Reading Reflection 1 - Rethinking High School

The repeated focus on authentic and challenging learning experiences resonated with me as I read the first chapter of "Rethinking High School," by Daniels, Bizar, and Zemelman. The chapter cited that the national curriculum standards call for "real, rich, complex ideas and materials" and oppose lessons that "water down, control, or oversimplify content" (14). They also say that "students learn best when faced with genuine challenges, choices, and responsibility in their own learning" and "the most powerful learning comes when children develop true understanding of concepts trough higher-order thinking" (14). I think too many classrooms these days are losing students' interest because students are not challenged to think for themselves. Students are simply fed tons of information and expected to regurgitate it back out - how boring! It seems that many teachers fall into this pattern of just spoon-feeding information to their students because they do not think that their students can handle it any other way. Teachers are also stressed to get through a certain amount of material for testing sake and feel that they do not have time to wait for their students to think. Some of my most enjoyable times of learning come when I am faced with a problem that is not immediately solvable. I have to play with the idea and explore possibilities using the resources available to me. I apply what I already know (with some guidance and discussion with those around me) in order to solve the new problem. I was encouraged to read in Chapter 1 that studies show that students who are challenged with this more authentic type of learning have performed significantly higher on standardized tests than students in traditional classrooms.

The only measure of reform mentioned in Chapter 1 that I think we need to qualify is the student-centered focus of investigating students' own questions over "arbitrarily and distantly selected content." I agree with this at the heart, that we should relate the material we teach to students' lives and interests. I think this can be taken too far, however, when teachers do not come with a specific curriculum in mind and let students run the discussions of the class whether they relate to the content area or not. I have heard of a class such as this where the teacher began the class with "So, what should we talk about today?" and the class continued in conversations of all kinds, not focusing in any specific direction or even relating to the content area of the class. I think we need to remember that students still need guidance and instruction in the classroom - they don't know everything and we do have something to teach them.

One reform that I would like to focus on more is how to create a "small" feel in high schools and community in the classroom. I would like each student to feel known and included in my classroom. I think much of this can be obtained through group work, so I am interested in learning how to use group work effectively in the classroom. I think sometimes group work is used in classrooms (even in this credential program) just so that we can say we use "group work." The nature of the group assignment given is not very conducive to group work, however, and this can make the assignment less effective. I am interested in learning when group work really is more beneficial than working independently, and how to implement it effectively.