There was a lot of academic freedom, but very little coordination across grade levels
I see pros and cons of academic freedom. I feel like every teacher wants it, and good teachers would thrive with it; however, it is so important to align as a grade level and vertically with other grade level expectations. If you are not on the same page, the students will suffer the following year.
the supervisor (who was longer employed by the district) had been a paid consultant f
This is infuriating and should be a conflict of interest that is not allowed. Is this legal now days?
Curriculum can be political and also suffer from a conflict of interest.
I am sure this is still true today but I am curious to investigate further to find examples.
“Cindy has to use the required literacy program.”
I had not written the annotation I wanted to, because I was going to read on to see if it was addressed and this is starting to address it. My question up above when she stated that 'a new curriculum was achieved, is how do you do this when there is so much pressure to use the provided resources with fidelity? I am curious to read on and see how that was addressed.
ome students decided to do interviews, one wrote restaurant reviews, one an advice column, and several wanted to do surveys to find out what the most popular music in the school was
STUDENT CHOICE! Yes!!
hey saw a purpose for reading and writing!
Student buy-in is so critical to success. Unmotivated children are less likely to get what they should from the lessons. I love that this new found motivation was able to be achieved.
Meeting the needs of students should be a critical factor in developing or choosing curriculum.
This is so important! What is curriculum if it is not helping our students (all) grow?
What if I read some other books that are harder?”
I love the self awareness and ownership Mary had within her learning and how to challenge herself in a way that was beneficial to her.
Children often have important insights about what and how they should learn, and we as educators should listen to them.
This is an 'aha' moment for me. While I do know the importance of this, I sometimes forget and am very explicit in students following routine procedures for a variety of reasons. While I do allow for differentiation and scaffolding and a multitude of ways to engage, I seem to have forgotten the importance of hearing your students when they are giving insight on how they want to learn (to be clear, I do so in my observations of how they work, but I do not literally listen/hear their preferences).
“terrible vision since the age of four!
This is so frustrating that it wasn't caught sooner! I hate that this person struggled with learning to read because poor vision and no one considered eyesight as a possible reason.
making learning a meaningful experience
This is so important! If it is not meaningful to the students, they are less likely to feel motivated to do the work.