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Blog Session #5: Content Knowledge

Response to “Connected: An Autobiography…”

In what way might the film relate to your content area?  Give a concrete example.

            The importance of understanding networking in today’s society is of utmost importance to the generation being educated today.  With the technological boom, the increase of media, and the influence of current trends, our society has shown their emphasis and need to technology.  If students wish to be productive citizens in today’s society, they’ll need to be able to utilize the machinery (technology) in front of them.  While it’s important to understand the role of technology in the world, it’s equally important to see the impact that human relationships have.  Often, jobs are given because of networking.  Knowing people, the right people, can help people to achieve to their greatest potential, it can land them in places they never dreamed of, and it can help form relationships that are far more valuable than any job.

What questions does it raise?

            One aspect “Connected: An Autobiography” kept coming back to was the impact the honey bees have on the animals in their food web and the living creatures that are in the bees biosphere.  When the honey bees were artificially put into habitats or removed from their native ones, there was a direct and profound impact on animals and plants that inhabited the biosphere shared by the bees.  My question then comes from the idea of implementing new theories and ideas into practice and how it impacts the environment already in position. 

So often are teachers, professionals, and people ready to take up and utilize the current trends without really researching the effects.  It’s important to look with a judging, evaluative eye at new practices and structures – education changes as society does, but sometimes these changes occur without heed of the potential dangers.  As the video shows how bees have a direct connection with human’s vegetation and agricultural needs, so the various small pieces of education similarly play a piece in the larger system we call schooling.  There was a lot of hype for the NCLB implementation, yet the true costs of the program were not fully realized until it had thoroughly been in place.  Learning from this video and our past history, people should and can realize they are constantly bombarded by new changes to our world, but these changes aren’t necessarily advantageous.  Look critically, realistically, and with regard to the future when dealing with changes.

How is your content area interconnected with other content areas?

            English is becoming the global language more and more in time.  In order to have success in this world, whether finically, materially, or spiritually there needs to be an understanding between people.  Language provides this space.  English is being implemented in education in countries across the globe.  It will empower and change how people think and act.  Students will be utilizing the language throughout the day, making English one of the most interconnected subjects around. 

            At the high school I teach at, we have academies set up to help students prepare with skills for the workforce or for higher education.  This amazing system allows students to hone a skill, such as with construction and engineering.  Students in this academy have to take the same A-G requirements as all other high schoolers, but they are given a longer elective period (which is assigned based on which academy the student chose).  I am constantly collaborating with the woodshop, engineering, and instructional design course teachers to help support the students throughout the day.  We try to utilize similar vocabulary to keep formality among each other with regards to the students.  I think it’s much more empowering for students to see these connections between subjects than if students were simply to focus within the particular subject on a particular element.  This broader perspective allows for deep meaning and wide application simultaneously.

How does an interdisciplinary lens deepen understanding for a “well-educated person?”

            In my educational experience, I found schooling to be exciting when I was able to connect the content being learned in one class to another course or to something completely outside of school.  Understanding that the learning of a concept or particular content may be easier for certain students to grasp if they see that being implemented across subjects and in their own lives.  A well-educated person is able to see multiple perspectives and apply what they’ve learned in one avenue towards something from a different one.  This type of broad thinking can help connect ideas and concepts between different subject matters, giving students another means to access content. 

I responded to: Mary Buckley & Anne Garvey

Blog Session #4: Content Knowledge

1.     Disciplinary Lenses:

“Disciplines are not collections of certified facts; rather, they are lenses through which we look at the world and interpret it… they orient our attention to specific questions about the world… and provide us with standards for what count as viable answers to such questions.” (Boix Mansilla)

What is one specific way that your content research thus far has caused you to re-think about an idea, or question, or caused you to challenge assumptions that you had previously not considered – or – even pushed you further in your thinking?  Discuss.

·      Initially, I was hoping to engage my students with education and school in general, but my focus has shifted and narrowed to designing my classroom with the intention of allowing access to content through multiple intelligences.  I plan to utilize qualitative means to analyze the impact students’ fell when their environment is stimulating and adds to curriculum, rather than distract or be neutral in students’ learning.  I am a firm believer in the value of constantly learning and progressing, as both teachers and students have a need to grow.  Another aspect I can implement into the project is the impact that could occur if students create their own classroom environment as a pre-reading/ KWL-type of activity to help trigger the initial engagement many students lack.  If students begin to understand the impact and work that goes into theming a room based on the unit being taught, maybe they will be able to create the environment themselves and feel a sense of worth in their own educational experiences.  I’m still not 100% sure I will let students help in the creation of the classroom environment, but research has shown me this could build a foundational buy-in to the unit that seems to be lacking from many classroom the high school I teach at.

