Solutions that don’t break the bank, reinvent the wheel or marginalize our teachers are within our grasp. We could have rigorous classes, safe and disciplined schools and treat teachers like professionals, and we could do so tomorrow if we wanted.
I do support charter schools, if done correctly and this is not usually ,the case in my City. I am curious to see how the new Waldorf school does which is a new Charter. What does that have to do with this posting ? Charter schools unless run for profit, should only be allowed if their "theme" or "curriculum theme and approach is significantly different than what the district offers.". A board member recently commented about the uniqueness of every district and how redesigning boundaries and creating more magnets was contributing to the loss of uniqueness, heritage, history and community of districts . Wouldn't it be great to have schools that reflect the cultural diversities, positives and community of each district. Wouldn't it be great if the public schools did this too in every district and build and use those differences in learning preferences and interests rather than the practice of Duval which is called SYNCHRONISTIC TEACHING . In Duval, for instance, The current ELA program is scripted , hardly captures the interests of ELL children and is presented only ONE WAY-auditorily and is a 40 minute lesson with six slides on a screen. The phonics programs allows one book once a week for students to look at and is not in color and is 4.5 x. with a few power point pictures on a screen. The K-2 reading booklet with one story is 5.5 inches at best. Again, students do NOT READ TEXT from a book or an e-book every day. It is the wise (experienced) teacher which ensures that somehow everyone is reading text daily with their fingers holding the text (be it the tablet they brought with their own money or books that they obtained through their wise reading coach (or the teacher bought themselves for the students). It is my belief that critical reading/thinking skills will go down again for a second year -with phonics /word attack skills going up as they could not have been any worse than last years because at least teachers are teaching phonics this year. It shouldn't have to be this way, for any district within DUVAL. Recognizing differences, not utilizing scripted programs as a one size fits all mindset, embracing commonalities and differences in learning preference and using a variety of learning strategies is one of the better arguments for Charter Schools. Now the how, when, why and what gets taught to our diverse culture =is the challenge not only for a Charter but also for every public school in every district of Duval County. -Just sayin'.
I do support charter schools, if done correctly and this is not usually ,the case in my City. I am curious to see how the new Waldorf school does which is a new Charter.
ReplyDeleteWhat does that have to do with this posting ? Charter schools unless run for profit, should only be allowed if their "theme" or "curriculum theme and approach is significantly different than what the district offers.". A board member recently commented about the uniqueness of every district and how redesigning boundaries and creating more magnets was contributing to the loss of uniqueness, heritage, history and community of districts . Wouldn't it be great to have schools that reflect the cultural diversities, positives and community of each district. Wouldn't it be great if the public schools did this too in every district and build and use those differences in learning preferences and interests rather than the practice of Duval which is called SYNCHRONISTIC TEACHING .
In Duval, for instance, The current ELA program is scripted , hardly captures the interests of ELL children and is presented only ONE WAY-auditorily and is a 40 minute lesson with six slides on a screen. The phonics programs allows one book once a week for students to look at and is not in color and is 4.5 x. with a few power point pictures on a screen. The K-2 reading booklet with one story is 5.5 inches at best. Again, students do NOT READ TEXT from a book or an e-book every day. It is the wise (experienced) teacher which ensures that somehow everyone is reading text daily with their fingers holding the text (be it the tablet they brought with their own money or books that they obtained through their wise reading coach (or the teacher bought themselves for the students).
It is my belief that critical reading/thinking skills will go down again for a second year -with phonics /word attack skills going up as they could not have been any worse than last years because at least teachers are teaching phonics this year.
It shouldn't have to be this way, for any district within DUVAL.
Recognizing differences, not utilizing scripted programs as a one size fits all mindset, embracing commonalities and differences in learning preference and using a variety of learning strategies is one of the better arguments for Charter Schools. Now the how, when, why and what gets taught to our diverse culture =is the challenge not only for a Charter but also for every public school in every district of Duval County. -Just sayin'.