Week 3- Comment 1

Kenya wrote:
http://sunny1way.blogspot.com/

How many of us as parents and educators say "It's not about us. It's about them." and actually mean it? Too few unfortunately. We want to believe that we let our children come first, however, that isn't always the case. It's not that we don't want that to be, it's more that it isn't always feasible. As parents, there many obstacles and realities that come into play such as work, financials obligations, and relationships that often take full attention from children and what they wish were a reality in their lives. As educators, there are the administrative constructs that dictate what a child should learn, when they should learn it, how they should learn it, and sadly, even how the instructor should teach it to meet the previous three criteria. There is not enough trust from the administrators in that the teacher can go about meeting the criteria without their influence.

I agree with what you say about giving students some control in what they are learning…how they are to learn it will help them to do more and gain a deeper understanding. Also by giving alternative types of assessment we can gain a better understanding as to how much a student understands. I have many students that can put together a beautiful correctly done project but if I give them a multiple choice test they will bomb it every time. In Arizona there are many free options for students that don’t want to attend traditional high school. To keep our students…to keep our numbers and the funding we have to be willing to teach in ways that kids learn.