Blog 4

1) "We are becoming increasingly aware of the influence that culture and social privileges have on epistomologies and ontologies associated with education at operational levels. And yet, education as a whole field is slow to respond in using this as a primary lens for instruction and assessment. Mainstream practices are narrow in their approach largely due to a culture of high stakes testing and accountability. For many students, education remains an experience that is dehumanizing, distant, and decontextualized." (Intro to Transformative Teaching handout p 1)

I think this quote was especially relevant and noteworthy because it directly states that even though aspects of life such as culture and social privileges are present and can be associated with education in that it can be brought into the classroom, it is still being somewhat blatantly ignored. I think this is really unfortunate and certainly more of a harm to students in the community rather than a benefit because not being exposed to different perspectives and viewpoints of each individual or group of individuals within the same community only further shelters and perhaps leads to racism or bias opinions towards one another. Classroom instruction and styles used are so limited not only as a result of this blind side towards the awareness of culture and social privilege, but also as a result of the lack of opportunities of enrichment through the arts or music for example. This particular quote also reminded me of when we went outside and the privilege walk during class. I know without a doubt it opened my eyes to alot more that was around me than I would have realized just on the 'surface' of everyday life. Physically participating in this activity and looking at different characteristics of life through the eyes of an adult says alot for how much something like this can do for young children.

2)"Education in its institutional forms is about authority, power, manipulation, and agency; it is about who decides what." ("The Benefits of Active Learning p1)

I definitely disagree with this quote, seeing as to me it describes what a traditional educator might refer to education as being. Even though we still obviously have teachers whose style is definitely very traditional, I think we are beginning to see more and more of a combination of traditional with another style, if not a complete transformation for some teachers whose perspective on education has shifted during their time as an educator. What I thought was interesting about this was that it doesn't directly say 'who' has that power, who has that authority, and who can be manipulative, rather it seems more focused on education itself instead of the educators. One of my own questions that always seem to come back to me is the same as the last part of this quote; Who exactly decides what? There are so many different decisions to be made concerning education, policies, the type of content to be taught, how it is taught, and so on. I seem to be unsure as to how/why power, in a system like education itself, can be such an important part of 'the whole', especially if we as educators and all those decision makers are supposed to collaborate, share ideas, work together to address issues and solutions, etc.

3) "Advocates of academic standards argue that standards are necessary to ensure that teachers instruct students in what the state educational agency considers the important parts of each subject. In addition, high stakes state tests linked to state standards ensure that students have learned the subject matter prescribed by the state. It is also argued that academic standards can be used to force teachers to teach more material. In turn, this will require the students to learn more". (Spring p 232)

I chose this quote not only because it further discusses high stake testing and state standards, but moreso because of the word choices used throughout. For instance, here are some of the words or phrases that stuck out to me; "prescribed" by the state, "force teachers", and "require students" to learn more. Advocates of such standards and tests apparently feel that the type of enforcement needed and support needed would call for forcing teachers to teach more and requiring students to learn more. These academic standards might be framed in a way where what is taught is extremely limited but what's worse is sometimes certain things such as art or creative approaches to learning are completely wiped from the curriculum because they aren't on the test. Another question which again seems recurring is how are we supposed to know that the high stake tests, linked to state standards, will indeed "ensure the students have learned the subject matter prescribed by the state?". Students can do well on the test but after a week of taking it forget not only content but even the skills learned or acquired to be able to successfully take the test. It could be such memorization just as well as it could be actually learning and synthezing the information.

4) "The fact that high stakes testing exerts so much control over classroom practice is evidence of the existance of hierarchies of institutional power. Indeed, high stakes tests hold so much power, because the results are tied, by policy, to rewards or sanctions, that can deeply affect the lives of students', teachers, principals, and communities. ("Critical Education-High Stakes Testing by Wayne Au p4)

So this is really what high stakes tests and standardized tests has caused education to come down to? Closing schools when students scores aren't high enough, firing teachers when their students don't pass or improve on scores from the past, providing merit pay for ONLY those teachers whose students excel on the test, and so on. I thought the quote itself sums up where education/educators currently stand and in doing so also reminds us how these tests have so much power over everything else, which further means it has a greater impact on society, students, teachers, and parents. Isn't it safe to assume that being aware of the amount of weight these tests carry and knowing/seeing first hand what is has started and continues to do to schools/communities, that we would start to think about ways to immediately try alternatives to help save communities and schools rather than destroy them? As a future teacher if I were to walk into my classroom knowing that how I taught and what I taught was going to be driven by tests and more tests, then I would automatically be not only discouraged to teach to my own beliefs but I would feel like I was the one letting my students down and automatically depriving them of a variety of different strategies and ways of learning.

5) ""The e-learning revolution has created the promise of new methods of learning and greater access to knowledge along with a whole host of problems associated with teacher training, costs, and censorship." (Spring p 237).

I thought just the idea of including technology in learning was interesting and definitely a relevant aspect of our lives today seeing as so much of our everyday life falls right into the computer! Like any other 'new/different way' of learning may do, it is expected that some faults would come along with it, which again really effect the teachers, their time, and what can be used to be taught as a result of censorship and censorship laws. Technology is important not only because it is part of our everyday lives, but also because just as this quote tell us "it has greater access to knowledge" and new methods of learning. There is so much that students can benefit from by using the computer to enhance learning, whether it be through a software program, games, the internet, etc. As far as the problems associated with this e-learning revolution, I think if it is proven to help improve at least some part of learning in the classroom then it is well worth the time to put into it.

6) "Efforts at censorship of books and methods of instruction raise important issues regarding the role of public schools in a democratic society. Democracy depends on the free exchange of ideas and the diversity of ideas. On the other hand, education is compulsory..." (Spring p 228)

I thought this was an interesting part to discuss because it reminds me even of when I was in highschool or middle school and we either needed parents to give permission to watch a particular movie or even sometimes read a particular book for instance. I can see where censorship addresses the question of public schools and what they have to do in the society we live in to not take advantage of books or way to teach based on censorship. If we are encouraged and asked to share ideas in order to gather a variety of different opinions on one matter for example, then which idea are we supposed to be following? The idea of living in a democratic society and having the right to share and voice ideas, or the idea that one must consider carefully the censorship behind their teaching practices or what they use to implement these practices. Before reading the rest of chapter 9, I never realized or stopped to think about the wide range of topics or matters that censorship laws relate to and I thought it was really interesting and useful seeing as future teachers we will need to be aware of such restrictions or liabilities.