RTI, World dynamics, and Education

We had a district training yesterday. The first part of the day was dedicated to Response To Intervention (RTI) ideas presented by some great district personnel. The thing that was interesting to me and really got me thinking had to do with a video that they started out with. You may have seen it already. It is a simple film with some moving music and phases that were flashed up on the screen. All the sentences had to do with world demographics, specifically with the population dynamics of China and India in comparison with those of the US. One of the statistics read that there are more honor students in China than there are students in the whole U. S.. The whole film seemed to have an underlying scare dyamic to it with the basic theme of ...If we don't make our kids smarter than there's, then our society and our way of life will vanish from the world power scene... so ... you had better start really thinking about your teaching!! I think that many of us did have a bit of a "watch out there coming!" type of response, but it also got us thinking a little bit as well. I don't know if I really agree with that type of rational for trying to teach well. I think that motivation should come from the needs of the students as opposed to trying to beat out the Chinese... I don't think we are going to be able to compete with them at certain levels anyway. I would hate to think that we enter into some sort of cold war mentality and feel like they are the enemy... even though we do have some pretty significant differences. A cool head should prevail. But... the point of this blog has to do more with the large picture goals and directions in education. If we are trying to make our kids competitive in the world economy of tomorrow, many of the the specific skills that we are teaching them today will be obsolete. Doesn't it make a lot more sense to focus on and test for processing skills like problem solving and sythesis? Mrs. Demallo, one of the teachers in the training said that much of what she had learned in her communications major at her university is now obsolete. The skills required in the field are not what she learned in her classes. One of our super star teachers, Susie Wren pointed out that much of what we test the kids on is not what they are really going to need to know in the world of the future. Testing can easily serve the purposes of the student labeling, number crunchers in the cubicle as opposed to the education needs of the kid in the classroom! I don't know... help me out everyone... It seems that if we are going to give our kids a chance, we are going to have to really have to focus on and test for the big picture, higher level type things... seeing the Why behind the How.

Houghton Mifflin Technology and Teachers

I went to a training for the new Houghton Mifflin math program specifically dealing with the ELL dynamic of the program. You always have to find one or two things that you can take back and really use. This time I decided on using the provided CDs with all the chapter resources in my lesson presentation to the kids. On Thursday I taught a lesson on estimation starting out with the manipulatives in a whole group. Then, I had the kids head to their desks to start the guided practice time with the practice books. I have historically run into trouble here becuase of the language barrier with some of my kids, to say nothing of the fact that many of these pages are down right confusing to try and figure out. I used my projector to show the guided practice page on the board and then talked the kids through the example problems. I knew it was going well when I heard a couple of the kids excitedly telling their neighbors how easy it was. Even my low ones seemed to be able to link the lesson to the work page a little more easily. I think I'll keep doing it!

The stretch

There is kind of a stretch that happens as the year goes on. In first grade most kids are starting out mostly in the same place acedemically, but as the year goes on there are those who begin to fall further and further behind. I have two kids that are in that situation now. Both have language issues, one came in late in Kinder, but the other had a full year of kinder and is still really struggling. She is starting to zone out in the lesson times and become more and more unattached what what is happening in the room. As I see this happening, I start asking myself what needs to be done, but what has really been the problem is simply my own limits of time and ability to focus on the needs on just one or two kids. As I work with what I know to do, how much should I really expect of my classroom, my systems, my own abilities as I reach out to help these struggling students. I don't know... any ideas on how to approach the problem of lifting up the "sweet and lows".

By the way my wedding and honeymoon was great! Honeymooning in Argentina gave me a real taste for that great red meat and red wine that they have down there!