Awareness of Gender Equity

I thought that the presenters today did great! They clearly put a lot of work into researching their topic of “Gender in the Classroom” and did a great job of conveying their knowledge. They did a great job of increasing my awareness of gender creation and solidification in the classroom. This is something that teachers should definitely be made aware of because a lot of the time the teacher’s actions are done unconsciously. It was great that this presentation made me aware of all of the ways that I was encouraging or discouraging gender equity in my own teaching experience.

One of the issues that they discussed was how teachers unconsciously pay more attention to the boys in their class than the girls. I definitely noticed this in my PS II; however, I was consciously doing it to an extent. In my grade nine class of 50 students, seven students had Individual Program Plans (IPP), all of which were boys. In addition, I had three Knowledge and Employability (K & E) students. Again, all three were boys. That being said, it was my job to provide more attention to these students and to check more often for their understanding. In addition, during times when we were working on assignments, the girls more often would ask me questions to see if they were going in the right direction while the boys did not. Thus, I would often check in with all groups anyway. Perhaps these reasons may skew the results a little bit, although, I consciously tried to treat everyone the same overall.

Perhaps I am just being optimistic but I don’t think that gender equity is quite as big of an issue as it was when we entered school. There are so many women who have jobs now and I am sure that young students recognize that. I also think that there is a lot of literature available that has both male and female protagonists. Although gender equity should be considered, I also feel as thought it can go too far in the other direction by focusing all of our attention on making everything equal when we should be focused on student interests. In or society, it is often frowned upon for a woman to stay at home, relying on her husband to make the money. Don’t get me wrong, I am very happy that I am able to go to school, get a degree, and have a career in education but I would also love to stay home and be with my [future] kids and watch them grow up. That is just not as likely to happen nowadays and it is not something that women are encouraged to do. But is it so wrong?

As a future teacher, I would like to think I can change the world. However, with regards to gender roles, it is very hard for us to change the interests and values in our students. Until children start living at school, the parents still have a big influence in their lives and will learn gender roles from them. In addition, as our presenters showed us, students are exposed to many gender stereotypes in the media. Making students aware of gender equity may help them understand it better.

Students should all be treated as individuals and should be encouraged to pursue their unique interests whether they follow gender stereotypes or not. If a girl is interested in reading books about princesses and a boy is interested in reading books about cars, they should not be discouraged (this would work the other way of course). We should have many opportunities available to both boys and girls and we should not push them in any specific direction. We should help them understand that they have many opportunities and that they should make the choices that best appeal to them.

Multiple Choice Math & Science - Whose interest does this serve?

Discussing how the economy controls education got me thinking about the decision to cut all of the written components from the math and science grade 12 diplomas in Alberta. These exams now rely exclusively on multiple choice questions. (I know it was a long time ago that this was brought up in class but I didn’t get a chance to make a comment about it).

First of all, this would really freak me out as a student. I really don’t like multiple choice questions - for math in particular. Basically, if you make one small mistake in a calculation, you get the entire question wrong. You get no recognition for using the correct formula or process. Also, the detractors are often answers the student would arrive at if he/she made a common mistake. When they see that that answer is an option, they choose it automatically (this was basically me in my intro Stats class at U of A … sidebar). This type of exam will hardly show accurate knowledge or problem solving skills of students. This change does not seem fair to students and does not serve their interests in the least. So, whose interest it is serving?

According to an article in the Edmonton Journal, Alberta spends about $12 million on diploma exams each year. This cut will “save” the province about $1.5 million. Because only multiple choice questions are used, the answers can be scanned instead of being marked individually by teachers – saving a lot of time and money. I would understand wanting to save money and save teachers having to mark exams endlessly if the exams still allowed students to showcase process knowledge. In addition, this change seems to contradict the new math curriculum in Alberta. I have had a little bit of experience with the new curriculum. I attended a professional development course on the new grade 2 math curriculum during my PSI. It seemed to me that the new program focused on process, reasoning, problem solving, and visualization. It was more important how they arrived at an answer, than if they got the correct answer. Communicating how students arrived at an answer is very important.

