The Importance Of Education In Education

As schools were faced with these daunting expectations to meet standards, state agencies, school boards, and administration all had to re-evaluate current practices, not only in the form of what should be taught, but how it should be taught (Performance Evaluation Advisory Council, n.d.). In more appropriate terms,

This standard is to take advantage of a variety of teaching methods, provide instruction that will help increase students’ development of critical thinking and problem solving. When I become a teacher, I will strive to serve in different roles to provide teacher centered as well as learner centered instruction by taking advantage of different teaching methods and making the content more meaningful as well as accessible for every student.

The use of standards with such specific goals behind them ensure that quality student learning is at the center of classroom practices.

For over two decades, New York State has been refining and fine tuning the learning standards that teachers use for their students daily. It is no surprise that countries were education is a “high-performing ability”, pinpoint their success to curriculum that is strictly focused and coherent for one goal; to improve the achievement of students as whole. The challenge of “creating a sequence of topics and performances that are logical and reflect the sequential or hierarchical nature of the content from which the subject derives” was one presented to teachers amongst others. Such standards needed to be coherent and must evolve from the previous ones to deeper structures in which students would be challenged by higher-level thinking (NYS Common Core Learning Standards in Mathematics, 2010, p.1). This paper examines the New York State Teaching and Learning Standards and follows the shift to the New York State P-12 Common Core Learning Standards and its continuous growth from here on.

As a teacher candidate, EDU 350 is one of the first methods classes taken at Spring Arbor University (SAU). Past students talk about how challenging the class is and how much work is involved in the final Interdisciplinary Standards Based Unit (SBU). Nevertheless, these same students commented about how much they appreciated the difficulty of this class because it helped them to refine and cultivate their pedagogy. Furthermore, this class implements every aspect of the School of Education’s (SOE) Conceptual Framework, which contains the six elements of an effective teacher. Through this conceptual framework and objectives of EDU 350, students are encouraged to reflect on how they can become critical participants in the contemporary world of teaching. Students are instructed

It bears mentioning that I care a great deal about excellence in instruction. My pedagogical stance is based in the power of the narrative. Whether I am teaching multivariate statistics, persuasion, research design or social and behavioral attributes of public health—I approach it as though I have a story to tell. I want students to learn, of course, but I also want them to be inspired to be their “best self”. I firmly believe that students are our most valued asset. If students believe the school to be their “home” and the people within the school

In order to develop the understanding of a standard we must ask ourselves what “we expect all educated citizens, student, to have learned?” (Koonce, 2014, p. 117)  If we start planning each lesson with the question, what do we want each student to learn and then ask what standard does this address?  We as teachers will develop better lessons and the assessment will follow.  If we start with the assessment, all we will be teaching is drill-based lessons to pass a test.

The pressure to cover the necessary material established in the set standards “causes teachers to structure their curriculum according to the test, rather than helping students gain real-world knowledge that will help them succeed in life” (Hicks, 2005, p. 1). In most cases, educators only want to teach the material covered on the standardized exams which significantly hinders the overall learning experience and potential for students. According to Kyle Spencer, a writer for The New York Times, many parents are beginning to notice differences in the “education platform” of their children and in some cases, parents are beginning to realize that teachers are only “teaching to the test” (Spencer, 2015, para. 2). Educators who cram material in just to stay within a time frame limit the scope of learning and success for students. As a result, it is very possible for educators to neglect certain skills that go beyond the standard material covered on the exams. For example, standardized tests mainly focus on content areas such as writing, reading, and math; however, writing, reading, and math are not the only content areas that students need to learn (Tienken, 2015). Even though writing, reading, and math skills may be beneficial, students need to be well-rounded in all areas, including skills that are not present on

