Category Archives: Issues

Issues

The Homework on Homework: Part Two

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In my quest to enlighten myself as to the true contents of the studies cited by Robert Marzano, et. al. in Classroom Instruction that Works, a course of action suggested not only by Marzano’s detractor Alfie Kohn, but by Marzano himself, I found an article entitled “Synthesis of Research on Homework” in Educational Leadership written by Harris Cooper. Cooper’s work seems to be a major point of contention between Kohn and Marzano, and upon reading this article, I think I can see where both are coming from. The citation for the article appears at the end of this post.

Cooper begins with the acknowledgment that he undertook his study in order to make some sense of some wild swings in the public’s attitude toward homework. At the beginning of the twentieth century, homework was considered good exercise for students’ minds (85). When drill exercises fell out of favor and problem-solving homework became the rage in the 1940’s, homework fell out of favor (85). I found that interesting, considering modern attitudes toward drill (I see it often referred to as “drill-and-kill”) whereas problem-solving is viewed as an invaluable skill for students to learn. Of course, Sputnik changed all that, and once again, homework was popular (85). Concerns about “needless pressure” on students in the 1960’s caused homework to fall out of favor again (85). The impetus for homework’s “reemergence” in the 1980’s was the landmark report A Nation at Risk (NCEE 1983). The article was written in 1989 and thus does not examine homework attitudes over the last twenty years, but given the response to my post in support of homework, I think it is safe to say homework is currently unpopular once again.

What Cooper found in his study was that research on homework tended to “fit the tenor of [its] times” (86). In other words, “[t]hrough selective attention and imprecise weighting of the evidence, research can be used to muster a case to back up any position” (86). Beginning in 1986, Cooper sought to change all of that with a new study. Cooper states that he “began the project with no strong predisposition about whether homework was good or bad” (86). Cooper’s research took two years; the end result was his book Homework, which Cooper says was the “first full-length book on the subject” of homework (86). I have had some trouble getting my hands on this book, as it is out of print. A few nearby university libraries have it, but none of my local public libraries do. I may be able to get it through inter-library loan, but as I am not currently a student or staff-member on any university, I’m not sure. However, “Synthesis of Research on Homework,” as its title suggests, seems to be a fairly good synthesis of the study.

I love the way Cooper began his study; it should have been how we began our debate about the issue at The Faculty Room: Cooper defined homework as “tasks assigned to students by school teachers that are meant to be carried out during non-school hours” (86). I’m going to assume he means the tasks are carried during non-school hours and not the teachers, but the English teacher in me couldn’t let that go without clarification. We spent, I think, the better part of several days just figuring out what we all thought homework was!

Cooper goes on to describe several positive effects of homework (quoted mostly word for word from figure 1 on p. 86):

  • Immediate achievement and learning, including better retention, understanding, and critical thinking
  • Long-term academic effects, including better study habits and attitude toward school
  • Nonacademic effects, including better self-direction, self-discipline, time management, and independent problem solving
  • Greater parental appreciation of and involvement in schooling

As well as some negative effects:

  • Satiation, including loss of interest in subject and physical and mental fatigue
  • Denial of access to leisure-time and community activities
  • Parental interference, including pressure and confusion of instructional techniques
  • Cheating
  • Increased differences between high and low achievers

Both sides have valid points, as Cooper discusses in his analysis. Cooper’s conclusion was that “homework probably involves the complex interaction of more influences than any other instructional device” (87). But does it work? Well, as it turns out, Cooper’s research says both yes and no.

Cooper organized his research into three sets of studies: 1) comparisons between students who were given homework to students who were not; 2) comparisons between in-class supervised study and homework; and 3) analyses of time spent on homework and student achievement.

The first set included 20 studies. Cooper found that 14 studies “produced effects favoring homework while 6 favored no homework” (88). However, and most importantly, Cooper found dramatic differences on the efficacy of homework when the factor of student grade level was considered. In fact, he found that “if the teacher is teaching high school students, the average student in the homework class would outperform 69 percent of the students in the no-homework class” (88). To reach this determination, Cooper hypothesizes that in two classes, one of which receives homework and one of which does not, all other factors being equal and each comprising 25 students, that the average student — the one who ranks 13th in the class — would be equivalent to 8th in the no-homework class (88). In junior high/middle school, the effect of homework is still present, but not as great. Cooper found that using the same scenario would slightly increase that student’s standing from 13th to 10th in junior high/middle school. However, in elementary school, homework produced no such effects. Assigning homework did not increase elementary school students’ achievement at all (88).

