Educating for a Sustainable Future

     I enjoyed reading Jaimie Cloud's chapter, Educating for a Sustainable Future. I feel like schools need to integrate more information on how to maintain the earth and keep the world a healthy place to live. Not only do we need to have a deeper understanding of "greening," but we also need to strive to provide a better future for ourselves and future generations. We can always improve and that is something I would like to instill in the minds of our youth.
     It was intriguing to read what the different schools had implemented to encourage the strength of intellect and self-directed learning. I hope to encourage and to see this integrated into the curriculum at my district. I agree with Cloud when she states, "As educators and students who want to contribute to a healthy and sustainable future, we will envision, design, and assess with the desired future in mind (pg 184). We need to focus on solving multiple current problems and prevent new problems to develop. I concur with Cloud that we need students to become more connected to the world and the places they live.    
      One sentence which stood out to me on page 169 was, "Roper studies and Gallup polls indicate that as many as 70 percent of school-age youth feel hopeless about the future and disempowered in their daily lives (Wheeler & Bijur, 2000) . Cloud discussed how this is not new data and the information has been publicized for decades (pg. 169). I am curious how they collected this data and accumulated these results? Were students given surveys? I would have to argue that I do not feel that 70 percent of students are hopeless about their future! I wonder what age group they are referring too? I do think that education needs to be modernized to meet society's always changing demands, but it is saddening to me to think that percent of students are disempowered by their lives and the future.

Integrating Technology

     After reading the Curriculum 21 chapters about technology integration it really made me think of the importance of making lessons plans modern so they are engaging for students. Where students spend hours each day using technology through computers, iPods, video games, etc., that is what is most interesting for them. I do agree with Heidi Jacobs that a lot of the curriculum in schools today does not match the changing world. There are so many different ways to motivate students through using technology, that it is vital teachers do so.
       As I stated before in a past post, the biggest challenge I feel is teachers having the technology resources readily available. I use the smart board and have the students get on to the computer whenever possible. However, sometimes the internet is not working or the computers are down which is very difficult for planning purposes. There is nothing more frustrating than getting students excited to use the classroom blog or play a review game on the smart board, then having technical difficulties so we have to do them pencil and paper. I also wish all of the students had their own computers so we could do a lot more technology activities. This next year I do want to give students more choice on projects by using podcasts and vcasts. My biggest challenge will be finding the time for students to share the computer.

Schedules

I was intrigued to read Heidi Jacobs schedule proposals in chapter 4. She discussed how with the traditional block schedule teachers often plan activities to fit into a specific block. She stated that, "The sameness of these schedules forces sameness into curriculum and instruction." I would agree with her that I do often plan activities so they will fill fit into the scheduled subject time for a specific day. I do feel that the schedule can be restrictive. Of course, we can always start something one day and continue it on the following days. At the same time, it is important to pick an appropriate stopping point so it will be an easier transition for students to start the next day.

One issue that would rise if the block schedules were replaced to give teachers more creativity with planning and curriculum would be the instruction of students with special needs. In my school the grade level teachers are required to teach the same subjects at the same time so that the students who are pulled for extra support from the grade can be taken at the same time. I am not sure how this could be addressed so those students still received the support they needed. Perhaps the teachers could collaborate to plan the schedules so they are more creative but still similar amongst each grade? 

Challenges for Upgrading Material

As I was reading the chapters for Curriculum 21, I thought all of her suggestions for upgrading curriculum sounded wonderful. If we focus on updated a few units per trimester it is much less overwhelming. Grade level teams could split up the units, then collaborate and share! However, with how little time I already have to get everything completed, I really need to focus on managing my time to do this. It is unfortunate that teachers could not be given more time to work on this!

I think technology resources is the biggest challenge. I would love to have my students create podcasts, video conferences, complete online designs, etc. Unfortunately, I only have four classroom computers and they do not work effectively. I always need a backup plan in case the computers aren't working or the internet is down. This is one of the biggest challenges for teachers looking to take that step to upgrade the materials and assessments they use.

Curriculum

       In my district we have a curriculum coordinator. She supports the school in deciding which programs to adopt to use as curriculum for each subject.

     In math we use Everyday Math. The program is a spiral broken into units where new concepts are introduced and then supported with more challenging problems. The programs comes with text books, student journals, and all the resources which go with the program.

     In literacy and science we use Scott Foresman. In literacy the program comes with a story for each week with supporting skills, grammar lessons, and spelling words. There are leveled readers which support the stories.

     In science there are chapters organized into units. The program comes with worksheets, quick labs, and leveled readers.

     For social studies we use a program called, Alive. The fourth grade program brings the students on a tour across the United States. There is an interactive workbook, text book, and audio CD which goes with the program.

     Writing is interesting in that we do not have a specific program which the school has adopted. We use the 6-traits of writing model school-wide. We have units of study which the grade level teams collaborate to agree on. We set objectives for the students to meet then plan to make sure all students meet them.  My first year was challenging where I did not have as much support to go by as the other subjects. However, I liked that I had more freedom and could be more creative in adapting my instruction to be engaging and fun!

Blogs I Follow

Politics K-12- Your Education Road Map

Bridging Differences in Education