Without mastery of Core Standard 2, the standard curriculum that has been effective in the past will not adapt to the needs of the new stakeholders. The first aspect of the standard is the ability to recognize the cultural and social factors that are related to pupil performance. Mastery of Core Standard 3 allows for the identification of specific conditions that are specific by school. Not every school is similar. Different schools are composed of diverse cultures and social scenarios. These cultures require a unique look into their culture and curriculum must be matched to fit the needs of these stakeholders. The next crucial aspect of Core Standard 2 is the ability to apply instructional techniques and strategies to meet the special needs of children of differing cultures. Content and instructional techniques must be created so that they are relevant to the students of differing cultures. This content allows the students to feel a connection that is applicable to them. Special attention must also be brought to evaluating tools. At times, an evaluating tool may be biased towards a specific culture. This creates a struggle within differing cultures to understand content that is not familiar to them. Content mastery is not being tested, rather cultural facts are being

As educational reform became a hot button issue, many competing concepts and ideologies emerged to answer the problems of the current educational system. While many perspectives were addressed throughout the years, the scientific approach to curriculum and learning was the model that came out ahead. In this assembly line model, which focuses on one standard or skill at a time to ensure mastery, students are not encouraged to master how to collaborate and communicate with others or any executive function skills. Instead of creating adults who are knowledgeable and possessed practical skills as this model was intended to produce, our society is circling down the drain as the achievement gap grows wider and wider (Darling-Hammond 2010; Ravitch 2010).

I will address a wide range of skills and abilities in my classroom by differentiating instructions. I believe that students reach their highest level of thinking at different rates and in their own way. Therefore, teachers must teach in the way their students learn. I will address my student's needs by using various strategies such as individual learning, collaborative learning and scaffolding my lessons. Individual learning will allow students to complete their assignments at their own level and rate and collaborative learning promotes peer learning. I believe peer learning will improve students progress as they work towards a common goal. I will also scaffold my lessons and design activities and assessments that will support multiple learning

In fact, “skeptics have begun to wonder if the effort to raise standards for all students through high-stakes testing initiatives has too steep a price, including a narrowing of the curriculum and a deemphasis on curricular depth, an abandonment of constructivist-type activities that give meaning to learning, and a curtailment of extracurricular activities” (Moon, Callahan, and Tomlinson 1). Limiting the educators’ autonomy prevents them from being able to evaluate the needs of each student and structure their classroom and lesson plans in a manner that will help all of the students to gain the best possible outcomes in their academic careers. Students have different styles of learning, varying family structures and support, as well as different interests that can all effect how they learn. Standardizing the classroom removes the educators’ abilities to use their training to address these differences.

When I first signed up for this class I didn’t know what to expect. But after two classes, I realized it was a class to discuss and interpret curriculum from a deeper and substantial stand point. Outside of simply teaching a lesson, what is the purpose of the lesson? How can you make the lesson relevant to students lives or real world situations? These are abstract thoughts each teacher should have to design curriculum that students not only understand but increases engagement, and participation within class. This will only enhance pedagogy of the content as well as how students absorb it.

The third tenet is that school should have education that helps develop critical consciousness in their students, so that they are able to question social inequalities in the future. This includes exposing minority students to current discriminations through education, so that they can grow up and critique social inequalities, or by protecting themselves if they are minority students. To do this, teacher can engage students in social justice work, such as going to soup kitchens or helping the poor, so that they can gain personal experiences in dealing with social injustices (Morrison 442). One successful way of doing this is through allowing social issues to drive math instruction, so that students get to not only learn math calculation, but be exposed to social issues as well (Morrison 442). This is also supported in another reading, “And that’s just how it starts”: Teaching Mathematics and Developing Student Agency,” where Gutstein proved the success in using Math questions in developing cultural consciousness by exposing them to real-world mathematical projects. One of the projects involved students in understanding gentrification, by questioning students whether the developer should receive the city permission for paving a tiny park (Gutstein 428). In addition, students literally went downtown, to measure the distance of the park to downtown. At the end of Gutstein’s curriculum in Rivera, several of his students talked about the success of the programs, and how they

The educational obstacles faced by high school students today are vast and varied. The ancient structure of education in this country has not changed in over a century and by no means reflects the nature of the work environment that high school students will face. Mechanization, globalization, technology and collaboration are the future, yet the high school students of today are trained in the same fashion as those at the turn of the century when they were preparing for factory work. Today’s students are tomorrows’ innovators and problem solvers and thus need to be educated in a manner that will allow them to take on these roles. In order for today’s high school students to