That said, I do struggle with how best to communicate my first grade students’ learning to their parents. I teach in a community in which very few families have computers. We do make VoiceThreads and movies and such, but many of my families have now way to see them. I am lucky to have three computers in my classroom (counting my laptop) and a lab available, but that is often not true. Do you have any advice on how to deal with these issues?

My youngest (6th grader) brings home his “Wednesday Folder” and has no idea how he’s done on the papers inside.

His older sister (11th grader) has had classes where they are given test review worksheets. They fill them out and then they are taken up on the day of the test.

Somewhere we seem to have lost the whole concept of feedback (… except for grades). Is this common? new?

Regards,
Kent

Thanks for the thoughtful post.

Thanks for engaging with me on this… I would imagine that for many, the temptation would have been to delete my comment and move along…

To respond to you thoughts:

…I get that you are trying to make changes but honestly, what is more likely to change your children’s classroom experiences: blogging about the teacher in hopes s/he reads it, takes it constructively and then makes meaningful changes or actually approaching the teacher and talking about it? My guess is that many people that read your blog are really already in transition mode. If the school your students are in seems to be missing the shift, it seems awfully hopeful to think they will change without action on the part of passionate advocates.

…What is distasteful for me about your approach? Well, for me it goes back to the problem with educational criticism in general. I read your blog and I think you are a smart, well-meaning guy, but you are still taking an outsider position of the school, seemingly without consequence. Let me explain. You ask if it my problem with the post is the critical nature. No, absolutely not. I think criticism is important in any activity and even if I disagreed with your point, I think disagreement is often the path to enlightenment. (Somewhat related: I believe schools suffer from a problem that staff members are encouraged NOT to disagree and often ostracize those with alternative views. This leads to school stagnating.) My problem is that you are critical in a forum where there isn’t any implication to you taking such views. It is easy to criticize (constructively or not… I think your post was generally constructive… and though I understood what you were referring to as stupid, would you really say that to the teacher’s face? my guess is no, so perhaps it doesn’t meet the test tasteful) when you are speaking to a crowd that will largely agree with you… but what tone would you take when you are talking to your child’s teacher? Will you say exactly what you said in the original post?

My guess is that the elementary school in question is similar to many across the nation. The teachers there are well-meaning and are probably solid professionals. Or… it could be that you there are a number of just bad teachers there who don’t give a damn (sadly, it is my experience that there are more of the bad than we could want or imagine). Either way, I can’t imagine those professionals reading this post and thinking “wow! wes is right! i am going to go ahead and change my pedagogy right now!”… You seem to think the case is hopeless… “I won’t be holding my breath that the result will be transformative, pedagogic change in her classroom, however, or in the school building more generally.” What makes you think that the many other classrooms in the same position would be any different? It is hard, I know, to watch the incremental changes in schools but only through working together for positive, cooperation action, will we all see the changes that seem to be necessary…

I’d like to respond to a separate point you made in your comment: “I find it distasteful to drag your own kids into public criticism like this.” My children are enrolled in public school, and I am focused on working to improve and transform learning opportunities for people everywhere inside and outside of schools. How could I not permit the experiences of my own children now in public school to not influence and color my own thinking about learning, school, and educational change?

Why do you find this “distasteful?” In my view, this is authentic and real. Should I ignore realities like this? Do you find this “distasteful” because it is critical, and critical views (especially ones which strike close to home) can be difficult to hear and accept?

If I was writing an article for a professional journal, I would be much less likely to use an example like this. In that context, we’d likely survey families, aggregate that survey data, and then present those findings in a less personal, more objective way. Is that why you find the use of family anecdotes like this “distasteful,” because you are used to and prefer a more objective, less personal, and more formal style of writing like what we continue to find in professional journals?

First of all, I am not calling any teacher, including my own childrens’ teachers, “stupid.” This is a basic issue we see with behavior all the time. I am not criticizing the person. I am criticizing a specific behavior, and in this case, a specific worksheet and type of worksheet. I am also criticizing a pattern of behavior, which is giving children worksheets like the one I highlighted in this post that constitute “busywork.” This happens quite a bit at our school. Please do not hear me “calling them [my childrens' teachers] ‘stupid.’” If you re-read my post above I think that should be clear. Attacks like that would be counter-productive, and also just wouldn’t be something I would do.

It is reasonable to ask me if I’ve talked directly to the teacher who assigned that word search about it personally, and the answer is no. I saw that worksheet on Thursday night, and didn’t make an appointment to meet with her on Friday. Based on your suggestion and encouragement, I will do that next week. She certainly deserves to hear my sentiments directly.

Please note that I am not posting these thoughts to “skewer” particular teachers or even my kids’ own school specifically. You’ll note I do not mention teacher’s names or school names when I am critical in posts like this. When I praise individuals as well as organizations, I DO use their names.

I really would like to change the learning culture at my children’s school, to move beyond this worksheet focus, but I am not naive enough to think a parent-teacher conference is going to do that. I have been engaged the past three years in several ways with our own teachers and school district when it comes to digital literacy, promoting collaboration and videoconferencing, etc, but basically these efforts have produced very little fruit. See my post, “Live tweeting back to school night” from August 2008 for more on that background.

No one likes criticism of any kind, especially public criticism. You wrote, “if I were a teacher and ran into criticism like this on the Internet, I would feel ashamed.” You and everyone else are certainly entitled to feel any way you want. When we encounter criticism, however, I think it’s potentially most valuable if we consider the ideas which have been presented and then analyze our own behavior to see if there IS something which we can or should change.

I’m listening to you and trying to model this idea in taking your suggestion. I’ll go visit with the teacher and talk with her about this. We’ll see what happens. I won’t be holding my breath that the result will be transformative, pedagogic change in her classroom, however, or in the school building more generally. I’ll report on the result of our conversation here on this post thread after the meeting.

What bothers me most is not the worksheets, but rather the lack focus on higher order thinking skills. Students don’t need to reinforce their learning; they need to APPLY it. I, like you, have an elementary school child and am often frustrated with her “worksheet set” as well. I’ve written a similar story to yours: http://problemfinding.labanca.net/?p=133

When she elects to follow on her own ideas, the results are so different, so much more relevant and really reminiscent of a 21st-century learner – (see: http://problemfinding.labanca.net/?p=224) maybe this type of learning might not involve technology, but it should access critical, creative thinking, written/oral communication, and authenticity.

That’s my challenge as an educator: to give students meaningful, authentic work that allows them to apply knowledge, not just regurgitate it.

When teachers use technology to allow students to learn, create, and collaborate we are engaging students in meaningful, higher level thinking and active literacy (http://myccs.ccs.k12.in.us/uploads/news/0000/0321/schmoker.pdf). I am so excited to see many schools promoting 1:1 initiatives! We need 1:1 computing in schools as soon as possible!

Wish your son was in my fourth grade class, check out our class blog: http://ifolder.ccs.k12.in.us/mt4/mr_atkinson_4th_grade_2008-2009/, our class Ning! http://atkinsonclass.ning.com/, and our class Moodle http://moodle.ccs.k12.in.us/course/category.php?id=15.

The power of our hands to create is too great to restrict them to pencil and paper!

One thing to add. As an elementary student, I can distinctly remember finishing a worksheet one day faster than most everyone else in the class, and how proud I was. My teacher smiled and gave me another worksheet. I learned that it made sense for me to slow down. In some ways, things haven’t changed since the 70′s…

“When are my own children going to be able to use technologies like these IN SCHOOL”

because you have explained it all…