The article "Yes We Can" brought a contrast to the article we read last week, "Unemployment Training." The main point of "Unemployment Training" was that urban schools do not adequately prepare students for the real world, in fact they prepare them to fail. "Yes We Can" raised hope for me because I am interested in teaching in urban schools, where the majority of students are minorities. The article pointed out that the schools where students of color are achieving are not doing anything extraordinary or radically different. The schools simply teach all of the students to high standards with high expectations so that even minority students are thriving. Teacher quality is what makes a difference for the students. Teacher quality is what effects how students perform in school. This means that it does not matter where you are teaching, but rather are you qualified and working for the best interest of your students. Also, it does not have to do with the students' race or low-income backgrounds. Now that I think about it, saying that students of color will inevitably fail, is like saying that they are genetically inclined to not succeed, which of course is not true. I think that many teachers have prejudices toward students of color or low-income, and therefore have lower expectations. There is such a negative connotation of urban schools (which I really hate) existing today. We talked about it in class on Monday how as teachers we should have high expectations for all of our students. We as teachers need to evaluate our own attitudes toward students of color (which is why those surveys we take are helpful).
I attended a staff meeting at the beginning of the school year and the principal said that even if you don't believe a student will succeed, "fake it till you make it." I think the principal meant that eventually you will really come to believe that your students will succeed.
The second point of the article that I wanted to comment on is the idea of using assessments and data. Just because there are assessments and data that show that some students are underachieving, teachers must use the data correctly in order to make the appropriate changes. Some teachers may just look at the data but then do nothing about it or give up on their students. In my Latinos and U.S. Education course we talked about the power of advocacy. We discussed how some Latino parents cannot be the advocates for their children because they do not know about the data or about programs available for their children. The Latino parents may not be aware of the resources available. Using assessments and data, teachers can work with parents to become advocates for their students, which result in better changes. This also ties into what we talked about in our Leadership class, that as teacher leaders we have to use data to back up our claims or our desires for certain changes.
I think it takes more than just using assessment, data, and standards. Even if high standards are set in the curriculum, it does not mean that every teacher strives for it. I think it takes teachers that strongly believe in their students, believing that their students can succeed. So Yes We Teachers Can guide our students to success!
14 years ago
5 comments:
Hi Kim,
This article raised hope for me as well. It was great to hear that teacher quality does make a difference for students. For a while there, I was thinking it was silly of me to believe that I could make a difference in an urban school. It seems like there are so many other forces at work against the students and I was wondering if my optimistic "change the world" philosophy was not reality. But I can really create a positive, challenging learning environment for all students--and so can you.
Nicole
I agree with a lot of what you said, I want to work in an urban district and I would like to hope that good teaching will allow my students to improve. The article helped me to believe that good teachers can make a difference in low performing districts. I also agree with your point that data must be used effectively in schools, if not it can just make the problem worse. Also you brought up the point that latino parents specifically are not aware of what is available for them and I would have to argue that is not just limited to latino parents. Parents of every nationality should be able to go into a school and find out what is available for their kids. It is the schools responsibility to make sure that parents know that there are things they should be insisting and making sure happen (especially with special education testing and services).
Well spoken Kim and as a person who has taught in a majority of Urban Schools i fully agree with what you say. The teacher does indeed make the biggest difference in a students education; however, i have to bring in the politics of teaching. We all know too well that students are required to be at a certain level in order for the school to be successful thanks to our old friend the NCLB act. Granted in a perfect environment there would be a classroom where the teacher can fully and effectively communicate the lesson to each and every student but the need to succeed from a school perspective hinders this option. I would also like to note that what the principal mentioned was just plain nonsense, granted everyone has their doubts about certain students but we must put them behind us and work with our students. I know at my current school the staff tends to just complain about certain students but their complaints are never really relevent. People like this need to hold their views to themselves of keep them in a confidential area, not in an area of flowing student populations. Finally i would like to whole-heartedly agree with your final statements because i too feel all teachers want their students to succeed and hold their students to high standards but i have also seen exactly what you said about some teachers not holding their students to these. I am not sure if when they do this they feel a partial failure in themselves or if it is again to help boost the statistics of the school.
This article too raised my hopes, and after student teaching in an urban school I think I have witnessed the impact high expectations have on students. I held my students to a high standard and they strove to meet that. If I had only expected them to do the bare minimum they would have gotten so much less out of my student teaching. I hate that people think race and socio economic status affect a student’s ability to achieve. Yes there may be more obstacles to overcome, but children are resilient and will overcome them. We need to treat their abilities no different than we would in a suburban school. I also feel that a strong supportive environment between home and school is a place where we really help to provide change in our students’ lives. We all know that urban schools face many challenges and I think that’s why its more important now than ever to maintain our "Yes We Can" attitudes.
This reminds of the phrase "it takes a village to raise a child." When there are plenty of readily available resources, we may not even notice the impact of the village: libraries, summer camps, etc. What I appreciate from Yes We Can is the reinforcing information that shows that inputs WILL make a difference. Even when the challenges appear huge, there are reasons to be hopeful and to continue aiming for high goals.
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