Ruth's Ruckus » school http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org Musings of a perennial student Mon, 17 Aug 2009 00:54:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.2 en hourly 1 Without NCLB we would have time to prepare our kids for the 21st century… http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2008/05/08/without-nclb-we-would-have-time-to-prepare-our-kids-for-the-21st-century%e2%80%a6/ http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2008/05/08/without-nclb-we-would-have-time-to-prepare-our-kids-for-the-21st-century%e2%80%a6/#comments Fri, 09 May 2008 01:04:57 +0000 arokoye http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2008/05/08/without-nclb-we-would-have-time-to-prepare-our-kids-for-the-21st-century%e2%80%a6/  I’ve read some interesting stuff today and it’s wonderful that it’s thematic.  McLeod talks about marketing interactions.  You know the interactions that we have on a daily basis with our customers and other stakeholders (students, parents, and other folks in the communities that we serve).  These interactions have the ability to build or chip away at the trust and goodwill that we would like to exchange with them – the very trust and goodwill that is at the foundation of their support of our endeavors with their children.  

Our ability to have those great interactions has been hampered by NCLB.  We have a push to make the score at all costs.  We throw out every piece of the curriculum that isn’t directly measured by one of those tests.  Our bulletin boards have to be correlated to the tests.  Field trips have to be justified by objectives measured by the tests.  Art, music and PE have been changed to support mechanisms to drill additional content in order to prepare students for the tests.  No wonder we have poor marketing interactions with the community.  They are not interested in making their children good test takers.  They are interested in seeing their kids learn and maximize their potential.  

Unfortunately education under NCLB has become a very expensive venture into policymaking that failed. Our nation will reap the consequences in ways that we can hardly imagine.  So now that policymakers are willing to admit that they made a $6 billion dollar mistake will they allow educators to really educate our children?  Warlick asks what we would find if we had our constraints lifted…I think we would find time.  Without NCLB we would find that we actually had the time to learn about new technologies and design instructional sequences to teach children the literacies of the 21st century. The technology is there, the support professionals are in place, we just need to have the teachers freed from NCLB.  

]]> http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2008/05/08/without-nclb-we-would-have-time-to-prepare-our-kids-for-the-21st-century%e2%80%a6/feed/ 0 This should be interesting… http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2007/12/08/this-should-be-interesting/ http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2007/12/08/this-should-be-interesting/#comments Sat, 08 Dec 2007 19:03:40 +0000 arokoye http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2007/12/08/this-should-be-interesting/ http://students2oh.org/#what

http://beyond-school.org/2007/12/07/students-20-edublog-pre-launch-help-spread-the-splash/

Students talking about education..I know I want to hear what they have to say…

]]> http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2007/12/08/this-should-be-interesting/feed/ 0 Only one week left… http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2006/12/08/only-one-week-left/ http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2006/12/08/only-one-week-left/#comments Fri, 08 Dec 2006 11:58:32 +0000 arokoye http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2006/12/08/only-one-week-left/ I just realized last night that there was only one week left to my classes.  It then occured to me that these were the last classes that I would be taking – ever.  I’m not quite sure what I will do.  I’m really not doing well in one class, but at this time I don’t really care.  I just want to be done.  I wonder if everyone feels this way at the end of their career as a student.  Well I guess I’ll be tasting freedom a week from today.  Maybe I’ll actually go to Thumpers with the gang to celebrate.  Karen’s glad to be done too,  so I guess we’ll all have a reason to celebrate.

]]> http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2006/12/08/only-one-week-left/feed/ 0 It’s Over…one way or another… http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2006/12/02/its-overone-way-or-another/ http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2006/12/02/its-overone-way-or-another/#comments Sat, 02 Dec 2006 22:59:32 +0000 arokoye http://ruthokoye.edublogs.org/2006/12/02/its-overone-way-or-another/ Well the 6 hour exam is over.  I have never taken a comprehensive exam before in my life and hope to never have to do it again.  Try to remember what you have done in the last 3 years and distill it into 3 short essays.  Well I had a paper due yesterday and another due this week.  Celebrating can wait.  I’ve got to get back to work…

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