My reflections on the how Wagner sees the motivation, Chapter 5
The first thing I thought when I read chapter five and the “declining work ethic” and motivation Wagner describes in chapter five was, “really? Is this something measurable or merely anecdotal?” I would bet that older generations are always saying things like that about the younger ones, and that this perception is not a new one. One of the dissenters he mentions, Ellen Kumata, says that there work ethic is different, not less. Much of the research he describes resonates with my observations in the classroom. He’s correct that students “constantly connected,” communicate all the time, and like “instant gratification.” I agree that his view that these are aspects of their lives that we have to harness and utilize. I have as many group and partner activities as possible, because they like the connection and I think it builds good collaboration skills that they need. One interesting thing Wagner writes about that kind of jibes with my experience is when he says that, through interviews, he’s found that students are impatient with lectures and crave more class discussions. My students have told me they prefer lectures as a learning method. And getting students to discuss aspects of history in my class has been challenging. Perhaps this is because my classes are in the morning, but my students generally don’t want to participate in class or have discussions. I also wasn’t sure if I agreed (or disagreed) with what he says about students refusing to read large amounts of texts unless it had lots of graphics. Is this preparing them for college? Should we adapt to students or should we help them to prepare to read texts? It’s a necessary skill to have. In the workplace especially, it would not be appropriate for students to “refuse” to read a large piece of text that one’s boss gave to them, and then complain that there weren’t enough graphics. I think he’s right about giving students ownership of their curriculum, and the benefits that come with that. I’ve mentioned that in many other blog posts, so I won’t go into that again. Lastly, I agree with Wagner’s insight into disengagement among students. It would be useful for teachers to know why our students aren’t engaged. Without this information, the students are destined to end up like Juan in the story. If only one teacher had taken the time to see why Juan wasn’t engaged --his lack of reading skills-- someone could’ve rectified this and changed Juan’s education trajectory for the rest of his life. He could be engaged and be a thoughtful student. Students like this need an adult advocate to be successful.
My reflections me teaching on High Tech High, as Wagner presents in Chapter 6
Overall I would love to teach at High Tech High. The first thing I read from the founder of HTH, that I really liked was his description of AP courses as "a mile-wide and an inch deep." This description is dead on, i thought. He goes on to provide a very apt analysis of something I had such a hard time defining: rigor. It's "...deepening the quality of analysis," he says. I would enjoy working at HTH at least partly because I know it's run by a school whose leader shares a similar view as I. I also loved that high tech high seeks to fill its classrooms with students that are representative of the community. One reason I got into education was to do my part to combat poverty, and I see education as the best way to do it. So the idea that HTH is not just giving an education to already well-off students is really encouraging to me. That the students arrive mostly by public transportation is surprising to me, given that San Diego's mass transit is at once expensive, takes a long time, and inconvenient. I was amazed that the school only spends $6,200 per pupil. This is very low relative to national standards and yet the facility described by Wagner seems very nice and students seem to have resources they need. I'm not quite sure how to reconcile these things except to speculate that other districts are wasting money or HTH receives private donations that don't get counted in that $6,200 statistic. Overall it seems like the students are truly getting real world skills like working together and writing. I would love to observe a day of classes at this school and see how it all works. I think it's worth pointing out that these students do have an inherent advantage over many kids at regular, comprehensive high school. That advantage is parents who care. If the parents are knowledgeable and proactive enough to put their students into a lottery to get into HTH, they obviously care about and are involved in their students education.
The first thing I thought when I read chapter five and the “declining work ethic” and motivation Wagner describes in chapter five was, “really? Is this something measurable or merely anecdotal?” I would bet that older generations are always saying things like that about the younger ones, and that this perception is not a new one. One of the dissenters he mentions, Ellen Kumata, says that there work ethic is different, not less. Much of the research he describes resonates with my observations in the classroom. He’s correct that students “constantly connected,” communicate all the time, and like “instant gratification.” I agree that his view that these are aspects of their lives that we have to harness and utilize. I have as many group and partner activities as possible, because they like the connection and I think it builds good collaboration skills that they need. One interesting thing Wagner writes about that kind of jibes with my experience is when he says that, through interviews, he’s found that students are impatient with lectures and crave more class discussions. My students have told me they prefer lectures as a learning method. And getting students to discuss aspects of history in my class has been challenging. Perhaps this is because my classes are in the morning, but my students generally don’t want to participate in class or have discussions. I also wasn’t sure if I agreed (or disagreed) with what he says about students refusing to read large amounts of texts unless it had lots of graphics. Is this preparing them for college? Should we adapt to students or should we help them to prepare to read texts? It’s a necessary skill to have. In the workplace especially, it would not be appropriate for students to “refuse” to read a large piece of text that one’s boss gave to them, and then complain that there weren’t enough graphics. I think he’s right about giving students ownership of their curriculum, and the benefits that come with that. I’ve mentioned that in many other blog posts, so I won’t go into that again. Lastly, I agree with Wagner’s insight into disengagement among students. It would be useful for teachers to know why our students aren’t engaged. Without this information, the students are destined to end up like Juan in the story. If only one teacher had taken the time to see why Juan wasn’t engaged --his lack of reading skills-- someone could’ve rectified this and changed Juan’s education trajectory for the rest of his life. He could be engaged and be a thoughtful student. Students like this need an adult advocate to be successful.
My reflections me teaching on High Tech High, as Wagner presents in Chapter 6
Overall I would love to teach at High Tech High. The first thing I read from the founder of HTH, that I really liked was his description of AP courses as "a mile-wide and an inch deep." This description is dead on, i thought. He goes on to provide a very apt analysis of something I had such a hard time defining: rigor. It's "...deepening the quality of analysis," he says. I would enjoy working at HTH at least partly because I know it's run by a school whose leader shares a similar view as I. I also loved that high tech high seeks to fill its classrooms with students that are representative of the community. One reason I got into education was to do my part to combat poverty, and I see education as the best way to do it. So the idea that HTH is not just giving an education to already well-off students is really encouraging to me. That the students arrive mostly by public transportation is surprising to me, given that San Diego's mass transit is at once expensive, takes a long time, and inconvenient. I was amazed that the school only spends $6,200 per pupil. This is very low relative to national standards and yet the facility described by Wagner seems very nice and students seem to have resources they need. I'm not quite sure how to reconcile these things except to speculate that other districts are wasting money or HTH receives private donations that don't get counted in that $6,200 statistic. Overall it seems like the students are truly getting real world skills like working together and writing. I would love to observe a day of classes at this school and see how it all works. I think it's worth pointing out that these students do have an inherent advantage over many kids at regular, comprehensive high school. That advantage is parents who care. If the parents are knowledgeable and proactive enough to put their students into a lottery to get into HTH, they obviously care about and are involved in their students education.