2.     The Death & Life of the Great American School System, D. Ravitch: Ch. 9:

How can the Common Core Standards fit into this narrative of school reform?

·      One thing I like about Common Core is the broadness of the skill-sets they’ve identified as important and how each level builds on the fundamentals of the levels before.  I think it will help rid the educational institution of standardized testing because society will “know” where each student should be educationally by the grade they’re in.  Instead of having to utilize test scores to both understand where students are coming from and where they’ve progressed to, we will be more adept at understanding where students have come from because of the new standards.  I’m not exactly sure how the unions will be playing a role in the implementation of the new standards, but I’m sure there will be direct influences from them.

“Let’s start with the hardest question: should teachers’ unions exist?  Do the protections they offer their members depress student achievement?  Are they an “adult interest group,” as their critics charge, whose priorities conflict with the needs of their students?  Would schools improve if there were no unions to represent teachers?” (Ravitch 173).

What argument does she present based on available research?  What do you think?

·      Diane seems not to decided whether unions should be present or not – she is able to see both sides of the spectrum, as she explains on, “No one, to my knowledge, has demonstrated a clear, indisputable correlation between teacher unionism and academic achievement, either negative or positive.” (P. 175).  I think she is able to toggle and weigh the pros and cons of having teachers unions and who it benefits, as well as how it could potentially be holding teaching and competitive teaching back.  I am unsure about unions – I think after my first full year of teaching and understanding some of the impact unions have, will help me address my own understanding of them.  I definitely see the benefit of having competition within education and the market approach, but think it’s too radical for education and can’t simply be transferred to education.  On the other hand, the sense of security that unions provide also is supportive of teachers who have put in their time.  

I responded to: 

Session III: Content Knowledge

The short preview, The Raising of America, had a lot of startling data.  The relationship between social policies and child development didn’t seem to align as our country believes it does.  Society may say we’re family-oriented, but we don’t fund for our children’s development to support that claim.  Social mobility is worse now than 50 years ago.  One quarter of the population is born into poverty.  Childcare is ranked number sixteen in affordability and more than twenty in quality.  These facts are startling! 

Recently, after teaching at a title I and growing to love and care for the students there – to believe in their ability to achieve as well as their privileged peers – it hurts me to see where people (both on the societal level and individual level) are spending their money.  Our society has a litany of materialistic desires that are a waste; before we can correct others, we need to correct ourselves.  We need to make better decisions where we spend our money.  At the end of The Raising of America, a gentleman said, “Where would you put your money?  In the stock market or in a young child?”  As moral as Americans are, I’m not sure we’d put our money where our mouth is.  I think changes in the policies around education, the funds that are given to schooling, and to child development is extremely important and under looked. 

Families are supported by their work, not by the funds government gives them.  Families are required to fund their child’s education – so this vision of a family-oriented society has become a hallucination.  We need to readjust how we finance our society.

Quebec’s piloting of the government’s implantation of funds and policy to help students’ early development is a great model.  I think it’s a wonderful idea to help the youth learn at an early age, for a price that is reasonable.  The CPE system in Quebec has helped support the family at home too because he and his wife are able to work and earn a living, while the students are able to get their education.  The achievements the system showed seems to me to be a no-brainer and is an investment I believe pays off at an extremely high rate.  I also think it’s important to look at other countries models of education, as many other countries have used our research, seen our education, and learned from what we do to effectively make their education systems what they are. 

I want to know where the most up-to-date news can be found regarding educational policies and funding?  What magazines or journals cover where American education (as a whole and in California) is heading?  

*I responded to Kusy Espinoza & Jessica Bender

Session II: Content Knowledge

1.  Chapter one: In recounting her journey through many educational reforms, Diane Ravitch makes a number of provocative statements.  Choose two, quote them, and personally respond.

