Controversy in the Classroom?

Something that caught my attention while reading this week was under passion 7 in The Reflective Educator’s Guide to Classroom Research. It’s something that I know can be touchy but that I have also wondered about. Are elementary aged students capable and mature enough to handle controversial issues or topics? And are they able to handle these kinds of discussions maturely?

            I know in my practicum placement last semester, we had a lot of children living in poverty. It is something that I have sadly become used to when placed in a number of Title I schools. I have always noticed that this is often hushed and never spoken about around the kids. Or even last semester with the election going on, there were plenty of lessons about the election but a lot of it was hushed as well. I know deep-rooted opinions in politics should be kept out of the classroom, but I feel the race of the kids made my previous teachers nervous in discussions about the elections and the history that goes along with race in politics.

            If things are appropriately handled and introduced by a teacher, I often think some controversial lessons may go over well with kids and they can handle these subjects. But then again, you never really know what to expect out of a child’s mouth. I still wonder, how can we teach these topics or issues to students without it being too much or causing a fight? A lot of the world’s issues are quite controversial. Yet we never touch on them in schools due to fear. Fear of the unknown. Fear of what will happen if our innocent kids hear. I don’t necessarily have a solution for this, but would love to find a way to be able to cover some “controversial” topics in schools to not over shelter students and keep them informed or allow them to voice some opinions without causing a fight or disruption. 

            Another topic brought up in the same section of the book was about the achievement gap and often how many attempts to close the achievement gap are failed attempts. One part read, “our school storage areas are littered with the debris of unsuccessful attempts to address and remedy the problem…” (Dana & Yendel-Hoppey, p. 50.) I am kind of torn when it comes to this idea too. I feel we do so much to try and close the gap but we often shelter students from knowing where they fall in the achievement in the classroom. Then, no matter how much we try to no let them know, they often figure it out anyway. For example, I was working with a reading small group this week and one student said, “this is weird, we are all of the gifted kids in the same group. All the smartest in the class.” I tried to play it off like it was not so, but then questioned why I was doing so. Is it bad for students to know where they fall? Would knowing they were a little behind maybe give a student motivation to work a little harder? Students are labeled gifted and pulled out and this does not seem to affect them. I would hate to hurt a child’s feelings, but still wonder if a little motivation to try a little harder, read a little more, or just put a little extra in would help to motivate and close the achievement gap in classes.

Week 1: Teacher Inquiry

While reading this week, I was struck by one particular sentence. It read, “Given today’s political context, where much of the decision making and discussion regarding teachers occur outside the walls of the classroom, the time seems ripe to create a movement where teachers are armed with the tools of inquiry and committed to educational change.” (Dana, p. 5) I see teachers losing control of their own classrooms more and more each year. By this I don’t mean control in a behavior management way, but control as to what and how they will teach. Everyone is constantly saying something is not working in our schools, our schools need change, and that we are not matching to other countries standards. When I am in a classroom though, it is hard to imagine anything being able to change. Teachers can hardly alter things when they are handed rigid guidelines on how to do things and given so much to fit in, that it is hard to do anything extra. The coolest part about teacher inquiry to me is that it is something that a teacher can do and fit into their classroom schedule and can be something to begin moving towards that change.

            When I completed my inquiry last semester, I saw something not working in the class, and thought of a way to change it. It did not take me too much extra time to collect my research with the students, so I know it is doable. But I collected the research and data on the students to ultimately come up with a conclusion to my wonderings by implementing something and seeing if it helped to fix the problem or was a different solution necessary.

            Inquiry can make the teacher the “expert” in the classroom and allow the person who knows their best teaching styles and how their students learn best, to be the one to research and change, instead of and outside “expert” creating the professional development.  “Those dissatisfied with the traditional model of professional development suggest a need for new approaches that enhance professional growth and lead to real change.” (Dana. P. 7) The teacher themselves being that expert and creating their own professional development could be a major factor in the change in classrooms really becoming effective.

            In the readings it spoke about data-driven decision making and progress monitoring and I believe things like the FAIR tests are one way that teachers can include this in the teacher research they complete and could help to improve and change their classroom learning. This past week I got to view our classes FAIR test data and see where they all fall. The test is given 3 separate times throughout the year, kind of like a built in progress monitoring. The test also breaks the results down into specific areas of need for students. That kind of data could help teachers to plan different lessons to allow extra practice on certain areas for students to build their skills where they need to. But I wonder if teachers actually do this?

            I find inquiry so interesting. Last semester I constantly heard the word inquiry from our teachers or in our readings, but I never really knew what it was and how it was done, until I completed one myself. I believe that teacher inquiry can be one the best ways to really get the change that so many are pushing for in classrooms.

Using FAIR data to change lessons and activities to focus on the areas of need, could students’ scores improve more?