Thom Markham wrote the article “Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education ‘Story’” about the issues in the classroom and how to help fix them for the modern teacher. I do agree with Markham on his portrayal of school today. There is such an emphasis on standardized tests and just drilling students on the information that they will need to know for these tests (“kill and drill” if you will). They are pushed through this system in an effort to just get them through. There are not many life skills that are taught to the students. Markham talks about the “‘scientific, strict outcomes, measurable results’ approach” that describes the cycle that we are in at the time. The role of teachers is the part that I thought about the most while reading this post. Teachers used to be trusted to teach the kids all of the information that they needed and to kind of help them become citizens of the world with the help of the parents. However, these days, it seems like teachers are not trusted at all and they have an even more difficult job to deal with. Parents seem to blame teachers for their students failing instead of trying to figure out what the students are doing that is causing them to fail. Parents do not see what is going on in the classroom most of the time. If they did, most of the time they would see a teacher who is constantly moving trying to help all of the students at the same time and making accommodations left and right. Of course there are the teachers who are not putting in this much effort, but the parents should really try to see what is going on in the classroom before telling the teacher that they are the reason their student is failing.
I agree with Markham that we need to focus on bigger themes throughout the education of our students. Teaching our lessons to our students focusing on one larger theme makes the lessons more meaningful. Next semester, my current co-teacher is going to have a project based on Civil Disobedience and will focus on different historical events throughout the project. They are focusing on one theme but learning about different topics that they can connect.
I believe that some of Markham’s ideas are a little far fetched, but they are taking education in the right direction. I would love to see more from him and to try out some of his ideas in my classroom.
Markham, T. (2015, February 11). Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education ‘Story’. In KQED News. http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/02/11/redefining-teachers-with-a-21st-century-education-story/
I agree with Markham that we need to focus on bigger themes throughout the education of our students. Teaching our lessons to our students focusing on one larger theme makes the lessons more meaningful. Next semester, my current co-teacher is going to have a project based on Civil Disobedience and will focus on different historical events throughout the project. They are focusing on one theme but learning about different topics that they can connect.
I believe that some of Markham’s ideas are a little far fetched, but they are taking education in the right direction. I would love to see more from him and to try out some of his ideas in my classroom.
Markham, T. (2015, February 11). Redefining Teachers with a 21st Century Education ‘Story’. In KQED News. http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2015/02/11/redefining-teachers-with-a-21st-century-education-story/