If ours is truly to be a democratic society, and I am not going to entertain the debate of democracy or republic, the voice of each of the constituents must be heard. As we move through the 21st century it is an imperative for all that truly want a democratic nation to serve those individuals who have been marginalized over the past 100 years or so. Education needs to focus on the redistribution of educational capital to accomplish this goal. Pertaining to the educational capital as it exists today it appears that the "rich get richer and the poor get poorer." This is a travesty and my personal vision is to redirect this archaic and poorly reasoned tenet of public education.
Living in San Diego County and doing both of my Clinical Practices (CP) in North County, one cannot help but notice the incredible number of English Learners (ELs) especially those whose native language is Spanish. In my CP2, I plan on creating an exhaustive list of English-Spanish cognates for all of my ELs (all of whom are native Spanish speakers). Chemistry and science in general use a vernacular that is not common to English speaking students. I can only imagine the ambiguity and frustration that my ELs must experience. As one of my students told me last semester, "Mr. Mac, I read the definitions but I don't understand the words they use to define it." I want to ensure my ELs have every opportunity to demonstrate their mastery of the content and if it means they need to write in Spanish, I will get the material translated.
I plan on becoming fluent in Spanish over the summer. I have a fairly strong working knowledge of Spanish so the task is not as heroic as it might sound at first blush. In the field of science the Latino population is grossly underrepresented. I know from first hand experience having worked in San Diego biotech the last 15 years. Many of the entry level positions in biotech do not require more than a basic working knowledge of chemistry and biology. It is reprehensible that the Latino population has not gained a greater presence in this field. I want to be able to communicate completely with my Latino students and hope that by learning Spanish, I will be able to create deeper bonds with these students such that they can enrich my learning/teaching experience as well.
I will seek opportunities to use an inquiry-based model for teaching science from my first day of teaching. I have a cursory vision of how this looks, but need to tease out the actual how-to portion of this methodology. My goal is that after a couple of years of experimenting with this methodology, that I can begin to master it. Discovery generally follows a natural curiosity to explain natural phenomena. The paradigm of teach the laws, do some problems and show me that you can do the problems on a test does not represent how real science gets done. Interestingly, one of my frustrations in the pharmaceutical industry over the last 25 years is the paradigm shift to meeting time lines. Gant charts have spoiled the science. The industry used to follow the leads that came out of the lab. Today, they are directed to meet time lines. I want my students to have the revelations and "ah ha" moments and I don't believe that is possible in the traditional modes of teaching science.
The action plan of promoting inquiry-based teaching effects a more powerful teaching pedagogy. This type of teaching will lead to newer and hopefully better new curriculum paths. Similarly, the assessments will likely be more authentic and the final products will look more like projects, demonstrations and research projects rather than paper or pen scrawled over a piece of paper. The inquiry-method should foster collaborative efforts for students and change my role to more of a facilitator and mentor. My efforts to become fluent in Spanish and engage more of my Latino students in their native tongue provides a more comprehensive support for this under serviced group. Hopefully, it will provide me with a richer and deeper understanding of these students. My goal to help close the science achievement gap especially as it relates to Latino students here in San Diego County connects almost all six legs of the graphic organizer presented in class.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Agent Change: McClelland Greg 6 Reading Reflection
See what happens when you do too much reflecting. You turn into a mirror. When I look into the mirror these days I see another mirror. I trust myself. I trust my instincts. I trust my common sense and feel my values are grounded in reason and an overriding premise that the world can be a more peaceful place. I know that when there is compelling circumstance to invoke or initiate change, I will recognize it and act accordingly.
With regards to the chapter by Postman and Weingartner, I am interested in seeing the student's response to the methodology. As they pointed out, the onus on the learner is severe. Invariably, with a class of greater than 30 chemistry students, the odds of having 30 good learners is infinitesimal. Moreover, many of them will have been conditioned to a more conventional paradigm that they have been successful with and may add some resistance. Regardless, I feel the inquiry based learning process should be explored. I have been introduced to the concepts involved in inquiry base instruction and learning. Yet, I don't know what it looks like and am somewhat leery of my mastery of it to use it straight away. If it gets kids to think then I am all for it!!!!!
