The same thing over and over

In this article Frederick Hess critiques what he calls "self-impressed "reformers"" or "self described innovators" and the "defenders of traditional schooling." He brings in some good historical perspectives to help illustrate his point that all the reform happening is more a reactionary frenzy than a practical and well thought out plan for improving our education. He describes the different initiatives as a "mismatch of ends and means." Handing over mayoral control of the schools and charter schools as well as many other measures or potential measures will not be the answer to the problem. And the problem as he points out is not that out of place with history. For instance, over the last 75 years our expectations have skyrocketed, insinuating that our presents ideals are probably not very grounded. His solutions are as he puts it frustrating and simple. We need to rethink the way schools need to operate in the 21st century. We need to be inventive in our approach to education and in our understanding of evaluations. Beyond this however he is not very specific.

New Orleans Sees School Building Boom

With the real and deep need for rebuilding/ reconstructing schools in New Orleans right now, there is a huge amount of money being funneled into the project.  We are talking lots of money, FEMA pledged  1.8 billion and that is just from FEMA!  Is there really adequate over sight with all the money that is being used for rebuilding and reconstruction in New Orleans schools and are the real community needs and local school leaders voices being heard?  For instance since charters are short term contracts there is the thought that they shouldn't build the school around the charter environment and the charter school feels that there particular needs are not being met or considered. They do not want the larger buildings that are more expensive to operate.   This is just one example of the conflict of interest in rebuilding.

U.S. found to recruit fewer teachers from top ranks

This seems pretty obvious, if we would pay teachers more like in some of the TOP performing schools in other countries then we would have better teachers who would be able to produce better results with the kids. I think we have good teachers but for many pay could be a factor as to why they leave or over time become, possibly, less imaginative in the classroom. It is amazing and just simply inspiring that in Finland "Teaching is the most admired profession among top students, outpolling law and medicine." It also is interesting  that they have more time to collaborate in other countries. It says here that we spend more time on instruction, yet with less results. Interesting. The counter argument by Dr. Zhoa was interesting too but claiming our system is just more complicated I hope does not negate some of the other observations.

multimedia project

I chose Ricci adam's musictheory.net. It is a very good web cite for music students and it can be customized for the younger grades.

Raising expectations is aim of new effort

The idea to pair students and teachers into teacher workshops is one of the main points of the article. I was very happy to see some of the initial results that were described. It seems like an idea that is long over due but I am skeptical of how well it would work with elementary schools. I know that some of the students were in 5th grade and that, I would think, would need to be the cut-off grade. The open dialogue between teachers and students here I think would be difficult for the younger grades. Although, I do have all of my students teach each other in class because it is proven to help them learn.  For that matter we all learn best when having to evaluate what we are doing on such a level where we have to turn around and teach it.

Reflection of Ed Tech Standards

How might you explain the big picture of what these standards are trying to accomplish?
They are trying to have students become responsible users of technology as well as
capable users. We are needless to say become more and more dependent upon technology. We need to be able to navigate its many possible uses.


Describe some strategies you could implement at your grade levels in order to accomplish this huge task?
As an elementary general music teacher I use youtube and other available video podcasts in the class as a way to connect students to musical cultures and styles. I could possibly can share concerts this way in the future. I like musictheory.net as a sight to challenge students individually and there are other sights out there like this one.