OH NO!!! Ohno Middle School

There is no denying that what we are currently doing in the area of Mathematics is . Now is the time that we make a change. A change that creates the results that are expected of us.

Data has been collected, analyzed and reported to the staff regarding student performance within the content area. We have identified the areas in which students are currently having the most difficulty and plan to target them specifically in an effort to meet the standards of the NJ ASK Grade 8 Mathematic portion.

Title I: $45,000 - money to help all students

This money will be used to primarily provide the students with greater opportunities to practice the skills that are posing the greatest obstacle. Monies will be used to provide students with opportunities before and after school through programs designed specifically to meet the needs of the students. Part of this money will also be designated for test preparatory programs to provide students with the necessary test taking skills that will aid them. Money will also be designated to provide students with materials that can be taken home and completed with parents/guardians.

Title IIa: $38,000 - Professional Development

Money here will be used for two areas of profession development. First, a series of workshops will be provided to help teachers understand the needs of the students in regards to the content area. These workshops will provide teachers with skills to provide a better understanding of content for the students. Second, the money here will be used to provide release time for teachers on a consistent basis to allow teachers to collaborate about the techniques they have learned and implemented.

Title III $12,000 - Bilingual programs

Money here will provide necessary resources for students whose primary language is not English. Money will be used to provide appropriate resources that will aid in the success of these students.

Title IV $3,500 - Drug and Alcohol

The money located here will provide two assets for the students. First, an assembly about the negative effects of drugs and alcohol and the role that they play on learning. Second, specialists in the area of test preparation will be provided for students to utilize.

Title V $1,200 - Creative Uses - Technology

Possibilities

Computer based test prep materials. (paper based if no computers)

Payment for teachers to create test prep materials

Through a concerted effort and determination between staff, students,and parents, we will provide our students with the necessary skill to attain the goals set forth by the state. We will continue to tirelessly work to provide the necessary support for student success.

Dear Mr. Hirsch

You are correct. What would I ever do if I didn't know the 11th President of the United States?

I have to strongly disagree with your view of education and the necessity of a uniform "core" curriculum. Your present your ideas through you writing but only the benefits, well at least as you see it. The one argument that I can truly agree with you is that a "core" curriculum can help the child who has to move around during the school year.

But I urge you to consider the child who "gets the facts" immediately. What will they do as the teacher tries tirelessly to get the all of the students at the same level? From my experience, this student often presents a challenge in many forms (as does the child who takes a long time to understand). They need a more progressive method to challenge their personal abilities.

You suggest repeated practice and memorization. However, what if what the students are learning is not correct? This would be a wasted effort. My point being, memorization of facts does not promote intelligent citizens but the development of ideas around facts does. On your "A" list you list AC/DC. I don't want to have a conversation with a person who will simply recite facts about the band and form no opinions. I can find that information on my own. I want to converse about opinions about the band and ideas about what they have done throughout their career. This is intelligent conversation.

There is another point that I can agree with you about and that is the need to master simple elements before complex elements of content material. I also think this a "DUH" understanding though. You couldn't build the Great Pyramids without building the base first. How can we expect students to perform higher level math skill if they don't understand number values? However, the way students understand this will vary from child to child because they are all very different individuals.

Plain and Simple: We all learn in different ways. Repetition and memorization may work with some but not for all. As educators we have taken a pledge for all students to have the opportunity to learn.

Saber-tooth Curriculum

1. Should education be based on disseminating the important skills needed by society in the present and for the future?

Education, as I have stated before, needs to be parallel present day society. The paleolithic educational system was based on this. New-Fist thought of and created a process to develop the children of his time into better "citizens" of the time. Not by teaching them impractical skills, rather necessary skills to become better at the things that needed to be done. Same holds true for the present educational system. We are experiencing more curriculum devoted to aspects of current society. Just as the children on article many of us had some experience with typing while growing up. Why? Because this was the future. I am not insisting that if we didn't participate in those courses that we would have never learned how to. In this class alone, think about how much typing we are doing. I firmly believe that education should be interwoven with practical skills as well as academic skills.

2. Should curriculum change reflect the common goals of the community in enabling its members to function as citizens?

Absolutely! While most curriculum does provide students with general skills, the community should help guide some of the learning. The most obvious example I can think of is teaching an agricultural course in an urban school. For what purpose? If we are in a rural setting in which students are are much more likely to experience agricultural activities, it would be beneficial to provide such curriculum. As stated in the article why were they still teaching the children to scare tigers when there were no tigers left? I suppose you can argue like the wise man, that it is about the "moral" of the activity but we can adapt that same "moral" to present day society.

