Pitch it Where They Can Hit it?

I made a note to myself to go back to chapter 4 of Coming of Age for one of my education pet peeves. Here is some quick paraphrasing from an extended baseball metaphor on page 66:

"Middle level advocate Conrad Toepfer advises teachers to 'pitch it where they can hit it...' The objective is not to strike out kids but to enhance the possibility that every student will be able to get a base hit and even an occasional home run."

Okay, don't get me wrong here, I agree that every kids needs to experience regular successes in the course of their school day. And I know that as teachers we need to be orchestrating and ensuring those "singles," and "home runs." But is this really a matter of "pitch it where they can hit it?" OR should we be practicing and practicing until kids can hit anything we throw at them?

I guess my problem is that the metaphor sounds a little like lowering the bar so that all kids can have success. I have always believed in raising the bar and getting kids to work to achieve more than they thought they could. To make my own baseball metaphor, "If you build it, they will come." If you set the bar, and help kids learn the skill, they'll raise themselves up to any success you (as the teacher) could possibly want.

What do you think, am I reading too much into this?

Rebellion!

I just read this post in the This Week In Education blog:

(http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences/2010/06/what_i_did_in_june.html)

The Obama administration's answer to the problem that I pose—the shrinking time for non-tested subjects in an environment of high-stakes testing—is this: Test everything. I recoil in horror at the thought. Imagine the cost and waste involved in designing and administering tests in history, civics, science, geography, the arts, foreign language, and so on. With so many tests and so much test preparation, would there be any time for instruction? Add to this scenario the burden that will be imposed by value-added assessment. To do it right in any subject, tests must be administered in September and again at the end of the school year: Twice as many tests as are now required by NCLB. Add to this the new data systems, with every teacher accountable for every individual score.

At some point, parents and teachers will rise up and say, "Enough. We are drowning in data. Turn off the computers that measure everything and treasure nothing. Education is getting worse, not better." We must earnestly hope for that day. Indeed, borrowing a page from Rev. Jackson, I will pray for it.

The Horror! Can you imagine if we extended national standardized testing outside the boundaries of English and Math? But isn't this where we are headed?

But enough about testing...as I sit here on my porch enjoying some peace, sunshine, and Pink Floyd, I wonder if were are really headed for the sort of rebellion discussed above. Personally, I think we will get there eventually, but it won't be in the manner the blogger wants. The computers will NEVER be turned off and the data is here to stay. Maybe the revolution will be a change in what we assess? Maybe it will be in how we assess? Or maybe in how we use and value the little time we have with students? Who knows, maybe the revolution has nothing to do with what we teach or test, but who does the teaching and testing. I think teacher unions are on the way out (eventually), and without them we will certainly have drastic changes. Does that constitute a rebellion?

By the way...if you want one person's frank assessment of NCLB and DC education policy, read the fourth paragraph of the letter cited above.

Religion in the Classroom

I liked the chapter in COA on religious development in adolescents. It brought to mind our new social studies curriculum that we started last year. We had been covering all of ancient history, but our new curriculum shifted us to more of a world studies focus. As part of our work, we spent a lot of time on the different cultures of the world, including the major religions. I don’t think I have to say it, but I am not the world’s foremost expert on Buddhism, or Islam, or Hinduism, so it made me a little apprehensive. The students shared my apprehension when learning about these religions, and they were certainly curious about the different viewpoints across the globe.

I was lucky enough to have several students of different religions in my class this year, and I have a close friend who is Muslim, so together, the students and I were able to piece together a ramshackle expertise on some religions. On a daily basis, our class discussions reminded me how important it is for educators to expose students to other cultures and other beliefs. Maine can be a pretty limiting place when it comes to world exposure, but the classroom can be an avenue around that.

Run Away!

Have you ever seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail? Remember the scene with the Trojan rabbit, which is then catapulted over the wall of the castle, as Arthur and the knights flee while hollering, "Run Away!" That is how I felt while reading the first five chapters of Coming of Age. I imagined myself as a new teacher trying to deal with all of this, and then throw in "teaching" and I wanted to flee the castle and let everyone around me know to RUN AWAY!

Don't get me wrong, these were excellent chapters. Any prospective teacher who is thinking of teaching middle school should be required to read these things just so they could have a cursory understanding of what is going on INSIDE a kid. These are all factors over which we have absolutely no control. Then we throw in things like family, SES, home life, disabilities, and (shockingly) academics. How can these kids even hope to learn?

Well, as we have read in many of our resources, we need teachers who are specifically trained to recognize and adapt to the developmental needs of middle level students. Just as an elementary ed. program helps teachers build the foundations of learning, and a secondary ed. program helps teachers move students into adulthood, a middle level program needs to not just bridge the gap, but accommodate and accelerate the learning and thinking of the most diverse group of school learners.

By the way, Toy Story 3 was excellent.

Technological advancement.

Look...I made a blog!

Hope everybody had a good weekend and Father's Day. My wife got me a kindle. I'm hoping to go see Toy Story 3 this afternoon with my boys (behavior permitting).

Enjoy the day!