This Time Please do it Without the Clown Suit!

I am using this week’s discussion board as a spring board for the posting. I have grown tired of the constant discussions about what teachers need to do to get their students to pass the state tests. I have also grown extremely tired of hearing what a poor job teachers do, in fact we do such a bad job that we given Leno enough ammunition to create a segment on his show about what people don’t know. Ashburn/Floden even state, “for all the emphasis teachers seem to place upon facts, most state, national, and international test reveal how little students remember. Students continue to confuse key events in U.S. history” (p 89). What Ashburn/Floden fail to mention is that: 1. state and national exams are extremely subject 2. test scores are dependent upon socio-economics 3. the people who are creating these tests are the same companies that are creating and SELLING the test prep material. Bringing technology into the classrooms is a great way to reach students, but what happens when students are still not being reached? What will be the next step to get the kids engaged and to have them memorize their facts? The chapter focused on how to incorporate technology in order to get students to learn history/geography. Hmmm. It seems that the Ashburn/Floden have forgotten to mention that much of the blame must also land on parents and society and yes, the students. Why is it that kids knew their facts 50 years ago? I agree that technology is a great way to reach students, but I don’t feel that kids’ lack of knowledge can be entirely blamed on teachers.

The social studies teachers in my building are dynamic educators, who bring everything to the table and leave exhausted everyday, and yet, you ask many of their students some of these Leno questions and they will get them wrong as well. As Ashburn/Floden claim, “Teachers have collected student malapropisms, providing some humor in the midst of growing concerns of educational failure” (p 89). Really? It seems that teachers are uncaring people who like to laugh at their students expense all the while students across this nation are failing. When are we, as educators, going to turn things around and demand more from our students and hold them to higher standards and stop having to put on an entertainment show everyday in hopes that they stay interested. I guess we merely demand that students learn, “Facts, facts, and more facts—it appears that teachers obsess over them while students do not know even the most elementary information” (Ashburn/Floden p 90). It seems that everything we read, not just this class but news articles as well, discusses what teachers need to do so that students are successful instead of asking what students need to do so that they are successful. Is it wrong for them to memorize something occasionally? There is nothing wrong with rote memorization, as long as that is not the only philosophy a teacher subscribes to. Eventually the pendulum will swing back again and students will finally be held accountable and be expected to learn without all the bells and whistles and without the teachers having to wear a clown suit.