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I've never been one to write a journal or a diary. I've tried it a couple times, but it has never become a habit. So...why should I expect a dabbling into the world of blogs to be any different? I hope that this excursion will be less of an attempt to make my day-to-day or even week-to-week experience more accessible and transparent to the online community and more a forum for me to post my ramblings and thoughts and give people both inside and outside my normal circle of acquaintances and friends a chance to reply and throw their two cents in. With that sentiment out of the way, let me begin.
My name is Jason Belch (for those of you who may not know me), and I'm a student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm a twenty year old junior studying Middle Grades Education focusing in Mathematics and Science. That means, upon completing my degree and the licensure process I will be teaching 6-9 graders. Why this age, you ask? Because, like many others, my experience during this time period kinda sucked. If it hadn't been for some great teachers, parents, and friends I would not have turned out as I have today. This time period is critical in any person's development, and to be a part of shaping future generation's development is an opportunity and challenge I can't pass up. Plus, as I have witnessed in my time in the public school system, the middle grades are the time when academic gaps are opened and widened; a time when it is crucial to have passionate teachers in the classroom.
I'm passionate about kids. Period. I've spent the last four summers working with children from ages 5-17 from widely varying socioeconomic classes, and have found the experience to be extremely rewarding. Watching faces light up as you teach someone a new skill or sing a silly song are experiences I won't ever forget, and given my career choice something I will be seeing more of. We've all heard the rhetoric extolling "children are the future," and I totally buy in to that. But, beyond the fact that the children I will be teaching are the future venture capitalists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, firemen, policemen, etc of the world is the simple truth that no matter how much you are able to teach a child, he or she will teach you just as much.
Right now it is "dead week" at NCSU and so I'm finding a good bit of extra time to catch up on watching every single episode of Star Trek: TNG, looking at funny pictures on the internet, and following friends on facebook. But, I have also had the time to use the internet for more constructive purposes as well. I've spent my fair share of time listening to iTunes U podcasts from La Trobe University in Australia and reading Bill Ferriter's (a Wake County middle school teacher's) blog entitled "The Tempered Radical," both of which I would highly recommend as they're free and extremely informative. While reading one of Mr. Ferriter's blog entries entitled "The Impact of Market Norms on Education..." (to read it, click here), I couldn't help but think about its implications, and how they squared with what one of my professors recently said.
To paraphrase what Dr. Beal (my professor for a Curriculum and Instruction class) said in our last class of the semester: "if you're not passionate about and have a generally positive view of early adolescents and are unwilling to do all of the following and more: immerse yourself in early adolescent culture, be innovative in your lesson plans, blur subject definitions by creating interdisciplinary projects, continually reflect on, improve, and adapt your teaching methods, and completely throw yourself into a challenging career, then you should leave the College of Education completely, or move to Elementary or High School education." I wholeheartedly agree with her sentiment, but it is a rather idealistic viewpoint. I don't mind idealistic viewpoints, as I hold a lot of them myself, but Mr. Ferriter's blog entry referenced above tempers a roughly equivalent viewpoint with that of the reality of teaching in America's education system.
It's no secret that the reform of America's education system is being driven by standardized assessments. It is our sense of competition that is placing new emphasis on standardized test scores in hopes of surpassing other countries' scores. As Mr. Ferriter is quick to point out, it is this new emphasis on test scores that has driven education from a profession driven by social norms to a system driven by market norms. I agree with Mr. Ferriter's opinion that because of this shift, Obama's sentiments regarding the rewards of teaching as antiquated. Teachers are expected to increase their students' test scores, not build the kind of meaningful relationships and environments that benefit students outside of test-taking environments.
As a prospective teacher, I'll be thrown into a professional environment where I'll be expected to help students master material for summative assessments and be dictated what I'm to teach and in what order. While the meaningful relationships with students will still be there, the restraints placed on curriculum will become increasingly tight. As a prospective teacher, reading Mr. Ferriter's blog entry "The Impact of Market Norms on Education..." leaves me wondering: is going into an education system being bashed over the head with accountability for test scores that much different than becoming a cubicle jockey and being beat over the head with personal sales figures? As Mr. Ferriter, a highly respected and generally optimistic teacher, said: "I'm not working for a cause anymore. I'm working for myself." With a veteran teacher with numerous warm and fuzzy stories to tell about the rewards of teaching making such a statement, then what is a prospective teacher to think?
