From what I understand of it, Race to the Top is a competition between schools in the United States, basically to see what school is the best. I guess that the better the school, the more the government will reward that state (?).
I personally believe that firing an entire staff, like the school board in Rhode Island did, is taking it too far. Sometimes it's not the teacher's fault for the incompetence of the students. The test scores are low maybe because the students just didn't want to learn.
If I could speak to my local school board about improving English classes, I would ask them to try to improve the curriculum. If they want to keep students interested and give them the drive to learn, make the curriculum more interesting, while keeping it up to our grade level of course. I personally love my course and the way things are going for me in English, but I know students that if they were given work that was both interesting to them while still challenging and staying at their grade level, they would be way more willing to learn. Maybe a survey sent around to the high schools questioning what would keep students interested, then trying to apply that to curriculum would be affective.
If English teachers offered a more open variety of stuff to learn it would keep me more interested than I am now. I believe that students would be more willing to learn if they could learn things they wanted to learn, not things they have to learn. If there is or was a way for us to pick our own material while still learning the basics of what they want us to know, then it should be used
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I think that more technology needs to be imcorporated into the school systems. I know that right now my superintendent is fighting to get all the high schoolers iPads to use, and possibly iPod touch's for some of the elementary classrooms. I think this is a very good idea and i hope it passes. It would bring a new way to teach into the classroom and engage the students better.
As the video clearly showed we should incorporate what students have grown up around as a way of motivtation and to enhance learning. Technology is the future and it's everywhere. We should make the most of it in terms of education.
Technology is developing so much throughout the world that I don't understand why teachers don't make the most of it! If teachers really want to engage students, like the video said, they need to play to their interests. These interests, now more than ever, involve technology. Everything from laptops to iPods have become a part of everyday life for most students. I believe that if teachers use these resources to their advantage, they will produce better learners. :)
Post a Comment