...and action!

Monday night in our usual Ed Psych class we held a mock meeting about a new proposal for creating high stakes community schools in the district. There were many interesting questions raised and at times a fairly heated debate took place over the variety of changes proposed by Superintendent, Dr. Langholz, and the director of Curriculum, Dr. Knick. This plan would essentially revamp the entire school system and hold students and teachers responsible for students achieving scores at or above grade level on standardized tests.
This was a very beneficial lesson which allowed us to participate and really become engaged in the learning. Rather than hearing a lecture on what changes a school might make to improve education, we were able to become part of a 'real' situation and formulate thoughtful questions and opinions about the issues raised in the proposal regarding high stakes testing. This method of teaching and learning was very beneficial to me and forced me to assess my own opinions about the situation based on the comments and discussion that occurred during the mock meeting. Although I see many benefits of this lesson, I also understand the extra work Dr. Langholz had to put in to preparing the proposal and the role playing scenarios. As a teacher, it is important to understand different ways in which to engage students in the learning process and give them opportunities to think critically. Even though this may take some extra planning and patience on our part, if the lesson is effectively executed, the learning that takes place will be beneficial and meaningful to the students and worth the extra effort.