"‘Gen Y’ Teachers Want to Innovate; Education Leaders Lag Behind" edweek article - Classroom 2.02024-03-29T00:02:05Zhttps://www.classroom20.com/forum/topics/649749:Topic:98758?commentId=649749%3AComment%3A103197&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI'm a Gen Y teacher I guess..…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-28:649749:Comment:1031972008-01-28T18:00:37.562ZLucas Foxhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/LucasFox
I'm a Gen Y teacher I guess... though I never knew we were called generation y. Besides that, I started teacher when I was 22. I've been at it for about 5 years now, and this is my 3rd year in a solid school district, and I love most parts of the job.<br />
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I teach middle school and I love the challenge that it gives me every day. Hell, the challenge to keep up with some of these kids is great enough at times! I'm always trying to try new things, but most of the time I can't. I have state testing…
I'm a Gen Y teacher I guess... though I never knew we were called generation y. Besides that, I started teacher when I was 22. I've been at it for about 5 years now, and this is my 3rd year in a solid school district, and I love most parts of the job.<br />
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I teach middle school and I love the challenge that it gives me every day. Hell, the challenge to keep up with some of these kids is great enough at times! I'm always trying to try new things, but most of the time I can't. I have state testing constantly looming over my 8th grade science class. State mandated tests that test not only on the 8th grade material, but material from 7th and 6th grades as well. I want to add so much more to my classes, and I have noticed increased interest when I started to use power point last year.<br />
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While in my 7th grade classes (I teach both), I don't have the serious constrains that I do in 8th grade, but the district mandated a standardized midterm and final exam, to make sure that I'm teaching the same exact material as everyone else.<br />
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I am find that I am confined to what I can teacher. I wanted to implement using a classroom blog, not only to use it as a communication device between myself and parents, but I also wanted to use it to create a dialog between my students and myself about what they are doing in class. I was told that it was against board policy and my heart just sank deep. I mean they sent us to a conference that Will Richardson was speaking at, about using blogs, and to come back and have the door slammed in my face didn't feel right.<br />
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Don't get me started about the over testing of our students here in NY either.<br />
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So yeah, I feel that my will is being broken at times, and that I have to fit in this one mold. Having to get permission from ever where and everyone just to be able to implement something off the wall to help teach. ( I was going to do a lesson on Ecology using Viva Piñata a PC and Xbox 360 title...permission is still pending *ugh*) I love teaching though, so I'm just being forced into the mold that has been set before me even though I don't want to be. Agreed. I find the generation…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-28:649749:Comment:1031132008-01-28T16:46:36.015ZJennifer Koch Lubkehttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/jlubke
Agreed. I find the generational labels to be a little polarizing and simplistic. It's attitude and that defies generational boundaries. And the attitudinal shift can be achieved with the resources, training, and policy adjustments that encourage collaboration and innovation.
Agreed. I find the generational labels to be a little polarizing and simplistic. It's attitude and that defies generational boundaries. And the attitudinal shift can be achieved with the resources, training, and policy adjustments that encourage collaboration and innovation. Hi Frank,
Thank you for shari…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:993572008-01-18T22:58:04.306ZConnie Weberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/connieweber
Hi Frank,<br />
Thank you for sharing that word, "technoconstuctivism." I've never heard that word before. I think it's perfect! Absolutely perfect.
Hi Frank,<br />
Thank you for sharing that word, "technoconstuctivism." I've never heard that word before. I think it's perfect! Absolutely perfect. "necessary"? Arguable. From a…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:992362008-01-18T15:04:45.692Znlowellhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/nlowell
"necessary"? Arguable. From an education standpoint, we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. From a political standpoint, absolutely. It was an important stone in the Bush legacy. It wouldnt surprise me if it came from Babs and Laura.<br />
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But back the the article. I'm reading it as "omg these poor new teachers are going to run into the bandsaw just like the last 10 or 12 generations have, but now that we have the internet, we're all gonna be able to watch the pathos unfold."<br />
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Yea. I'm a…
"necessary"? Arguable. From an education standpoint, we'll have to agree to disagree on that one. From a political standpoint, absolutely. It was an important stone in the Bush legacy. It wouldnt surprise me if it came from Babs and Laura.<br />
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But back the the article. I'm reading it as "omg these poor new teachers are going to run into the bandsaw just like the last 10 or 12 generations have, but now that we have the internet, we're all gonna be able to watch the pathos unfold."<br />
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Yea. I'm a cynic.<br />
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And I hope I'm wrong every day of the week. Agreed. But, shouldn't we do…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:992342008-01-18T14:59:13.166ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
Agreed. But, shouldn't we do what we can to avoid enabling folk who want to point at NCLB as some great evil, to be stormed and taken down, its demise to be celebrated like Bastille Day?<br />
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In the article, the young teachers say they want to be compared to their peers; they want to be rewarded when they succeed. And they want those who have lost the spark to be able to find the door.<br />
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Before NCLB, teaching quality was measured by 1)Did you get a license, 2) How many years have you taught?<br />
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The…
Agreed. But, shouldn't we do what we can to avoid enabling folk who want to point at NCLB as some great evil, to be stormed and taken down, its demise to be celebrated like Bastille Day?<br />
<br />
In the article, the young teachers say they want to be compared to their peers; they want to be rewarded when they succeed. And they want those who have lost the spark to be able to find the door.<br />
<br />
Before NCLB, teaching quality was measured by 1)Did you get a license, 2) How many years have you taught?<br />
<br />
The challenge now is to replace NCLB with smarter means of diagnostics. I hope EduWeb 3.0 or 4.0 are a part of that; I'm not optimistic. I know better but ...
