"Everything should change, it seems, except the increasingly unholy trinity of markets, testing, and accountability. Tough choices, indeed! The new globalized economy, it seems, is going to be driven by less-than-happy band of Puritans!"
This quote had me rolling in laughter. It is a witty retort to the path of autocracy and speaks volumes towards the people who help create the rules educators must follow. They have such a large influence that it almost doesn't matter what the professionals in that field think. Whatever is the best for them is best for the educator seems to be their only policy.
"However, our rubrics taught us, we loved writing too much, so much so that we had been giving less credit to students who could write clearly but not elegantly, who had great ideas but couldn't express them perfectly, who applied evidence well but not always in the most compelling way."
I never put much thought into this because I honestly don't like writing as much as the statement says, but do seem to appreciate more elegant writing. Like this quote says we should not judge the book by it's writing style. Though some students don't know how to convey their thoughts in a manor that is pleasing to our eyes, doesn't mean heir ideas are not every bit as in depth and knowledgeable as those that can please our eyes.
"It's time to recover the missionary spirit and deep moral purpose of engaging and inspiring all our students."
The goals all educators start out with, but tend to forget as time goes by and they feel beaten down by the system. Never letting these values go and always doing what they can for every student in any way, even the non-conventional.
The path of Autocracy
This path limits technologies power to transform education by not allowing schools to use certain tools. We are limited extensively on what we are allowed to use in the classroom. It took a long time to even get YouTube in the classroom and even that is still heavily blocked. All of these barriers makes it hard to use great resources we find on our free time and want to share with the students.
The path of Technocracy
The path of technocracy makes it hard for any educator to teach away from the test. Because the tests are what determine the achievement of student they need to focus on that material so they are able to have their students score well on the tests. Now, it is possible to use technology to teach this material. It is limited because there could be other technologies that teach the concepts and the student ultimately learns more, but because they do not teach the insignificant details that the students will be tested on it is viewed as failure because they do not score well the tests.
The path of Effervescence
This path is a little harder to find the faults in, but it limits technology in that it masks the value of technology. Doing things the way we always have because it gets us by is a mentality that lingers and keeps innovation from happening. Though it is great to see that technology us is not becoming highly praised in the community.
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ReplyDeleteI know you have mentioned that you as of now do not have your own classroom. I was at first surprised that you interpreted all of the distractions as being mostly technology focused, but I can understand how, if you haven't lived through them, you can get that take away from the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how your own feelings about these paths will change when you do get your own class to teach and experience them first hand. I know these readings sure brought a lot of memories up for me, because I've lived through all three of these paths, and it wasn't pretty. Apart from technology, your hands end up being tied in so many other ways.
Wow: In your comments about the path of Autocracy, I definitely agree that “All of these barriers make it hard to use great resources we find…” If we want technology to be something we use to inspire kids’ interest in the classroom, wouldn’t it be nice if we could use the websites and tools they use most often? Even though YouTube is finally unblocked for teachers, it’s still not a tool students can use when creating multimedia projects or trying to create and upload videos. Your other comment about how the autocrats “have such a large influence that it almost doesn’t matter what the professionals in that field think” is a frustration I also frequently feel.
ReplyDeleteWonder: Which of the paths do you feel your school district is most like? It sounds like a combination of autocracy and technocracy from your responses.
I completely agree with your comments on autocracy. Even being in the Library, where you would think technology would be overflowing, I am constantly stuck not being able to do certain things because of lack of access to certain technologies.
ReplyDeleteI wonder, in regards to your comment on effervescence, if we will ever be able to change the "if it's not broke, don't change it" mindset that so many have in our field.
Regarding your first quote, I wonder why our society lets so many non-educators make decisions about education systems? I know every man and woman has an idea of what is best for education, and some may be right, but they should be consulting with experienced educators on these decisions. I wonder if physicians feel this way when their decisions are questioned by insurance companies.
ReplyDeleteWow, I agree the path of technocracy does make it hard for educators to not teach for the test. Standardized tests are what the community, country and world use to determine the success of the school.