When I looked at the title of the book we were asked to read for the 701 class (Flat Earth) I assumed it would be like every other book I have had to read in the past regarding teaching and whatever new fad was in fashion. I was entirely wrong, and happily so. It has been filled with research about how flawed our current educational system is, especially in California. I found myself nodding along as I listened to an audible version of the text. Though I admit I have not yet completed all 6 chapters, I have had my eyes opened a little more to some of the causes of the issues I have seen in my own school and district. The biggest takeaway from the reading this week was when the author was expressing how schools who serve a majority minority student body, tend to focus more on catching students up through intervention type programs. I have often been a vocal proponent of the need for some sort of intervention at our school for math having only been told over and over again that our need is too great, therefore we cannot have the course. When discussing this topic in the book, the author points to a study where students who were considered below basic in their skills were put into an accelerated course and treated and taught the same as a class of students who were considered advanced in their skills. What they found was that the students who were below basic ended up performing almost as high as those students who were considered advanced. This blew my mind. It also gave me an idea for what I could base my research on. I currently teach a regular math 7 course as well as an accelerated course. I want to do some experimenting of my own by teaching my regular math 7 course in a similar fashion as my accelerated course. I have often found myself holding my math 7 students to a lower standard than my accelerated students as they come to me behind by several grade levels. I realized I have made a lot of assumptions about their abilities in mathematics based on their ability coming in to class. I want to see how they step up to the plate if the curriculum is taught with much higher expectations.
As for the research on different cases where technology was brought into the classroom, I found that most of the videos and case studies I found were things I had already brought into my classroom as I try to teach students how to use technology to their advantage.
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November 2019
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