“Good teachers will always find ways of using their professional knowledge on behalf of their pupils.”  Great in theory, but not enough these days if you want to be a teacher.  Schools are driven by data and test scores.  Everyone needs to be accountable.  There is a lot of truth and merit to that idea, but at what cost.  I spent most of last week in a panic because I was scheduled to attend an SST meeting for one of my students.  Given all the new information and guidelines that we received about RTI, I was deathly afraid that my possible lack of documentation would result in my student not receiving the extra help that he needs!  I’ve been teaching for almost 15 years and yet I felt completely inadequate and down-right nervous about attending that meeting!  Imagine a new teacher, still trying to figure out the system or teachers, like those on my team who refuse to do all of the paperwork and will just pass along a struggling student and let next year’s teacher “deal with it”.  What happened to respecting my professional opinion, experiences, and work samples to show that this student needs more help?  The response:  use a direct instruction reading program that is currently being utilized in the resource room with identified special needs students.  I need to document more data for the next six weeks.  If it works, doesn’t this justify the need for additional services?  Yet, the answer will be that he has responded to “intervention” and keep up the good work! 

I will continue to do what is necessary to ensure that all students in my room succeed.  My professional knowledge and experiences are my guiding forces, not the results of a one minute DIBELS reading test or a week-long, completely developmentally inappropriate CRCT test.  I am all for accountability, but at what cost?

When I initially read this article, I completed related to the literal meaning.  So many times in this EdS. program I have had to “read” articles that were “over my head” and that I did not feel equipped to read.  Fortunately, I was not asked to read these articles in preparation for a test or quiz!  I have utilized a variety of strategies to help myself “get through” some tough articles.  Often I read it once to get a general sense of what it is about.  I re-read paragraphs or pages that are un-clear in an effort to sort out their meanings.  I have resorted to dictionaries and thesauruses to pull out un-known vocabulary.  However the most helpful tool has been to discuss these articles in class and respond to them in writing.  By having to put my thoughts into written words, I am forced to synthesize new information and make connections to my own experiences and previous text.  Often as I write, my own thoughts evolve and I cause myself to re-think what I have read and written.  More surprising and engaging if to discuss these difficult articles with my peers.  It still amazes me that two or three different people can read the same article and come away with various interpretations of the same words.  I truly enjoy these challenges and varying perspectives.  And if someone constucts meaning from the text in a manner similar to my own, then I am validated in my beliefs and comprehension!

     If I look at the more figurative meaning of this chapter and think about how it relates to this course, beyond the readings and reflections, I look at how it related Jaeger’s article.  I am sure that on many occasions, she was very afraid…afraid for he students, and her own profession.  However, she did not close her door and allow that fear to paralyze her.  She found the inner strength to fight for what she truly believed in, no matter what the risk.  I like to think that I am an advocate for my students and that if “push came to shove” I would do the right thing.  By doing so, I am providing my students and own children with a positive role model for critical change.  If I can instill that value in all the children that come through my classroom, the world just might be a better place!

This article left me feeling very uneasy as an educator.  The sad fact is that I’m sure incidents like the ones described are occurring in districts across America.  I understand a district’s need to implement research based programs in an effort to promote achievement.  So much of what we do in our county is driven by data.  I’m curious as to what kind of data the Open Court program was producing at Downer elementary school.  It’s a very scary proposition to be a teacher and have to advocate for what you truly believe is right, especially when it goes against the top-down mandates provided by central office.  It’s also very difficult to teach something that you truly don’t believe in or have enthusiasm for…the students respond to the attitudes of the teachers.  We are the decisive elements in our classrooms.  I have been very fortunate to have worked in settings where my philosophies and teaching methodologies match the visions and goals of my school.  I can’t imagine being at odds with my administrators on pedagogy.  Teaching is too complex and difficult when everyone is on the same page!  After reading Fullen’s book, What’s Worth Fighting For in Schools, and providing a staff development opportunity to our staff, I realize that issues such as the ones described in this article are worth fighting for, not necessarily jeans days or even common planning time.  We have to pick and choose our “battles” on a daily basis, with our students and with our administrators.  I have to strongly believe that what I am teaching each day is in the best interest of my students and will help to promote their achievement. 