Diane explains a theory of setting of the school/education system as corporate America is formatted, “Free of direct government control, the schools would be innovative, hire only the best teachers, get rid of incompetent teachers, set their own pay scales, compete for students (customers), and be judged solely by their results.” (P.10).  This was be such a revolution to the education system; students acting as customers, going to a store to get what they need, would be a drastically different perspective.  It would allow teachers to foster competition, yet may put a damper on collaboration.  I’m sure it’s not the most appropriate means to changing American education, but it offers another perspective – the same perspective our students learn when they get into the workforce. 

Education, for Ravitch, is a democratic system, yet it doesn’t necessarily guarantee the benefits it offers.  She explains, “I held, they are a primary mechanism through which a democratic society gives its citizens the opportunity to attain literacy and social mobility.  Opportunity leaves much to the individuals; it is not a guarantee of certain success.” (P. 6).  This quote struck the nail on the head, as Ravitch correctly identifies the purpose of education, while understanding the accountability required by the students to promote, foster, and progress their own learning.  While the democratic education system allows for great aspirations, these aspirations can only be achieved through persistent work.

2.   Chapter two: On page 16, Ravitch gives a brief definition of a well-educated person.  How would characterize a well-educated person?  What should any well-educated person know in today’s world?

Ravitch explains that a well-educated person has an acute mind, sculpted by reading and thinking about history, science, literature, the arts, and politics.  She gives a fairly brief, yet precise opinion of what it means to be an educated person.  She leaves out the quality of understanding within the environmental context of the individual, such as the current issues going on in the community of the individual.  A well-educated person should be able to critically think on current issues regarding all the subjects Diane identifies.

3.  Thinking about the class discussion on the book, what would you have liked to say that you did not say?

During our class discussion regarding Ravitch’s opinions about content, expectations, time, and teaching there was the aspect of professionalism, which I think is a topic not thoroughly addressed in education.  While the stigma is that teaching is a profession that is easy, casual, and of little difficulty, it is not beyond the majority to believe in and see the impact of education.  I regard teaching as a profession that deserves slacks and a tie and so I dress respectively, so that my students know I’m taking them and the career in the appropriate manner.  Students point out that I’m the only teacher who wears a tie, but I think it’s important that teachers feel they have an influential career, which is communicated to the customers – students, parents, and caregivers.

4.  Choose one gap you listed from your subject area and identify three resources: a web site, an article, and a book that can help you fill that gap.  List these and discuss what you learned from one of these.

English is a constantly evolving subject and language.  I think it’s important to understand that even the wisest of the content cannot know everything.  Choosing how to stay up to the current times of technology, literature, spoken word, and the overall language is quite a task.  I plan on utilizing material that is relative to students’ experiences outside of the classroom.  The article I read, called “Changing Behaviors By Changing the Classroom Environment” had some interesting modifications for helping students’ behavioral concerns.  Some of the arrangements and changes made were insightful, yet the more I read, the more I wanted to add my thoughts.  I want students the learn from their environment, not be controlled by it.  Initially, I will design the classroom around a theme, but pushing it a step further could involve the students creating the physical makeup of the classroom in a prediction-style inquiry into the upcoming unit.

Last year, I taught excerpts from the novel, “A Long Way Gone,” which had layers of connections for students to make – from the violence they witness to the impact of music in their lives and the importance of dreams, this book was powerful to the students.  While I am anxious to start building my classroom’s physical set-ups for each unit, I think it could be really interesting letting students build their own room around the thematic unit to-be-studied.  It could help initiate engagement and help their prior knowledge in being activated or constructed.  They could then feel a sense of purpose within the learning segment, while using different skills (like from Gardeners Multiple Intelligences). 

5. Your annotations of resources are meant to be both scholarly and brief.  In the blog, discuss in detail why/how any two of these articles were useful to your topic/question(s).  Consider such things as listing specific information you learned that you didn’t know before; how this new learning leads to other questions or sources; why this writer was convincing; whether you would seek this writer out for other articles he/she has written, and anything else you’d like to state in a blog that other can learn from and read.

