FRUSTRATION is putting it much too mildly! I object to the situation outlined in the previous post on SO many levels! Allow me to begin with a list of questions:
** What are the parents saying about these changes?
** Do the parents even know that their children will be taught core subjects by teachers trained to teach other subjects?
** Do they know that their children will have an extra subject each day?
** Will the students receive a grade for this new class? If so, what criteria will be used? If not, how can they be expected to “buy” into this with only the argument “that the school system has lower than average test scores”?
** What do parents think about shaving time off the regular class periods each day in order to add another period?
** Ten weeks into the school year, schedules will be changed and children will be shifted to new situations with new teachers. How will this benefit them?
** How will students be assigned to these new classes? Will they be “ability grouped”? Grouped alphabetically? Gender grouped?
** Will they stay with the previous period teacher (meaning they would be in the same desk for two periods straight)?
** If this MUST be done, why is it being added to the end of the day? Hasn’t research shown that the students are fresher and, therefore, learn better earlier in the day?
** What about the lack of knowledge of or interest in math from the new teacher? How can a teacher be expected to be enthusiastic and “sell” the subject to the kids when this is not his/her area of strength?
** Even if materials and standards and plans are provided, how can a conscientious teacher be expected to have sufficient supplementary materials for students who don’t quite “get it”?
** How can teachers be expected to explain concepts and formulas when they may not fully understand it themselves?
** How will the quality of this experiment be measured? Has a “starting point” or baseline been established?
** Have very specific outcomes been established? Or is the goal only to “raise scores” without any specifics?
** Will these “new to the subject area” teachers receive any training?
** It is understandable to do a “push” a few weeks prior to a standardized test, but over a long period of time, won’t this become a case of “diminishing returns”?
** Where is the inspiration? How will this situation motivate students to love learning?
** If this is such a good idea, why were the teachers told that “what happens at school should stay at school”? If this is expected to be an innovation and to actually improve test scores, why can’t it be shared across the system?
** What about the instructional coach and/or the site coach? Do they believe this will be an effective use of time and that it will effectively raise test scores?
** What does the research say? Has anyone checked?
More and more questions keep coming to mind; possible suggestions and solutions will be posted tomorrow or the next day. Your comments will be welcomed by these bloggers.
** What are the parents saying about these changes?
** Do the parents even know that their children will be taught core subjects by teachers trained to teach other subjects?
** Do they know that their children will have an extra subject each day?
** Will the students receive a grade for this new class? If so, what criteria will be used? If not, how can they be expected to “buy” into this with only the argument “that the school system has lower than average test scores”?
** What do parents think about shaving time off the regular class periods each day in order to add another period?
** Ten weeks into the school year, schedules will be changed and children will be shifted to new situations with new teachers. How will this benefit them?
** How will students be assigned to these new classes? Will they be “ability grouped”? Grouped alphabetically? Gender grouped?
** Will they stay with the previous period teacher (meaning they would be in the same desk for two periods straight)?
** If this MUST be done, why is it being added to the end of the day? Hasn’t research shown that the students are fresher and, therefore, learn better earlier in the day?
** What about the lack of knowledge of or interest in math from the new teacher? How can a teacher be expected to be enthusiastic and “sell” the subject to the kids when this is not his/her area of strength?
** Even if materials and standards and plans are provided, how can a conscientious teacher be expected to have sufficient supplementary materials for students who don’t quite “get it”?
** How can teachers be expected to explain concepts and formulas when they may not fully understand it themselves?
** How will the quality of this experiment be measured? Has a “starting point” or baseline been established?
** Have very specific outcomes been established? Or is the goal only to “raise scores” without any specifics?
** Will these “new to the subject area” teachers receive any training?
** It is understandable to do a “push” a few weeks prior to a standardized test, but over a long period of time, won’t this become a case of “diminishing returns”?
** Where is the inspiration? How will this situation motivate students to love learning?
** If this is such a good idea, why were the teachers told that “what happens at school should stay at school”? If this is expected to be an innovation and to actually improve test scores, why can’t it be shared across the system?
** What about the instructional coach and/or the site coach? Do they believe this will be an effective use of time and that it will effectively raise test scores?
** What does the research say? Has anyone checked?
More and more questions keep coming to mind; possible suggestions and solutions will be posted tomorrow or the next day. Your comments will be welcomed by these bloggers.
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