Because there are two sides to every argument, I think it is important to talk about some pros that have been expressed. According to Education Minister Dave Hancock, assessment of the diplomas showed that students scored “much the same” on the written portion as on the multiple choice section. In addition, it will shorten the exam period by two and a half days, will give more time for teaching in the classroom, and will reduce test anxiety. Also, the exam is still only worth half of the final mark, so process and problem solving skills can be assessed in the classroom (CBC News, September 18, 2009).

Just as I would argue that how a student arrived at an answer is important, I would also argue that once out in the real world working on an engineering project for example, the correct answer does matter. Both are important. However, I would question whether or not this change will result in changes in teaching methods. Often we hear of teachers only “teaching to the exam.”

This change has definitely been a topic for discussion for many teachers, parents, and administrators. I will be interested to see how it plays out.

Reference:

CBC News. (September 18, 2009). Alberta math, science exams to be multiple choice. Retrieved from http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/09/18/calgary-exams-alberta-multiple-choice.html

O’Donnell, Sarah. (September 16, 2009). Diploma exams go multiple choice: No more long-answer segment for Grade 12 math, science tests. Edmonton Journal. Retrieved from http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/Diploma+exams+multiple+choice/
1999290/story.html

Four Models of Education

The “Four Models of Education” that we discussed in class include the Enlightenment Model, the Human Capital Model, the Manpower Model, and the Consumerism Model.

The Enlightenment model was prominent in the 1950s. Within this model, education is seen as learning for the sake of learning. Basically from this view, the more education a person receives, the better person they are. They become cultured members of society.

The next shift led to the Human Capital model which was dominant from the 1950s to the later 1970s/early 1980s. In the 1950s, economists changed their view of education from “consumption” to “investment.” Education would increase personal capital and so education would be an investment. From this view, education would be used to fix social problems. If everyone is educated, then everyone is equal. Because education was seen as an economic priority, the school system experienced massive expansion. So how did this expansion affect teachers? This model basically led to improved salaries and social prestige but, on the other hand, teachers (and school systems in general) were expected to solve social and economic problems. The reason why this model was subject to criticisms is the fact that positions were not available to all educated people equally. In addition, if more people were able to be educated, there would be an oversupply of over-trained individuals.

It is interesting to think about the amount of money that was spent to expand the school system. At this time, teachers were paid more and were given money to enrich their classrooms. That is definitely not the trend currently. Teachers often have to use their own money to purchase supplies for the classroom. It is not seen as an investment anymore to put loads of money into schools and towards teachers’ salaries.

The next model to emerge was the Manpower Model which has been dominant since the early 1980s. The purpose of education is for directed economic development. An investment in education was still an investment in the economy; however, only those areas that demonstrated a need for graduates would be invested in. For example, during this time, the importance of the arts began to decline. The curriculum was determined by government planners and society’s needs were seen as more important than the students’ needs. Teacher salaries also decreased.

As a companion to the Manpower model, the Consumerism Model also emerged in the early 1980s. Both models are current. From this view, education was only invested in if it would demonstrate an economic return. Any aspect of education than would not demonstrate economic return became privatized.

Education currently seems to be entirely controlled by money. The interests of the economy are put ahead of the needs and interests of the students (and teachers). This doesn’t really seem right to me at all (On the other hand, having an oversupply of overly education people would not yield the best results either). It is unfortunate that areas of education, such as the arts, are not considered important and are not as often invested in. In order to receive the funding, the importance of the subject/project to the economy must be proven. The importance to the students is not a factor. In addition, the program to be certified as a teacher became extended greatly to reduce the number of teachers looking for jobs due to an oversupply of teachers.

This new information made me wonder what the next shift in education will lead to and what implications it will have for me as a future teacher.

In it for the money ... ?

Today’s class discussion really got me thinking about my “investment” in my education. After being in school for five years, money is always an issue. Because I am putting so much time and money into my education, I’ve started to question if it is worth it. In class we discussed how much exactly is invested in our education. Cost of tuition, cost of books, rent and other expenses such as food, internet, and phone, plus the amount of money we would be making if working full time – it all adds up really quickly. Multiply that by 5 years. It’s crazy to think about. In addition, there is no guarantee that there will be a job waiting for me in the location I want when I complete my degree. I’m going to need to work for a while to make up everything I have invested. Thus putting off other plans I have for my future such as having a family. Am I really going to be a better teacher because I went to school for 5 years instead of 1?

