Teacher of the Year
Submitted by schoolboardblog... on June 2, 2008 - 12:39pm
A recent American School Board Journal interview with national Teacher of the Year, Mike Geisen, reinforced what are becoming some familiar arguments regarding the limited value of standardized testing and the impact the "standards movement" is having on the development of 21st century skills.
A seventh-grade science teacher in Oregon, Geisen began the interview talking about the importance of relationships; that in order to create a quality atmosphere for learning, students need to feel that they “belong” in the classroom, regardless of their natural aptitude for science - and they need to see science as fun.
He went on to claim that the typical approach to science education – with its emphasis on the logical and the analytical - is like “forced right-handedness”. Not all of his kids come to him with mathematical inclinations; some students seem to have brains better wired for creativity. (Personally, I think every student is potentially both “left” and “right”-brained, and that we need to do a better job of developing and integrating the two approaches.)
Explaining why art and creativity have such a prominent place in his classroom - he regularly plays his guitar - he said students need to understand that the most influential scientists and inventors have (also) been right-brained.
Speaking specifically about his role as a science educator, he said "we've got to educate people to be whole-minded thinkers" - as opposed to Jeopardy contestants (not that there's anything wrong with that).
He also talked about how we tend to define achievement too narrowly, constrained, in part, by the tools we have to measure it. Standardized testing is effective at measuring skills - knowledge, primarily - that were important in the 20th century, whereas the critical skills for the 21st century will include innovation, empathy and synthesis. (Empathy - the ability to see things from another person's point of view - is becoming a recurring "21st century" theme.)
Echoing the argument of Daniel Pink, Geisen noted that these are the skills "that are not going to be replaced by a machine overseas." And as Tom Freidman would say, the United States is in prime position to capitalize – if we don’t get carried away by the current craze for testing.
A seventh-grade science teacher in Oregon, Geisen began the interview talking about the importance of relationships; that in order to create a quality atmosphere for learning, students need to feel that they “belong” in the classroom, regardless of their natural aptitude for science - and they need to see science as fun.
He went on to claim that the typical approach to science education – with its emphasis on the logical and the analytical - is like “forced right-handedness”. Not all of his kids come to him with mathematical inclinations; some students seem to have brains better wired for creativity. (Personally, I think every student is potentially both “left” and “right”-brained, and that we need to do a better job of developing and integrating the two approaches.)
Explaining why art and creativity have such a prominent place in his classroom - he regularly plays his guitar - he said students need to understand that the most influential scientists and inventors have (also) been right-brained.
Speaking specifically about his role as a science educator, he said "we've got to educate people to be whole-minded thinkers" - as opposed to Jeopardy contestants (not that there's anything wrong with that).
He also talked about how we tend to define achievement too narrowly, constrained, in part, by the tools we have to measure it. Standardized testing is effective at measuring skills - knowledge, primarily - that were important in the 20th century, whereas the critical skills for the 21st century will include innovation, empathy and synthesis. (Empathy - the ability to see things from another person's point of view - is becoming a recurring "21st century" theme.)
Echoing the argument of Daniel Pink, Geisen noted that these are the skills "that are not going to be replaced by a machine overseas." And as Tom Freidman would say, the United States is in prime position to capitalize – if we don’t get carried away by the current craze for testing.
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Connections
Once again, Hutch is making references to "connections" in the classroom.
This from the same guy who wanted to put thousands of hormone raging teenagers under one roof (with a hallway that went the length of 3 football fields) and who joined hands with those who said BIGGER IS BETTER in education. It took a community uprising to stop that plan but in the meantime, Dave and his buddies gave away millions of our tax dollars to architects and wasted time and money on the stupid Small Schools Initiative. This guys says one thing in his blog but does another - over and over again.
It would be interesting to find out how large the enrollment is in the school where the TEACHER OF THE YEAR is able to make his connections to students.
Teacher of the Year - Details
SC Taxpayer,
Here is a summary from the responsible district:
Crook County School District is a progressive school district located in Central Oregon approximately 35 miles northeast of Bend and 19 miles east of Redmond with a total enrollment of approximately 3102 students. The District consists of one high school; one middle school grades 6-8; three in-town elementary schools grades K-5; one rural school in Powell Butte grades K-6 and one rural school in Paulina grades K-8. The District is served by the High Desert Educational Service District located in Redmond.You can review their web site at: http://www.crookcounty.k12.or.us/. The middle school (6th-8th) where Mr. Geisen works has two teams teaching students in the 7th grade and the total enrollment for the middle school is 710 students. Mr. Geisen is part of team #2 which is comprised of four primary teachers (if you do the math, +/- 29 students per teacher).
Eric
Thanks
Just as I suspected...smaller learning environments mean better connections.
I wonder if the Teacher of the Year would endorse a Small Schools Initiative that cost taxpayer dollars, was implemented without the approval of those who would need to implement it and best of all - would involve CHEETO SCULPTURES painted as teambuilding.
With a $100 million annual operating budget (andadditional money tossed away on the Warehouse school), when will this district start looking at program evaluations and outcomes related to educational goals (rather than social engineering) to determine need versus want? According to Voices, David Hutchinson thinks the public has a paranoid fear that they are hiding something. Could he mean something like an anonymous donor, who happens to be a school board member, being given a pass by administration on policy - all hidden from the public?