module 2 discussion 2
back ground:
Discussion 2: Thinking Critically About Issues
What did you discover as you debated with your colleagues about an issue this week? Did you or a colleague uncover information that made you consider altering your position? Perhaps the debate helped you to realize how much more you need to know before you are completely clear about your position. As a leader in education, you must stay abreast of the issues that matter in your specialization, regularly deepening and refreshing your knowledge to stay informed.
In this Discussion, you look more closely at the case study issue you debated in the Discussion 1. To prepare for this Discussion, consider all you have discovered about the case study this week. Conduct a search to obtain at least three scholarly articles that relate to the issue you debated. Finally, consider how the process of exploring and debating issues relates to your role as a change agent and advanced graduate degree student.
Keep in mind that the articles you obtain may support or refute the position you held in the debate or may introduce a different perspective altogether. Your purpose in this assignment is to learn more about the issue you have been exploring.
Assignment:
Submit a post covering each of the following elements:
•Explain what you have discovered about the issue from the debate and from the resources you located for this discussion.
•Identify answers to questions you have raised about the issue.
•Identify new questions you have now that you have discovered more about the issue.
•Explain how you might apply the critical analysis and research skills you have been practicing this week to your student and professional roles.
my position:
Issue with K-12,
U.S education is provided by private and public schools. Public education is required in K-12 level universally and is available in state universities and colleges. School curricula, policies, and school budgets are set by school boards who are elected in the local setup and have a jurisdiction standardized tests, supervising them through a board of regents.
My State’s most crucial responsibility lies in education, ensuring that learners are adequately prepared to venture into the job market and take advantage of upcoming opportunities that arise with the growth of the economy. My state has her future wholly depending on making a successful educational system for the learners, teachers, parents and the economy.
To achieve the purpose of education in My state, every child needs to be provided with the opportunity to access aligned education system that is of high quality from their early stages through post-secondary education. This can be achieved through the collaboration of multiple stakeholders such as the higher education and the labor market, to make maximum success in lifetime learning.
There is a need for implementation of high-quality instruction in each classroom that are learner-centered and strives to meet the learner’s personal goals as well as academic goals and seeks to maximize the student’s potential. This can be achieved through strong district and leadership building. By developing, supporting and sustaining a top-quality education system, the state is guaranteed of a collaborative workforce in education.
The state can reduce the effect of high-risk factors like poverty and create an equitable environment for all learners while meeting all their needs and ensure that all learners are exposed to quality opportunities in education. There should be set policies that engage parents and supported partners into the education of their children. A strong partnership can be created between the job market and community colleges as well as higher education institutions to make sure that the learners are prepared for the job market and are responsible citizens. The state can further develop educational agencies that are innovative and cohesive to support aligned systems of education at all levels.
To achieve the goals above, My State needs to come up with a set of standards in education that all schools should adopt. These set of standards are state standards and should be adopted in every state school for uniformity. The state standards detail what learners are required to know in English, Arts, and Mathematics when they complete each grade and implementing tests that measure if the students met the set standards. The set of standards seeks to establish a common ground for each student across every state and make sure that all the students who graduate from high school are fully prepared to take credit-bearing courses or college programs and later join the job market.
The state sets of required standards improve the education for all students. The general education students can compete in the same platform due to the standardized assessments. The special education and English language students, as well as the gifted students, are provided with a conducive environment for learning while the content they are required to learn is outlined for each grade.
The standards of education can be implemented through their incorporation in all levels of learning to improve the quality of education accessed by all students. Implementation of high-quality instruction in each classroom that is learner-centered and striving to meet the learner’s personal goals as well as academic goals and seeking to maximize the student’s potential can be one way of implementing the set of standards.
Implementation of the set of standards can be achieved through strong district and leadership building. By developing, supporting and sustaining a top-quality education system, the state is guaranteed of a collaborative workforce in education that is a great step into ensuring that the quality of education in all levels and types of classrooms that include general education, special education, and vocational training.
It is more effective to adopt state standards because they are easily controlled and funded by the state and create uniformity across the state. The materials required to support this adoption are standardized curriculum, syllabus, and assessment across the state. Teachers should be trained and certified by a uniform body to make sure that they are equipped with similar skills to carry out the professional requirements.
Policy makers, government leaders, principals, teachers in different specialties and points of view, students and parents agree to this adaptation and its implementation because it is directed at creating a harmonized output where learners leaving the institutions of learning have been exposed to similar curriculum and learning environment.