With regards to the chapter by Postman and Weingartner, I am interested in seeing the student's response to the methodology. As they pointed out, the onus on the learner is severe. Invariably, with a class of greater than 30 chemistry students, the odds of having 30 good learners is infinitesimal. Moreover, many of them will have been conditioned to a more conventional paradigm that they have been successful with and may add some resistance. Regardless, I feel the inquiry based learning process should be explored. I have been introduced to the concepts involved in inquiry base instruction and learning. Yet, I don't know what it looks like and am somewhat leery of my mastery of it to use it straight away. If it gets kids to think then I am all for it!!!!!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Reading Reflection5- I'mthinking...
Incredible sadness. Thursday night a 17 year old girl vanished from a park less than two miles from my home. The same community park where I ran a rec basketball league for years and managed hundreds of baseball games. The same park where I spent countless hours with my own children watching them grow up. I've been on the trails she was running hundreds of times. She was a friend to many of the players on my basketball team from last year. I happened on to one of those players last night and she was a wreck. The pain and anguish of the parents must be unbearable. Her bio reads like that of half of the 17 year old kids in the neighborhood, athlete, scholar, ASB, peer counseling, brilliant future to look forward to.........I am not trying to be fatalistic and am praying for a positive outcome here, but I am sad and really angry. I wonder why I have become so anaesthetized to all the travesties and atrocities that surround the world yet beome so moved when it happens in my backyard. Earth can be a pretty screwed up place to be sometimes. Sorry to be such a buzzkill if you read this, but this is what I am thinking..............
CP2 Website
http://sites.google.com/site/mrmacsciencelcc/
my chemistry ct has blackboard site set-up and will use that, but looking at other ways to present stuff...................
my chemistry ct has blackboard site set-up and will use that, but looking at other ways to present stuff...................
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Reading Reflection 4- Groupwork Ch. 4-5
Creating the Task
Cohen describes multiple ability tasks which are designed to allow students to solve problems that may have multiple answers. The task "requires a variety of skills and behaviors" and "also requires reading and writing" (p.68). The multiple ability task must be designed to be challenging and interesting. This type of task works best using the equal exchange model "where no one person could do the task alone" (p.64). Participants charged with this type of task will hopefully be able to demonstrate their mastery of the concept by synthesizing what they have learned and creatively applying it in their final product.
The notion of allowing students the freedom to demonstrate ideas that don't necessarily have a finite solution lends itself quite well to the discipline of science. The prompt from me could be as simple as, "In your group demonstrate your mastery of the gas laws." The biggest obstacle for me as the teacher is to convince the groups that the task requires different kinds of intellectual ability. The obvious notion of the group would be to turn to the individual with the greatest academic status and let him/her lead the way. It is imperative that I ensure low academic status students participate and are recognized for their contributions. I think this would be an awesome tool to affirm diverse intellectual contributions from a heterogeneous classroom and create a sense of classroom democracy. However, I am still struggling a bit as to how this type of group work could best be implemented.
Lastly, one thought that was intriguing to me was Cohen pointing out that research shows that "the success of the group depends on the amount of talking and working together" (p. 65). Within minutes of entering a classroom, it is evident who the most talkative students are. In assembling groups it appears that distributing the high "expressive" status students will be important.
Cohen describes multiple ability tasks which are designed to allow students to solve problems that may have multiple answers. The task "requires a variety of skills and behaviors" and "also requires reading and writing" (p.68). The multiple ability task must be designed to be challenging and interesting. This type of task works best using the equal exchange model "where no one person could do the task alone" (p.64). Participants charged with this type of task will hopefully be able to demonstrate their mastery of the concept by synthesizing what they have learned and creatively applying it in their final product.
