As you stated we were lucky when we moved to Palestine that the school, one of only two had Mrs. Whitaker and that they were are neighbors also. I thnik for a small town they had many dedicated teachers who took the time to see each childs needs, I do not think test scores had the impact they do now and I think we need to get back to the basics and then for a child who needs for of a challange then have the programs to challange them.

I remember that we had a reading program in elementary school ( No computer then) that I loved to read and would zoom through the books and tests with ease. No when iot came to math that was another story and I never wanted to be challenged just do my work, ( I was lazy in School). We also had a lot of parental involvement. All of my teachers were student oriented and I did not have any bad teachers, but again that was when teaching was looked up to, if you were a teacher you had a great job. I think the pay was still not the best but for the times ( a way way long ago in a far better place called the 50′s and 60′s) The was much much less federal involvement in the schools and much more local control. The teachers asked questions and we spoke about topics of the day along with our lessons, I remember ( yeah its hard to belive I can remember that far back) in 4th 5th and 6th grade we would read the New York times and the local paper every day and talk about the news. ( Read a news paper? remember no internet). Gina as you know I was going to be a teacher but stayed with the railroad because in 1972 the pay was much better. I agree with Jeff we need to pay our teachers better because they are the ones who are going to help shape in the next generation and we need to again gain that advantage that we had over the rest of the world when we had the best teachers, colleges and best educated work force. Our current system is about being average and not trying to hurt anyones feelings, school should always be a challenge, every one needs to be made to work up to the best of their abilities. Now my last point or rant, computers have thier place and games to make reading fun on a computer may have it’s place but good old reading a book printed on paper both at school and home is still the best way to learn how to read. To this day I love to read a good book weather its fiction or fact. I grew up and had to self teach my self about computers and computer systems to get ahead in my job. My enducation gave me the foundation to know I had to work hard, learn all the time and that nothing was going to be handed to me and being just average was not a goal. Its fine if you are average but that should never be the goal for our schools they must strive to be the best. ( it took me over week to come up with this post not wanting offend anyone and then Jeff jumped right in so here I am possibly offending someone.)

Every one have a safe and a great weekend

There is very little creativity in the classrooms I have seen. That doesn’t just mean colorful art on the walls, but also life in the teaching. The teachers seem robotic, and monotonous. The lessons seemed dreadful and boring. I have taught at many grade levels, I know when I have “lost the crowd”, and I have seen many lost kids in the crowd on these school tours. On the flip side, I know when I have a classroom full of interested students, and I know what to do to get that attention. I haven’t seen those types of lessons in these classrooms, ever!

I know that in the current “treat schools like a business” structure that we are forcing schools into, teachers are required to meet certain goals. And that mediocre teachers need publishers and administration to help them meet those test score goals. But don’t we want more from our schools and more from our children than a test score? Personally I want our boys to be challenged to think critically about the society in which they live. I want them to ask questions. I want them to be forced to experience different ways of thinking. This means more than giving them a one week lesson in some esoteric topic. It means creating an educational environment which is unique, which flows, and which is not regulated by API scores, bureaucrats, and publishers.

My guess is that our society will not support a public education system which I want. Mainly because it would require the best teachers money can buy. And we don’t want to pay for teachers.

@Karen,
The way that I have seen Accelerated Reader implemented is that students read books in traditional paper format and then take a test on a weekly (or so) basis in a computer lab. But your point is quite interesting because, of course, a lab that holds an entire class is rather expensive and I have to wonder how much money is being spent on those computers that might be able to be spent elsewhere. I wish you could have seen the faces of the ESL kids in that lab. They just looked so very confused and the sight of the headphones slipping off of their tiny heads was rather heartbreaking. And I think you are absolutely right about the class ratios in the middle grades being a disaster. Those kids, in many ways, need just as much attention as kindergartners.