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NSC

Professional Learning & Leading through Technology


Is it possible to implement the "input-based accountability" proposal in this chapter? Why and why not?
How do the different perspectives from the additional readings impact your view on Yong Zhao’s suggestions for making education into a global enterprise?



There is absolutely a possibility of implementing the “input-based accountability” proposed by Yong Zhao, however I think it is rather ambitious to say that the American’s can do this completely as it is defined, or at least in the near future. Simply listening to political agendas in the current presidential election, displays how our valued ‘individualism” creates a little common ground for education reform. When discussing “input-based accountability Zhao states, “We are thus challenged to reconsider what curriculum we offer, what talents we want to focus on, and what abilities and knowledge really count. We must consider these questions in the global context. We can no longer think about what we offer from a local perspective.” At this time it feels like we are only focused on a local perspective even among the discussion of emphasis on 21st skills in a global economy. Education debates typically come back to American centric issues and views, not a global perspective.

Being in Brazil for the Olympics at this time, the only time the world comes together in a truly global competition, displays the possibility of education a global enterprise. I can see the shift in the Chinese as Zhao mentions, “In recent years, China has engaged in a series of reforms to grant more autonomy to local schools; decentralize its curriculum; add more emphasis on arts, music, and humanities; and change how students and schools are evaluated (Chinese Ministry of Education, 2003; Zhonggong Zhongyan [Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party] & Guowuyuan [State Council], 1999; & Zhonggong Zhongyang Bangongting [Office of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party] & Guowuyuan Bangongting [Office of the State Council], 2000). The overarching goal of these reforms is to better prepare its citizens for the global world” (Zhao, 2009, Loc 2871). The shift in Chinese education was evident in São Paulo, Brazil days ago while we watched their Olympic team practice at the sports club we visit with our family. We were all shocked that the Chinese synchronized swimming was to Brazilian music. Their bathing suits also had bright palm leaf patterns, all together embracing the spirit of Brazilian culture in their practice and performance. Why was this so shocking for my family, both Brazilian and American? I believe it is because of our historical perspectives of the Chinese and their centralized culture and education. I absolutely respect and appreciate the Chinese culture and looked forward to seeing their performance, but was both excited to see their cultural strengths in technique displayed with influence of Brazilian culture. I felt proud of them and wondered if America’s strengths would be as evident with any other cultural influence?

The additional readings make Yong Zhao’s suggestion for making education a global enterprise the future of education crucial, yet very optimistic. Prior readings like Wagner’s, Seven Survival Skills emphasized the importance of many of the same skills as Zhao, however leaving out the “expanded definition.” “The changes should be made out of hope for a better tomorrow instead of fear of losing yesterday or today. And as such, the changes, I suggest, should include expanding the definition of success, personalizing education, and viewing schools as global enterprises” (Zhao, 2009, Loc 2850). I think I feel this is true, but optimistic because of my American educator perspective where say we need to teach progressively, but so slow to change in order to do that due governmental constraints. It appears that other countries will globalize education before the United States fully joins in.

My husband’s father and his father’s family are Brazilian, which is why we decided to come visit my in-laws and attend the Olympics in one trip. Here his cousin’s husband’s family owns a franchise of schools that emphasizes on multicultural studies, at the elementary level. He asked me if I knew of a private school who would be interested in a partnership because his competitor is partnered with a really large Canadian school franchise with schools many countries, including China, and he would prefer an American partnership. Of course I can think of many private schools, but none that would understand this partnership as he describes (or as I understand it.) I told him I would have to learn more about international relationships with private schools and ask my professors if there are such partnerships. I was sad that if there are then the general public doesn’t know about them and the many benefits these schools offer with their international relationships.

