allowed to participate in the training and program (I applied several times to be a part of this program). One teacher who was participating was leading a mediation session with his class one day. After he asked a student who was being vulgar and insulting to the other participants to leave, that student, the child of someone who worked in LAUSD leadership, complained to the school board that the teacher was discussing inappropriate topics. The teacher leading the remediation was suspended without pay pending an investigation. The investigation concluded that the teacher did not act inappropriately. Due to the fact, however, that the teacher in question did not have tenure, the school district has not renewed his contract for next year and filed a discipline statement with the CDE (California department of education). Finally, because there can be no punishment when students do not serve detention, there is no longer any detention program at Westchester. The pervasive smell of marijuana coming from our bathrooms, the daily insults to teachers that go largely unchecked, and the freedom with which students commit crime and disrupt learning is staggering. It is not only disruptive to learning, but also dangerous.
The culture of failure at Westchester is likely a product of the message being sent by the other areas of hidden curricula. Regardless, it is a known and often discussed fact that students routinely bully other students who are succeeding, and harass students who show initiative in class, or refuse to ditch school with their friends. I believe this is a “Lord of the Flies” symptomatic behavior, where in the absence of governing structure, the students have created their own ‘code’ to live by.
The prioritization...
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...n as a prerequisite step from which instruction and assessment flows (Glatthorn & Jailall, 2009).”
In preparing my analysis, I considered evidence from several sectors: student data, teacher observation, administrative interviews, artifacts and memoranda from training, published curriculum and research, student work samples, and personal experience. Many of the resources I used to form a conclusion can be found in the appendices of this paper.
My analysis of the alignment of the seven curriculum types at Westchester High is that there is complete misalignment. I conclude that the majority of the misalignment stems from the transition to the new Common Core standards, and from the issues highlighted in my discussion of our hidden curriculum. In the following section, I will highlight the little curricular strength I observed, and our grave areas of weakness.
b. ENABLING LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Without the aid of notes and in accordance with the reference MCI 21.35:
The most favorable response was to the question, “Staff at this school share a common understanding of instructional best practices” with a 92% agreement score. Conversely, the least favorable response was to the question, “I meet regularly and often with colleagues to plan for instruction,” with a 38% agreement score. Hence, the professional practices of the staff are considered to be superior but the organization of the schedule have not allowed for collaborative practices. Additionally, is in strong agreement (85%) that the staff does a good job identifying students who struggle
middle of paper ... ... Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 25 (1), 45-51. Retrieved from http://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol25/iss1/5. Western Australian Department of Education. a.
Vars, F. G. (2001). Can Curriculum Integration Survive in an Era of High-Stakes Testing?. Middle School Journal, 33 (2), 7-17. doi: 10.2307/23043475
Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved April 19, 2019. From: https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUSOC120.10.2.
Stiggins, R. J. (2006, November/December). Assessment for learning: A key to motivation and achievement. Edge, 2, 3-19.
When I first decided to be a teacher I had many thoughts and opinions about teaching and education. Some of my thoughts and opinions have stayed them same; however, many have changed from the discussions and readings in LL ED 411 and 480. When I first decided that I wanted to be a teacher I thought that most students learned in the same manner. I also thought that the teacher should have power over the classroom. Likewise, I thought that technology should not be used in the classroom--except to type papers. I now know that there is not much truth to my ideas and thoughts because my thoughts were shaped only from my experiences. My experiences are narrow because they were shaped from the problems in schools and the old ideas that teachers still have. Now that I have learned the other sides to these problems I know that my thoughts about teaching and education are not fully developed.
On my first day at Dunn Middle School, I learned that I had the gifted and talented classes, and assumed that discipline would be no problem for me. There was minimal chatter and the students seemed eager to learn. When I walked in on the second day, my co-op handed me a sheet of paper with the suspensions listed. This floored me, the infractions included fighting and sexual harassment. Over the next few weeks I saw that both out of school and in school suspensions were given a lot.
It is estimated that 3.3 million children annually are expelled or suspended for violent or nonviolent offenses while attending school. The majority of the offenses are nonviolent offenses that are handled just as harshly as violent school infractions due to zero tolerance laws. This essay will show how zero tolerance laws, bad schools and policing in schools is failing millions of minority students and fueling the school to prison pipeline.
Cole, H., Hulley, K., & Quarles, P. (2009). Does assessment have to drive the curriculum?
When reviewing the literature regarding the past, present and future of educational curriculum, several main points seem apparent, namely that curriculum is cyclical, that a dilemma or paradox exists, and that curriculum must be looked at with a sensitive view.
According to Sapona and Winterman (2002) teachers implementing this model in their classroom include six comp...
Sadker, D.M., Sadker, M.P., and Zittleman, K.R.,(2008) Teachers, Students, and Society (8th ed.).New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
For Doman 1, planning and preparation, I believe that I demonstrate adequate skills. I work hard to make connections to my content knowledge with other subject areas through discussions with general education teachers for social studies and science curriculums (Danielson, 1996). As a special education teacher, I must have a full understanding of my students (Danielson, 1996). I design lessons that are the instructional match for my students, modify grade level curriculum, and accommodate for different learning styles. I also try to choose books that would be interesting to my students and create math story problems around the activities that students participate in. Assessing student learning is critical to monitor instruction and to report student progress accurately (Danielson, 1996). The development of this component was a goal of mine during the first semester of this school year. I feel that now, I have acc...
In this course I experienced an important change in my beliefs about teaching; I came to understand that there are many different theories and methods that can be tailored to suit the teacher and the needs of the student. The readings, especially those from Lyons, G., Ford, M., & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2011), Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007), and Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, M., Sinclair, C., Nanlohy, P. (2010), have helped me to understand this in particular. In composing my essay about teaching methods and other themes, my learning was solidified, my knowledge deepened by my research and my writing skills honed.