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| The future of public education? | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Jun 1 2011, 06:43 AM (238 Views) | |
| brenda | Jun 1 2011, 06:43 AM Post #1 |
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http://www.lurfilms.com/work.php?vid_id=74 |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| brenda | Jun 1 2011, 06:47 AM Post #2 |
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I was particularly struck by the student comment that she felt a sense of responsibility. Wow. That can make all the difference. Teachers are really only facilitators in any school. It has to be up to the student to take responsibility for learning. If this model can promote that, no wonder it achieves results. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Rainman | Jun 1 2011, 04:23 PM Post #3 |
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Fulla-Carp
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Brenda, I find the video interesting, but don't know why. . . somewhat chilling. What do you think of the following video? Yong Zhao |
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| brenda | Jun 1 2011, 05:00 PM Post #4 |
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I'll check this out tomorrow. We're having a big family night here tonight. Later, dude!
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Copper | Jun 1 2011, 05:55 PM Post #5 |
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Shortstop
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Yes, chilling Carpe Diem web site: http://www.cdayuma.com/ I looked at the web site because I wanted to see the admissions process - page under construction A lot of pages are - under construction I was wondering if the results might be coming from restrictive admissions. Which is fine, I was just curious. |
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The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy | |
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| Copper | Jun 1 2011, 06:01 PM Post #6 |
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Shortstop
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I agree with the idea that localized standards are better than global (federal government) standards. |
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The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy | |
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| Steve Miller | Jun 1 2011, 07:12 PM Post #7 |
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Bull-Carp
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All private school kids are self-selected for families where the parents care enough to put their kids in private school. This alone tends to make them higher performers. Private schools can also be quicker to expel low performers and troublemakers; again making their performance higher than an equally well-run public school. That said, this school has some interesting ideas, especially the one where the same teacher is with a kid for the whole 6 years. |
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Wag more Bark less | |
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| brenda | Jun 2 2011, 06:49 AM Post #8 |
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What do you find chilling about it? The amount of on-line learning activity? That could be problematic, if the teachers and staff don't do their part to have interaction and sessions with the students as noted in the video. One of the aspects that appealed to me was to let students go at a faster pace in subjects, if they are mastering the material. It's sad how often students are held to a slower, and more boring, pace. They can do so much more, if we sometimes just let them. I enjoyed the Zhao video, too. Some of what he describes, the individualized education for each student, may be a good wish, but hard to implement, especially within budget constraints. In small school districts, it's not going to be possible to set up multiple academies as he describes. We already have some of the various academies here in Minnesoooota, similar to what he describes. I'm not a fan of NCLB, yet I can see the need to know that basic skills are being learned. When we have children who do not learn to read, there has to be a way to identify the problem, and to correct it. Without some form of measurement, problems can go underestimated, or even undetected. I also agree that there can be too much testing. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| brenda | Jun 2 2011, 06:57 AM Post #9 |
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I wondered that, too. I see they include special needs students materials, and it covers a broad range of special needs. They claim to have a similar makeup of students as the rest of the schools, however, that may not be the full story. There could still be some self-selection. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Jun 2 2011, 07:03 AM Post #10 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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Just a little bit of constructive criticism: - It's sad for me to watch kids so young sit in monochromatic cubicles, staring at a computer screen. - More technology is good, important even, but they gotta be wary of The Golden Hammer. In some subjects, important ones, technology is a hindrance. Everything else sounds pretty good though, especially having the kids work along their own pace. |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| brenda | Jun 2 2011, 07:17 AM Post #11 |
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Yep, wouldn't want them in the cube all day. It said the teachers set up discussion and activity sessions with the students, but it's not clear what portion of the day that represents. I would also hope other hands-on classes are available, such as music, art, etc. Presentation activities are also important. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Copper | Jun 2 2011, 07:22 AM Post #12 |
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Shortstop
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I think that's great. My high school was private and had tough admission standards. So the school scored well in standardized testing. The admission process contributed at least as much to the scores as the teaching process. Try the Carpe Diem approach in some of the inner city schools where both of my parents taught and after a couple semesters you would have trouble finding any computers. |
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The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy | |
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| brenda | Jun 2 2011, 07:25 AM Post #13 |
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That's right. It's not just the teaching system that tells this story. It's hard to tell how much credit really should go to the different teaching style. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Jun 2 2011, 07:31 AM Post #14 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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This might be neither here nor there, but I found it interesting: I have quite a few Asian kids in some of my classes (the ones that act as Communication class requirements for other Masters degrees). In most of these classes, we have to give seminars at some point: basically pick a Memoir/Short Story collection/what have you and "discuss" it for over an hour. Ideally, it's supposed to spur discussions about the work, and in that subject matter in general. Bring in your stuff, get people talking is the gist. To a lot (I'd say almost all) of the students (some of whom are fresh out of undergrad, others are in their 40s), this meant Presentation. Powerpoint! I'll make some slides! Then write out a script for myself, stand behind a podium and deliver my material for an hour. I've done this countless times before, no problem. But nobody mentioned Powerpoint, nobody mentioned having anything prepared formally, nobody even uttered the word "presentation." I mean here we are, doing postgraduate Liberal Arts work and these poor students decide to restrict themselves unnecessarily, because whatever education system they were a product of had hammered that narrow way of thinking into them. It turned into this weird situation where the whole assignment turned into who could get a higher score on Powerpoint Hero. The nice thing about my program is that they're pretty darn open-minded when it comes to interpreting the requirements of an assignment. I and maybe one or two others didn't follow that model at all, and opted instead to just bring the damn book in and start asking people questions, maybe write some sh!t on the whiteboard when it came up. The Chinese kids gave a bit of nervous laughter at first, because they just couldn't believe that we had nothing "prepared." But, we fielded the questions fine and the setup we had in mind "worked" just as well (in my opinion much more so). |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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| brenda | Jun 2 2011, 07:36 AM Post #15 |
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Heh. Yes, 'presentation' can mean so many things. Next time you should do a skit, or create an info-mercial style presentation. Act out your theme. That might shock them. |
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“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.” ~A.A. Milne | |
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| Aqua Letifer | Jun 2 2011, 07:42 AM Post #16 |
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ZOOOOOM!
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I think I shock them anyway in most other areas. No need to overdo the weirdness. Wait a minute! Yes there is! Duly noted for next semester! |
| I cite irreconcilable differences. | |
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That might shock them.
11:25 AM Jul 11