Passing the Buck on Educational Reform

Yesterday (September 23, 2010) Bill Kerr posted a blog on Michelle Rhee, her pitfalls in reforming Washington D.C. urban schools and the continued debate on fixing America’s schools (Superwoman Crashes).  I felt the need to comment on this post as it fits perfectly with my career focus as well as my studies in Instructional Design.

Interestingly complaints about Michelle Rhee’s flawed tactics focused on by Diane Ravitch(Why Michelle Rhee and Adrian Fenty Lost) hover around the same factors other educational reformists believe will be the turnaround for American schools as cited in 5 Ideas to fix America’s Schools by Heather Horn.  These educational reform ideas are:

• ·         Better Teacher Training

• ·         Better Teacher Hiring

• ·         Better Discipline

• ·         Deal with Decentralization

• ·         Listen to the Parents

According to Kerr, Ravitch, and the media Rhee failed most in the area of “Listen(ing) to the Parents” which led to the subsequent loss of the black vote and the loss of the Mayor election for Fenty, Rhee’s strongest backer.   The debate in educational reform has been and continues to be so politically based that it seems we lose sight that it is those who are not yet able to vote that are suffering the most, the students.  Every teacher does not need additional training to be superior.  There are great difficulties in hiring good teachers when there is a dwindling pool of new teachers to choose from for schools.  Student discipline and respect of school/teachers should be foundational at home yet schools are not allowed how to tell parents how to discipline their children.  Decentralization brings further disconnect of a school from its community and thus its students and families, how does anyone just deal with it?  Lastly, is it possible to listen to the parents who are not present and or have nothing to say in regards to their student’s education?  What if none of the solutions presented are a fix all or fix any?  

Shouldn’t the point be that we realize that we are failing our schools and that there is not going to be one clear solution?  This week’s discussion for my Master’s program in Instructional Design (Walden University Online) ended with an agreed conclusion that there has to be a balance between extremes to find a solution that comes closer to solving the overall problem (Bill Kerr contributing Blog; Karl Kapp contributing Blog).  In regards to this conclusion we must also realize that not one group (teachers, parents, students, administration, etc.) will be able to solve the problem alone.  There must be responsibility, leadership, compassion and action from every group on all levels.  

Yes it sounds very idealistic but as a teacher, a parent of students, and active voter I understand my different roles and responsibilities.  Yet I cannot focus on taking action on my part if I am continually focused on what others are not doing or are doing outside of level of my own understanding.  We need to all stop passing the buck on educational reform and prepare to take action in our role(s) alone.

Educational reform is a very complex issue that will not be solved anytime soon and as a result our students move lower and lower on the list of top students in the world.  Who is really suffering?  Who will really have to deal with the consequences of it all?  Who is responsible?  Who will change?

From Biochemistry to Education And Back Again

Throughout most of my high school career I believed that I would go on to college to study neurobiology and psychology.  I have always been fascinated by the brain and its power.  I ended up with a degree in Biochemistry and prepared to teach high school science.

Recently my excitement for the brain has grown again as “brain-based” learning theories and strategies grow in the educational community.  We have always known that the brain and the learning process have been linked but with the surge in research and technology we now have a plethora of applications.  As a teacher I would like to begin to apply some of these applications in my classroom.

On the New Horizons website (www.newhorizons.org) there is an article by Renate Nummela Caine, one of the author’s of 12 Mind/Brain Learning Principals in Action.  In the article Caine speaks about her journey from student to new educator to experienced educator, all the while focused on her interest and passion in the brain and the learning process.  From this journey she and her co-authors have come up with 12 mind/brain learning principals that I believe I would like to learn more about and eventually associate into my own teaching practice. 

BRAIN-MIND LEARNING PRINCIPLES
1. All learning is physiological.
2. The Brain-Mind is social.
3. The search for meaning is innate.
4. The search for meaning occurs through patterning.
5. Emotions are critical to patterning.
6. The Brain-Mind processes parts and wholes simultaneously.
7. Learning involves both focused attention and peripheral perception.
8. Learning always involves conscious and unconscious processes.
9. There are at least two approaches to memory: archiving individual facts or skills or making sense of experience.
10. Learning is developmental.
11. Complex learning is enhanced by challenge and inhibited by threat associated with helplessness.
12. Each brain is uniquely organized

http://www.newhorizons.org/neuro/caine%202.htm

As a biochemist I have found very little recent biochemical research on learning and the learning process.  I believe that we are still on the cutting edge of understanding where learning takes place in the brain and all the different factors that contribute to the learning process.  I am sure that in the next few years there will be more research on specific proteins, RNA, genes and biochemical process that are related to learning.

My journey continues in this new world of Instructional Design and I am very excited from the look of the path.

The Journey Begins

This post begins my journey from online educator to instructional design professional.  I recognize that to begin this transition I must understand where I am headed.  In an effort to better understand the Instructional Design, Technology and Online Learning field I have collected a few websites and blogs that I will use as regular resources.  My hope is that as my own knowledge grows and I add to my experiences I will eventually be able to contribute to these websites and blogs as a true Instructional Design professional and equal.

http://christytucker.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/instructional-design-and-e-learning-blogs/

This blog site is called Experiencing E-Learning.  The blog has topics pertaining to e-learning and gives resources for collaboration with other e-learning professionals.  This particular July 2010 post focuses on Instructional Design and E-Learning, giving links to other blogs that focus on this topic.

http://nkilkenny.wordpress.com/

Design for Learning is an Instructional Design Blog that focuses on E-Learning resources and discussion.  This is a blog that will give opportunities to network with other professionals as well as add to the resources available to enhance e-learning experiences.

http://discovery-thru-elearning.blogspot.com/

Discovery Thru ELearning documents one Instructional Designers journey to create a LMS (Learning Management System) for an online educational environment.  

http://learninginbits.com/

Learning In Bits is a website and blog by Instructional Design professionals who wish to highlight the need for the industry to recognize the process of learning as well as new research on learning.  By focusing on the learning process this website and blog gives resource suggestions that are in tune with the latest research on the learning process.