One of the articles I read, called “The Impact of the Physical Environment on Supervisory Communication Skills Transfer” detailed how the design of a workplace can directly impact the communication skills “transfer in face-to-face interaction with employees.”  The physical environment could either promote or hinder communication skills, and they had supervisors trained in helping foster these unique environments.  This article was interesting because it didn’t focus on education, but rather on communication skills, yet the main goal of both was to teach!  The physical situation around learners plays a key role in how well information is perceived and understood, whether in the classroom or in the workforce.  I am interested in transferring this type of inquiry into my classroom, especially because there are so many ESL students in my high school.  With the progress the physical environment seems to have the potential to add, hopefully I will be able to implement similar strategies that can help progress these students in their language acquisition and perceptions of school.

The second article that influenced my decision to look at the physical environment of the classroom was one called, “Modifying Student Behavior in an Open Classroom Through Changes in the Physical Design.”  This article was more after the impact in the classroom, yet it was geared towards improving student behavior rather than improving student learning.  I’m interested in setting up the classroom – from lighting to sound/music and unique features per thematic unit to help improve students’ perceptions of school and learning of units.

Session I: Content Knowledge

Part I:

1. Describe how outside-school experience(s) have expanded or deepened your subject area content knowledge, and tell how it enhanced or changed your understanding. Include at least one specific experience.

      Exercise and sports have always been a large part of my life.  From the simple joys and mental benefits that come from working out at the gym or going on a mountain-bike ride to the vicious competition I’ve seen in baseball specifically, exercise constantly impacts my life.  From being a player at a top collegiate Division I baseball program to being a coach at a nationally ranked high school, I’ve had the opportunity to be a part of some special team families.  My transition from player to coach occurred after I lost my shoulder to a pitching injury, tearing my labrum.  I went through a tough stage in my life, trying to redirect my path and goals.  “Zen Golf” was a book given to me about the mental side of a very difficult sport, but not my sport.  I was astonished after reading the first few pages to find out easy it was to connect ideas about calming the thoughts, envisioning greatness, and clearing the mind of negative ideas from golf to baseball.  Then I started expanding the connections to life-skills.  These same aspects that were so well argued in “Zen Golf” were easily applicable to how to live the Zen-life.  The book was the first text about mental approaches to sports that I found motivational, thorough, precise, and explained accurately.  I read “Where Men Win Glory” after “Zen Golf” and found a coupling of mental and physical attributes that essentially could make the perfect person.  The rules, ideals, and values expressed in each, combined to give me an inlet to reading and applying what I read to my life.  I read these two books over four years ago, yet they still hold true today and feel as if they were only read yesterday.  While the Bible influences many people around the world, these two books have a profound and deep influence in my life and I regard them justly.

2. Respond to the class discussion of Ball’s “The Subject Matter Preparation of Teachers.” Have your initial judgments or opinions change based on the discussion?

      I found that engaging material was what influenced me in my subject-area competency.  If I couldn’t connect specific elements of English, or any class for that matter, to my own life, the curriculum becomes much less important.  When I was able to connect what I was learning in one subject to another or to my own experiences, I felt the “Aha!” moment.  I believe teachers that enjoy what they do and can get their students to engage in that positive energy (whether it’s through the material’s means or through the teacher’s) gives the best opportunity for students to access the content they need.

3. Where are you in developing and pursuing a line of inquiry?  What is your question?  Are you satisfied with your question?  At this point, what do you know about the research available in this area?  What ideas do you have for possible experiential learning sources?

      I want to investigate the influence the physical environment has on student learning and/or perceptions of school.  The high school I teach at doesn’t graduate more than half of any class and there are negative perceptions about going to class, studying, and being educated.  I want to change this flawed culture by engaging my students in much more than the curriculum itself.  I want students to walk into my classroom and feel like they are walking into a physical environment that directly correlates or connects to the material being worked on.  For instance, reading “The Great Gatsby” might not be an engaging part of English for students, but if the room were themed 20’s style, with music in the background, and chandeliers hanging from the ceilings, I bet students would be more apt and willing to try wrestling with the difficult text.  I want to hit them over the head with influential elements that span across multiple intelligences (Gardeners) and tie to each thematic unit.

4. Feel free to add artwork, photographs, quotations, or personal experiences that connect to your content area. Express yourself.

      “I hope you’re aware of the difference because you can hear good advice, but if you do not heed it, it does not benefit to your system; the same way only knowledge with application is wisdom.  I hope your creating the distinction.”

Part II:
I responded to: Mary Buckley, Brandon Runyon, and Kristen Harper