Book Review: The Global Acheivement Gap: Chapter Five

Chapter 5 entitled Motivating Today's Students-and Tomorrow's Workers, Mr. Wagner asks the question, "What does it take to bring out the best in young people today, both in school and the workplace?" Both educators and business people are worried about the decline in the work ethics of young people in America. Educators complain that they do not read, they do not do their homework, they do not proofread their papers, they have no respect for authority, and they just really do not seem to care. The concerns are the same for business owners who hire young people. They agree that work ethic is not the same as it was 5 years ago.

The first point Mr. Wagner made about young people today are growing up in a very different world from the environment of generations before them really made me think about how different young peoples lives are today from years prior.  According to John Seely Brown, they are referred to as the "Net Generation", they are growing up digital. He made a comparison that I found interesting.  Browns view is that the internet will have as transformative an effect on how future generations learn, work, and play as the introduction of electricity had on daily life in the nineteenth century. He also thinks we are just beginning to see the effect that the World Wide Web and other technologies, especially on the younger people who have grown up with new and different communication, information, and creative tools.

The second point that made a lot of sense to me is that young people today are used to the constant connection to other people. They have all kinds of communicating software to stay in touch with their friends such as; My Space and Face book. I know this is true of my son who is in 8th grade.  The worst punishment I can hand down is taking his I-phone.  He is so used to the constant connection and he hates when I take his connection away.

The third point that made a lot of sense to me is that young people are used to what Mr. Wagner referred to as Instant Gratification.  Young people thrive in the world of ever-changing information, updates, and immediate access to whatever they want.  I think it has made young people more demanding and less patient because they do not have to wait for anything.

The fourth point I found interesting was that the use of the internet has transformed how young people today learn.  They do want to read long passages of text, because they are so used to the multimedia learning experiences. They do not to be taught by lecture style of learning.  They want more interaction and crave class discussion. They want to look up information on-line instead of looking through books. This is going to affect teachers and how teachers need to teach this new generation. I think teachers are going to have to reinvent how they perform lessons.  A lecture and a reading assignment is not enough. Young people get bored and then their motivation is gone.  Teachers are going to have to find a way to make learning a discovery. Young people want to be challenged to think and to solve problems, and teachers and future teachers need to learn how to motivate them.

Documentary Review: The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System

The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System. This documentary is about Finland's education system and why it ranks top in the nation. Dr. Tony Wagner, who wrote the book, The Global Achievement Gap, narrates this documentary.  He interviews teachers, parents, students, administration and government officials to find out why Finland is consistently ranking among the top education systems in the world.

Some of the top things that I think were the most apparent differences between Finland's education system and the United States are:
1.  Finland's education is based on trust.  They talked frequently about this topic. Not just the teachers but the students as well.  It is their opinion that students perform better when they are trusted.
2.  They do not rely heavily on testing their students.
3.  Only the top students that do very well in school, and get good grades, will be accepted into a university to become a teacher. You can work hard and get good grades, and it is still not a guarantee that you will be accepted into a university to become a teacher. The result is that Finland has very good teachers.
3.Teacher prep for future teachers.  Teachers in Finland spend a great deal of time being coached and guided. They spend many hours observing and watching. They are assessed, critiqued and mentored along the way. They are trained on how to perform a lesson plan, and also how to improve on it.
4. Their schools are a lot smaller, their class sizes are a lot smaller, and the result is the teachers have more time to work with their students. They are very informal and call their teachers by their first name. They have fewer classes during the day, and longer class times, so teachers can teach  more in-depth.

I think the most apparent differences between teachers in Finland and teachers in the United States were:
1.  Teachers are inquiry orientated. They look at their classrooms as lavatory for learning. Everything is shared and learned together, and they create an online learning environment.
2. Teachers work with children who may be behind, and approach teaching them from other angles, and find ways that are effective for that particular child.
3. Instead of the teacher standing in the front writing on the board all the time, in Finland, the children do the problems on the board, while the teacher reviews.
4.  In teaching math, teachers want the children to understand, not just learn the mechanics.
5.  Teacher's teach vocational skills. The students that pick the vocational path in school are taught vocational skills and are ready for a job when they graduate.

While I was watching the documentary, I found myself hoping that what they are doing in Finland with education will help the United States improve their education system. It is a real concern for me, and I truly want our education system to improve, so we can move forward and compete globally with other countries. I did find the documentary to be interesting and enlightening and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in education reform in the United States. 