Cooper’s second set of evidence, a comparison between in-class supervised study to homework, showed in-class study to be superior. However, Cooper acknowledges that the issue is “how best to use children’s time and school resources” (88). I take that to mean that with elementary students who spend most of a day with the same teacher, student time and school resources might be better spent on in-class supervised study; however, in secondary schools when students might spend only 50 minutes with a teacher, it might be a wiser use of student time and school resources to assign homework. Again, grade level was critically important to Cooper’s findings: “When homework and in-class study were compared in elementary schools, in-class study actually proved superior. In junior high, homework was superior, and in high school, the superiority of homework was most impressive” (88).

The third set of studies is more difficult to interpret due to a chicken/egg problem. Are students achieving more because they study more? Or do students who achieve more naturally study more? However, Harris found that of 50 studies, 43 “indicated that students who did more homework had better achievement while only 7 indicated the opposite” (88). Once more, grade level made a huge difference. Studies on students in grades 3 to 5 showed a weak correlation between achievement and amount of homework. For students in grades 5-9, a stronger correlation could be found. Of course, in high school, the strongest correlation could be found (89).

What about the kind of homework? Surely that should be a factor, right? Cooper did not find that subject matter influenced achievement. I found this conclusion surprising, as I had assumed practice of math problems to be essential to understanding math concepts when I was in school. Cooper also concluded that homework “works best when the material is not complex or terribly novel” (89), which makes sense to me as students would have trouble completing it without help. In addition to subject matter and complexity, Cooper also examines the factor of time. Again, with elementary students, the amount of time spent didn’t matter much because homework didn’t impact achievement. Junior high students’ achievement “improve[d] with more homework until assignments lasted between one and two hours a night” (89), after which the efficacy of homework diminished. “For high school students, on the other hand, the line-of-progress continued to go up through the highest point on the measured scales” (89)! Cooper believes there must be a point at which homework is no longer effective in high school, but also states that the studies show that “within reason, the more homework high school students do, the better their achievement” (89).

Interestingly, Cooper also found that “it is better to distribute material across several assignments rather than have homework concentrate only on material covered in class that day” (89); that parental involvement, even when parents are given a “formal role” make no difference in the efficacy of homework either way; and finally that individualizing assignments had such small benefits, given their additional “burden” for teachers, that Cooper recommends it shouldn’t be done. Given contention that feedback is important, it is interesting that none of the studies Cooper analyzed examined the effect of feedback. I should think, as Marzano found, that giving feedback most likely demonstrates the homework has some importance; therefore, it has a greater impact on student achievement.

A final caveat: Cooper complains that “many of the studies used poor research designs” and feels that we really need to construct “some well-conducted, large-scale studies” (89). Second, all of the focus on the efficacy of homework is on its correlation to achievement. Few studies examined “homework’s effect on
attitudes toward school and subject matter,” and none examined “non-academic outcomes like study habits, cheating, or participation in community activities” (89).

Cooper concludes his article with an excellent recommended homework policy for teachers, schools, and districts. Despite his findings, Cooper recommends elementary students be given homework, even though it will not change achievement. I found this recommendation baffling in light of the evidence he presented; however, he insists that it will enable students to “develop good study habits, foster positive attitudes toward school, and communicate to students the idea that learning takes places at home as well as school” (90). While I concede it might do the first and the last, I’m not sure it will do much to make students like school. Further, he recommends elementary homework be “short, employ materials commonly found in the home environment, and should lead to success experiences” (90).

Cooper believes junior high students should have a “mix of both mandatory and voluntary homework,” which he defines as “tasks that are intrinsically interesting to students of this age” (90). High school students should receive homework that is an “extension of the class,” which includes “[p]ractice and review of lessons” and “simple introductions to material about to be covered” as well as “assignments that require students to integrate skills or different parts of the curriculum” (90).

Cooper emphasizes that “[h]omework should never be given as punishment,” which sends the message that “schoolwork is boring and aversive” (90). He also recommends “parent involvement be kept to a minimum,” but that parents of students in earlier grades be more involved than parents of students in secondary grades. Perhaps most interestingly, Cooper recommends that “grading should be kept to a minimum” because “[h]omework should not be viewed as an opportunity to test” (91). Cooper believes that checking for completeness and giving “intermittent instructional feedback” is better than discriminating “among” different levels of achievement on homework (91). He believes that students will still learn that homework “should be taken seriously and has a purpose,” which is to “diagnose individual learning problems” (91). This approach makes sense to me if we’re talking about math or grammar exercises, but not out-of-class writing assignments or projects, both of which fit Cooper’s definition of homework.

