father to tell him. Unfortunately her dad died of a heart attack while she was on her way to speak to a group of teachers. In honor of her dad, Erin decided to honor her commitment to the teachers. While all of this was going on, the Freedom Writers movie was also in the works. After searching for awhile Erin finally found someone who would do the story justice and that is exactly what he did. The book ended at the movie premiere in Newport Beach, which is where Erin took her class to see Shindler’s List many years before.

I thought it was exciting that Erin was able to recover from the election by spreading the Freedom Writers story across the country. She touched many people’s lives from all different professions. It was unfortunate that Erin lost her father so young, but at least she was able to realize that she needed the Freedom Writers “family” just as much as they need her. Also, I’m glad that Erin and the Freedom Writers actually had a say in the making of the movie because you never now if a movie will do the book justice. I would have liked to have heard more about what the students were doing, and how Erin helped them succeed.

Four Philosophies of Education

Idealism dates back to ancient Greece and Plato and is considered one of the oldest philosophies. It focuses on the mind, where it is thought that nothing exists or is real except ideas in the minds of people or the mind of God. To the idealist, the purpose of schooling is to promote spiritual and intellectual development. Some methods of instruction for the idealist educator are lecture, discussion, and reflection. Realism dates back to ancient Greece and Aristotle and is also considered one of the oldest philosophies of Western culture. The realist believes the universe is exists whether human mind perceives it or not, and reality is external and can be verified. Realists use a variety of instructional methods including the use of deductive logic, observation, classification, and categorization. According to the realist, a teacher should emphasize and model reasoning, observation, and experimentation. Pragmatism or experimentalism focuses on experience. Those who believe in this philosophy regard reality as an event or process. Some preferred instructional methods for pragmatists are learning by doing, problem solving, experimentation, hands-on activities, and collaborative learning. The teacher should model the most authentic type of knowledge, especially experimental knowledge, and stress the application of the scientific method. Existentialism focuses on personal and subjective existence, where the world of existence, choice, and responsibility is primary. According to existentialists, the purpose of the school is to prepare students to take responsibility for the results of their actions. Some instructional methods include nondirective humanistic values education, and the role of the teacher is to become an example of authenticity for students.

I believe the philosophies that represent me the most are pragmatism and existentialism. I want students to dig deeper and get involved rather than just know or memorize information. I also want to look at the students as individuals, where they are responsible for making decisions. My teaching will probably reflect each philosophy at some points, but I want to bring learning to higher level.

Educational Issue: Tracking

Chrissy and Justin presented the issue of tracking in schools, which is the practice of placing students with others of similar skills or needs. The three types of tracks or "ability groups" that we typically refer to are high, middle, and low. They presented the positive and negative features of tracking and how it affects students. Students are usually surrounded by peers of their own intellectual abilities or talents for every class, which makes the classroom less diverse. They found that there is a high correlation between factors such as race and socioeconomic status and ability level in school. Some suggestions to minimize negative effects and maximize positive effects in a tracked system include minimizing conspicuous nature of labeling students, retain flexibility in terms of groups selection, and monitor student achievement closely. I enjoyed the two videos the group used because they both were great examples of tracking and the affects it has on students. I never really thought of tracking as a type of separation between students. This is probably because in high school I took CP and Honors classes depending on the class, so I was with a variety of people all day.

Chapters 27-33

These chapters of Teach with Your Heart covered the senior year of the Freedom Writers, Erin’s new teaching job at the college, and the class reunion trip to Europe. The students continued on with Erin their senior year and worked on the class diary even more, which ended up being accepted by Doubleday publishing company as The Freedom Writer’s Diary. Erin nominated her classes for the Spirit of Anne Frank award, which they ended up winning and 45 students got to go to New York to accept the award. As the school year ended, Erin still wasn’t welcomed into the school community, so she decided to take a position at the local college rather than continue on at Wilson High. Many of her students went on to college as well. Erin and some of the Freedom Writers planned a trip to Europe to visit Zlata and Anne Frank’s countries. About 50 students ended up going on the trip, which was funded primarily by John Tu once again. Many of the sights were hard on the students because memories were still real for a lot of the Holocaust survivors. It was definitely a learning experience for the students as well as Erin and her family.

