"Mind the Gap:" Session 2

1.  "The new corporate reformers betray their weak comprehension of education by drawing false analogies between education and business. They think they can fix education by applying the principles of business, organization, management, law, and marketing and by developing a good data collection system that provides the information necessary to incentivize the workplace..." (Ravitch, pg.11).

• We have touched a lot on this idea a lot in class that education policy and structure have been modeled more along the lines of business.  There is this capitalistic view that if a school performs well on state testing than it is successful and if it doesn't perform well it isn't successful. However, this approach doesn't take into consideration the meaning of education as a whole. Education of students goes far beyond test and API scores. I don't think that a school and a teacher can be fully assessed simply based on a collection of data. There are several other avenues to explore to help fix education.

"As I watched both movements gain momentum across the nation, I concluded that curriculum and instruction were far more important than choice and accountabilty...I came to believe that accountability, as written into federal law, was not raising standards but dumbing down the schools as stats and districts strived to meet unrealistic targets" (Ravitch, pg. 12-13).

• This quote piggy backs what I mentioned above about the business model fix of education.  The idea of holding teachers "accountable" based on the results of test scores doesn't solve anything, but it only dumbs down schools. It dumbs down schools in several ways in that teachers become less creative and more test driven in their teaching, students don't critically think for themselves as often because they are bombarded with a vast amount of information, administrators become less teacher focused/driven and try to keep up with API scores, etc. I think that Ravitch said it best, schools are striving in meet "unrealistic targets."

2.  Ravitch describes a well educated person as: "The well education person has learned not to explain ideas and listen respectfully to others" (pg.16). She states that a well educated person has the ability to listen respectfully to others.  This isn't what I would define a well educated person as a whole, but I would say that listening to others is a life skill that helps one to be able to communicate with others. I characterize a well educated person as someone who is open to soaking up as much knowledge as they can and being open minded enough to listen to others perspectives. A well educated person in today's world should know that they should be very open minded. I think the more open minded you are, the more you are able to learn from others and have the ability to see things in a different light. You are forced to critically think outside the box and therefore learning occurs on a deeper level.

3. In thinking about the class discussion on the book, I think that what stands out the most is the idea that we are still a nation at risk 29 years later.  A Nation of Risk was written in 1983 and it's safe to say that the ideas presented than are still relevant in American education today. It's hard to find a single solution to help solve the issue and I think as a class we discussed several different avenues to explore, but everything seems so far fetched or impossible. I feel that as a teacher, I don't have enough power to ignite change on a bigger level outside my classroom. 

4.  Gap in Physical Education State Standards: I think a gap in the state standards for PE is in the high school section.  The standards for high school all focus on promoting lifelong fitness. First, I think that promoting lifelong fitness is impossible to reach for every student, because there are so many things to do for fitness and health that aren't accessible in school.  Often, teachers focus on team sports because that is something that is a lifelong and useful to know outside of school.  However, what works for one student may or may not work for another and the culture of fitness is changing. For example, riding horses and doing equestrian may be an activity that someone feels is great for their health and fitness (both mentally and physically). However, there is nothing at school to teach this. You can teach the basics and importance of health and fitness like weight training, cardio fitness, aerobics, etc., but there are so many other things to do outside a school setting and that are more individual based and not touched on in the state standards.  I feel like when they wrote the standards, they focused a lot on elementary and middle school and than in high school they kind of got lazy. And as a result, this is why high school PE isn't taken as serious and its importance gets lost. I think some old school teachers have taken advantage of this and have become lazy and boring (just like the standards) and just throw the balls out and call it a day. 

Website: http://www.pecentral.org/

Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/nyregion/long-island/11gymli.html

Book: http://www.amazon.com/Physical-Education-Exercise-Science-Changing/dp/0763781576/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1341602465&sr=8-10&keywords=physical+education

The website PE central has super helpful to all PE teachers. There is so much to be learned on the website and it's a place where PE teachers all across the world can post lesson plans, ideas of classroom management, adaptive PE, assessment, etc.  What I like the most is the assessment part. Assessment is the hardest thing for me as a teacher, because not everyone has the same skill level in sports and fitness. You have to be super concrete in what you are assessing because you want to be fair in your grading. Overall, PE central is a great place to visit for PE teachers who need new ideas and resources.

5. Lynn, S. (2007). The case for daily physical education. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance, 18-21.

This journal article has been very useful to my inquiry because Lynn gives several solutions and ideas to the ever growing childhood obesity epidemic. I felt that the article was a call to action for teachers to wake up and do something to evoke change in Physical Education.  I learned several statistics that were taken form the 2006 Shape of the Nation Report.  Overall, Lynn's article stats facts than gives solutions. Most of the articles I have been researching don't provides solutions to move forward in correcting the health issues of obesity so it was refreshing to read Lynn's ideas. I would definitely seek more from Lynn and use her for more research.

Pate, R., Corbin, C., & Pangrassi, B. (1998). Physical activity for young people. President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, 7.

This article has been useful and helpful because the publication is a journal of collected works from the President's Council on Physical Fitness and Sports.  I liked the work because it focuses on the changing climate of PE in school and gives guidelines on how to promote lifelong physical activity.  Also, I learned statistical data of the percentage of high school students who participate in physical activity, stretching exercises, and strengthening exercise. One downfall was that the data is from 1997, however it will be useful to compare and contrast with another country.

Responded To:

Eddie Izumizaki
Eghosa Obaiza
Mike Rose