Ultimately, what I take away from this article is that both Marzano and Kohn may be somewhat selective in what they concluded from Cooper’s study and subsequent recommendations. It is clear to me that homework may have little to no benefit for elementary school students, but is critical for high school students’ achievement. However, in my view, it seemed that Kohn seemed to think the benefit for even high school students was not great, and Marzano seemed to think the benefit to elementary students was greater than it is. Cooper suggests that the effects of homework on achievement in early grades may be small, but that some homework will instill study skills students will need in order to do homework in upper grades. I suppose if that is our goal, it is a worthy one, but on an anecdotal level, I can’t remember having much homework (if any) until middle school, and I have fairly good study habits. Then again, who is to say it’s not because I’m a pretty good student? Would lower-achieving students benefit from developing compensatory study skills? I’ve seen it happen — a student who may not have the natural ability achieves nonetheless because of hard work.

Cooper, Harris. “Synthesis of Research on Homework.” Educational Leadership. 47.3 (November 1989): 85-91. Professional Development Collection. EBSCO. Weber School Library, Atlanta, GA. 29 March 2008. <http://www.ebsco.com/>.

Issues, Professional Development, Recommended Reading

The Homework on Homework: Part One

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As I promised earlier, I am reading the studies cited by Robert Marzano Classroom Instruction that Works. The first study I picked up is “The Effects of Homework on Learning: A Quantitative Synthesis” from Journal of Educational Research, November/December 1984 (full citation at end of this post).

Alfie Kohn’s claim in his rebuttal of my post at The Faculty Room was that none of the studies cited by Marzano, et. al. in the chapter “Homework and Practice” showed that “homework was beneficial for students.” Kohn accuses Marzano of misrepresenting the research on homework.

The focus of the Paschal, Weinstein, Walberg, 1984, which is not one of the five studies Kohn mentions in his criticism of Marzano, is a synthesis of “empirical studies of homework and of various homework strategies on the academic achievement and attitude of elementary and secondary students.” In the abstract of the study, Paschal, et. al. state: “About 85% of the effect sizes favored the homework groups. The mean effect size is .36 (probability less than .0001). Homework that was graded or contained teachers’ comments produced stronger effects (.80).”

As I said, this meta-analysis does not appear to be one of the five studies Kohn mentions in his post when questioning Marzano’s research, but it is in a chart on p. 61 of Marzano entitled “Research Results for Homework.” Perhaps it is not considered by Kohn because it is a meta-analysis or synthesis rather than original research itself. I do think it has interesting things to say about the effects of homework, however. Paschal, et. al. note that “[e]xtensive classroom research on ‘time on task’ and international comparisons of year-round time for study suggest that additional homework might promote U.S. students’ achievement.” However, the authors also note that writing on the subject of homework has largely characterized homework as “unwholesome, professionally unsupervised, or allow[ing] the children to practice mistakes.” Paschal, et. al. acknowledge that attitudes regarding homework seem to change depending upon a variety of factors.

Paschal, et. al. examined “15 studies that compared students with various qualities and amounts of assigned homework. These included the most frequent comparison, of students who were assigned and those who were not assigned homework.”

The authors conclude that “[t]he corpus of evidence shows a moderately large average effect size [0.80] of assigned homework that is commented upon or graded.” However, the authors also acknowledge that “much of the voluminous, 70-year-old literature on homework is opinionated and polemical, and surprisingly few methodologically adequate studies have been conducted.” I can attest to the veracity of the first part of that statement, given my own recent experience. Kohn was the only respondent to my original post who even brought up research.

Obviously, I want to read the five studies cited by Kohn and Marzano, as those studies seem to be at the heart of the contention between the two, but I felt this meta-analysis made it fairly clear that some homework was better than no homework. Marzano’s conversion table on p. 160 translates a 0.36 effect size to a percentile gain of 14. In other words, the average student who does homework (at least, according to my interpretation of the meta-analysis) will have score 14 percentage points higher on a standard bell curve measuring student achievement.  An average student who does homework that is graded and receives feedback on that homework will have a score over 28 percentage points higher on a standard bell curve measuring student achievement.  Sounds good to me.  I encourage you to read the study yourself and draw your own conclusions, too.  Feel free to leave them in the comments.  I will be reading other studies and sharing my conclusions here, so if you are interested in the great homework debate, check back.

