1. Thinking about Ravitch- a game: Scenario: After the resignation of the Secretary of Education, President Obama has called you on the phone and wants to know what you think are the first five things to be done about education. What is your response?
a) First, read Diane Ravitch’s “The Death and Life of the Great American
System”. This is to serve as a wake-up call on where
education has gone wrong. Test scores,
accountability, and choice seem to be the nation’s top priority when schools
are evaluated. What ever happened to curriculum,
content, and instruction?
b) Get rid of NCLB. George W. Bush made the biggest mistake
during his presidential term by signing a bill indicating that all schools must
reach 100% proficiency in math and English from all students by 2014. As 2014 draws near, I don’t see this
happening at all. I also find it
preposterous that the fate of a teacher’s employment and the school status is
determined by standardized test scores.
c) Provide the funding needed for Professional Development, Workshops, and
Professional Learning Communities. Every year teachers
all over the country would like to improve on their teaching craft and explore
projects & other activities to enhance the curriculum. There just aren’t enough opportunities for
these to occur.
d) Lower class sizes. This continues to be a factor every
year. Classes consist up to 45
students. Think about how much and how
long grading will take the teacher. What
if the class was filled with English Learners or students with a learning
disability?
e) Support teachers. Teachers are easily the hardest
working people. However, their hard work
and dedication gets overlooked. They
deserve a raise! It’s long overdue.
2. What has been meaningful for you about Ravitch?
I really feel that Ravitch is genuinely concerned about
education and is hoping positive changes will occur. Who else would take 45 pages to write an
epilogue (the longest I’ve ever encountered in any book) and take the time to
recap what is wrong with the school system today? I appreciate how she provides solid evidence
to support her claims and theories. Sometimes
she just gets carried away with her rambling, but I know she means well.
For me, I just get carried away with my own teaching
practices and helping my students that I don’t consider the economic and
political issues of education. This book
has certainly opened my eyes. I was not
aware of the “dangers” behind testing, accountability, and choice, so I am
extremely grateful that this book was assigned for us to read.
3. Given the current state of American education, what can you do as a teacher and as a citizen?
As a high school math teacher, I will continue to do what I
do best. That is, to teach and inspire
my students to work hard and be responsible individuals. Every year I always hear that schools are in
need of math teachers. Let’s face it. There just aren’t enough good math teachers
today who are capable of explaining the material well enough for students to
comprehend. From the praise and
positive feedbacks I’ve received from administrators, parents, colleagues, and
students these past six years, I’m so grateful I am not one of those “bad”
teachers. Therefore, I plan on teaching
and touching students’ lives until I declare retirement.
As a citizen, I can take part in making the right choices
towards the political and economic aspects of education (i.e. lower class sizes
and higher salary pay J). I am also a member
of the Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), an organization designed to
support the school, teachers, and students by contributing funds to make clubs,
sports, and after-school programs possible.
4. Find two national or state associations from your subject area and describe what you find from each website.
American Mathematical Society (AMS) http://www.ams.org/home/page
AMS is an association of professional mathematicians
dedicated to the interests of mathematical research and scholarship. It does this with various publications and
conferences as well as yearly monetary prizes and awards to mathematicians. AMS meets every January to review the
research made from these mathematicians.
Prizes, such as the Cole Prize or the Frank and Brennie Morgan Prize for
Outstanding Research in Mathematics by an Undergraduate Student, are awarded to
those mathematicians who get their research published.
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) http://www.nctm.org/
NCTM is a public voice of mathematics education, supporting
teachers to ensure equitable mathematics learning of the highest quality for
all students through vision, leadership, professional development, and
research. Each year, national and
regional conferences are held for American teachers to publish their four print
journal of either elementary, middle school, or high school mathematics. Their research is published in one of the
four journals depending on the grade level, content knowledge, or pedagogical
knowledge. They are: Teaching
Children Mathematics, Mathematics
Teaching in Middle School, The
Mathematics Teacher, and Journal
Research in Mathematics Education.
5. Because it was impossible in six weeks for you to find all the resources you might wish to find in your content area, and/or investigate all the experiential resources held in the Bay Area, please respond to the following:
Over the next three years, if you could, what would you...
a) still like to see in the Bay Area?
Bay Area Math Project
Lawrence Hall of
Science (workshop for math teachers)
Math Teachers’ Circle
Network
Mathematics Umbrella
Group
Academic Summer Camps
(math)
b) still like to read?
How Math Works (How It
Works) by Carol
Vorderman
Punk Mathematics by Tom Henderson
Teaching Outside the
Box: How To Grab Your Students By Their
Brains by LouAnne
Johnson
Savage Inequalities by Jonathan Kozol
Who Moved My Cheese
(about time management) by Spencer Johnson
c) still like to investigate?
The Electronic Journal
of Mathematics and Technology
The Cornerstone: Math Journals
d) still like to attend?
California Math Council
Conference (Asilomar: Finding Common Ground with California Common
Core Standards)
Key Curriculum Press (Addressing Common Core Standards in
Alg. 2 for Statistics & Probability with Fathom)
e) still like to see in the world connected to your subject area?
Cairo, Egypt (to see the pyramids)
London, England (to
see the Big Ben)
Sydney, Australia (University of Sydney has a prestigious school of Mathematics &
Sciences)
Manhattan, New York (Museum
of Mathematics)
Orlando, Florida (Go
to Disneyworld. Math can be incorporated
by planning a budget. How much will it
cost to fly round trip, to stay there via hotel, and to get in the parks?)
