Curriculum Blogger: Highlight Week 1-7

 The blogging and connecting to the resources provided in this class allowed me to think critically about the learning that goes on in my room and the curriculum of our district.  The blogs also allowed me to evoke change, instead of just stewing about the issues to myself.  Many of the highlights below include blogs that I used as a way of making positive change after reflection of the material presented in the class.  Some of my favorite blogs are below with a short description of why they stood out to me.  The bold beginnings give a brief connection to the big ideas that I learned in the class.

1. UPDATING CONTENT:  
• "Sustainable Education"  This blog gave sustainability integration ideas: hiking, beach, descriptive writing in the woods.
2. EDUCATING THE COMMUNITY:  
• "Persistent Issue Assignment" I spend a lot of time on this assignment and even included a power point presentation and essay about grading that will be taken to the school board next year.
3. INTEGRATION/ASSESSMENT: 
•  "Metacognitive Writing"  For this blog, I commented on a new found technique that I would use in my curriculum called a RAFT.  It was really exciting creating a new aspect of my curriculum for next year: metacognitive writing in the form of RAFT's.  So far, I have made RAFTs about colonial America, causes of the American revolution, storms, water cycle, and the atmosphere.
4. FUNDING 21ST CENTURY LEARNING / MEANINGFUL ASSESSMENTS / SAMR MODEL REDEFINITION:  
• "Grant Application Technology Fair" I took quite a bit of time to create a meaningful grant application on donorschoose.org that may give students more opportunities to grow in the ways we learned about in this course.
5. REDEFINING SCHOOLS
• "Who Me? Yes You. Couldn't Be! Then Who"  An insight on how our society is needing to figure out who to blame in our failing education system.  
• "Educators Unite:  Reflection on 'The Myth of Charter Schools'"  Diane Ravich had some great insights on charter schools.  I outlined in this blog my feelings about Ravich's article, and gave some suggestions for keeping public schools progessive.

What's The Big Idea? Curriculum 21 Ch.1-4 Summary

The BIG Ideas In Curriculum 21 (Ch. 1-4)
By Heidi Hayes Jacobs

1. With different expectations yield different results.  Conversely, different results yield new expectations.
• Comparing state to state or country to country is hard because each has different needs and comes from a different place.
• If we expect 21st century citizens, we should have 21st century curriculum and assessments.
• The needs of students for the world they live in needs to be considered when writing assessments or curriculum.
2. The structure of education as we know it needs updating.
• Aspects of school like scheduling need to become more out of the box. 
• The separation of subject matter needs reconsidering.  More interdisciplinary work. Expanding beyond separated periods of one class or another.
• The way we group students is pivotal to how they learn.
• The way we collaborate is pivotal in our own professional development.  Getting out of the self-contained philosophy.  
• The use of space in the classroom and out of the classroom are equally important.
• Creativity needs to make a come back in schools assessment and curriculum.
3. The way that we assess students should define what life skills we want students to have.
• Start with assessment and then develop the content and skills necessary.
• Some assessments are just more effective than others, but you have to use a variety of techniques not just one type.
• Update the types of assessments to be meaningful and influential.  
• Technology can be a great resource in helping to assess student growth.
• Use a professional development day to help change assessment ideas.
• Sometimes the content will stay the same, but the way students need to show understanding is different.
4. The curriculum itself needs to be more useful to student and global needs.
• Social Studies: Students should be studying people as rich, historical, economical, geographical ect. beings.
• Social Studies: Are we preparing our students for a global economic movement?  Will the U.S. ever be independent from foreign economic control?
• Writing & Science go hand in hand.
• Science & Social Studies are very important and yet are being neglected.
• Religion studies should be a part of the learning experience as far as social studies is concerned.
• Science is a process of living, observing, and deducing.  It is a subject that includes many of the skills essential to learning.
• As well as science and social studies vocabulary, sustainability, health and wellness, listening and speaking, and languages are also mentioned as important subjects that are not getting enough focus in curriculum.
• There is a stigma against being smart.
5. When creating content there are essential questions that need to be asked.
• "Within the discipline being reviewed, what content choices are dated and nonessential?"
• "What choices for topics,  issues, problems, themes, and case studies are timely and necessary for our learners within disciplines?"
• "Are the interdisciplinary content choices rich, natural, and rigorous?
6. When content is meaningful to students, they will embrace the learning process.
• Learning needs to have real-world connections.
• Assessments also need to have real-world applications, failures, successes.
• Involving the community in projects can really make learning come alive.
• Not many schools were build for student success. Schools need to be redesigned to fit how students actually learn.