Marzano, Robert J., Debra J. Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock. Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2001.

Paschal, Rosanne A., Thomas Weinstein, and Herbert J. Walberg. “The Effects of Homework on Learning: A Quantitative Analysis.” Journal of Educational Research. 78.2 (1984): 97-104. Professional Development Collection. EBSCO. Weber School Library, Atlanta, GA. 7 March 2008. <http://www.ebsco.com/>.

Assessment, Issues, Teaching Writing

A Writing Teacher’s Pet Peeves

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In my ten years of composition instruction, I have developed a set of pet peeves associated with the body of student writing I have read.  Any of my students reading this should keep in mind that I do not direct this at any particular student — this list is a synthesis of common writing errors that I often find in student papers at every grade level 6-12 and every academic level, including Honors or AP.

  1. Referring to an author by his/her first name only in a literary analysis.  It sounds too much like they’re writing about their old pal Walt instead of the poet Walt Whitman.
  2. Not using proper format.  I require MLA format.  I provide samples.  I correct it. I don’t know how much plainer it gets.
  3. Punctuation of titles.  I admit that I am probably harsher on students than is warranted because punctuation of titles comes so easily to me, but I cannot figure out why students cannot remember that short works go inside quotation marks and longer works are italicized or underlined.
  4. Use of second person in formal composition.
  5. Apostrophes used to designate words as plural.  Why?  Think of the poor overworked little punctuation marks!  Don’t they already have enough to do with possessives and contractions, not to mention quotes within quotes?
  6. Run-ons, comma splices, and fragments.  Subject+verb+complete thought=sentence.  Commas cannot join independent clauses.  Independent clauses cannot simply be mashed together either.  Let me introduce you to the semicolon.  He is your friend.
  7. Strange format decisions.  It is my experience that many young writers do not feel comfortable turning in work unless their own title is somehow different from the essay — a different font, font size, bold font, etc.  Why can’t it just be plain size-12 Times New Roman?
  8. And while we’re discussing titles, how about this attention grabber: “Essay”; or if that doesn’t grab you, how about “Scarlet Letter Essay.”  The title of the novel, of course either in quotation marks or not punctuated at all.
  9. Not reading feedback.  I spend anywhere between 15-30 minutes reading every paper.  Students flip to the grade and ask why they earned that particular grade before reading the half-page to full-page of written or typed comments I attached to the piece.  When this happens, a part of me dies inside.  And I think God kills a kitten, too.
  10. Commonly confused words and nonstandard usage: “loose” for “lose,” “then” for “than”; the whole to/two/too and there/their/they’re.  “Alright.”  “Alot.”  “Can not.”  “Irregardless.”

Professional writers are not exempt.  I had to quit reading the work of a popular writer whose plots I enjoy because I couldn’t stand the fact that she, and apparently her editor, can’t identify a comma splice.

Please don’t think I take a red pen to comments and correspondence.  I don’t think twice about it.  Formal writing, especially published writing, has to meet a different standard.

Issues

Living with Autism

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I don’t write about my children much here, and it is probable that most of my readers don’t know I have two children who have autism-spectrum disorders. Psychological testing done by Maggie’s school indicates she has Asperger’s Syndrome, which many people describe as a high-functioning form of autism. I don’t have any evidence to support this notion, but it is my belief that Asperger’s Syndrome is a little more difficult to spot that other autism-spectrum disorders because “Aspies,” as they are commonly called in the autism community by themselves and others, can often be quite bright. I think they often are labeled as ADHD or something else. Maggie appeared to develop quite normally, perhaps even precociously. She didn’t have problems until she started school, and those problems manifest themselves mainly socially — she is often in trouble in school, and sometimes, I feel so frustrated for her because I’m not sure how much of her behavior she can control. She has resource classes language arts and math. She receives occupational therapy and speech therapy (she still has a tendency to say things like “fird” instead of “third,” for example).

