Great Educator

I believe that within neighborhoods and families across this country that social medias play a large role in how families interact and how children interaction with each other and adults. I believe that the problem with social media is that it creates a generational gap between students and some educators. Some educators refuse to acknowledge the need to change their instructional practice in order to ensure that lessons are engaging, rigorous and high quality. When teachers begin to incorporate types of social media into core content it speaks volumes to students, and parents. It shows that the teacher wants to make sure that learning experiences are relevant and incorporate a real world aspect. Within schools where technology is readily and easily accessible those teachers should still ensure that those students have an opportunity as well to use social media. Possibly with respect to thinking more deeply about content objectives but nonetheless all students need to have the opportunity to share in the use of media and how it influences their thinking. I also believe that in the context of how media plays a large role in our society that students must know how to judge the validity of statements within social media and other media. Again, it goes back to having students be able to think critically and questions ideologies. Media can play a large role in how perceptions are formed but ultimately it is our critical thinking and questioning that helps individuals become great.

Joy!

Cultural Hegemony & Hidden Curriculum in Public Education

The ideology of cultural hegemony is alive and well within constructs of public educational system. Cultural hegemony is characterized within the public educational system by an elite group of individuals whom strategically dominate the educational arena and attempt to perpetuate the ideology of supremacy of gender, race and socioeconomic status as it relates to the education of children in our country today.

There is a hidden curriculum that all parts are not privy to. It’s evident when reviewing standardized test scores, it’s evident when discussing with students their views about gifted and talented education and its evident when discussing with teachers the areas of deficiency among students in their classrooms. In an attempt to equalize education for all students including the curriculum within elementary schools is still segregated. Students whose primary language is that other than English are often enrolled in bilingual education programs to help students assimilate to the English language. Students in these programs are often further behind with regard to academics and are often listed as “At Risk” and provided with interventions. Rarely are English Language Learners (ELL’s) nominated for accelerated, gifted and talented programs within schools. The hidden curriculum and cultural hegemony are again hard at work.

I believe that the effects of hidden curricular tactics and cultural hegemony are to blame for ELL’s and African Americans choosing lesser paying jobs and opting for not attending college. I believe that hidden curriculum and cultural hegemony play are large role in how teachers teach students of today’s generation. The charge of teachers is to produce students who are capable of making educational decisions for themselves, or at least given the tools necessary to do so. However, in many secondary schools across the country the curriculum is watered down and it’s not meeting the needs of the students with language challenges, students from low socioeconomic backgrounds. The hidden curriculum as it stands is quietly segregating the education students receive based on race, language and socioeconomic status. I believe in order to raise the bar for schools across our country; school districts must begin to change their instructional practices, increase teacher quality through additional pedagogical training, and relinquish the educational inequities that exist because of prejudice.

School Reform

I believe that within school reform all stakeholders voices should be heard and they all should be a part of the process. I believe that as school reform takes place that state and local officials should be involved as reform shouldn’t take place in isolation of what is going on in other parts of the state or the nation. The problems within our educational system are not merely isolated to urban schools within Texas, it is a national epidemic that must be addressed. All teachers, school administrators, community members, business owners and teachers must be a part of the reform from the inception. Once all voices are heard and collaborative agreement has been made then the real work of reform and continued communication can begin.

The David school does need to implement some sort of change. The school must undergo areas of change so that it becomes an effective school for the students that it services. Currently, the students have little to no voice in their learning, little to no differentiation is taking place, and parent and community involvement is nonexistent. In order for the David School to be a relevant, viable source for students the instructional staff as well as campus administrators must begin to re-examine their values and core beliefs and begin to work so that they are meeting those values and beliefs in words and deeds.

Gender Equity

Gender Equity

In my own experiences as a student I didn’t experience any inequities with respect to gender. I believe that my educational experience has been well rounded and provided me with a myriad of educational opportunities. However, I do believe that within certain cultures and communities the inequities with regard to gender are still present and I believe there are some educators and administrators who perpetuate gender inequities.

I do believe that the research of 20 years ago did indicate inequities among gender and within the educational community many teachers and administrators have employed instructional strategies to ensure that those inequities are not prevalent today. Riordan (1999)pointed out that the gender deficits among girls in science and math content areas has been reduced considerably within the last 20 years. Additionally, I believe that 20 years ago the attempt was made to ensure that girls had the same educational opportunity in the content area of mathematics and science. However, now with more recent data the tables have turned and most educators are turning a deaf ear to the fact that currently the achievement gap is favoring boys within the African-American and Hispanic-American ethnic groups. I also believe that educators and administrators are struggling with the most effective ways to assist students while not seeming culturally insensitive. In one of my discussion post, I mentioned that a principal in a suburban school district near Dallas assisted girls on his campus in science by hosting a Science Saturday Camp for girls only. The camp was very successful. Each week 98-100% of girls were in attendance and the school reported unprecedented success on the TAKS Science test; and the contributing factor was solely Science Saturday’s for girls.

Currently, in my school district within the last five years they have opened two campuses with single gender enrollment. The Young Women’s Leadership Academy is embarking upon its third year and the Young Men’s Leadership Academy will host its inaugural graduating class during the Fall of 2012.Both of these campuses were met with much resistance from the community and have been financed with grant funding. One premise behind single gender learning environments is academic deficits. However, many of the students who are selected to participate in single gender learning environments may not display academic deficits and therefore skew the outcome of such academic settings.  I do believe that single gender learning environments can be beneficial when created for the purpose of increased student achievement.

I believe that at the David School there are some gender inequities that are present at the school that lie within the community. The boys disrespect for female authority at school and at home. I wondered if there were any girls within the community that may have had a similar experience and could have been studied as well.

Joy!