My husband was surfing today with a group of about 20 Brazilian surfers, and when a huge set of waves came in and washed in all but my husband and two other Brazilians. One of them turned to my husband and said in Portuguese, “Wow, we are all who are left!” My husband told him in his one of the few phrases that he knows, that he doesn’t understand what he is saying. The surfer said to him in English, “you need to learn Portuguese.” My husband replied “Yes, you are right, I do need to and could have used it all my life. I blame my father.” I wondered, is my father-in-law completely at fault? What about school? If we had/have personalized learning my husband would have learned Portuguese and at an early age, especially with the support of his family.

References

Zhao, Y. (2009). Catching up or leading the way: American education in the age of globalization. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Wagner, T. (2008). The global achievement gap: Why even our best schools don't teach the new survival skills our children need--and what we can do about it. New York: Basic Books.

Does the support of pursuit of individual passions and interests lead to narrowing of student learning? Why or why not?


My Survival Skills:
Reflection of Wagner's Seven Essential Survival Skills

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While reading Wagner’s survival skills, examples and nonexamples of schools addressing those skills, I have reflected not only my own teaching style, but also my educational experiences and skills. It is interesting that when I think of my survival skills for the 21st century, I don’t feel I learned most of them in school. I learned critical thinking and problem solving skills in school to an extent, and more so in college, but not like I did because of my other skills, of adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism. (Wagner, 2014) I have learned these skills in my experiences, both professional and personal.  Shouldn’t that be how our students learn too? They don’t have to wait.
Because I attended K-12 in “the old world of school,” (Wagner, 2014, p. 47) I guess I can say I learned most of my “essential survival skills” in my own endeavors after graduating college in 2003.  My initiative and entrepreneurialism drove me to start an online infant clothing line in 2004, a Stand Up Paddle tours and lessons in 2007, and a non-profit in 2009. While all of these are common now, these ideas were relatively innovative at the time (for a preschool teacher), and made all the challenges presented in new businesses very exciting and exceptional learning experiences. When starting a business, profit or non-profit, all seven survival skills are essential; critical thinking and problem solving, collaboration across networks and leading by influence, agility and adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism, effective communication, accessing and analyzing information, curiosity and imagination. (Wagner, 2014, ch. 1)  I am naturally stronger in some skills than others, but I continue to grow and learn, especially with technology. I am always amazed when I learn of new applications or programs, thinking ‘this would have made business so much easier.’

Knowing how technology has changed business, accessing information and learning, provides me a reference for my teaching everyday. I assess strengths and needs, then prioritize instruction for skills my students need to be successful in a future that will be different than what I know today.  With that, there is the importance for balance and knowing that teaching is based on a relationship. Just as Wagner describes in his last examples of successful schools, and other research continues to remind us that teaching is a relationship, and student self-efficacy is impacted by teacher-student relationships. Technology cannot replace this. As we, as educators, explore the challenges, the new learning styles, work ethic and motivation, we have to consider the challenge to teach and keep the traditional ‘teaching strategies.’ The time-tested strategy of asking kids questions, letting kids ask questions and having conversations is also vital. As a teacher and parent in the 21st century, a challenge with the shift of having to teach this as technology can steal this from the next generation, if we are not intentional about continuing place value on the relationship and collaboration.

This reminds me of a book my husband’s grandmother sent us, which I let sit around for a couple years before opening it (she sends us A LOT of grandmother propaganda.) Grandma’s are pretty awesome in their subtleties, because to my surprise, I have reflected many times on the advice in this book, especially as my 13 year old enters high school and we prepare for parenting a real teenager.  In his parenting book, If Aristotle’s Kid Had an Ipod, author Conor Gallagher states,

Man was made to see with his speculative mind. But it takes a long time to cultivate this ability. It takes long, deep conversation, and a society taken over by short bursts of communication--like tweeting, texting, and the like--is less and less accustomed to engaging on this level. Still, you’ve probably experienced the lightbulb go off in a kid’s head after working hard to understand something. This revelation didn’t come from tweeting. More likely, it came from good, old-fashioned eye contact and conversation.  (Gallagher, 2012, p. 94)

Parenting and teaching have taught me as much about my survival skills in the 21st century as school and business endeavors. I too have lightbulb moments when teaching and witnessing students’ lightbulb moments. Analyzing what skills they just accessed, and how I facilitated in this, teaches me invaluable lessons. It is a pretty special profession that let’s us share and learn in these moments.