My son’s developmental delays are more noticeable. I can’t tell you exactly when we realized Dylan wasn’t developing at the expected rate. I attributed his slowness to talk to the fact that he is a boy — I had had two girls, and both talked when they were supposed to talk, but I had heard boys were a little slower. So, I didn’t worry. And then he was three, and I didn’t want to believe that anything could be wrong. I was in some denial for a while, and frankly, he probably could have received help a little earlier if I hadn’t been in denial. By the time he was three, as I said, we were concerned enough to seek help, but didn’t know how. I didn’t realize, for instance, that even though he was technically too young for pre-K, he might have been able to be placed in a special needs pre-K class because of his developmental delays. We didn’t consider autism a possibility at first because Dylan is a very affectionate child. He does not have a flat affect, and he isn’t fixated on only one kind of food — he eats pretty much whatever. One thing I have learned about autism, though, is that autism doesn’t look one way. If media coverage has done autistics and their families one disservice in particular, it is perpetuating a notion that autistics are all like Rainman — “idiot savants” who are otherwise intellectually disabled and can barely stand to be touched.

To be honest, Dylan has not been diagnosed in any official way. He qualifies for special education services through “pervasive developmental delay,” a conclusion reached after he was tested last summer. I do want to firm up the diagnosis, but all of Dylan’s teachers and doctors have said autism is the most likely diagnosis. Dylan just has not had the official testing done.

Before Dylan started school, he had maybe three words. His speech therapist said she thought he just didn’t understand the power of language because we met his demands when he made nonverbal requests. We began using a bit of sign language with him. I wanted so badly to believe that she was right — that he was just deciding not to talk because he didn’t have to. In my heart, I always knew that she was wrong. There was something more complicated than choice involved.

Dylan is now in a special needs pre-K. As I type this, tears well in my eyes because… it’s just been so remarkable. He talks all the time now. New words all the time. He is going through that parroting stage that kids usually go through when they learn to talk at about eighteen months. Only he is going to turn five next month. He actually learned to write before he learned to talk. We realized it when he had arranged his letter puzzle pieces to form the word “Jetix.” Jetix is a block of programming on Toon Disney. It’s geared toward boys with shows like Power Rangers and a cartoon Dylan loves called Pucca. I saw the puzzle pieces arranged to form “Jetix,” and I will never forget it because 1) it couldn’t have been accidental, and 2) it was a logo on the bottom of the screen on the Jetix program block, and I knew Dylan had been exposed to the word. I showed my husband what Dylan had done, and we took pictures of it. We sent them to the teacher who evaluated him for special education, and she found them very interesting. I remember we pointed to what Dylan had “written” and said the word “Jetix” aloud, and he was clearly thrilled. He had managed to communicate, and we had managed to understand.

A whole new world opened up to him, and the way I describe it is that Dylan sort of unlocked. He taught himself to read and write. Yes, really. My mother gave him a Doodle Pro drawing pad, which is like a Magna Doodle — you draw the words using a magnetic pen on a type of slate, and these little iron filings are attracted to the pen and rise to just under the surface of the slate, forming pictures. He began learning words left and right, writing them on his Doodle Pro, and showing them to us to hear us read them. When he started school, we bought him an extra one to keep at school. He still uses it to communicate, but he has learned to be more verbal through speech therapy. In many ways, I am finally getting to know my son as he learns to communicate his ideas and feelings. I can’t imagine the frustration he must have felt over not being able to tell us his wants and needs.

His teachers built on his new discovery — writing — but also encouraged verbal requests. He now routinely says “Help” if he needs assistance. He is still mostly parroting, but his progress is amazing, and I lay it all at the feet of his wonderful teachers. At the beginning of the school year, Dylan’s teacher took this photo of Dylan:

Dylan

He was a little scared to be there, and not sure about the new people, although he did touch the face of one of his teachers. Only a couple of weeks later, his teacher took this photo:

Dylan

Just now, as we sat together and looked at this picture, Dylan was able to tell me three things about it: 1) it’s a picture of Dylan, 2) his shirt is orange, 3) he is happy in the picture.

I think Maggie has a tougher time in school. Because Aspies appear to be so much more, well, normal, they are expected to act normal. If Dylan engages in autistic behaviors in class, his teachers deal with it on a completely different level than Maggie’s do — even her resource teacher. It’s tough, I know, because she infuriates me. And then I have to tell myself — stop, think about it. Like I said, even I’m not sure how much she can control her actions. Dylan’s self-contained classroom offers him the support he needs, but if Maggie does not need to be in a self-contained class, I don’t want her to be. I support the IDEA’s notion that she is entitled to learn in the least restrictive environment possible.

