tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post1971663238401567743..comments2024-03-26T04:19:38.862-07:00Comments on kitchen table math, the sequel: "bad teacher" - bad parent?Catherine Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-33121256981353798142012-03-07T11:11:23.542-08:002012-03-07T11:11:23.542-08:00In our lower schools, it's the administration ...<i>In our lower schools, it's the administration that's struggling to force teachers to ensure basic skills and raise expectations.</i><br /><br />right - <br /><br />That has crossed my mind, too. Say you've got a district filled with teachers who think that group Powerpoints are the pinnacle of 21st century skill --- <br /><br />I don't think you're going to see a lot of "continuous improvement."<br /><br />I do think there are a few built-in 'biases' towards high achievement in the PLC approach.<br /><br />First of all, in DuFour's concept of PLCs, teachers aren't deciding what the curriculum is; the state and/or the administration does that. <br /><br />Teachers use the curriculum documents from the state and/or district to decide exactly what they're teaching and when. (I **think** that DuFour **does** give teachers leeway to decide not to teach some topics if they believe there are too many to be mastered in one year.)<br /><br />Also, teachers write assessments they give to all their kids -- and I tend to think that the writing of assessments biases you towards real tests and real paper topics ..... although I'm not exactly sure why.<br /><br />I guess the bias comes from the fact that an administrator is overseeing things, and the administrator wants to see evidence that students are moving ahead.<br /><br />Basically, I think -- I'm guessing -- that the PLC set-up in and of itself pushes schools toward content & mastery and away from 'process' and non-mastery.<br /><br />But I could be wrong.<br /><br />Last but not least, DuFour created PLCs in a high-SES high school. High schools have more 'content' pressure (built-in pressure to teach content) than K-8, I think.<br /><br />Nevertheless, from what I gather, PLCs have been successful in K-8.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-35558477846573073692012-03-07T11:04:23.082-08:002012-03-07T11:04:23.082-08:00I don't assume that PLC's will automatical...<i>I don't assume that PLC's will automatically create what I want from a school in terms of academics.</i><br /><br />That, for me, is an open question.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-2577092645270011262012-03-07T11:03:15.596-08:002012-03-07T11:03:15.596-08:00btw, I should add that I don't know how DuFour...btw, I should add that I don't know how DuFour (and others) handle teacher evaluations --- <br /><br />The idea of a superior evaluating a subordinate's performance is **somewhat** contradictory with the idea of a horizontal, professional organization.<br /><br />However, I do know that department chairs at Adlai Stevenson do lots of classroom observations. (I know this because I emailed with the chair of the math department there.) Also, department chairs at Adlai Stevenson seem to have administrator status -- although there's a general tone & feeling on the website suggesting that department chairs should be seen as 'first among equals,' or some such.<br /><br />The point is: I really don't know what role teacher evaluations in the old-fashioned sense of administrators visiting classrooms and evaluating teachers should play (or could play).<br /><br />In terms of value-add and student learning, I'm **somewhat** certain that state tests per se (especially the tests we have here in NY) aren't going to do the trick.<br /><br />We need ongoing formative assessment of the kids, AND teachers need a way to figure out **quickly** what to do differently when their kids aren't doing as well as the kids in the class next door.<br /><br />The beauty of PLCs is that same-subject teachers create a set of tests (or assessments more broadly defined) that they give to their students on the same day and then meet to go over. When they find discrepancies in the results, they help each other adopt the 'best practices' others in their group have developed.<br /><br />If everyone's score is below where teachers want them to be (I don't know how often that happens), teachers have a team of colleagues to help them figure out what's going on.<br /><br />PLCs produce consistent formative assessment across classrooms and a built-in, scheduled way for teachers to collaborate to raise student achievement.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-8305627584080493502012-03-06T14:07:37.570-08:002012-03-06T14:07:37.570-08:00My reaction to the commentary is that there is mor...My reaction to the commentary is that there is more to the story.<br /><br />There is the issue of competence (of teachers and of administrations) and there is the issue of whether one administrative technique works or another (top-down versus bottom-up). I don't want bottom up when it comes to curriculum, but top-down gives us things like Everyday Math. Then there are issues over whether kids are separated by ability.<br /><br />I can't see how a philosophy of learning (ensuring mastery?) over teaching could evolve from the bottom up even if administrations gave teachers that flexibility. If administrations don't have the power to enforce much, I can't see how new ideas could develop if you have a school with a number of strong personalities.<br /><br />Besides, you haven't added the expectations and needs of parents into the mix. I don't assume that PLC's will automatically create what I want from a school in terms of academics. In our lower schools, it's the administration that's struggling to force teachers to ensure basic skills and raise expectations.SteveHhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03956560674752399562noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-34553749651204943542012-03-06T13:36:56.059-08:002012-03-06T13:36:56.059-08:00Catherine, good luck, I hope your district sees so...Catherine, good luck, I hope your district sees some positive changes.<br /><br />Meanwhile, here is an article by a math teacher who is against (!) spiraling instruction.<br /><br />http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/coach_gs_teaching_tips/2012/03/spiraled_instruction_stifled_learning.html?cmp=ENL-EU-VIEWS2Hainishnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-7557885924406911882012-03-06T13:27:49.236-08:002012-03-06T13:27:49.236-08:00Jean- agree completely.
