State and national standards shape our public education, but what we get isn’t always what we wanted, or what is best. No doubt there is a place for state and national standards and I feel like they give us valuable direction in education. Thomas J. Sergiovanni put it this way, “one cannot legislate or mandate superior teaching and learning or other aspects of quality education. These result from the efforts of competent and committed professionals” (Sergiovanni, Kelleher, McCarthy, & Fowler, 2009). I question how much influence legislation and mandates should have upon our classrooms, and upon our teachers. I have seen a few specific lessons created by our state that have been mandated lessons. One in particular is a mandated video they require to be shown in CTE Intro. It is part of a Cyber Careers lesson. The video was probably good when they first introduced the lesson, but it is outdated now, and still rather boring to many seventh graders. I disagree with the idea of having mandated curriculum, and instruction, and am glad things haven’t gone too much farther in that direction. I am satisfied with the standards that have been created for the classes I teach, but some classes have redundant standards. I don’t think that is entirely a bad thing; because students learn by repetition, and some concepts and skills need extra attention over time. It’s the standards that don’t require extra attention that concern me. One state or national standard does affect a lot of people. What do you think about Standards and Objectives?
Reference
Sergiovanni, T. J., Kelleher, P., McCarthy, M. M., & Fowler, F. C.(2009). Issues Shaping School Policy and Administration: Educational Governance and Administration, 50.
Interesting post Nathan. What I like most about your post was the idea that you don't particularly like the standards and objectives the state has set in place for you. I think you feel that way for good reason. One things I've learned in my very short career teaching is that those standards and objectives are merely a guideline for your curriculum. These are the absolute minimum concepts that you need to meet with your students that year. Whatever other learning takes place that year is all "gravy". Depending on where you teach, I think your expectations can vary dramatically. I'm not suggesting we would ever want to dumb down the expectations for our students, however being realistic is not dumbing anything down. I once taught at a school in downtown SLC. Most people wouldn't think of Utah as being very diverse. To the contrary, the 1st grade class I taught in had 12 different primary languages being spoken by the 26 students. Clearly the expectations I set for those kids differed dramatically from the expectations at my new school out in mostly caucasian, suburban South Jordan. Thus, when looking at the standards and objectives, I think it is a great place to start. From there, it all on us (the teachers)!
ReplyDeleteIt's not that I don't like standards and objectives, they are essential. I don't like mandated curriculum for those standards that is what happened with the career video lesson.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is very important to be able to have freedom in what we teach. A mandated curriculum could never inspire all teachers or meet the needs of all students. Humans are not widgets or science experiments. We all have different interests and needs.
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