Looking around online today, I rediscovered a website, including an autism blog, belonging to a former student of mine. He was, as I recall, misdiagnosed with ADHD. I understand that he wasn’t recognized as autistic (he has Asperger’s) until he was a senior in high school, two years after I taught him. He has a lot to say about how he perceives things and about his experiences. I find it fascinating to read on two levels. First, as the parent of two ASD children, I often wonder what they will face as adults — what will they be like? What will they be able to do? While no two ASD people are alike, and my children are likely to be nothing like Cody, I do feel like I have a window, of sorts, into what it is like to be an adult with autism. Second, I am fascinated by the person he has become. He was already an excellent writer and thinker in 10th grade. I cannot take credit for teaching him to write well, as I inherited him as a student with those skills already in place. He is one of those students you never forget, and not because of any ASD-related reasons. He was just such an excellent student. I don’t think I will ever read The Crucible without thinking of Cody’s reading the part of John Proctor.

Cody has some very interesting points on his blog, including the idea that autism should not be viewed as a disease we need to cure, but as a different way of being. He’s articulate, and he knows himself. I can only hope my own children will be able to discover who they are and feel comfortable in their own skin the way Cody seems to be.  I know that was a hard battle for him, and maybe it isn’t over, but I also know he has support, which is another thing my kids can count on.

Issues

The Lost Boys and the Georgia Renaissance Festival

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The Lost Boys

Folks who have been long-time readers of this blog (see Shakespeare With the Lost Boys) know I like the Lost Boys, a “Renaissance rock” group who perform annually at the Georgia Renaissance Festival (and others). Annually, that is, until this year. This popular act has inexplicably not been invited to perform at this year’s faire, despite the fact that they have a core group of fans who dress in teal garb and attend all their shows (no, I don’t do that, but I have all three of their CD’s) and despite the fact that every Lost Boys show I have ever seen was well-attended and appeared to be enjoyed by fans present. I find the decision all the more alarming in light of the fact that Matthew Trautwein, who goes by the moniker String as a member of the Lost Boys, has — I believe — been the musical director for GARF in the past.

A visitor named Lea shared this petition with me. If you are a Lost Boys fan (or even if you’re not, but hate to see a popular act be summarily dismissed), consider signing it.

Issues

Dana Huff: Agent Provocateur

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Who knew, right? My argument against banning homework was, surprisingly, a lightning rod for controversy. However, it’s a useful and important conversation to have. You can read Alfie Kohn’s response to my argument. I really hope, in light of some allegations Kohn made, that some effort to include Robert Marzano in the conversation is made. I really hope good discussion about homework and why we assign it emerges. Frankly, I would be interested in knowing what your definition of homework is. My contention is that long-term projects, reading assignments, and some writing assignments all count as homework, but the most interesting thing I learned in the last few days is that many educators don’t consider those things homework. I admit I’m confused by this notion and would love to hear your own thoughts on what constitutes homework and what you consider “good” homework assignments to be.

Issues

Clayton County Schools to Lose SACS Accreditation

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The Southern Association of Colleges and School (SACS), the chief accreditation agency here in Georgia, is recommending that Clayton County Schools lose its accreditation. The AJC article linked focuses on the fact that loss of accreditation would strip Clayton students of HOPE Scholarship eligibility. At any rate, the real losers in this system are the students and teachers. I interviewed for a teaching post in Clayton County right out of college, and I’ve never been so glad I didn’t get a job. The stories I’ve heard from teachers in that system are upsetting. What do you do to fix an entire school district that is “fatally flawed”?

Update, 3/24/08: I know this issue makes many people angry, but I must remind you to read the comments policy before submitting comments.

Issues, Professional Development

Teaching Today, Part 2

In a recent post, I discussed three cultural markers that have made teaching more difficult for those of us who teach today than it was for our own teachers.  However, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out the ways in which teaching is a lot easier for us today than it was for our forebears.

The World Wide Web is a huge repository of lesson plans and learning experiences for our students.  Our students today have information at their fingertips in a way we never did.  If I don’t know the answer to a question a student asks, I can look it up instantly.  When I was student teaching in 1997, I had to write something like twelve weeks of lesson plans.  It was grueling and hard, and the ERIC databases we were pointed toward weren’t much help, nor was our on-campus curriculum and materials center.  I imagine student teachers today have a much easier time with this particular task — they can draw from lesson and unit ideas shared freely or at low cost by other teachers who have tried them out.  In addition, state standards and educational organization standards are widely available for student teachers to study and access.  I can’t remember that I was given a copy of any standards by my professors, but my mentor teacher did allow me to photocopy her copy of Georgia’s QCC standards.