COMMON CORE RESPONSE

My experience with the common core standards is that it makes education more accessible to students.  For example, in mathematics, students who no longer understand long division are given a greater understanding so they can divide in their heads.  The Mathematics Common Core standards move away from memorization of step-by-step math.  It makes students understand and comprehend mathematics. In As the How The Common Core Became Education's Biggest Bogeyman, the article states, the common core focuses on a few standards that go greatly in-depth. 

In Common Core Resources, it explains how the  “ASCD received a $3 million grant from the Gates Foundation to support implementation of Common Core State Standards over a three-year period, and it has become an endorsing partner in the initiative. “ Ravich also enlightened her readers on how teachers unions are even receiving money to promote the common core standards by Bill Gates. 

I was unaware how much funding played a part in the support of organizations.  I cannot say that I am surprised.  With the financial needs of local organizations to fight larger battles, the money could come in handy!  

Summary Persistant Issue Assignment

My persistent issue is the form of grading used in our district.  Our district uses both standards based grades and numeracy grades.  Each grade level has different subjects that they grade differently and it is really confusing for teachers, students, and parents.  Students can receive failing grades and meet the standards in some cases.  There needs to be a change.

For my persistent issue, I wrote a letter to the school board and put together a presentation outlining how the two systems of grading make no sense together on the same report card.  My hope is to collect more data from parents, students, and teachers and then to make the presentation to the school board.

Grant Application Essay: Technology Fair

Based on Chapter 7 of Heidi Hayes Jacob's book Curriculum 21, I have decided to create a new project for my students.  The project is based on Jacob's idea of having students create films for a Film Festival.  My project is similar in that it would still be for the 21st century learner and would still challenge students to strive for more real outcomes than grades. However, students would have more options to use their creativity besides just movies.  Students would be able to create movies, podcasts, scratch video games, slideshows (for the more scaffolded learner), or graphic novels via comic life.  Last year I tried to implement this project, but the resources were not available.  For this blog post I am going to write the grant request for the technology required for the project.  The grant I am writing will be through donorschoose.org a great site for all educators and support professionals who are looking for funding.

GRANT WRITING ESSAY
In room 20, students define passion. Through self-directed exploration they gain a hunger for information and a love of learning. Working in groups to solve real-life problems, they are in control of their destiny and I am merely their guide. Students transform into influential members of society.

Jimmy slumps into the classroom.  He walks to the back of and settles into a desk in the back row.  At the beginning of the year, he believes his F's are inevitable.  By fifth grade the labels in education, have instead started to define him (special education, behavior room, etc).  So many times students think that information is only an entity to receive and accept.  But it's not.

In my classroom it can be hard teaching students that through mistakes we learn our best.  That failing means trying again that there is hope for students of all levels and abilities.  The poverty in our school is rampant with 75% of students getting free and reduced lunches.  Students are trying to escape situations of abuse, poverty, chronic illness, and incessant moving/ transferring schools.

That being said, every student with passion and motivation can influence their world.  With your help we can empower students to do so with the ability to think beyond the desk in the back row.

After reading Curriculum 21 by Heidi Hayes Jacobs, I was inspired to create 21st century projects that promoted learning outside of the classroom walls.  I wanted real-life learning that would require creativity, technological fluency, and a love of learning.

I am requesting 5 Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Android Tablets.  The tablets will be used for a community service project where the students in groups of around 4 will choose a real life persuasive essay topic.  Students will then research their topic.  The assessment will be either a podcast, movie, graphic novel, music video, slideshow, or video game.  When the products are finished, we will invite the community to come and see their creations.  Students would need the ability to take video in a portable way and format the video.

The tablets will not only allow students to create technology fair projects, but they will also be used on a daily basis integrating them into math, science, social studies, and language arts stations.

Sure, a donation to my project is going to greatly help my small group instruction, and my students ability to make a technology project, but the donations to this project will be used to provide our generations with technological fluency.  You and I together can give students the ability to take control of their education.  We can encourage students to use their knowledge as power by contributing to their community and eventually the world they live.

