I
really like the prompt for this week’s blog because I have enjoyed the “phlogging”
assignment so far. I don’t always take the time to write my thoughts down about
things that are important to me and so taking the time to put my thoughts about
education into words, and then being able to read other people’s ideas on the
same topic, has really helped me to reflect on and solidify my beliefs. Bill
Ferriter’s article from last week provided some suggestions for education blogs,
and I really liked edublogs.org because
it provides a directory of specific areas within education. http://stephenlazar.com/blog/ is a blog
written by Stephen Lazar, a social studies teacher at a school in New York. The
purpose of his blog is twofold; to reflect on his teaching and planning, and to
discuss his thoughts on school reform and educational policy. I like his
purpose, and I find what he has to say intriguing. His most recent post discusses
his feelings on core standards. He says that he does see a benefit to such
standards because they “clearly
articulate the disciplinary skills necessary not only for reaching the
relatively low bar of “college and
career readiness,” but also for the much greater calling of creating an informed
and critical citizenry” (Lazar, Jan. 24). I think that this ties into Miller’s article for
this week, in which he discusses the problems with standards and the fact that
they are not “standard” across the nation, because each state is responsible
for creating their own. I find myself appreciating both ideas here. I do agree
with Lazar’s comment that standards help to clearly articulate disciplinary
skills but I think that having national standards, as Miller argues, would certainly
help us to have a better idea of student achievement nation-wide. I think that
Lazar’s comment also ties into Cookson’s functionalism, as he discusses the
purpose of standards is to create an informed and critical citizen, but he does
not go so far as a functionalist to say that the role of education is to create
consensus and economic productivity. He is suggesting a “critical” approach to
viewing society, while emphasizing the importance of standards in aiding
student achievement that in turn prepares him/ her for college and a future career
as functioning members of society. I really liked this blog because it seemed
to tie into our class discussion for this week! I found a few others (http://kindreda.edublogs.org/about/, http://dogtrax.edublogs.org/)
but none as relevant to class as the one I discussed… and I am now 22 words over
the limit… haha.
Lauren, thank you for introducing me to these new blogs. Since I am not an avid blogger and really just started getting into it in this class, I tend to look at blogs that only pertain to the younger elementary grade levels. Mostly because that is what I do and because I often look for art ideas on other teachers' blogs. Stephen's blog got me thinking about how I feel in regards to the core standards, standardized testing etc. Even though the SBA's and stuff are often the topic at staff meetings, especially since they are right around the corner, sometimes I just listen but don't think to much of it. Like you, I also feel that it seems that if we are going to set "standards", then they should be nationwide instead of varying from state to state.
ReplyDeleteI think blogging is good because you get input from a variety of people but I rather talk about stuff to people face to face. I think online you lose a part of building rapport with people and it takes away socializing skills from kids. I think kids need to learn to express themselves in front of people, specifically their peers.
ReplyDeleteLauren, that sounds like an interesting blog for those interested in policy and to get a better understanding of it. I am not sure how I feel about standards, but I strongly agree with teaching for college prep. I am excited to teach art for college prep. I guess though that I am less interested in standards and strict policies for schools and teachers, I feel schools need more freedom, but that will probably never happen.
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