Technology has also allowed us to create and save documents easily.  I still have a file cabinet, but almost all of the stuff inside it exists on my hard drive.  That wasn’t true when I started teaching.  Software has made it easier for me to keep track of the documents I create.  We don’t need to save handouts in a file for 20 years like our antecedents did.  We can save them on hard drives, CD’s, flash drives, or other media.  In fact, we can even scan documents we don’t have in our computer and put them there.

We can take professional learning courses and college courses online (in some cases), obviating the need for trekking to schools across town one or two evenings a week in order to earn PLU’s for our certificates or advanced degrees.  We can work more or less at our own pace at a time that suits us.  Online learning gives us a certain amount of freedom over our learning that our own teachers didn’t have.

Technology has also allowed us to collaborate.  I never would have dreamed we’d have something like the UbD Educators wiki five years ago.  I couldn’t have imagined that blogging and social networks would spring up around educational interests.  Now we can connect with teachers of our own discipline and others, and we can share ideas, commiserate, plan together, write together, research together, and help one another in a million ways that wouldn’t have been possible when our own teachers were in the classroom.

Our world has become small, and some have said, flat through technology as well.  Collaboration isn’t limited to teachers; students can also work together and learn from each other.  Students in Bangladesh and Camilla, Georgia can learn about globalization together and continue the work with other students around the world.  Students in Atlanta’s Jewish community can teach students in Idaho about the Holocaust or connect with students in Israel and explore what Judaism means together.

The more people we have working together, the better our results are.  Because we can share and collaborate in ways our own teachers never would have imagined, teaching is, in this way at least, easier for us than it was for our own teachers.

Issues

Teaching Today

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Today was a professional development day, and we had an interesting guest speaker on the topic of discipline. I wanted to share part of what he discussed today with edubloggers in hopes that we can contribute to the dialogue.

Do you think teaching is harder today than it was for your teachers when you were in school?

Most of my faculty said yes, it is. So did I. Why, I wasn’t sure I could articulate, but I just knew something different exists between teachers and students today that didn’t exist when I was a student myself. Our speaker identified three cultural markers that changed schools and made teaching (and for that matter, parenting) more difficult.

  1. Columbine. If the last few days with another school shooting in the news have underscored anything, it is simply that our schools are no longer about education first. We are about safety first, and education has to come second. That’s frightening on a couple of levels.
  2. Monica Lewinsky. The dialogue we have to have with teenagers is different. A sizable contingent of our girls does not believe oral sex is sex, and, surprisingly, our boys are doing little to disabuse our girls of this notion.
  3. Technology. We can’t keep our students or children from bad information. We used to be able to control what they heard and saw a little better. Now they pick up information they aren’t mature enough to process. The Internet is an amazing, wonderful, useful tool, but we all know it has a dark side that has given our youth access to stuff they frankly shouldn’t see or in some cases (in my opinion) even know about. I wish I didn’t know about some of it, too — I was pretty happy not knowing, truth be told. Our speaker didn’t mention this aspect of technology, but every teacher knows that it has proven to be a temptation for cheating, too.

Obviously, other factors have changed our society and contributed to the way our educational system is today, making our jobs harder than our own teachers’ jobs were.

Why do you think teaching is more difficult today? If you don’t think it is, why not?

Issues, Technology

Can Teaching Be Outsourced?

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The World is FlatYou may recall I am reading Thomas Friedman’s The World is Flat for an online PLU course. In chapter six, he describes the kinds of people who will be “untouchable,” that is their jobs will be safe in the flat world. I admit to thinking that teaching is one of those “untouchable” jobs. However, I am also taking this course online and specifically sought out an online masters program in Instructional Technology to apply to because I did not want to schlep downtown to classes two nights a week or go to a weekly professional development class at a school across town. I wanted the convenience of learning at my own pace, in my own home. And it’s not difficult anymore for adults to find an online program of study. What about K-12? Can teaching be outsourced? If it can, what do we as teachers need to be able to do in order to remain viable in the field of education. If it can’t be outsourced, why do you think that is the case? How will education change in view of the prospect of outsourcing?