Learner Centered

This article focused on the idea of giving the students in your classroom so degree of responsibility in the classroom. The ideas provided included: giving them choices about different types of assessments, coming up with their own classroom rules, and allowing them options as to where they would like to work. By doing this, the teacher is giving the student some of the responsibility for their own learning practices; this idea is important because when students are involved more with decisions in their education, than it will give them ownership and responsibility and they tend to reach higher and farther because they WANT to. Another important piece of this article is the idea that the students in turn must accept the consequences of their actions and the decisions that they make.

I think that the idea of a learner-centered classroom is very important; a lot of these ideas are things that I had already thought of, but I didn't realize that this was a specific "type" of classroom environment. I think that it will be very effective and will prevent a lot of problems and lack of motivation.

A Nation At Risk

Abstract: This article argues that the United States of America is at risk of falling behind the rest of the industrialized nations in the areas of commerce, industry, technology and other sciences. This is due to the lack of skill that Americans possess the skills and training in order to surpass other workers from other nations. This is partly because of the attitude that “education means doing the minimum work necessary for the moment, then coasting through life on what may have been learned in its first quarter” (4). The article recommends that in response to this "risk", graduation requirements be strengthened, standards and expectations be raised of graduates, or that more time should be required to be spent in school (such as extending the school day.) Other suggestions are: Teachers be required to meet high standards, and other leadership and fiscal reforms take place.

Reflection: I thought that, in a lot of ways, this article seems to mimic No Child Left Behind, with the standards being put across the board in order to achieve a certain level of education. I think that a lot of the information and statistics in this article are interesting, however some of the ideas are a little bit absurd (extending the school day, for more homework than is now the case?) As a high school student, I had around 4 hours of homework a night! However, some of the ideas made a lot of sense; I liked the idea about better classroom management ideas, along with firm and fair codes of student conduct that are enforced CONSISTENTLY.

Talking About Their Generations, Harnessing the Power of Millennials

Abstract: This article identifies the different generations: the G.I. Generation, born from 1901-1924; the Silent Generation, born 1925-1942; the Boom Generation, born 1943-1960; Generation X, born 1961-1981; and the Millennial Generation, born since 1982. There are several differences between the generations, such as the ways they were raised, what values were important, and the emphasis put on education. As each generation gets older, the generation produces new types of ideas (as well as educators) who are very different than the people before them. When the last of the boomers retire, which will be in about 10 years, the educational system staff will be consist completely of Generation X and Millennial teachers and administrators. Newer education strategies must be put into place in order to reach the younger generations coming up.

Reflection: I thought that this article was helpful in my understanding of the different generations. I never actually knew where one began and the other one ended. I think that it is very important to promote respect across the generations, because newer people can learn a lot from a more experienced person. However, many times there will be situations where the newer person might feel held back or restricted because of their lack of experience.

Diversity

This article focuses on the importance of diversity, and the fact that as educators, we will face it everyday in the classroom. Some of the diversity issues are controversial, due to stereotyping or other “achievement differences” that have been presented in the past. There are several connections between culture and the way that a student learns, included how they were taught the basics by their parents, language, and their preferred method to learning something new. Culture is an important piece in explaining the different cognitive styles of students, as well as performance patterns. Classroom expectations, teaching lessons, and learning styles will all be influenced greatly by the culture and the diversities that are present in any given classroom.
I found this article to be very useful in reminding us that we need to be aware of the diversity that is present our classroom; this comes in to play with designing performance tasks and other assessments. As educators, if we do not take diversity and culture into mind, certain students outside of the dominant culture may be left behind, feel left out, and their grades will suffer because of it. It is the educator’s responsibility to take every student into account. In this article, I especially liked the piece on how most researchers believe that learning styles are a function of BOTH nature and nurture.