In it for the outcome

Hey! 
Hey!
In Fulfilling the Promise, I read something that loved. It read, "The teacher's role bears some  of the hallmarks of the counselor, parent, coach, social worker, and so on, those are not the teacher's central role. It is the mandate of the teacher to teach. Thus teachers shape lives, not by providing a sturdier network of social services, not by helping the child explore the psyche, not by standing on the sidelines and providing strategies designed to capture the game point, BUT by equipping students with the intellectual wherewithal necessary to make their way in a world that increasingly demands academic preparation for full societal participation."

I just loved that because it really helped put into perspective what a teacher's central role is. I feel that sometimes we think we need to do it all...but ideally, that isn't what OUR role is. I came across this shirt on the internet and I think I need to buy it. Teachers teach for the outcome of the student. Nothing else. However, this ins't the case with all teachers. I remember having a few teacher who I knew did it for the paycheck...they came, they "taught" they went home.

Did I like them?? NO!

Did I learn anything from them?? NO!

I hope to be the complete opposite of these teachers and really know what I'm teaching and teach with confidence. Also, be able to really connect with my students and do whatever it takes so they "get it." They will know I care and I will know they get it....get the material and get that I care.

I can only hope!

"As adults responsible for the growth of the next generation, we should know that we are not doing our jobs unless we provide youth with the opportunities to live right-that is, with chances to do their best. A just society is one in which men and women, rich and poor, the gifted and the handicapped, have an equal opportunity to use and to increase all their abilities, each according to her or his talents" (Csikszentmihalyi, Rathunde, & Whalen, 1993, p. 260).

Just a reminder on what COGS I've already talked about. First there was THE STUDENT SEEKS, second there was THE TEACHER RESPONDS.

Now, I'm going to focus on how CURRICULUM & INSTRUCTION ARE THE VEHICLE which is the last COG.

There are a few elements of curriculum and instruction that I would like to discuss.

IMPORTANT:

• What we study is essential to the structure of the discipline.
• What we study provides a road map towards expertise.
• What we study is essential to building student understanding.
• What we study balances knowledge, understanding and skill.

FOCUSED:

• Whatever we do is designed to get us where we need to go.
• Both teacher and students know why we're doing what we're doing.
• Both teacher and students know how their work contributes to the bigger picture.

ENGAGING:

• Students find meaning in their work.
• Students find themselves absorbed by the work.
• Students see themselves in the work.

DEMANDING:

• Student growth is nonnegotiable.
• Standards for work and behavior are high.
• There is no "loose" time.

SCAFFOLDED:

• The teacher teaches for success.
• Varied materials support growth of a range of learners.
• Varied avenues to learning support a variety of learners.
• The teacher uses modeling, organizers, and other strategies to point out success.

The importance of curriculum lies in helping students master and retain important information, organize knowledge about different concepts, and develop understandings. Important curriculum is necessarily focused on higher level thinking...basically you wants students to be able to make meaning, apply and extend knowledge, and understand skills.

After reading about scaffolding, I was reminded of the Hallmark that I was assigned in class, this it what I learned by really "digging" into it and trying to dissect it.

A “way up,” usually through multiple and varied pathways, and never a “way out.”

Differentiated tasks cause each learner to stretch, through a support system that helps the learner “navigate” the unknown portions of the work. This requires the teacher to “teach up” to a child rather than teaching down, and to include opportunities for scaffolding in ways that help each child “up”. This usually implies that the teacher is providing at least two different learning options or pathways that may occur simultaneously in the classroom. This is also something that prevents “drill & practice” remediation. It requires knowing each student, as well as applying strategic thinking and actions.

This hallmark should affect all good instruction by a teacher needing to know each student and being able to apply strategic thinking and scaffolding for each student. A differentiating teacher sees the need to scaffold using alternative pathways so students aren’t so much as “different” as they are “differently scaffolded.” –considering the goal of a teacher so to have all students succeed in learning.

Scaffolding takes work and many teachers do not feel they don’t have the time. However they’ll wish they took the time to scaffold when they have to reteach the material. I feel scaffolding a student should happen throughout the day every-day, however I don’t think it is happening in every single subject throughout the day every-day. I think there are crucial times of the day when this hallmark should be happening more than other times of the day. Scaffolding could relate to a map of roads that lead to a desired destination because a teacher leads students using different directions that all lead to the desired destination.

<<<<UNTIL NEXT TIME!>>>>