Educators Unite- Reflection on "The Myth of Charter Schools"

Diane Ravitch in "The Myth of Charter Schools" describes how the film Waiting for Superman is written by a private elite school graduate with incorrect facts.  So what now?  Now that we know the truth about this slanderous film which was viewed by the nation, how can we let America know that our public schools largely successful compared to their charter school and even global counterparts?  Schools need to start getting positive attention, lawmakers need to be educated on education, the truth about high stakes testing and charter schools needs to be revealed, and their needs to be shared accountability between parents, students, communities, politicians, teachers, and schools.

Public schools need to start gaining national attention.  It should be a responsibility of every public school teacher & employee to invite the nation into the school to see the amazing work that goes on.  With every lesson that goes above and beyond a textbook teachers need to invite in the media, parents, lawmakers, and community.  Democrats, republicans, and independents need to see struggles, successes, achievements, and even failures of public schools that are real and not manufactured as in Waiting for Superman.

It would be nice to have someone in office who supports the education of the United States.  A lawmaking official who stops blaming the educational system they've created, and instead supports the system with funding, professional development, positive publicity, and a community of support.  Teaching is a political profession.   For example, in the state of Maine there is around 20,000 members of the Maine Education Association.  It is not acceptable to have an elected Maine governor who slanders education, grades schools districts unfairly, and claims that private schools are the only good schools in Maine.  With an election approaching, and three candidates, Maine needs to unite around a single candidate for governor, one who's own sister is a teacher, and who has visited classrooms (including mine). Maine's educational candidate for governor is Michaud.

The truth about high stakes testing needs to be revealed.  On a global scale, the United States is continuously compared to China.  In an interview with Yong Zhao, Joan Richardson uncovers truths about China's education system that the United States needs to be made aware of.  Zhao encourages the United States to continue to support the public schools in a more in-depth way rather than trying to change to a standardized test model like China.    Richards points out one of the most prominent ideas in the book is that, "developed nations like the United States should not be following developing nations like China. We got where we are by being leaders, and now it appears that we’re turning around to follow those who are trying to catch up with us."  As American's we needs to have confidence in the public schools that we have created because we became international leaders that way.  Instead of shunning the system, the communities and politicians should be supporting the system.

The truth about charter schools was clearly outlined in this article.   Ravich points out that only 1 in 5 charter schools even get amazing results.  That is only 20%.  A study reported that in charter schools, "student progress on math tests in half the nation’s five thousand charter schools and concluded that 17 percent were superior to a matched traditional public school; 37 percent were worse than the public school; and the remaining 46 percent had academic gains no different from that of a similar public school."  We can not buy into charter schools with such a terrible success rate.  It would be expensive and detrimental to the rural areas in our country.


There needs to be accountability for parents and students again.  We need a country that agrees that success is what you make it.  That in order to be successful, you need to work hard. As a nation isn't that what we are still all about?  As Ravich states,"There was a time—which now seems distant—when most people assumed that students’ performance in school was largely determined by their own efforts and by the circumstances and support of their family, not by their teachers."

With any purchase comes investment.  Community members, politicians feel like they have paid for education time and time again and are frustrated by that.  However, there needs to be continued investment.  The investment is not only money it includes giving public schools positive attention by taking the time to actually step foot in the schools.   Lawmakers need to invest time into researching education.  The truth about high stakes testing and charter schools needs to be revealed, and their needs to be an investment in our students by continued accountability by everyone involved.

Metacognitive Writing-- RAFT

When reading chapter 13 of Curriculum 21, I got stuck on the part about metacognition and habits of the mind.  I found this part facinating.  So much so that I was looking it up on the internet and found a great teaching tool called a RAFT.  I have been looking to boost my writing curriculum with some free writes to get students interested about writing.  A raft seems like a fun activity that encourages different habits of the mind.

A RAFT is when a student is able to choose a Role (basically what perspective they want to write in) to a chosen Audience (who might the piece be read by or seen by)  in a Format of your choice (letter, essay, commercial, etc.) , and then students choose a topic to write about.   This week I made 6 RAFT assignments that fit the curriculum of my fifth grade class for next year.  I am excited to use them as a connection between disciplines, and as metacognative activities.