Never Work Harder than Your Students - Chapter Two

I am pasting Cris's post below so we can have a discussion thread here....

Posting From Cris Reinhold:
AS I began this chapter I sighed a frustrating sigh! UNPACK the standards? I know that understanding the standards is key to moving students forward because we have to know where they need to go. I know that assessment is the key that drives instruction. However, this idea seems overwhelming as an elementary classroom teacher. It seems more applicable to the middle grades because teachers there tend to focus on a single subject area. Posting objectives? My first thought was, "For every subject I teach that day?" WOW!@ Am I the only person that is overwhelmed by this chapter? Then I got to Page 58 and read: Master teachers spend more time unpacking standards and objectives than they do planning learning objectives because they understand that clear learning goals will drive everything else they do. THAT I agree with. But still it seems hard to do with so many subjects.

One of the tools I like in this book so far are the TRY THIS sections. After being overwhelmed by the immense information, I felt this calmed me down and gave me perspective of what I can go back and feasibly try NOW. Do we set our standards as Jackson suggests as "minimums" vs. "maximums"? Do we start at the floor and strive for the ceiling? Are we considering currencies when dealing with students?

I am also reading Debbie Diller's Book, Reading with Meaning. In this she suggests thinking in only 8 week increments at first. I like this idea because it makes doing what Jackson suggests easier and on a smaller scale. Does this seem plausible?

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jennifer Luff on October 18, 2009 at 10:20am

One of my professors was talking about educational research and said that the student voice is not prevalent in research. Teachers, administrators, even parents have a voice about what works and doesn’t work in schools but researchers often fail to include students in that dialogue. I think it is the same thing in schools. Administrators, teachers, and parents make decisions about what students will learn and how they will learn it often without giving students a role in the process.

Jackson says, “Do more than just post objectives on the board. Discuss with students what the objectives mean and ask for their opinions about the best way to help them reach the objectives.”

I love this. We are way more invested in the outcome when we get a say in the process. I think my “try this” will be to figure out a way to get the student voice in our curriculum and instruction decisions. Maybe having student representatives on committees or forming a student group to meet with teachers and administrators. Maybe we can have one group in each building and meet monthly – what could we call it? I was thinking the Student Advisory Group but then that might confuse it with advisory in the middle school… We would want a good mix of students so that we hear from all groups. How could we identify them? What do you think?

This would be a great action research topic!

Permalink Reply by Cris Reinhold on October 18, 2009 at 12:38pm