Problem Background Theodore Sizer of Brown University founded the Coalition for Essential Schools in 1985. Presently, over 1000 elementary and secondary schools use Coalition for Essential Schools. CES is centered around challenging schools with an emphasis on personalized learning, student achievement, and effective teaching methods. Sizer first considered the type of school reform that the Coalition of Essential Schools pursues in the book Horace's Compromise (Bergeson, 2005). The book contained Ted Sizer's thoughts on a study of high schools over a five-year period; in which he used a fictional teacher named Horace to illustrate a number of instructive examples. The mission of the program is "to create and sustain equitable, intellectually
Mike Rose's I Just Wanna Be Average essay sheds light on troubled youth within the public school system. It makes you long for the days of American pride and service. Students placed in “tracks'; to utilize overcrowded and faulty test systems. Identity lost due to poor instruction and lack of motivation. The influx of shattered images brought forth by the “Report of the French Commission on American Education, 1879'; reminds us of a time long ago when education was for every child, not select few. Stoic instructors molding young minds in the quest to advance America as a whole. Civic pride and duty were influencing every aspect of American education.
Goldstein argues a problem with education policy is, “American policy makers require every public school to use the same strategy…” (261) When facing the problem of inequality in education a teacher needs to be fluid with his or her curriculum. In fact, one of the best ways to allow for fluidity is through peer-to-peer help. Goldstein states, “(teaching hospital model) allows best practices tailored to a specific school to be passed from professional to professional.” (255) Peer-to-peer help not only does this allow for constructive feedback, but also it allows teachers to learn from one another. While policy makers might not know a schools demographics and unique situation teachers in the school will. Thus, teachers can help one another on their unique problem through a collaborative process. Peer to peer help allows for the design of, “creative curriculum materials and to lead school turnaround efforts.” (232) The problems associated with inequality can be thought out and explored through teachers working
In early Roman literature, some writers contrasted the life living in urban Rome with the life living out in the countryside. Horace gives a much more positive view of the country, as in the story of the country mouse, Horace writes, “The hayseed gasps, ‘This life I don’t need, goodbye! My woods and cave will guard me from all snares, and plain vetch will be my consolation’” (Horace, 2.6.115-17). Horace contrasts the idyllic, simple life in the country to the bustling city of Rome. The city mouse promises the country mouse more food in the city than he can imagine, but the mice end up going back to the country after being scared by loud noises and dogs. This signifies that however promising the city may seem, the comfortable life of the country is much preferable. Also, Horace’s preference for the country in prominent in his Satire 1.9, such as when the bore states, “I’ll work for you, I can be a great second player and take the minor roles, just make some contacts for me, that’s all. I’ll bet my life you’ll outdo everyone you know” (Horace, 1.9.45-48). The poet then tells the bore that he doesn’t understand how poetry is done and implies he is shallow and annoying. In his satire featuring the poet and the bore, the bore asks to see
In modern society, the rules for school are simple and straightforward. To do well in school means to do well later in all aspects of life and guaranteed success will come. Sadly however, this is not the case for Ken Harvey or Mike Rose. Author Mike Rose goes to Our Lady of Mercy, a small school located deep in Southern Los Angeles where he meets other troubled students. Being accidentally placed in the vocational track for the school, Rose scuttles the deep pond with other troubled youths. Dealt with incompetent, lazy and often uninvolved teachers, the mix of different students ‘s attention and imagination run wild. Rose then describes his classmates, most of them trying to gasp for air in the dead school environment. On a normal day in religion
...kes examples relatable for high school students to make high school readers more inclined to agree with him. He completes making high school students his primary audience by ending his essay with ideas of how to undermine school administrations and teachers. Gatto’s essay is intended to primarily target parents or to-be parents of public school students. He does this through his examples which help in supporting an argument to informed audiences or audiences with an opposing bias. When he addresses the audience, he also gives advice about how to manage their children’s education. Both methods are effective for their respective audience because they are relatable and use the correct form of argumentation for the bias of the target reader.
According to him, curriculum is not a “thing” people need and need to learn. It is something communicated to children through a teacher. It should be conceived as a dynamic aspect. It should be tailored to children’s individual needs and interests making it more fascinating and meaningful to them. Keeping track on students’ progress and further development is another important aspect that a teacher should do. But how should teachers manage this? Ayers, like Ken Robinson had been criticizing standardized tests. They, and I for one, firmly believe that standardized tests play biases and do not really measure one’s skills, abilities, emotions and creativity. It kills students’ creative ideas. Ayers belief is that to reform education for the better, we must go in the exact opposite direction, away from standardization of curricula, teaching, and assessment. Educators should have thought differently about education, allowing students to tap into the motivation of students to raise student achievement and honor the diversity of students. Instead, a different sort of education, one that harnesses the intrinsic motivation and creativity of students is
Ornstein, A.C. & Levine, D.U. Foundations of Education. 12th edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing Company.
In order to establish a PHILOSOPHY ON TEACHING, a sequence of events happen in history to open a doorway to “Society about Education and Schooling”, as the description of Public Education Goals for Our Educational System came from the ideas of two famous men, Horace Mann and Thomas Jefferson.
It is argued that there are 4 elements critical to the effectiveness of the instructional process: 1. the learner, 2. the teacher, 3. the home, and 4. the academic programs and the physical facilities at the school. These are interdependent and interactive and must function in unison for effective teaching to take place. The teacher's primary responsibility is to help the learner grow intellectually, physically, emotionally, and socially. Therefore, teachers should be competent, dedicated, and committed to the profession of teaching and to the service of the students. Teachers should have adequate academic and professional preparation and the requisite traits of character. Teachers should be respected, appreciated, and sumptuously remunerated to enable them to devote themselves with total concentration to the task of teaching. A home where education is valued contributes in immeasurable ways to the quality of learning of the child. Finally, the school should have innovative, creative, differentiated, and challenging academic programs."</cite> For example, if the schools physical facilities aren't in a good, safe condition, the learner will have a hard time learning because his mind will be on his own personal safety and well being. A lot of the inner city schools in the United States are older than the teachers that teach in them. Some schools are so overc...
The decade of the 1980s saw numerous calls for widespread school reform, with changes recommended in teacher education, graduation requirements, school structure, and accountability measures. With the advent of the 1990s, school reform finally to...
Sadker, D.M., Sadker, M.P., and Zittleman, K.R.,(2008) Teachers, Students, and Society (8th ed.).New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.
Thomas Gradgrind Sr., a father of five children, has lived his life by the book and never strayed from his philosophy that life is nothing more than facts and statistics. He has successfully incorporated this belief into the school system of Coketown, and has tried his best to do so with his own children. The educators see children as easy targets just waiting to be filled with information. They did not consider, however, the children’s need for fiction, poetry, and other fine arts that are used to expand children’s minds, all of which are essential today in order to produce well-...
Lezotte, L. (2001). Revolutionary and evolutionary: The effective schools movement. Okemos, MI: Effective Schools Products, Ltd.
...try. John P. Stevens ranked thirty second in the state; that’s quite an amazing title we should all be proud of. Simply minimizing classes, even a little, will help us succeed even farther. Just because we’ve made it this far up the mountain, doesn’t mean we can stop climbing. There’s always room for improvement. In fact, to me, that’s what Edison’s schools are about: striving for a higher education and finding innovative ways to learn. Yet at the same time, the Edison schools can be so much more than that. The schools are a community in which we strive to do what’s best for each other and ourselves. Creating smaller classes will strengthen this support system, and allow for each one of us to grow into scholars. Just like Edison, small classes strive to shape students who are willing and excited to learn: the foundations for success.