It was in this chapter that I felt I finally really got to know the author as a person. He suddenly came to life for me and I felt a connection with him. As I read chapter four of The Global Achievement Gap, I could feel Tony Wagner's genuine passion and curiosity for wanting to learn more about the profession and it is very sad and disappointing that his experience in the field of teaching was such a negative one. However, it prompted him to want to research possible solutions to the dismal situation he experienced and witnessed. He offers some great ideas to implement and I'm very proud to say that I work for a school district that actually practices many of these suggestions. I don't know if it's just a coincidence or if it's a result of his research. I'm sure it's the latter because our superintendent wouldn't be having us engage in practices that are not research-based.
One of the practices Tony Wagner believes is very powerful is a "learning walk". At our school district, out in Lakeside, we refer to them as "instructional rounds". Every school in our district participates in these "learning walks". This is the second school year that we plan them and they prove to be very productive for EVERYONE. The norms and expectations were established at the beginning of last school year and they are conducted in a most respectful and productive manner. Of course, we always briefly review the norms prior to conducting our learning walks. I was glad to see it being talked about in this book. Tony Wagner also talks about his experiences as a student-teacher. Unfortunately, his master teachers didn't really cover much with him. They didn't share their thoughts or perspectives with him. I was very fortunate to have had master teachers who did share their private thoughts with me and gave me a lot of background information so that I could understand why certain things were taking place. They were definitely transparent learners around me. Maybe I work at an exceptional school because everyone always tries to state, even their frustrations, in the most positive way possible and everyone is always wanting to learn from each other at our campus. We understand that the more we collaborate, the more we will grow as a staff and the more our students will benefit from us being open towards each other. We also teach Stephen Covey's Seven Habits to our students and we internalize those habits so that we model them in the most natural way possible. I believe that helps tremendously in ensuring that our campus is an innovative one in which we believe in being problem-solvers, not complainers. We believe in collaborating and sharing (being transparent learners), not working individually and selfishly. We welcome visitors onto our campus during learning walks and we know that we can only grow and become stronger as a united staff. As far as research is concerned regarding master degree programs that were in place up until 2005, it was disturbing to read that not a single example of an effective educational leadership prep program in the U.S. could be found (Wagner, 2010). I'm glad that I didn't pursue a master's degree back then! I am very confident that all this research was taken into consideration when the master's degree program I am currently in was being designed. I am also in a program called I.D.E.A.S 2.0 in which we are focusing on developing many of the skills that Tony Wagner has researched and refers to as being critical for effective teaching. Reading this chapter resonated with me because I kept making connections to many of the teaching practices we are working on refining through the I.D.E.A.S. 2.0 grant and through the master's degree program. This chapter validated and confirmed that we are on the right track to ensuring best practices for our students! As I read through chapter 3 of Tony Wagner's book, The Global Achievement Gap, I was very impressed with the level of autonomy the high schoolers, who were interviewed, seemed to have. The way these high school students speak of their education reveals how proactive they are in their learning. It reminds me of when I was about to enter high school and what type of learning environment I was hoping to find. I researched my options and presented my findings to my own parents when trying to convince them to enroll me in a particular high school, along with reasons that explained the pros and cons. Even though I also took a proactive approach in deciding which high school to attend, for the most part, most high schoolers just go to the nearest high school and accept it as a given. Many don't even realize that they have a choice. As I read about the interviews that took place with these high schoolers, I was very surprised with how responsible they seemed to be regarding their educational choices.
Another connection I had to chapter 3 was when on page 114, Tony points out that a recent study discovered that a main reason students drop out of school is "will, not skill". When I read that part, the movie Stand and Deliver immediately came to mind! In the movie, the high school teacher, Jaime Escalante, constantly tells his students that they need to have "ganas" (will or desire). He was helping them develop their math skills, but without "ganas" they wouldn't go far. Somehow Jaime Escalante knew that success would require a lot more than just their math skills. He knew that "ganas" is really what would bring them home and now there's a study funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation that supports his belief! Later in the chapter, Tony Wagner goes into great detail explaining all these wonderful assessments that do exist that measure our students skills more accurately than multiple choice exams. He does explain that they are a lot more expensive and take much longer to grade but that there are solutions to that, such as only administering those exams to a sample representative of the student population. Then he says that another reason that they haven't been administered is because "there has not yet been a public demand for better assessments" (Wagner, 2008). I wonder why there hasn't been a public demand for better assessments. I wonder if it's because people just accept what is out there as the norm. I wonder if they just haven't thought about it. I wonder what would happen if more people start finding out more accurate assessments do exist and they are just not being administered for whatever reason. I don't think that the lack of public demand for better assessments is because they don't want better assessments. I think that everyone wants what's best and they just don't know that something better already does exist. If I hadn't been reading this book I wouldn't know that more accurate assessments already do exist. We are surrounded by an abundance of information and if we don't know the right questions to ask we won't know how to access valuable information. It's not that anyone is hiding anything from us. Everything is out in the open for everyone to find. We just need to learn to ask the right questions that will help us arrive at the type of information we need in order to continue to enhance our lives in every aspect. |
CristalSpanish Immersion teacher at Riverview Language Academy. Archives
December 2014
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My Reflections
My thoughts and connections after watching videos and reading selections.