Comments on: I can’t teach properly

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Fri, 12 Oct 2007 19:25:56 +0000

Yep, Charish. Unfortunately it’s ‘teach to the test’ because that’s what drives ’standards’. In other words, that’s how to generate statistics that make politicians look good.

It’s time to divorce education from the state much like church and state…

By: Charish Halliburton

Charish Halliburton — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 22:13:59 +0000

I’m an English major with worries about teaching the kind of literature I want, in the classroom. With programs like No Child Left Behind, in America, there’s no room to instruct outside the grammar and reading limitations.

I’m taking a Prose class right now and we’re discussing the subject of “Canons” in literature. Should there be a “black” canon to go along with an already established “white” canon? Well, the real question is: Even if there is a “black” canon for literature, does a teacher have time to teach it? It’s not like it’s going to be on a standardized test, is it? Greats like Morrison, Angelou, DuBois, and Baldwin will be skipped over to make room for non marginal lesson.

This is only an English student’s perspective, this isn’t including other fields that are getting watered down for students, like History and most Sciences. If a grade school teacher wants to be creative, it seems as if they have their work cut out for them. Good luck with teaching properly.

By: scuola » Blog Archive » La scuola e la voglia (spesso frustrata) di sperimentare

Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:01:09 +0000

[…] ÃƒÂ¨ sempre piÃƒÂ¹ frustrante, non si riesce mai a sperimentare” [Doug Belshaw, “I canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t teach properly”, teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk, 28 febbraio […]

By: EdVentures in Technology » Diigo Links 03/21/2007

EdVentures in Technology » Diigo Links 03/21/2007 — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 13:35:38 +0000

[…] I canÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t teach properly at teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk Annotated […]

By: mark

mark — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:39:48 +0000

I really love what you've written there Doug - that really cuts to the quick
I've not seen business able to change in the way you say. Yes, there are new companies able to to innovate, but the vast majority of us work the cliche.

By: Allanah

Allanah — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 09:32:28 +0000

I wish I had time to read more of your blog. Maybe next term when I might have a little more time.

By: Terry Elliott

Terry Elliott — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:56:40 +0000

I taught in a rural, Kentucky high school for ten years. We have our own version of high stakes testing here and it is the tail that wags the dog. What any high stakes testing does is put you into the position of translator. You must convert the test's objectives into what are considered to be best practices in learning. That puts another layer on your work. In my case in order to live with my own educational credo I had to develop two tracks–a learning track and a testing track. Sometimes they ran together, sometimes they didn't. My job was to keep the admin-types from knowing that was what I was doing and to keep the trains from crashing into each other.
I don't know if I succeeded, but I do know that the job was way harder than it had to be. I have very mixed feelings about the test. Frankly, some of my students were better off having their teachers forced to attend to something. Bad teachers, folks, very bad indeed. I think that in the final count, the systems are so corrupt and wasteful that what I did really counted for a tiny blip in the end. Because the systems are so rigid, I suspect that given one good hard shove ($5 a gallon gas, perhaps) the whole deal will fall down. Plan B? Well…
Solution? Keep on, don't kid yourself, but keep on. Always have a plan b, serve the learning needs of your students first, and let the chips fall where they will. I might also suggest a concerted search for Plans C through Z. Good luck. I don't think the truth is out there, but rather we are the truth as we practice it. We make the road by walking it. Get walking, my peripatetic weblogging friend.

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:27:43 +0000

@oldandrew: the reason why the school I'm currently at gets 80% is a combination of (in order of importance):

1. Having an intake which comprises mainly comfortably middle-class kids.

2. Making sure pretty much everything from Year 9 upwards contributes towards KS4 point scores.

3. Attracting more committed teachers due to spiral of success.

Having parents who want the best for their children and who understand that learning happens outside schools as well means that their offspring do well in tests which measure 20th century skills. What I'm arguing is that we measure 21st century skills, which would mean that perhaps my school may suffer a dip in 'performanc'e. And that's something that the Head would never let happen.

@Jack & Paul: thanks for the links - I'll check them out!

By: Paul Harrington

Paul Harrington — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 12:21:35 +0000

Doug Hi,
I guess that your frustration is understandable, it's one we all suffer from - I found this video on youtube today - take a look you will see that changing the way schools work may be possible http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Clg2vVMvTdc - you will see that the frustration is one we ALL feel as we believe that we know where we should go.

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 10:28:11 +0000

Hi you might like to check out the ideas at http://australianfamilyinternet.org/ecujweb/reflective_practice/index.html
Jack