Blog #1 - Success in a Flat World
The concept of success is one that is ever-evolving, as well as one whose standards are constantly rising. In a school setting, this means that students are proficient in multiple content areas, with the literacy skills to demonstrate their knowledge. When written out, that sentence sounds very demanding; that's because it is. Students - especially high school students - are require to know a lot about a lot, but it's what No Child Left Behind (NCLB) requires. As teachers, what do we do when the demands of legislation are not realistic? What happens when our students' definition of success is no the same as the school systems' definition of success? How do we adjust our classrooms to fit the needs of our students without ignoring legislation?
In order to address these questions, we need to know what current literacy standards and skills are necessary for students. To do this, we can look to places like NCLB and Common Core State Standards (CCSS), but these will not help us condense what our students know into teachable main ideas. One author of the book Adolescent Literacy: Turning Practice into Promise, Kylene Beers, writes that critical thinking is the skill that administrators and assessments are looking to measure (Beers, 2007, p. 8). Critical thinking does not always come easy, so teachers often need to teach students how to practice successfull critical thinking. In order to critical think successfully in a school setting, students must be proficient in three different kinds of literacy: informational and communicative; thinking and problem-solving; interpersonal and self-directional (Beers, 2007, p. 151). Once this is done, critical thinking can take place in multiple different classroom environments.
Critical thinking is what our students need to be doing to succeed in the real world, but success is often defined differently in the academmic world. As seen on page 2 of Adolescent Literacy: Turning Practice into Promise, success in school is often determined by a passing grade, not by amount of improvement (Beers, 2007). If all of our students begin to earn passing grades, the school system will have helped to close the achievement gap, something that many schools are fighting for. Beers discussed challenges in closing the gap, as well as challenges that occur once the gap is closed (2007, p. 5). Of course, we want all of our students to succeed, but what actually happens when the gap is closed, and do we actually want the achievement gap to close? If schools succeed in closing the achievement gap, who will be left to work in different trades and other jobs? If all of our students continue to go on to college, who will be left to work the jobs that only require a GED? Obviously, our students would be more than qualified to work these jobs, but why would they if they could work somewhere else and get paid more?
After seeing how student success differs between classroom expectations and legislative excpectations, it is important to see what these expectations look like in the real world, which is also a flat world. Adolescent Literacy: Turning Practice into Promise explains this well. The author writes, "work will increasingly go to the people with the best skills, who can do it within the necessary time constraints, for the best price, regardless of where they live" (Beers, 2007, p. 152). In order to do all of tis sucessfully, our students wil need to be able to participate in discussions of many different kinds; this literary skill begins in the classroom. Whether a discussion is taking place online or in-class, students are benefitting from interactoin with their peers and have begun to think critically about at least one topic (Beers, 2007, pp. 160-164). Writing and speaking are both important parts of any job a student may have in the future. Conversations and e-mails are unavoidable, so it is important that we teach our students how to succeed at these things now.
The success of our students is not entirely dependent on us as teachers, but it is our job to do what we can to see our students' academic success and real-world success. Living in a flat world requires that we wear many hats, so let's teach our students how to wear some of them successfully, starting with critical thinking and discussion.
Resource
Beers, K., Probst, R. E., & Rief, L. (2007). Adolescent literacy: Turning practice into promise. Protsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
In order to address these questions, we need to know what current literacy standards and skills are necessary for students. To do this, we can look to places like NCLB and Common Core State Standards (CCSS), but these will not help us condense what our students know into teachable main ideas. One author of the book Adolescent Literacy: Turning Practice into Promise, Kylene Beers, writes that critical thinking is the skill that administrators and assessments are looking to measure (Beers, 2007, p. 8). Critical thinking does not always come easy, so teachers often need to teach students how to practice successfull critical thinking. In order to critical think successfully in a school setting, students must be proficient in three different kinds of literacy: informational and communicative; thinking and problem-solving; interpersonal and self-directional (Beers, 2007, p. 151). Once this is done, critical thinking can take place in multiple different classroom environments.
Critical thinking is what our students need to be doing to succeed in the real world, but success is often defined differently in the academmic world. As seen on page 2 of Adolescent Literacy: Turning Practice into Promise, success in school is often determined by a passing grade, not by amount of improvement (Beers, 2007). If all of our students begin to earn passing grades, the school system will have helped to close the achievement gap, something that many schools are fighting for. Beers discussed challenges in closing the gap, as well as challenges that occur once the gap is closed (2007, p. 5). Of course, we want all of our students to succeed, but what actually happens when the gap is closed, and do we actually want the achievement gap to close? If schools succeed in closing the achievement gap, who will be left to work in different trades and other jobs? If all of our students continue to go on to college, who will be left to work the jobs that only require a GED? Obviously, our students would be more than qualified to work these jobs, but why would they if they could work somewhere else and get paid more?
After seeing how student success differs between classroom expectations and legislative excpectations, it is important to see what these expectations look like in the real world, which is also a flat world. Adolescent Literacy: Turning Practice into Promise explains this well. The author writes, "work will increasingly go to the people with the best skills, who can do it within the necessary time constraints, for the best price, regardless of where they live" (Beers, 2007, p. 152). In order to do all of tis sucessfully, our students wil need to be able to participate in discussions of many different kinds; this literary skill begins in the classroom. Whether a discussion is taking place online or in-class, students are benefitting from interactoin with their peers and have begun to think critically about at least one topic (Beers, 2007, pp. 160-164). Writing and speaking are both important parts of any job a student may have in the future. Conversations and e-mails are unavoidable, so it is important that we teach our students how to succeed at these things now.
The success of our students is not entirely dependent on us as teachers, but it is our job to do what we can to see our students' academic success and real-world success. Living in a flat world requires that we wear many hats, so let's teach our students how to wear some of them successfully, starting with critical thinking and discussion.
Resource
Beers, K., Probst, R. E., & Rief, L. (2007). Adolescent literacy: Turning practice into promise. Protsmouth, New Hampshire: Heinemann.
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