The notion of allowing students the freedom to demonstrate ideas that don't necessarily have a finite solution lends itself quite well to the discipline of science. The prompt from me could be as simple as, "In your group demonstrate your mastery of the gas laws." The biggest obstacle for me as the teacher is to convince the groups that the task requires different kinds of intellectual ability. The obvious notion of the group would be to turn to the individual with the greatest academic status and let him/her lead the way. It is imperative that I ensure low academic status students participate and are recognized for their contributions. I think this would be an awesome tool to affirm diverse intellectual contributions from a heterogeneous classroom and create a sense of classroom democracy. However, I am still struggling a bit as to how this type of group work could best be implemented.
Lastly, one thought that was intriguing to me was Cohen pointing out that research shows that "the success of the group depends on the amount of talking and working together" (p. 65). Within minutes of entering a classroom, it is evident who the most talkative students are. In assembling groups it appears that distributing the high "expressive" status students will be important.
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Reading Reflection 3 - Groupwork Ch. 1-3
Chapter 1
Groupwork is a tool that should be designed to allow students to be actively engaged in participation on a task without direct supervision. The author plans on drawing from years of experience and research to describe the tenets of highly effective groupwork.
Chapter 2.
The author declares groupwork to be a "superior technique for conceptual learning." Aside from the learning task requiring conceptual thinking the group must have the resources to complete the task. Cooperative learning has been shown to help students retain information. Cooperative learning also provides the chance for students to form friendly bonds with each other.
Chapter 3
The author describes the attributes and attendant power given to students in groups based on their academic, societal and peer status. The disruption of power and subsequent outcomes of the group are often unduly influenced by those with perceived greater status.
Note: During my CP1 I had some students in my chemistry class who enjoyed high academic status which was merited. They enjoyed working together. Every time I separated them to mix the groups up, they always complained how teachers always make them go work with the "dumb kids" and they end up having to do everything.
I would like to know how you keep groupwork from being less than 50% social time. Even in this rather eclectic group known as Day Cohort, we are placed in groups, spend a few minutes on task and then complain for several minutes on the Chargers playoff ineptness or the topic du jour...................
Groupwork is a tool that should be designed to allow students to be actively engaged in participation on a task without direct supervision. The author plans on drawing from years of experience and research to describe the tenets of highly effective groupwork.
Chapter 2.
The author declares groupwork to be a "superior technique for conceptual learning." Aside from the learning task requiring conceptual thinking the group must have the resources to complete the task. Cooperative learning has been shown to help students retain information. Cooperative learning also provides the chance for students to form friendly bonds with each other.
Chapter 3
The author describes the attributes and attendant power given to students in groups based on their academic, societal and peer status. The disruption of power and subsequent outcomes of the group are often unduly influenced by those with perceived greater status.
Note: During my CP1 I had some students in my chemistry class who enjoyed high academic status which was merited. They enjoyed working together. Every time I separated them to mix the groups up, they always complained how teachers always make them go work with the "dumb kids" and they end up having to do everything.
I would like to know how you keep groupwork from being less than 50% social time. Even in this rather eclectic group known as Day Cohort, we are placed in groups, spend a few minutes on task and then complain for several minutes on the Chargers playoff ineptness or the topic du jour...................
School Reform at Lunch
The following website describes the Breaking Ranks Model of High School Reform.
http://www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/hischlrfm/datdrv_hsrfm.pdf
Key points include:
1) Ensure students have access to rigorous, real-world instruction.
2) School is restructured into small learning communities.
3) Develop staff capacity to systematically use data for equity, accountability and instructional improvement.
4) Implement collaborative leadership strategies that engage staff, students, parents and community to support the school and student success.
http://www.alliance.brown.edu/pubs/hischlrfm/datdrv_hsrfm.pdf
Key points include:
1) Ensure students have access to rigorous, real-world instruction.
2) School is restructured into small learning communities.
3) Develop staff capacity to systematically use data for equity, accountability and instructional improvement.
4) Implement collaborative leadership strategies that engage staff, students, parents and community to support the school and student success.
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