Class Update: 4/11/11

Today in SPED 200 Dr. Johnson was at a conference and we watched a documentary called The Finland Phenomenon: Inside the World’s Most Surprising School System. This documentary is about Finland's education system and why it ranks top in the nation.
While I was watching the documentary, I found myself hoping that what they are doing in Finland with education will help the United States improve their education system. It is a real concern for me, and I truly want our education system to improve, so we can move forward and compete globally with other countries. I did find the documentary to be interesting and enlightening and I would recommend it to anyone who is interested in education reform in the United States. 

Local news article: Cathy Black is Out as City Schools Chancellor

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/07/cathie-black-is-out-as-chancellor/?emc=na

Many people were stunned when Mayor Bloomberg put Cathie Black into the postion of school chancellor to run one of the largest public school districts in New York City, with no previous education experience.  Her time with the district did not work out and Mayor Bloomberg asked her to resign. She had the lowest approval rating, 17%, for someone in Bloomberg's administration.

I like the fact that Mayor Bloomberg and Cathie Black took action, and did the right thing, when they realized her positon was not working. Mayor Bloomberg said he took full responsibility for the fact that it did not work out, but now it is time to move forward.  I also liked that they both realized that it was becoming more about Cathie Black than the kids, and now it is time to put the kids first.

Class Update: 4/7/11

Today in SPED 200 Andrew, Kirsten and I gave our presentation to the class on chapter nine from the text Introduction to Teaching. Chapter nine was on Governance and Fiance: Regulating and Funding Schools. It was a complicated subject, but I think overall our presentation went well and Andrew and Kirsten were wonderful to work with.

After the presentation Dr. Johnson talked to the class about a website called Students First.org. This website was created by Michelle Rhee, and is a non-profit organization.  Michelle Rhee was the School Chancellor in the Washington D.C. school district. Michelle Rhee worked hard to try and transform the school districts. Many things that she tried was voted down my the teachers unions and after all of her efforts, she was fired. There is a section under take action where we can go to support her website.

She also talked about a new assignment in which we are going to assess two other people's blogs. I am going to assess Kirsten and Andrew's blogs. The blog reviews are due on April 19th.

The Kind of Teacher I Aspire to Become

I think one of the best qualities a teacher can have is caring if they make a difference in a child's life. That is what the bottom line is for me.  I still remember my favorite teacher in high school, Mr. Provo. Mr. Provo was an incredible teacher, and his daughter happened to be one of my good friends.  He taught OEA, Office Education of America, and I was in his class. In his class we formed our own businesses, learned how to balance a business checkbook, and many other practical things that you need to know how to do in real life. He had so much confidence in me, more confidence than I had in myself.  He always wanted me to go to college. He would tell me to go to college and make some professor happy. I did not go to college until 20 years later, long after Mr. Provo had died, but I never forgot his words to me. I always wish I could tell him better late than never Mr. Provo.  It is not everyday that a teacher will touch your life in some way, as he did mine, but that is what I want to do as a teacher. I want to touch my student’s lives in some way, and I want to make a difference. I want to display the same confidence in them that Mr. Provo had in me. I want them to know that they can do anything, and help them strive to accomplish their goals.

My education is very important to me, and it is the number one priority in my life with the exception of my children. I am a non-traditional student who did not step foot in a college until twenty years after high school. I was scared to death, to say the least. While I regret not going to college much earlier in my life, I am proud that I took this step. It was a huge step in my life, and now my mission is to get my degree.  I have many aspects of my life that make this challenging such as three sons and work, but I work hard to make it work. I am on my second year of college and I plan to stay the course to obtain my degree. My goal is to learn as much as I can from my classes along the way.

Class Update: 4/5/11

Today in SPED 200 we finished watching the documentary "Waiting for Superman". After the documentary, we went around the room one by one and talked about what part of this documentary affected us the most.  I would have to say that for me, it was hard to watch these children who really want to go to a better school, and it is all determined by the spin of a lottery wheel. How sad, that in this day and age, that children are turned away from better choices to further themselves, their education, and their future as a whole. I think I also learned from this documentary that parents need to be proactive in their childs education and future. If the parents are not stiving for a better education for their child, who will? I like the saying, "Education is a way out", and for many minority children in urban areas, this is reality.