Blog Reflection "Mind the Gap"

1.       While reading chapter one, a handful of Ravitch’s statements stood out as thought provoking accounts. The first quote I selected was in response to the efforts during the Bush and Clinton Administration (1) “The new thinking-now ensconced in both parties- saw the public school system as obsolete, because it is controlled by the government and burdened by bureaucracy. Government-run schools, said a new generation of reformers, are ineffective because they are a monopoly; such as, they have no incentive to do better, and they serve the interests of adults who work in the system, and not children (p9).” When reading this statement I was disgusted by the idea that politicians wouldn’t place more effort, and attention, to the decision making process at the public-school level. This quote shows an indifferent government that promotes privatization for government-schools. It really affected me that the “client” was the adult and not the child. Investing in our youth and preparing our generation for a successful 21^st century should be incentive enough to place more money and emphasis through government on public-school education.

The second quote I chose was during Ravitch’s conclusion of the chapter. She states, (2) “I do claim, however, that we must preserve American public education, because it is so intimately connected to our concepts of citizenship and democracy and to the promise of American life (p14).” This quote remained with me after the reading and into our class discussion. I kept thinking about our class comments on the unfair differences between charter schools and public schools regarding class size, parent involvement, and government financial support. In a democratic society all students’ should receive equal educational opportunities that will prepare them to be conscientious active citizens. I agree with Ravitch and believe preserving American public education is essential to a thriving democracy.

2.       I agreed with many of the viewpoints that Ravitch states for a well-educated person. A well-educated person must build a coherent foundation of knowledge and skills that continues to grow constantly. We are all life-long learners and should be constantly reflecting, adding, and editing our ideas, beliefs, and understandings. Another characteristic of a well-educated person, a skill that Ravitch does not state, is someone who is able to synthesize and apply their knowledge to a new task. As the technological world expands, I know many of my students will have jobs that have not yet been created. Although their basic k-12 education may not specifically train them for these tasks, I do believe by accumulating skills and understandings they will succeed in an ever-changing society. Last, I do believe that in order to be a well-educated person you must have some form of intrinsic motivation to want to learn. Outside sources can inspire, support, and guide understanding, but ultimately the responsibility needs to come from the learner themselves.

3.       During the class discussion I found Megan and Sara’s point about API scores and the conflicting views between test scores and creativity very interesting. Saint Mary’s does prepare credential students to teach the “whole-child” through multiple lenses, creativity, and numerous other teaching strategies. However, like Megan and Sara explained, schools do require an emphasis on obtaining high test scores to ensure funding and prestige. I also thought Sara’s viewpoints on how API scores effect the housing market of the surrounding neighborhoods was interesting. In addition to the API conversation I really enjoyed talking about the swing towards NCLB in the late 1990’s. The viewpoints and explanations of the class, furthered my understanding and added to my comprehension of the Ravitch chapters.

4.       When creating my list of “gap areas” I pulled content framework from both English Language Arts and History at the middle school level. As the list grew from both frameworks I soon realized that my understanding in English was far more developed than my historical knowledge.  Historical content, in middle school, comprises of many specific people, events, and vocabulary. Although I knew many of the names and events I felt my understanding was only at the surface level. In addition, there are some topics I have not taught before and my only understanding is based on my experience learning as a 6^th grader.   I decided to choose to learn more about Emperor Asoka within ancient India. I had no recollection of who this ruler was so I decided to expand my knowledge within this area. I found three sources that expanded my understanding of this great ruler. The first source was from the Boston Globe entitled “Ashoka the Great” by Pankaj Mishra. The next was a book Asoka, the Buddist Emperor of India by Vincent Author Smith. However the last was a website that I found very useful and could incorporate with my students. The website is called the Teach India Project, and gives  lessons to students, parents, and teachers about the history of India. I found a lot of information about Emperor Asoka. He was a powerful ruler who expanded the Maurya Empire into modern day Pakistan and Afghanistan and established an inscription to document past wars . However, he was most responsible for supporting and incorporating Buddhism into policy and Maurya society. I will keep this site as a reference for students to explore during the India unit.

5.       Since researching about reading motivation and the use of technological literacy sites, I have found many articles that have expanded my understanding and have supported my capstone questions. One article I found especially interesting, and helpful, was a qualitative study from Vermont interviewing students about what reading strategies were engaging and what types of reading strategies were tedious. This article was especially supportive because students were asked to express their opinions of when they felt more confident and engaged during school reading. I learned that many of the students enjoyed independent silent reading and being read out loud to by the teacher. Times in which students felt less engaged was during popcorn reading or round-robin reading because of the varying levels and paces among the students. One criticism from this article is that all the students selected for the study were strong or at least proficient readers. I would like to follow this article up with another similar study that grasps opinions and viewpoints of struggling readings. It would be interesting to see if the same activities still engaged struggling readers as well.

Another article I found particularly helpful was a study conducted at a world school in Hong Kong that tested the effectiveness of integrating Facebook and Goodreads into literacy circles at the middle-school level. The study showed many students enjoyed book discussions online and continued to use their accounts even after the study concluded. This study is very similar to the study I am hoping to incorporate into my classroom. The difference is that I plan to focus more on motivation and determining if Goodreads/Facebook provides an increase in engagement and in the reading quantity of my students.

6.       My question to Joan is if it crucial to find quantitative research along qualitative research to gage motivation with middle-school readers? I keep finding all qualitative research, however, and struggling to find quantitative facts regarding motivation.

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