I think the reform moveme...Jean- agree completely.<br /><br />I think the reform movement (which I consider myself part of) has ended up, somewhat paradoxically, repeating the mistake of the 'non-reform' movement, which is focusing on the grown-ups, not the kids.<br /><br />The new teacher evaluation system here in NY (basing this in the last I checked into it) is going to be a DISASTER. It will be miserable for the grown-ups, expensive as the dickens for the taxpayers, AND it will do nothing for children.<br /><br />That was Richard DuFour's revelation: he was a hard-charging principal who was endlessly evaluating the teachers and serving as an "instructional leader."<br /><br />Nothing changed.<br /><br />He finally had a revelation: he needed to stop thinking about teaching and start thinking about learning.<br /><br />Basically, he flipped the model (and, no, we're not talking about Salman Khan's flipped classroom!)<br /><br />He decided to focus everything on kids learning, NOT on what he thought of any given teacher's performance.<br /><br />This meant that not only did he create a means for teachers to function together as professionals, but he also invented "RTI": his school developed a plan to intervene systematically and proactively when kids weren't learning.<br /><br />When the focus is directly on the child's learning, the mean teachers start weeding themselves out.<br /><br />Now, how this would work with severely disabled kids, is a little more of a question to me --- BUT I think the model is applicable.Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-90817974042012114352012-03-06T13:17:08.767-08:002012-03-06T13:17:08.767-08:00Allison - yes, that's my question - BUT Kris H...Allison - yes, that's my question - BUT Kris Harrison, our incoming super, **has** apparently set up PLCs across districts. His district is tiny (just 800 kids) and teachers from other districts have joined their PLCs.<br /><br />I can imagine cross-school PLCs working for middle schools ---- administrators would have to make them work (schedule time, etc.) --- but it doesn't strike me as an impossible task, and it could be even more helpful given the 'outside' perspective --- (?)Catherine Johnsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03347093496361370174noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-76594979557988236132012-03-06T11:11:53.991-08:002012-03-06T11:11:53.991-08:00I sympathize with Johnson, but at the same time--i...I sympathize with Johnson, but at the same time--it feels like he's ignoring the plain fact that there are actual bad teachers. Cruel, bullying ones, or ones who are burnt out and don't care, or whatever.<br /><br />Yeah, it's not much help to blame teachers who are doing their best with too many kids and too few supports. But I think many people are very disillusioned by the way truly terrible teachers are protected by the system. It's hard to support a system that protects awful people who are hurting your child. And the result is that there is a *lot* of resentment that is turning into demands for more teacher accountability, which is a very difficult thing to measure. <br /><br />Which is why yet another friend of mine is giving up this week and pulling her child out to homeschool, after 4 years of trying to work within the system--and she's a teacher herself. A few years ago she was leery of my choice to homeschool and thought I was kind of crazy. I have a sadly long list of these friends, who go into the school system as believing, supportive parents and come out jaded and disillusioned.Jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14247515387599954817noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7691251033406320222.post-88871969869485614952012-03-06T10:43:24.102-08:002012-03-06T10:43:24.102-08:00how do you make a PlC for a middle school math tea...how do you make a PlC for a middle school math teacher in a school that has exactly one middle school math teacher? across schools doesn't really work. what would work?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com