One of…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:992322008-01-18T14:57:45.132Znlowellhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/nlowell
I know better but ...<br />
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One of the issues with the current schema of "quality measurement and reporting" is that failure in one neighbor hood would be deemed mastery in another. There are a lot of really dedicated people working to protect "their kids" by gaming the "quality measurement and reporting" and I don't blame them.<br />
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When you use a reliable but invalid instrument, you learn that every student in your school weighs 98.6 with a very small standard deviation. And, ironically, the only way…
I know better but ...<br />
<br />
One of the issues with the current schema of "quality measurement and reporting" is that failure in one neighbor hood would be deemed mastery in another. There are a lot of really dedicated people working to protect "their kids" by gaming the "quality measurement and reporting" and I don't blame them.<br />
<br />
When you use a reliable but invalid instrument, you learn that every student in your school weighs 98.6 with a very small standard deviation. And, ironically, the only way to raise that score is to make them all sick.<br />
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(only half jest) "quality measurement," by def…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:992302008-01-18T14:38:53.052ZConnie Weberhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/connieweber
"quality measurement," by definition, would not be part of what's called a "testing craze."<br />
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Yes, all learners must be included, watched over, nurtured, helped along.
"quality measurement," by definition, would not be part of what's called a "testing craze."<br />
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Yes, all learners must be included, watched over, nurtured, helped along. Ooh. "testing craze"? Yes, te…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:992262008-01-18T14:26:16.130ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
Ooh. "testing craze"? Yes, testing may have mucked up your school or your classroom. And, if you think its bad now, know that we are getting closer to have the tests set at the national level, not the states! Ack!<br />
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But lets also give quality measurement and reporting some due. It is helping the most left behind of our students. Its showing us that failure to master reading can happen in all sorts of neighborhoods, and that mastery of math can happen in the most wretched dens of economic blight.
Ooh. "testing craze"? Yes, testing may have mucked up your school or your classroom. And, if you think its bad now, know that we are getting closer to have the tests set at the national level, not the states! Ack!<br />
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But lets also give quality measurement and reporting some due. It is helping the most left behind of our students. Its showing us that failure to master reading can happen in all sorts of neighborhoods, and that mastery of math can happen in the most wretched dens of economic blight. n, NCLB is an evil that was n…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:992202008-01-18T13:55:41.150ZEd Joneshttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/EdJones
n, NCLB is an evil that was necessary, but never should have been. The teaching profession (IMNSHO) should have been monitoring its own results. It should been on top of quality control, and should have been dealing harshly with those schools and teachers who were cheating students. It should have been stretching to include parents and community, not lock them out. It should have been helping/requiring its members to purchase private sector errors and omissions / malpractice insurance like…
n, NCLB is an evil that was necessary, but never should have been. The teaching profession (IMNSHO) should have been monitoring its own results. It should been on top of quality control, and should have been dealing harshly with those schools and teachers who were cheating students. It should have been stretching to include parents and community, not lock them out. It should have been helping/requiring its members to purchase private sector errors and omissions / malpractice insurance like every other profession.<br />
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Back to the original article, it seems that these new teachers sense that their profession is disconnected from the practices, standards, and aspirations of other knowledge professionals.<br />
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Will they remake the profession? Will they stick with the status quo truck-drivers model? We shall see.... We have common ground here, E…tag:www.classroom20.com,2008-01-18:649749:Comment:992152008-01-18T13:47:41.517Znlowellhttps://www.classroom20.com/profile/nlowell
We have common ground here, Ed, with the issue of "We have to measure the problem" and I think you're exactly right. That's *exactly* what happened.<br />
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But I think the crux of the problem is that we didn't stop to figure out what the problem was before we started measuring.<br />
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When I consider school assessment -- on any level from teacher assessment of student, to assessment of teacher performance, to effectiveness of schools -- i'm reminded of the old joke about the guy coming out of the bar to…
We have common ground here, Ed, with the issue of "We have to measure the problem" and I think you're exactly right. That's *exactly* what happened.<br />
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But I think the crux of the problem is that we didn't stop to figure out what the problem was before we started measuring.<br />
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When I consider school assessment -- on any level from teacher assessment of student, to assessment of teacher performance, to effectiveness of schools -- i'm reminded of the old joke about the guy coming out of the bar to find a fellow on his hands and knees under a streetlight looking for his contact lens ... you all know the story and the punch line ... "No, I lost it back there in the alley, but the light's better here."<br />
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That's where the profession is.<br />
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I'm really sympathetic with the perspective of these "Gen Y'ers" -- horrifically overgeneralized against a cherry picked subset of data as this article may be -- but I can't help wonder how they'll feel about it when they start getting evaluated by people who have no knowledge of what they do and become victims of a political system with only loose ties to actual performance.<br />
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Makes me think of another old saying.<br />
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"Be careful what you wish for."