Reflection Post

The book "The Global Achievement Gap" has really given me a shot in the arm to keep trying new things. Three years ago I observed my first Inquiry-Based math classroom and I was blown away! I saw students working in teams (not rows?) and I heard students talking to each other about a problem. You could literally hear them thinking through a problem! They were offering ideas about how solve the problem. I believe that teaching mathematics is a great metaphor (metaphor?) for this book. There is literally a civil war right now among math teachers across the nation. At my school it is divided exactly in half (3 to 3) as to how many teachers are still teaching math as if it were 1950 (I'm not being very judgemental am I?) and how many teachers are trying Inquiry-Based Mathematics. Inquiry-Based Mathematics falls right in line with what Tony Wagner is talking about. The 7 essential survival skills are all present with inquiry-based math. Teamwork, Problem Solving, Critical Thinking, Communication, etc. None of which you would get from a lecture. Some teachers just don't want to change. Others believe (rightfully so) that they are handcuffed to teaching the Content Standards so that their schools can get off "Alert Status". The United States has always been an inch deep and a mile wide when it comes to teaching math. It is impossible to teach every skill/standard in 52 minute classes for 36 weeks. We must start teaching kids how to think critically for themselves, how to try and tackle a problem with their own methods rather than one that was memorized without understanding, and how to communicate their ideas and their thinking both verbally and on paper. It just amazes me that schools are the only industry that haven't changed significantly since the industrial revolution.

blabberize assignment

blabber practice

Blabberize

Data Collection Tool

I have the students give me their gmail account (or whatever email account) so that I can invite them to join in editing some google documents in the future. Here is a link to where the students give me their email account information (http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?hl=en&formkey=dHJYX0xWekdwZkgzRng0U2VLX3BhTXc6MQ#gid=0). This will give me their email information in a spreadsheet. I also have had students put their vocab webs into google docs. You can see one here (https://docs.google.com/present/edit?id=0AWePQXc5aOeiZGM3ZnF4OWhfNDY3ZzRnNmRxcW4&hl=en). One of my favorite lessons is one on probability called the "Monty Hall Problem". I have students conduct many trials of a probability experiment and put their results in a google spreadsheet. You can see a class from last year at this link (https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AmePQXc5aOeidEtDRDlNSTZ4SURiVVVQWVI0S0llSGc&hl=en#gid=0).

Super Summary #1

I'm sorry "team E" for the tardiness of this report. I also apologize to any english teachers that are about to read this. - Chad

Section one of the book "The Global Achievement Gap" by Tony Wagner deals primarily with data about the readiness of high school and college graduates to join the workforce. Mr. Wagner combines both personal interviews and hard data to both challenge - and stick up for - schools.

Numerous times Mr. Wagner points out that schools do a good job at what they do. The problem he says - is that schools are doing the wrong things. He believes that schools are not failing. Schools today are little different than that of 50 years ago. The 3 R's (Reading, Writing, Arithmetic) are still being taught by competent teachers (for the most part), but the world students needed to be prepared for 50 years ago is completely different to the world of the 21st century. Schools are still doing a good job preparing kids - but unfortunately - it is for a world that no longer exists.

He also points out that it is not entirely the school's fault. The same business leaders that say that schools are outdated are also partially responsible. They wanted accountability from schools to produce graduates that were ready for the workforce - hence NCLB. Unfortunately, NCLB has caused even what is considered to be the "best" public and private schools to sacrifice the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy in order to "teach to the test." One of my favorite quotes is from an administrator from one of our country's most prestigious private schools: "Why is it that the longer our kids are in school, the less curious they seem?" Even in our "best" schools, the way we teach is stifling students' curiosity.

Mr. Wagner interviewed CEO's of many high-tech companies, as well as managers and supervisors of many "blue-collar" jobs (such as the retail industry and factory assembly line jobs). He quizzed them about what qualities they were looking for in new employees. He expected to get vastly different answers from the high tech CEO's looking for software engineers compared to the "blue collar" supervisors looking for someone to work on the assembly line - but the exact opposite proved true. Both the high-tech CEO's and the assembly line supervisors were looking for nearly the exact same qualities from their employees. These qualities they are looking for Mr. Wagner has dubbed the "7 survival skills of the New World of Work."