This year I will use my adaptability, initiative and entrepreneurialism along with building strong student-teacher relationships to encourage these same skills in my students. My nine and ten year old daughters, with their friend, decided to make a 'snack shack' in the hour they had before until we left for their soccer practice. I honestly doubted that they would make everything, set up and sell anything in an hour. But, they quickly planned (my Type A middle child), made everything, set-up in 30 minutes, then made $21 dollars in 30 minutes. I later found their plan and it was amazing how they packaged lemonade with snacks, and a “mystery treat” add-on!  All in an hour! All they needed from me was the OK. I would like to plan similar activities with my students this year. Engage in analyzing what businesses they like and why, then developing their own ideas for businesses, and track their progress and ideas on their “business blog.”

Success in this can be measured in several ways. First, it’s only up from here. I have not done this so any progress is success. However, “observable and measurable goals” is what I do, I am a Special Ed. Teacher! I measure my success by my students’ success. I design my instruction to meet the needs of my students based on their IEPs. If my students are making progress towards their IEP goals, then I am on the right track.

Reference


Gallagher, C. (2012). If Aristotle's kid had an iPod: Ancient wisdom for modern parents. Charlotte, NC: Saint Benedict Press.

Wagner, T. (2008). The global achievement gap: Why even our best schools don't teach the new survival skills our children need--and what we can do about it. New York: Basic Books.





    The pursuit of individual passions and interest will not lead to narrowing of student learning. Two reasons that drive my belief in this is that the people in our lives impact our learning most and students learn best when they are interested. While many learning experiences do not have to involve other people or a specific passion, I think these things provide for deeper learning. And it is because of these reasons that learning is turned on all around us with many influences despite specific individual interests. We, as a society, in turn learn much from others’ passions and deeper understanding in areas that are not of interest to us initially, which creates a diverse culture.


    When discussing the advantage of being free to discover personal interest and passion within the American education system, Yong Zhao explains this a one of the factors contributing to a competitive workforce. “Being able to work on things that we truly love not only makes it more enjoyable for us but also increases our productivity. When we are passionate about what we do, we are more likely to put in more effort and be more creative” (Zhao, 2009, Loc 979). This is true about productivity and about learning. When student are interested, they are engaged learners. When others are excited about topics is also when we learn from them.


    We learn about a variety of topics from others exploration and sharing in their passion. It is also the sharing and guidance from the people in our lives that fosters learning. Not only creating a diverse culture, but also encourages learning in each other. “What really matters, or what really helped the United States maintain its lead, may lie somewhere else, such as in the overall philosophical approach to education, the aggregation of all activities outside and inside the school, and how teachers and students treat one another” (Zhao, 2009, Loc 801)


    In his book, Rich Kid Smart Kid: Giving your child a financial head start, Robert Kiyosaki, discusses his experience in school and how he came to understand his strengths and interests despite being “unsuccessful” in school. He also touches on different types of intelligences and how American schools are not, or were not at his time, designed to meet the needs of different learners. His touches on his story, also in his book Rich Dad Poor Dad, where his rich dad was his friend’s dad who his real dad encourage his learning from. “My poor dad was an academic genius and educator. After the age of nine, I began having serious problems in school. I did not like what I was learning and how I was being taught. I saw no relevance between what I was being forced to learn and how I could apply it to the real world” (Kiyosaki, 2012, Loc 163) While his story is for parents who are interested in preparing their children in financial planning and/or investments, I recommend it to every educator. Kiyosaki illustrates the value in the pursuit of personal interest and passions, of which many people learn from him.


    References


    Kiyosaki, R. T., & Lechter, S. L. (2001). Rich kid, smart kid: Giving your child a financial head start. New York: Warner Books.


    Zhao, Y. (2009). Catching up or leading the way: American education in the age of globalization. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

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