I am a little surprised that Erin actually took the job at the college after everything she went through at the high school. It sounds more like she gave up the fight, which is too bad because she could have helped many more students just liked she helped her senior class. It was also had to believe that she was able to pull off the trip to Europe, but after receiving even more of John Tu’s money the trip was planned. I think it was good for the students to experience the lives of others and to be able to relate to the material in the books they read.

A Nation at Risk

Abstract
The report, A Nation at Risk by the National Commission on Excellence in Education, states that the educational foundations “are presently being eroded by a rising tide of mediocrity that threatens our very future as a Nation and a people” (p.1). For the first time in history, American students are being outdone and outscored by students in other countries. The Commission suggests a goal for the educational system to develop the talents of everyone: “We must demand the best effort and performance from all students, whether they are gifted or less able, affluent or disadvantaged, whether destined for college, the farm, or industry” (p.7). The first recommendation made by the Commission is to improve education in our Nation includes a specific approach to implementing content known as the Basics as well as the New Basics. The next recommendation makes a few suggestions including: grades should be used to measure academic achievement, colleges and universities should raise admission requirements, standardized tests should be administered at major transition points, and textbooks should be updated to include more rigorous content. The remaining recommendations include time, teaching, leadership and fiscal support. In an attempt to motivate current students, the report advices students to work to their full capacity, so they can create their own future and control their destiny. In their final word, the authors’ state: “It is our willingness to take up the challenge, and our resolve to see it through, that America’s place in the world will be either secured or forfeited” (p.11).


Reflection
I had a lot of mixed feelings about this report. It has been more than 20 years since it was published, so the educational system has obviously changed since then. I think we can now admit that “foreign power” has surpassed our educational performance, Japan is one country that comes to mind. This report made it sound like we were literally at war, and we were all going to die if we didn’t change the educational performance of students now. I don’t understand why it was so important to remain above the performance levels of other countries, we are still strong competitors. The recommendations made by the Commission reminded me of the education system we have in place today. We have standards that students are supposed to meet in each grade level, standardized tests, and the government has tried to have a bigger role in education. One recommendation I definitely agree with is the teaching salary should be increased and be professionally competitive, market-sensitive, and performance based.

Episode 4: 1980-2002

Abstract

This episode covered the most recent years of school from the 1980s to 2002. There were a lot of trends happening in education during this time period. In the early 1980s everything seemed to be going well. We were educating the majority of youth and 85% of students graduated from high school, which was the highest percentage it had ever been. The government tried to blame the poor economy on schools, and the report A Nation at Risk was published. This called for higher standards in schools, which led to standardized testing in all grades. The annual cost for standardized tests was 500 million dollars. The idea of school choice was introduced to try to get students more interested in their education, and schools in Wisconsin tried a voucher program where low income students were able to attend private/non-religious schools at the public schools expense. Charter schools were also introduced during this time as a public school that did not have a superintendent. The government provided more than 80 million dollars to improve charter schools. In 2002, 90% of children were enrolled in public school. After all the experiments with different types of schools, we found that all students need excellence and equality.

Reflection

It is amazing to see how many educational trends and programs were developed in the 1980s and 90s. I think most of these trends were just experiments in an attempt to fix our schools. A Nation at Risk probably scared a lot of people into believing that the educational system was failing, but pushing for higher standards and No Child Left Behind was not the way to address the problem. However, some of the trends like magnet schools seemed to benefit students. I would be interested in looking at school systems in other countries and compare them to those in the U.S.