I have attached a quote or two from the book (many from the CEO's and supervisors that were interviewed) that I think illustrates each survival skill:

Survival Skill #1: Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

"In schools, critical thinking has long been a buzz phrase. Educators pay lip service to it's importance, but few can tell me what they mean by the phrase or how they teach and test it - in part, because, as we will see, critical thinking skills are not tested in any of the new state tests..."

-Tony Wagner

author of "The Global Achievement Gap"

"And so the biggest challenge for our front-line employees is having the critical-thinking and problem-solving skills they need to be effective in their teams - because nobody is there telling them exactly what to do. They have to figure it out."

-Karen Bruett

Strategic Business Development Manager for Dell Computer Corporation

Survival Skill #2: Collaboration Across Networks and Leading by Influence

"The "Old World of School" is still run more by command and control than are many companies, as we'll see, and students are accustomed to having teachers tell them what to do. And students almost never work in teams. Hearing these executives talk, I began to understand how ill-prepared today's students are both for working more collaboratively and for exercising a different kind of leadership as team contributors."

-Tony Wagner

"... our schools are not yet producing many graduates who have been taught how to ask good questions, think critically, solve problems, work effectively in teams, or lead by influence - either in our communities or in our companies."

-Tony Wagner

Survival Skill #3: Agility and Adaptability

"We change what we do all the time. I've been here four years, and we've done fundamental reorganization every year because of changes in the business. People have to learn to adapt. I can guarantee that the job I hire someone to do will change or may not exist in the future, so this is why adaptability and learning skills are more important than technical skills."

-Clay Parker

President of the Chemical Management Division of BOC Edwards

"Our system of schooling promotes the idea that there are right answers, and that you get rewarded if you get the right answer. But to be comfortable with this new economy and environment, you have to understand that you live in a world where there isn't one right answer, or if there is, it's right only for a nanosecond. If you're afraid, you can't think clearly."

-Ellen Kumata

Managing Parner at Cambria Associates

Survival Skill #4: Initiative and Entrepreneurialism

"Leaders today want to see individuals take more initiative and even by entrepreneurial in terms of the ways they seek out new opportunities, ideas, and strategies for improvement."

-Tony Wagner

"... we need self-directed people who ... can ... find creative solutions to some very tough, challenging problems."

-Mark Maddox

Human Resources Manager

Unilever Foods North America

Survival Skill #5: Effective Oral and Written Communication

"We are routinely surprised at the difficulty some young people have in communicating: verbal skills, written skills, presentation skills. They have difficulty being clear and concise; it's hard for them to create focus, energy, and passion around the points they want to make. They are unable to communicate their thoughts effectively."

-Mike Summers

VP Global Talent Management

Dell Computers

Survival Skill #6: Accessing and Analyzing Information

"There is so much information available that it is almost too much, and if people aren't prepared to process the information effectively it almost freezes them in their steps."

-Annmarie Neal

VP Talent Management

Cisco Systems

Survival Skill #7: Curiosity and Imagination

" I want people who can think - they're not just bright, they're also inquisitive."

-Clay Parker

President of the Chemical Management Division of BOC Edwards

"The kids who take my intro lab courses today have gotten top scores on all the Advanced Placement science courses in their high schools, but they don't know how to observe. I ask them to describe what they see in the microscopes, and they want to know what they should be looking for-what the right answer is."

-Jonathan King

Molecular Biologist at MIT

Book Cover

We don't have to have all the answers anymore. We have to teach the kids where to find them.

Welcome to Literature Circle Twenty-seven!

Your Super Summarizer schedule is as follows:

Section One--Due October 28, Chad Coley
Section Two--Due November 4,
Section Three--Due November 11,
Section Four--Due November 18,
Section Five--Due December 2, TBA
Section Six--Due December 9, TBA