As teachers, we need to be so aware of our students and their individual social, cultural, learning, and personal identities.  It can be very difficult to manage a classroom and meet all the needs of such complex learners.  It can also be very difficult for children with all of these varying influences to see where they “fit in”.  Children are constantly “constructing” their own learning based upon their experiences and backgrounds.  Undoubtedly, that may look very different from child to child.  How, do we as educators, make sense of all this and bring our students together into a community of learners, where they feel safe, challenged, and willing to take risks for the pursuit of learning?  It can seem like a tremendous undertaking for one teacher.  I think it all hinges on balance…just as in life.  There will be times when your lessons appeal to your kinesthetic learners, other times your auditory learners, and still other times your more abstract thinkers.  Some lessons may be culturally diverse while others teach to the mainstream population.  Group work versus individual work, centers versus teacher directed, it is not a one-size-fits-all curriculum and teaching methodology!  It sounds very cliche’, but I still believe that it is our responsibility to prepare our students to be contributing members of today’s society.  Deeply rooted in that is the ability to be able to speak, read, and write in English.  I am not suggesting that we extinguish all other cultures and languages!  We have to achieve “balance”.  We need to continue to celebrate our differences and more importantly focus on what we have in common.  “Well balanced”, successful children can reap the benefits of strong cultural, familial, religious, and learning communities.  It takes a whole village to raise a child…

We, as educators, have an awesome responsibility in educating today’s youth.  I really like how Freire ended his 4th letter in reference to “happy-joyful schools”.  Schools that are willing to take risks and passionately embrace life help to provide students and teachers with substantial opportunities to grow and learn together.   So many of our schools are focused on standardized testing and data driven to the point that that becomes the “life” of the school, not the students or staff.  I appreciate the idea of conflict in the schools as a tool to grow and ignoring the “status quo”.  To accomplish all of this we need teachers who are not afraid to take risks, teachers who are willing to share and learn from each other, and teachers who demonstrate the “joy of living”.  It amazes me at times to look at the number of teachers in schools who don’t even appear to like children!  I’m sure it didn’t begin that way!  If we are not careful, schools with it’s increasing demands and beaurocracy can demoralize even the most tolerant, patient, person.  We need to put ourselves (and our students) in environments that are challenging, respectful, and honest.  This does not come without conflict or risk…but the rewards are worth it!

I truly believe that is is not fair to make any assumptions or generalizatione about a race, sex, or culture by virtue of it’s population.  That, to me, is the number one mistake that people make about others, regardless of their inent.  As with any other ethnically diverse population, education about the culture can help to enhance our teaching and understanding of our students.  It has been my experience in working with “Asian Americans” (not a generalization) that education is truly valued in these homes.  Their is a level of respect for authority and an understanding that success comes with hard work.  Those values are not reserved for Asian immigrant families.  Those values should not be restricted to a particular class.  Those are the values that enhance the education system and help to foster success for all it’s students. 

I admire the respect that the Asian immigrants described in this article show for their culture and families.  Most were raised with a value system that is not evident in mainstream America.  I also understand the self-consciousness associated with learning a new language and it’s public use.  Many Asian-American children continue to be raised in homes where they do not speak unless spoken to.  However, there needs to be strong Asian American voices in homes, schools, and communities.  Dialogue needs to occur in a respectful, meaningful manner to envoke self-confidence in young children and promote positive leadership skills for life.  Everyone needs to have a “voice” and feel as though he/she is being heard.  If that dialogue cannot be practiced in the home, then certainly opportunities must be made available in school.  Successful members of other minority groups have reported that their success, despite their racial and social issues, have resulted from an ability to “code switch” when it was time to go to school.  They speak and behave differently when with their peers and/or family than they would when in school or at work.  In a sense, Asian Americans need to do their own “code switching” by accommodating their behaviors to unique situations.  Respect for one’s culture can be found in honoring traditions but it can also be evident in setting positive examples and “paving the way” for future generations so that every voice can be heard.