References List
http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED541070.pdf+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
Arts Education Partnership. (2011). Music matters. Retrieved from arizonas-common-core-standards.pdf
www.azed.gov/special-education/files/2013/05/issues-responsesregarding-
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:jPdYoRrZxUJ:
Apache County Superintendent of Schools. (2013). ADE response to issues raised about Arizona’s Common Core Standards. Retrieved fromhttp://www.acponline.org/clinical_information/guidelines/best_practiceACT, Inc. (2010). A first look at the Common Core and college and career readiness. Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.
American College of Physicians. (2014). ACP best practice advice.
my colleagues positions:
Does a set of required standard improve or limit education for all the students?
Standard are guides in achieving the stated objectives but what we really need to improve education in this level k- 12 education is good teaching methods. The challenge we are having is methodology; how to get the information across to the students.
A ”’teaching method”’ comprises the principles and methods used for instruction to be implemented by teachers to achieve the desired learning in students. These strategies are determined partly on subject matter to be taught and partly by the nature of the learner. For a particular teaching method to be appropriate and efficient it has to be in relation with the characteristic of the learner and the type of learning it is supposed to bring about. The design and selection of teaching methods must take into account not only the nature of the subject matter but also how students learn. What teachers need to know about teaching methods? In today’s school the trend is that it encourages a lot of creativity. It is a known fact that human advancement comes through reasoning. This reasoning and original thought enhances creativity.
The approaches for teaching can be broadly classified into teacher centered and student centered. In Teacher-Centered Approach to Learning, Teachers are the main authority figure in this model. Students are viewed as “empty vessels” whose primary role is to passively receive information (via lectures and direct instruction) with an end goal of testing and assessment. It is the primary role of teachers to pass knowledge and information onto their students. In this model, teaching and assessment are viewed as two separate entities. Student learning is measured through objectively scored tests and assessments.
In Student-Centered Approach to Learning, while teachers are an authority figure in this model, teachers and students play an equally active role in the learning process. The teacher’s primary role is to coach and facilitate student learning and overall comprehension of material. Student learning is measured through both formal and informal forms of assessment, including group projects, student portfolios, and class participation. Teaching and assessments are connected; student learning is continuously measured during teacher instruction.
Commonly used teaching methods may include class participation, demonstration, recitation, memorization, or combinations of these.
Methods of instruction
The lecture method is just one of several teaching methods, though in schools it’s usually considered the primary one. It isn’t surprising, either. The lecture method is convenient and usually makes the most sense, especially with larger classroom sizes. Role which may hinder learning. While this method facilitates large-class communication, the lecturer must make constant and conscious effort to become aware of student problems and engage the students to give verbal feedback. It can be used to arouse interest in a subject provided the instructor has effective writing and speaking skills.
Demonstrating is the process of teaching through examples or experiments. For example, a science teacher may teach an idea by performing an experiment for students. A demonstration may be used to prove a fact through a combination of visual evidence and associated reasoning. Demonstrations are similar to written storytelling and examples in that they allow students to personally relate to the presented information. Memorization of a list of facts is a detached and impersonal experience, whereas the same information, conveyed through demonstration, becomes personally relatable. Demonstrations help to raise student interest and reinforce memory retention because they provide connections between facts and real-world applications of those facts. Lectures, on the other hand, are often geared more towards factual presentation than connective learning
Collaboration allows students to actively participate in the learning process by talking with each other and listening to other points of view. Collaboration establishes a personal connection between students and the topic of study and it helps students think in a less personally biased way. Group projects and discussions are examples of this teaching method. Teachers may employ collaboration to assess student’s abilities to work as a team, leadership skills, or presentation abilities.
What Is the Collaborative Classroom? Collaborative discussions can take a variety of forms, such as [[Fishbowl (conversation, fishbowl, discussions]. After some preparation and with clearly defined roles, a discussion may constitute most of a lesson, with the teacher only giving short feedback at the end or in the following lesson.
Classroom discussion; the most common type of collaborative method of teaching in a class is classroom discussion. It is the also a democratic way of handling a class, where each student is given equal opportunity to interact and put forth their views. A discussion taking place in a classroom can be either facilitated by a teacher or by a student. A discussion could also follow a presentation or a demonstration. Class discussions can enhance student understanding, add context to academic content, broaden student perspectives, highlight opposing viewp01oints, reinforce knowledge, build confidence, and support community in learning. The opportunities for meaningful and engaging in-class discussion may vary widely, depending on the subject matter and format of the subject.
