C4T Assignment

Teaching Matters Blog

After reading the blog found on the Teaching Matters Blog. I became very interested on how to teach our students to be "relevant in society". This particular teacher’s way of expanding his student's knowledge is to help them create opportunities to participate in political and social events to voice the student's opinions on current issues within our society. Many Social Studies teachers embark on a journey known as "Teaching Matters - Voices and Choices program.” This particular program teaches the students to become involved with movements in society such as the Civil Rights issues. This is a fabulous program for students as it expands educational growth and gives students knowledge to shed light on current events in our global world. This philosophy from which I gathered was a hands-on experience for students to learn by a project-based environment. This program also uses the Common Core Standards, and has recently been found to be a successful resource. The program even had the opportunity in launching personal careers for student's future. This six week movement in which social studies students take part in, provides students with the ability to view past historical evidence, and vital historical legislation pieces. I believe this particular outlet for students is a wonderful way to encourage our students to be more aware of not only the importance of the past but also to prepare our students voices to be heard on current issues of today.

I later went back onto the teaching matters blog site and read a more recent article that perked my interest, which can be viewed at the Teachers Matters Blog. This post regards to the new assessments that have been set into place in New York schools. These "new assessments" have disputed a lot of insecurity, because while the testing has been changed, the curriculum in which teachers are currently using has not. These changes have scared educators in fear that they may not be able to reach the new adaptations and/or requirements in which these tests evaluate. There are several tips in which the author suggest will help create a recipe for success. One of the tips provided by the author is to use informational data to assess and/or identify learning challenges. I agree, this is a major importance in the classroom to know which students may face learning issues which could present stumbling blocks in teaching the lesson. Fortunately, addressing the situation before hand will help the teacher create lessons to help meet all the needs of his/her students. In order to achieve success as a school, it is important that all faculty and staff can manage to support each other and work as a team. This provides an open line of communication for teacher’s to work together in efforts to serve students in a successful way. Rather than merely applying pressure to the teacher's, the principal and school boards should provide their educators with resources to provide students with the capability of learning. Our education system is lacking a stimulating curriculum for students. I would love our students to have more engaging activities, and project-based learning for the strings to success. Every teacher must have a vision for each child to be given an equal opportunity of success and the privilege of learning.