¶ … school-wide inquiry into learning and teaching performance and participating in professional inquiry as a colleague" I have often found my school lacking (Copland & Knapp 2006). My current Capstone project is on the phenomenon of 'teaching to the test,' or the extent to which the pressures of standardized testing have inhibited teacher's creativity and limited the development of individuated curriculums in schools today. Copland and Knapp (2006) suggest that under ideal circumstances, a partnership exists between teachers and administrators as they engage in a joint effort to discover what works and what does not work when comparing teaching strategies. But I often find (which is not uncommon amongst teachers) that the standardized test becomes a kind of 'third party' in the relationship between teachers and other stakeholders. Rather than engaging in research to determine what works and does not work to enhance learning, instead teachers and administrators alike must shape student learning in a particular fashion to enhance test performance, rather than really reflect on how to teach students to 'learn how to learn.' Using standardized testing is the antithesis of creating...
Instead, there is instead a specific benchmark that is predetermined for students to meet, and administrators and teachers cannot question whether such standards are desirable or reasonable, even given the student body's unique background. Rather than teachers working together as a community, outsiders set the standards of the learning community (Copland & Knapp 2006: 25).
Convergent questions seek one or more very specific correct answers, while divergent questions seek a wide variety of correct answers. Convergent questions apply to Bloom's lower levels of Knowledge, Comprehension, and Application and may include questions like "Define nutrition," "Explain the concept of investing," and "Solve for the value of X." Divergent questions apply to Bloom's higher levels of Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation; are generally open-ended; and foster student-centered discussion,
In turn, teachers and their leaders should take steps to increase the responsibility for managing their schools and assessing the performance of their peers. (1990) The work of Charles Kowalski entitled: "Caring for Teachers in Uncaring Schools" (2002) states that stress in teachers "can be more insidious than in other professions by its "fuzzy" nature: it arises from a vague system of rules and returns; it is often self-inflicted; and
Identifying whether previous punishments have reinforced the behavior would also be important to design an appropriate punishment strategy. Question Fostering Positive Relationships with Students Developing a close relationship with children is associated with improving the positive outcomes of that relationship (Birch & Ladd, 1997). This indicates that as a school psychologist every effort should be made to develop a close relationship with each and every student. While it is acknowledged that this
Another common use is in the generation of written work. Students can learn to revise and edit using a computer word processing program. Again, this supports the use of computers to learn keyboarding just as we teach manuscript and cursive writing: the keyboard is merely a third way to record information and generate data. Students can also learn to use spreadsheets and databases (Fouts, 2000), which can give them the
Since smaller class size has been shown to positively affect student learning, at least in the early grades, one might also infer that this affects teachers' work positively. Further, researchers have found a positive relationship between collective bargaining and increased preparation time for teachers, which many educators believe is essential for good teaching and collaborative work among colleagues within a school. Collective Bargaining, Unions and Teacher/Educational Quality In a March 1999
The Teacher and Principal Relationship with the Principal as Leader Research indicate that the primary role of the principal is that of the school "leader." The decision a principal makes concerning the issue of instructional leadership and the extent to which that principal develops the skills needed to exercise appropriate instructional leadership will influence what does or does not happen in classrooms throughout the country. Marks and Printy (2003) agree that the importance of the instructional leadership
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