3. Should curriculum focus on skills or content knowledge as its primary focus?

I am not sure if curriculum would be effective without both of them playing equal parts. I have to fall back onto my content area to explain this. Within PE, I feel that it is much more important for students to understand concepts (which to me is content knowledge) than to perform the skill masterfully. I do expect them to perform the skill but with understanding of why they are doing it. For example, I want students to understand to maintain a healthy weight they must equal caloric expenditure and intake. How they physically achieve that doesn't matter to me. Towards the end of the article, the old men talk about providing a "more thorough grounding in fundamentals" (Peddiwell, The Saber-Tooth Curriculum). I concur with this statement but once a foundation was been established the need for particular skills needs to be met.

This I believe

I believe that teaching is about the learning process.....

I have taken my time in writing this post because I have really tried to think about an experience, or person, that has guided my life to this point. And sadly I cant think of one before my college experience.

Throughout my experiences in life I have come to the realization that I love the learn and get better at whatever "it" is. As an undergraduate I was fortunate enough to be a part of the mens soccer program with a coach who strived for professionalism and a hard work ethic. During my time with the team we were consistently challenged to be better than we were the day before because he wanted that way. He demanded it. This experience, I believe, tailored me to the person that I am today.

While training for the upcoming season, I met up with a teammate in July of 2001. We headed out to a vacant field to train together with nothing more than a few cones, 2 soccer balls, and the desire to be better. I recall the session lasting no more the sixty minutes and the two of us being completely exhausted. He looked at me and said "you should try to do this for a living". Even though I was already in the teaching program, that moment was the first time that I thought to myself, you know what? I can do this.

I love the "process". I love golf for the sole fact that I have been playing for 15 years and I still get better every year. I love cycling for the fact that 2 months into training, I can climb that same hill that beat me down the last time I tried it. I love to workout to shed that 1/10 lbs (ok thats a stretch, just trying to hammer home the point). I love evolving and thinking back to the beginning when I thought that I wouldn't be able to do it.

I love teaching because I learn each day and get better because of it.

The continuous striving to be better, the desire to be better, the need to be better shows in my classroom each and every day and I hope that my students grasp the same concept.

Within the world of education, I feel my beliefs are a round peg in a square hole. I do not believe that tests measure learning. As Father Sarducci said about memorization: "so that you can parrot it back for the tests". Much of what tests measure students have a hard time applying. Application is learning. Just last semester, I had a professor who believed this. His tests were some of the hardest that I have ever taken. And I was allowed a note card full of notes! I think if students learn to appreciate learning for learning sake, the required tests scores would rise dramatically. As long as the government has such a strong hold on requirements of education the only things students will learn is to pass tests. (I promise I posted this before I saw the cartoon on Prof. Backenheimer's blog)

Standards

I am really torn when it comes to describing "teaching standards" as shackles or benefits. I really think that they can be and are both......

First, standards provides us with structure. It can help guide instruction to ultimate teaching goals for our students. Second, they provide defined goals and objectives for students to achieve over the course of the year. I do think that these goals should be made available to the students at the beginning of the year to help them understand what they should be achieving at the end of the year. Standards can also place accountability on the teacher to ensure that they are providing, what the state, believes is the best education.

However each of these points I can also argue from the opposing side. Standards providing structure to the teaching process can make it a dry, boring, and inapplicable to todays world. (I do understand that it is up to the teacher to adapt and present the material in an interesting way). Personally, I cant tolerate being in class that has little relevance to what I believe in, what I want to achieve, and what is happening in current times.

While the standards provide defined goals and objectives do they really encourage learning. Standardized tests are usually used to assess learning, but what about the student who doesn't like taking test? The student who'd rather be physically involved in learning? I feel that application is the true measure of learning. Take math for example (I loved math in when I was in school). It is all based on principles, formulas, theories, or whatever you want to call them. If a student doesn't understand them, they most likely won't get the problem right.

Accountability is one area that I cannot argue. Teachers need to be held accountable. This does, however, place enormous pressure on the teacher, especially when they are being evaluated.

So shackle or benefit? Both.

In my school, there is consistency across the particular grade level. Grade level teams meet once a week to align goals for the upcoming week but the instructional processes, I assume, are very different. I know that I do adhere to our state standards for physical education but struggle with the health component. If you don't know, health education at the primary level is nearly non-existant. How am I to meet all the standards for two content areas? Before everyone starts, understand I see kids 80 minutes per week, while classroom teachers see them 270 minutes a day in my school. Also, being a PE teacher, we are often "left alone" which I think is completely unacceptable and lets some very inappropriate educational practices survive.

State vs National Standards

I am not sure that it would matter where the standards are coming from. For Physical Education, NASPE (National Association for Sport and Physical Education) provides 6 national standards that are very broad. One standard reads - Participates regularly in physical activity. There are many ways to achieve that which provides freedom to the teacher but lacks substance. I have a student who completely dislikes any physical activity yet if I test him on locomotor movements I am sure he would pass but I cannot say that he participates regularly in physical activity.

I do believe standards provide consistency in education provided for all student and because of this I think that standards, in some capacity, need to be in place