I can’t wait to teach. I actually have very few worries about teaching. Most of the time I would classify myself as a solid public speaker, and I have always been told how much I love to talk. I am prepared to be a good role model, and can’t wait to watch students learn. Setting all of this aside, I have one fear. My fear is that I am standing in front of a classroom, teaching a lesson, or just leading a conversation and not one person in the room is interested. Their blank stares, and out of touch expressions suck the life out of me.
Well, I hope this never happens, but if it does I would be interested in breaking down the question of why are they bored? It could just be me or the material that the state board wants taught. But let’s assume it is larger than that. Is the discussion or work floating right over the heads of some students, is it intellectually below others, and I would hope there are some it is reaching at the correct level. This is a problem that many teachers are presented with everyday. This is why I want to look at the pros and cons of tracking gifted students, or ability separated classrooms.
At the current time, I am not sure if I believe more strongly in ability separated classrooms, or integrated ability rooms. I am interested in finding out different viewpoints, and possibly looking at different statistics dealing with the topic. As a teacher, the final decision is not ours. It is much further up in the hierarchy, but we are the ones who must constantly deal with the issues, so it is important to be informed. I hope to become educated in this area, and figure out different methods of dealing with ranging ability levels. It is true that no two students will have the same abilities or learning styles, but teachers have to find a way to reach as many students as possible. Do we risk holding students back? Does it hurt the less abled when the abled are taken out of the classroom? Are they still challenged? There are numerous questions that arise from this intriguing topic.
Right now I have feeds from multiple news sources. I have CNN, NPR, BBC, the New York Times, and the Washington Post. I have looked up “tracking gifted students” through Google News and I am browsing through the different blogs on the topic. Right now the blog that I have subscribed to is titled Essential Blog. It is loaded with educational articles and many deal with equality in classroom. I have already read a couple articles of interest in the blog.
In my high school we were separated by ability level, and at the time I never really thought much about it. As I begin stepping out of the student role and into the teacher role, the perspective has changes drastically. I see much more than a social life, and after school practice. It is time to explore.
I just want to say, first of all, that I share this heart-stopping fear with you. I’m not sure what I will do when the situation arises and my students couldn’t possibly care less, but it’s something that I will have to face eventually.
As for your topic, I think it’s a very interesting idea. It hadn’t occurred to me until I read your post how important an issue it is, but now that I have, I’m wondering which method is the best. Personally, I feel like I would rather teach a classroom where the students are on the same basic level as one another, but then is that really being fair to other students?
I remember reading in my Ed 200 and Educational Psych classes that inclusion is becoming a big thing in schools. Supposedly, it’s better for ALL students if the class has a wide range of levels and learning styles…exactly why, however, is not entirely clear to me. Something about the more gifted students can work one on one with less gifted students better than the teacher can — that way they are both learning more about the subject. By teaching, the gifted students become even more proficient in the subject, and by having someone with more knowledge helping them along, the struggling student has a “tutor” that can cause them to better understand the subject.
I’m looking forward to see what information you find on this subject. It seems like a pretty hot topic issue, and knowing some more of the facts will help all of us in our future classroom because they are issues that we are going to have to tackle. Happy hunting!
Candace,
Your 310 blog looks great so far. You are missing a complete blogroll, but that is easy to add.
Great topic. I recommend looking into the UCLA Institute for Ideas Democracy Equality and Access (IDEA). It is headed by a leading scholar on tracking–Jeannie Oakes.
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