Blog Session 4- Content Knowledge

Content Knowledge

Disciplinary Lenses

What is one specific way that your content research thus far has caused you to re-think about an idea, or question, or caused you to challenge assumptions that you had previously not considered-or-even pushed you further in thinking?  Discuss.

1.  Through my content research I have started to really think about the benefits   young adult literature can have on students.  Before I knew a lot about young adult literature, I thought that it was all fluff and didn’t really see a place for it in the classroom.  Now, I think that it may be a great tool and starting off point to use in the classroom to get students interested about the “classic” literature that is read in English.  I believe that the “classics” should still be taught in English, but I think a lot of students feel disconnected and discouraged by them.  Reading young adult literature and linking it to the classics may be a way to help the students find joy in reading.   Adults may not feel a connection to these books or may even think they are silly, but these books are not something that should be disregard and seen as useless.  The more the students read, the better readers they will become, so young adult literature may help students become better readers. Through my research, I have found that students’ motivation to read goes down a significant amount by the time they reach middle school for a number of reasons.  Finding something that might trigger and increased that motivation may be these books and may help struggling readers reach a point where they can enjoy reading the classics.  My research has also shown that students are motivated by different things, so not all students will be motivated young adult literature, but it is a start. 

The death and Life of the Great American School System, Diane Ravitch

How do you think the Common Core Standards might fit this narrative of school reform?

2.  Common Core focuses on teachers being the facilitators and helping the students find the answers and helping them deepen their understanding of the material.  From what I have heard about Common Core is that the tests are no longer going to be about all multiple –choice, bubble in the correct answer questions.  They are going to be looking for students to have to solve problems and be able to explain their thought process of how they got to their conclusions.  They are going to be testing deeper level and critical thinking skills.  As educators, we want to move away from students looking for just one particular answer without any critical thinking behind it.  We want them to learn how to as questions and to discover things on their own.  I don’t know how exactly the common core tests are going to measure this, but I do think it is going in the right direction.   Although I think this will take time for students to change their mindset of what learning is, they will become more thoughtful and engaged students and will feel more of a connection and responsibility for their education. 

What argument does she present based on available research?  What do you think?

Ravitch says that unions were set up to “protect their right to think, speak, and teach without fear”(Ravitch174) Women began to join unions because they were treated unfairly and fired for sexist reasons.  They wanted job protection.  Teachers unions were designed to give teachers a voice, because individual teachers had a hard time doing this themselves.  People against unions say that unions are responsible for poor student performance, and Ravich says there is not research that correlates those two. 

I agree that unions are about giving teachers a voice to ensure they have fair working conditions. Teaching is a hard job, and teachers have been underpaid and have had to deal with conditions that make it hard to do their jobs well.  Unions help advocate for these teachers. In order to rebottle the people saying that unions protects bad teachers, Ravitch says that schools should have a system set up to mentor those teachers that are struggling and offer them the peer support they need.  If then they are not improving, then they should seek other professions.  I agree with this.  I think sometimes teachers who are seen as bad teachers may have just gotten into routines that no longer work and they need someone to help teach them new ways they can be effective teachers.  There are probably some teachers that hide behind unions to get by with the way they have been teaching, but I think that is a very small percentage, and should not be the reasons why people say unions do not work. 

I responded to:
Sara Carver
Jenn Bible