After reading my paraphrasing of what Dr. Beal had to say and Mr. Ferriter's blog post, if you have any answers for me, please let me know. I'm still searching.
My name is Jason Belch (for those of you who may not know me), and I'm a student at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina. I'm a twenty year old junior studying Middle Grades Education focusing in Mathematics and Science. That means, upon completing my degree and the licensure process I will be teaching 6-9 graders. Why this age, you ask? Because, like many others, my experience during this time period kinda sucked. If it hadn't been for some great teachers, parents, and friends I would not have turned out as I have today. This time period is critical in any person's development, and to be a part of shaping future generation's development is an opportunity and challenge I can't pass up. Plus, as I have witnessed in my time in the public school system, the middle grades are the time when academic gaps are opened and widened; a time when it is crucial to have passionate teachers in the classroom.
I'm passionate about kids. Period. I've spent the last four summers working with children from ages 5-17 from widely varying socioeconomic classes, and have found the experience to be extremely rewarding. Watching faces light up as you teach someone a new skill or sing a silly song are experiences I won't ever forget, and given my career choice something I will be seeing more of. We've all heard the rhetoric extolling "children are the future," and I totally buy in to that. But, beyond the fact that the children I will be teaching are the future venture capitalists, lawyers, doctors, teachers, firemen, policemen, etc of the world is the simple truth that no matter how much you are able to teach a child, he or she will teach you just as much.
Right now it is "dead week" at NCSU and so I'm finding a good bit of extra time to catch up on watching every single episode of Star Trek: TNG, looking at funny pictures on the internet, and following friends on facebook. But, I have also had the time to use the internet for more constructive purposes as well. I've spent my fair share of time listening to iTunes U podcasts from La Trobe University in Australia and reading Bill Ferriter's (a Wake County middle school teacher's) blog entitled "The Tempered Radical," both of which I would highly recommend as they're free and extremely informative. While reading one of Mr. Ferriter's blog entries entitled "The Impact of Market Norms on Education..." (to read it, click here), I couldn't help but think about its implications, and how they squared with what one of my professors recently said.
To paraphrase what Dr. Beal (my professor for a Curriculum and Instruction class) said in our last class of the semester: "if you're not passionate about and have a generally positive view of early adolescents and are unwilling to do all of the following and more: immerse yourself in early adolescent culture, be innovative in your lesson plans, blur subject definitions by creating interdisciplinary projects, continually reflect on, improve, and adapt your teaching methods, and completely throw yourself into a challenging career, then you should leave the College of Education completely, or move to Elementary or High School education." I wholeheartedly agree with her sentiment, but it is a rather idealistic viewpoint. I don't mind idealistic viewpoints, as I hold a lot of them myself, but Mr. Ferriter's blog entry referenced above tempers a roughly equivalent viewpoint with that of the reality of teaching in America's education system.
It's no secret that the reform of America's education system is being driven by standardized assessments. It is our sense of competition that is placing new emphasis on standardized test scores in hopes of surpassing other countries' scores. As Mr. Ferriter is quick to point out, it is this new emphasis on test scores that has driven education from a profession driven by social norms to a system driven by market norms. I agree with Mr. Ferriter's opinion that because of this shift, Obama's sentiments regarding the rewards of teaching as antiquated. Teachers are expected to increase their students' test scores, not build the kind of meaningful relationships and environments that benefit students outside of test-taking environments.
As a prospective teacher, I'll be thrown into a professional environment where I'll be expected to help students master material for summative assessments and be dictated what I'm to teach and in what order. While the meaningful relationships with students will still be there, the restraints placed on curriculum will become increasingly tight. As a prospective teacher, reading Mr. Ferriter's blog entry "The Impact of Market Norms on Education..." leaves me wondering: is going into an education system being bashed over the head with accountability for test scores that much different than becoming a cubicle jockey and being beat over the head with personal sales figures? As Mr. Ferriter, a highly respected and generally optimistic teacher, said: "I'm not working for a cause anymore. I'm working for myself." With a veteran teacher with numerous warm and fuzzy stories to tell about the rewards of teaching making such a statement, then what is a prospective teacher to think?
After reading my paraphrasing of what Dr. Beal had to say and Mr. Ferriter's blog post, if you have any answers for me, please let me know. I'm still searching.
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