An effective classroom discussion can be achieved by probing more questions among the students, paraphrasing the information received, using questions to develop critical thinking with questions like “Can we take this one step further?;” “What solutions do you think might solve this problem?;” “How does this relate to what we have learned about..?;” “What are the differences between … ?;”
“How does this relate to your own experience?;” “What do you think causes …. ?;” “What are the implications of …. ?” e t c.
The term “debriefing” refers to conversational sessions that revolve around the sharing and examining of information after a specific event has taken place. Depending on the situation, debriefing can serve a variety of purposes. It takes into consideration the experiences and facilitates reflection and feedback. Debriefing may involve feedback to the students or among the students, but this is not the intent. The intent is to allow the students to “thaw” and to judge their experience and progress toward change or transformation. The intent is to help them come to terms with their experience. This process involves a cognizance of cycle that students may have to be guided to completely debrief.
Classroom Action Research is a method of finding out what works best in your own classroom so that you can improve student learning. We know a great deal about good teaching in general but every teaching situation is unique in terms of content, level, student skills and learning styles, teacher skills and teaching styles, and many other factors. Each teaching and research method, model and family is essential to the practice of technology studies. Teachers have their strengths and weaknesses, and adopt particular models to complement strengths and contradict weaknesses. Here, the teacher is well aware of the type of knowledge to be constructed. At other times, teachers equip their students with a research method to challenge them to construct new meanings and knowledge. In schools, the research methods are simplified, allowing the students to access the methods at their own levels.
20th century; Newer teaching methods may incorporate television, radio, internet, multimedia and other modern devices. Some educators believe that the use of technology, while facilitating learning to some degree, is not a substitute for educational methods that encourage critical thinking and a desire to learn.
Inquiry learning is another modern teaching method. A popular teaching method that is being used by a vast majority of teachers is hands on activities. Hands-on activities are activities that require movement, talking, and listening, it activates multiple areas of the brain. “The more parts of your brain you use, the more likely you are to retain information.
References:
Paul Monroe, ”A Text-Book in the History of Education,” Macmillan, 1915.
Gilbert Highet, ”The Art of Teaching,” Knopf, 1950.
Petrina, S. (2007)) Advance Teaching Methods for the Technology Classroom (pp.125 – 153).
my response:
Education is very important in becoming a successful person in life. Students need to know that performance in school is very important in shaping their future. Teachers, parents, community and students play a role in performance of the students. This is by helping a child in achieving their goals in school. Setting standards is one of the measures that schools have used in order to enhance the performance of students. Many teachers have debated about the impact of standards in student performance. There have been so many opinions concerning the importance of standard setting in schools. Some effects have been positive and others negative. Those who argue about the discouraging setting of standards are of the opinion that it leads to loss of motivation by many students who see the standards as high. When these students realize that the standards are attainable, they stop working hard on something they will never achieve any way. They end up performing even poorly.
I challenge this opinion because standards will have a positive impact. This is because of the following reasons. Firstly, the standards ensure control of the student’s performance. The teachers among other stakeholders are able to compare the actual results and the expected results. If the variance is favorable, they will encourage it but if it is unfavorable, they will investigate on the causes of the difference and take the possible corrective measures. This will ensure that students perform according to the standards. Secondly, standards improve the efficiency of both teachers and students. Teachers will employ the best teaching methods possible that will ensure that they meet the set target. On the other hand, the students employ all the possible learning methods that are efficient enough to meet the target. This creates a healthy competition among students leading to improved performance.
REFERENCES
Paul Monroe, ”A Text-Book in the History of Education,” Macmillan, 1915.
Gilbert Highet, ”The Art of Teaching,” Knopf, 1950.
Petrina, S. (2007)) Advance Teaching Methods for the Technology Classroom (pp.125 – 153).
counter position by colleague to my response:
What is standard? -a rule or set of rules or requirements which are widely agreed upon or imposed by the goverment .How will you go about this in fuilling the set rules
very simple ,you need a good quality teaching with good methods of teaching to be able to achieved set goals or standard.
What about the imposed governmemt policies?you can only achieve this by learnng policies and teaching others through good methods and teaching methods.
Standard is also something as a measure for comparative evaluations,evaluation is an assessement and for you to assess any students learning has already taken place
REFERENCES
Paul Monroe, ”A Text-Book in the History of Education,” Macmillan, 1915.
Gilbert Highet, ”The Art of Teaching,” Knopf, 1950.
Petrina, S. (2007)) Advance Teaching Methods for the Technology Classroom (pp.125 – 153)
2nd colleagues submission:
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Case Study 3 Issues in K-12 Education
Issues in K-12 Education
Does a set of required standards improve or limit education for ALL students?