Chapters 21-26

Erin and her class had a very busy junior year. It started off with the drifting apart of Erin and her husband. She finally saw the toll her career was taking on their relationship, and her husband moved out of their apartment and eventually filed divorce papers. Erin then turned her attention completely to her students. They began a class diary that all students contributed to, and John Tu was generous enough to donate 36 computers to Erin’s class so students could type their diary entries into a book. After watching a documentary about the Freedom Riders, the students came up with a name for themselves, the Freedom Writers. They all wanted to share the Freedom Writers Diary, so the students ambitiously started fundraising for a trip to Washington D.C. to share the story with the Secretary of Education. Once the group returned from the trip a wonderful newspaper article was written about the Freedom Writers, which made their story heard across the country.

I find it unreal that Erin was so caught up in her career that she did not see what was happening to her marriage until now. There must have been signs that she was not paying enough attention to her husband. I thought the class trip to Washington D.C. was a great idea, but like many of the other events it doesn’t seem very realistic. There were almost 200 people on that trip which is a lot to control in a big city. I also think that Erin has been extremely lucky when it comes to her teaching career. She has gotten help from a lot of different people, and now she is going to be with the same class for their senior year.

Episode 1: 1770-1890

Abstract

This episode focused on the beginning of public schools. In the early 1770’s, only towns in New England built schools that students could attend. In 1776, the average lifetime school attendance was 82 days. To make the newly established country more Americanized, British textbooks were replaced by American textbooks; the most popular of these was known as Webster’s Speller, which taught American words and spelling. Thomas Jefferson came up with the idea of providing three years of public school known as elementary school, where those who excelled were allowed to go on to secondary school. Jefferson thought public education was essential for democracy. However, there was no education for slaves and only a few years for women. Horace Mann, who lead the Massachusetts State Senate and served on the board of Education, found that school varied from town to town. He visited over 1,000 schools and wrote about their physical appearance saying that we take more care of our livestock than our schools. African-American schools began to emerge, however they remained segregated well into the 1900’s. There was a law passed abolishing segregation in Massachusetts, which was the first law of its kind. Katherine Beecher stated that it was a “woman’s calling to teach” and as the west expanded, an “army” of women teachers headed to the west.

Reflection
I’ve never actually stopped to think about when and how public schools began. It is obvious that education was very important to the country when we declared our independence, but not many counties had a school system set up. Once schools were established, I was surprised to hear about all of the religious debates. I never realized that public schools followed any one religion in particular, and it is unfortunate that Catholics and others were isolated because of their religion. Watching the history of education helps me understand why the educational system is the way it is today. A lot has happened in schools since the 1700’s, but they are still no where near perfect.

Chapters 15-20

These chapters followed the sophomore year of Erin and her classes. It started with a “Toast for Change”, which was intended for students to start fresh academically, but the students took it even further than that. They wanted to change their lives so they didn’t end up like most of their family and friends in the streets. Erin once again had to purchase books for her class which included Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl. The class could relate to the story because they saw the tragedy of war everyday of their lives. They got so involved with Anne’s story that Darrius came up with the idea of inviting Miep Gies to Long Beach. Luckily Miep was already planning a trip to the area, so the students put together all of the details to have Miep come and speak to the class. The next big project of the year came after the class read Zlata’s Diary: A Child’s Life in Sarajevo. The class wanted to invite Zlata to the U.S., but this time they had so much more work to do and money to raise. They started by donating items to a raffle and Erin came through with getting hotel rooms and meals for Zlata and her family. In the end, everything came together and the students and their families were treated to a five course meal in the ballroom at the hotel with Zlata as the guest speaker.

It is quite upsetting that everyone else in that school has given up on these students, when they clearly have so much potential. I believe Erin has given her students a chance to succeed. In these chapters, the students are so enthusiastic about inviting Miep and Zlata to speak. Miep’s story of hiding Anne Frank and her family hit home for a lot of the students, and I especially liked it when one of the students called her a hero and Miep quickly said in response, “No!...I simply did what I had to do because it was the right thing to do!” I remember many these stories from The Freedom Writer’s Diary and the movie, especially the story about Darrius and his friend playing the “game” of Russian roulette. The only thing that Erin should be a little concerned about is her social life, especially her relationship with her husband, which has been nonexistent for the entire year.