The current generation is the first to think that the world is not going to be better for them.  They are convinced that they are being left in a worse situation than their parents and the generations before them.  They know that they need to do something about it, but are unsure about a direction to take and unsure how to take on the challenges ahead.

Our education system in the U.S. has prepared them for basic skills tests, to memorize facts, equations and processes, but not to think and act.  They are ill-equipped to identify challenges, weigh solutions, apply unrelated knowledge, make a plan, execute and evaulate.  The American Education Factory is fundamentally flawed due to a culture that does not value the pursuit of knowledge.

As a culture, we do not celebrate those that pursue and attain the highest level of education, instead we celebrate those that have flouted the system and achieve success, fortune and fame.  We value our self-made billionaires who dropped out of school, our one-and-done millionaire athletes, our entertainers who bypass the classroom all together.  All the while, we vilify the people who lead our youth in the classroom, we scream about them being overpaid, leer jealously at their “summers off”, and remind them that “those that can’t do, teach.”

America wants to return to being the envy of the world and rise up to once again be the shining example of greatness, but we are reluctant to work for it.  The days of being respected because we were stronger are over.  The rest of the world knows how to deal with a bully.  You outsmart them.  That is exactly what they are doing.

As a society, we need to make the choice to embrace the ethos of education and harness the will of our nation to dedicate to the path of becoming the educated elite.  We need to embrace the notion that a truly fulfilled life is not that of monetary riches and physical goods, bu that of intellectual wealth and a passion for learned discovery.

The challenges of our times call for a collaborative and relentless effort to redefine America.  It begins with a dedication to the education of the future.

http://www.bizjournals.com/prnewswire/press_releases/2011/08/31/NY60258

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/11/opinion/sunday/friedman-pass-the-books-hold-the-oil.html?_r=1&ref=thomaslfriedman

Yesterday we had a professional development session on implementing classroom conversations as an instructional method, so today, I have been paying closer attention to my students’ small conversations.
Classroom discussions and talking has alway been a part of my practice, I encourage students to talk about their ideas. I hate a quiet classroom, it makes me feel ineffective. The chore is making sure those conversations are productive and value-adding. Student conversations move quickly, and without prompting, they could go in a counter-productive direction quickly, or they could find solid gold if I let them go long enough! I find my greatest successes have come when I play along with the distraction just long enough to tie it into the topic at hand. Make no mistake, there is always a way to tie conversations into any subject matter if you are willing to be creative and work with your students.
Today in my classes, students independently and without prompting, grouped themselves into productive units that were discussing computer peripherals, RAM, uses of a modem, and aspects of contrast and white space.
I was very pleased to hear the level of talk, along with some good-natured heckling, between students challenging each other to learn more and “get on my level.”
The keys to good and productive classroom talk are structure, security, and patience.
Learning needs to be completely student-centric. In a true student-centered learning environment, classroom talk comes naturally, the teacher says less, but yet the students learn more. It is just natural conversation, topics come up as they are required, and students learn from each other as much as any curriculum or instructor.
Students need to feel that the classroom is a completely non-judgmental place, where they can contribute as they see fit. When everyone is comfortable, all students contribute more and learn better. This seems like perfect common sense, but I cannot tell you how many times I have seen classrooms fall apart because of one student’s standoffish nature, or a teacher’s lack of genuine interest in their students. As a former mentor of mine used to say every morning before work: “Love them kids!”
Instructing a class dedicated to classroom talk requires the teacher to give up control and do much more pulling than pushing. It can be aggravating to remain on a topic for seemingly hours, when in reality it has been just a few minutes. In a day when educators need to teach more, and teach so that students succeed on a state-mandated test, patience is fleeting. But a well conducted, successful classroom discussion can yield much deeper understanding then just about any other tool I can think of.
Isn’t that worth just a little more time?

A sticking point in the contract negotiations is teacher evaluations.  Currently, teachers have two potential outcomes of evaluations, “Satisfactory” and “Unsatisfactory.”  It should come as no surprise that most teachers are rated “Satisfactory.”  That however, gives very little room, none at all in fact,, to decide what teachers are awesome.  On top of that, teachers are rated on areas that don’t really matter inside the classroom or are arbitrary to the observer, such as: “Adequate knowledge of content”, “Appropriate interactions between teacher and students”, “Reasonable engagement of students in learning”, “Adherence to procedures and regulations related to punctuality and the like.”  Now, I don’t know about you, but I would like to think that I have more than “adequate knowledge” of the subjects I teach, I consider myself a near expert!  Also, what is reasonable engagement of students?  Former web design or media production students can show you amazing results of the things we learned in class, but to get a glimpse of the actual classroom procedure might have some people wondering what is going on in there.

A problem with teacher evaluation is that it is sometimes difficult to see how effective, or ineffective, a teacher is in a single visit.  Ask the students, and they will be able to tell you if the teacher is worth their salt or not.  It takes a few visits, discussions, and evaluations to really sum up the progress and worth of a teacher.  I have just been reading Teacher Evaluations 2.0, and I really agree with a lot that I have read.

Student achievement is linked to effective teaching.  Teachers should be constantly evolving in their profession, they need to grow with every year that passes.  Teachers need to look for evaluation and feedback about how they can grow, this in turn, leads to higher student performance.  Student performance does not mean simply how well (or poorly) they did on the last test, but how they are growing over the course of the year.  Good teachers develop students that want to learn and seek new and innovative methods to come to conclusions.  Good teachers lead to amazing students, because good teachers model what it is to be a good student.  It is simply themselves they are always studying, and their students that show them their results.