I think that a set of educational standards that is state wide does put a limit on education for students. I am not going to lie I think that there may be a big percentage of students who can learn this way, but not all students will be able to keep up with the curriculum and many will fall behind.
I think the biggest problem we are having in teaching state standards for education is expecting that every student will learn and comprehend the material at the same pace. We need to consider special education students, gifted students, general education students and English language learners. Do we really think they all can learn the required amount of material in the same time frame? I also feel that many schools not only expect these students to learn the state standards in a fast paced classroom but also to do well on the state standardized testing that is also not individualized as well.
I come from a special education background and the biggest thing I have heard from our students is that there general education teacher’s move too fast. I consider myself a fast learner and have experienced this myself. For example I have been in the classroom and the teacher puts up notes on a white board and moves on to the next slide before everyone in the room has time to write it down. I am not saying that a teacher should have to wait for each student to write it down because that is not fair to all students as well; I am saying that each child should be individualized. The teachers can hand out a guided notepad where the slower writer can just jot down key words.
I am talking about individualizing learning and educational standards for each student. I think that we are putting too much pressure on teachers to get a certain curriculum taught before the end of the year that they do not have any time to individualize their lesson plans or to bring any creativity to the classroom.
I find this statement from an article titled Moving Forward with Common Core State Standards Implementation: Possibilities and Potential Problems to sum up what we have gained so far from this method “The standard based education reform has reshaped curriculum in the United States. This reform came about in large part of the 1983 report, A Nation at Risk (US Department of Education, 1983) , which urgently warned that something needed to be done to fix failing schools across the nation. This report undoubtedly transformed teaching and learning in schools despite the fact that almost three decades later our nation still faces the problem of poor student achievement.”
I am not saying that common core state standards are a problem; I am saying that the way we teach them has to change. We should introduce Universal Design for learning into every classroom. We need to keep classroom sizes smaller or at least teacher to student ratios low. We can be flexible in our teaching methods and present the material in a variety of ways so that all students remain interested and become successful.
In an article titled Universal Design for Learning they suggest that ““UDL goals, methods, assessments and materials offer ways to think about planning, methods for developing appropriate goals that do not confound the ends with the means, ways to enhance learning with strategy instruction, ways to develop and obtain accessible learning materials that are usable by most, if not all students, and methods for providing assessments that are accessible and appropriate for all learners”. I think that this would be a great way to start introducing UDL into all classrooms and reaching out to all learners.
In conclusion, I do not agree with pressuring teachers to teach to a set of state educational standards and do believe that there are other ways to get students to learn the common core materials. I believe that there are a lot of benefits of introducing new methods of teaching into the classrooms and new ideas such as Universal Design of Learning to reach more students. I look forward to hearing opinions from other is this program and hope to learn from your feedback.
Resources
Eagleton, M. (2015). Universal Design for Learning. Universal Design For Learning — Research Starters Education, 1.
Liebtag, E. (2013). Moving Forward with Common Core State Standards Implementation: Possibilities and Potential Problems. Journal Of Curriculum & Instruction, 7(2), 56-70. doi:10.3776/joci.2013.v7n2p56-70
Readings
•Walsh, M. L., Pezalla, A., & Marshall, H. R. (2014). Essential guide to critical reading and writing. Baltimore, MD: Laureate International Universities. Publishing. [Vital Source e-reader].
•Chapter 1, “Critical Thinking” (pp. 7–16)
•Chapter 2, “Reading Strategies” (pp. 17–26)
•Case Study Documents (PDF files)
•Scenario for your chosen case study
•Documents 1-4 of your chosen case study
Continue your review of the scenario and the documents for your chosen case study.
To access the Case Study documents, click Case Studies in the course navigation menu.
•Foundation for Critical Thinking. (2013). Becoming a critic of your thinking. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/becoming-a-critic-of-your-thinking/605
•Foundation for Critical Thinking. (2013). Critical thinking in everyday life: 9 strategies. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/critical-thinking-in-everyday-life-9-strategies/512
•Foundation for Critical Thinking. (2013). Developing as rational persons: Viewing our development in stages. Retrieved from http://www.criticalthinking.org/pages/developing-as-rational-persons-viewing-our-development-in-stages/518
•Walden University Writing Center. (n.d.). Constructing Arguments. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/arguments
•Walden University Writing Center. (n.d.). Critical reading. Retrieved from http://academicguides.waldenu.edu/writingcenter/writingprocess/criticalreading