Is anyone else scared a little more with each chapter we read? Okay, then it's not just me. I try to comment right after I read, and right now I have visions of sleeping students, suicidal teens and cat-killers! Rethinking teaching...Okay, still dumb enought to stay. With all of the hoops that we must jump through with the curriculum, standardized testing, parents, administrators, NCLB, and trying to reach students who want to learn, we have a unique variable with every student that is "alienated."
I knew going in to teaching that it wasn't easy, wasn't for the faint of heart, wouldn't make me rich monetarily, but that it would make me rich as a person. I think Christenbury, although she attempted to end the chapter on a positive note, left the outlook alittle grim for all of us!
I did enjoy the episode of the cat killers. It showed, if nothing us, the futility in dealing with problem student behavior and our current school system. I wonder, althought this book was revised in 2006, if the outcome of this incident wouldn't be different in a post-Columbine society? Would administrators be allowed to let twisted teens wear skulls from cats they killed to school? I think the event would turn out different today than when it occurred.
I think two if the individuals that Christenbury cites, Glasser and McNeil, both make strong arguements for why the current system is failing. I think that the curriculum and content must be based on what the students find important, or we at least, must make them see why it applies to them and their futures.
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2 comments:
I agree- I didn't think that students went that far to the extreme. The cat thing definitely surprised me and I'm happy that I am not the only one that was disturbed by it.
I think I'm too optimistic sometimes. I still think there's a way to make students see that education as a whole is really important to them. There has to be something we're missing out there.
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