Blog 6- The Last One!

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?)