A first year teaching salary is not exactly amazing. At the same time, am I going to have to start paying expenses out of my own pocket to provide quality educational materials for those students in my classroom because funding gets cut? Let’s face it, the amount of time and money invested in our education is hardly reflected in our pay. So why do we do it? Hopefully the answer for most is because we love to teach, we want to make a difference, we find the field interesting, or we want to use it as a means to a different end. It’s interesting that we go to school just as long as pharmacists and make less than half what they do in the first year of work. In addition, they are able to sign contracts with a pharmacy to guarantee a position and often receive bursaries to pay for some of their education. I know that this is a very very important job but is it THAT much more important than teaching? Why is it that schools don’t invest in their educators’ education? Educators are not getting the funding and recognition they greatly deserve.

Luckily for me I love children and I love to teach. It will all hopefully be worth it when I am finished. It is more valuable to me to enjoy going to work and make a difference than it is to have a lot of money. Still, the discussion is a little depressing (did Robert mention that this class would be depressing?? I don’t remember). Well, everyone should read this speech and hopefully it will brighten your day! Check out the youtube video as well – it makes me laugh.

What Teachers Make by Taylor Mali
www.taylormali.com

He says the problem with teachers is,
"What's a kid going to learn
from someone who decided his best option in life
was to become a teacher?"
He reminds the other dinner guests that it's true
what they say about teachers:
Those who can, do; those who can't, teach.

I decide to bite my tongue instead of his
and resist the temptation to remind the other dinner guests
that it's also true what they say about lawyers.

Because we're eating, after all, and this is polite company.

"I mean, you're a teacher, Taylor," he says.
"Be honest. What do you make?"

And I wish he hadn't done that
(asked me to be honest)
because, you see, I have a policy
about honesty and ass-kicking:
if you ask for it, I have to let you have it.

You want to know what I make?

I make kids work harder than they ever thought they could.
I can make a C+ feel like a Congressional medal of honor
and an A- feel like a slap in the face.
How dare you waste my time
with anything less than your very best.

I make kids sit through 40 minutes of study hall
in absolute silence. No, you may not work in groups.
No, you may not ask a question.
Why won't I let you get a drink of water?
Because you're not thirsty, you're bored, that's why.
I make parents tremble in fear when I call home:
I hope I haven't called at a bad time,
I just wanted to talk to you about something Billy said today.
Billy said, "Leave the kid alone. I still cry sometimes, don't you?"
And it was the noblest act of courage I have ever seen.
I make parents see their children for who they are
and what they can be.
You want to know what I make?

I make kids wonder,
I make them question.
I make them criticize.
I make them apologize and mean it.
I make them write, write, write.
And then I make them read.
I make them spell definitely beautiful, definitely beautiful,
definitely beautiful
over and over and over again until they will never misspell
either one of those words again.
I make them show all their work in math.
And hide it on their final drafts in English.
I make them understand that if you got this (brains)
then you follow this (heart),
and if someone ever tries to judge you
by what you make, you give them this (the finger).

Let me break it down for you, so you know what I say is true:
I make a difference! What about you?

Conflicting Paradigms - Research Methods in the Social Sciences

Positivism vs. Post-Positivism

In class, we learned that Positivism is “a system of philosophy that excludes everything from consideration except natural phenomenon and their interrelationships.” There is also a verifiability principle which means that all results obtained can potentially be tested for their validity. Positivists use statistical methods to analyze data and conduct research using a large sample population from which results can be generalized. Studies are objective and quantitative, and rely on scientific methods. Functionalists usually rely on positivism. Just as functionalism has been recently rejected, so has positivism.

Within the field of Social Science, there are many limitations to this type of research. One of the most obvious limitations is the fact that humans and society are very complex and it is hard to reduce the human experience to variables. There would be too many. Also, it is very hard to generalize data because there are so many individual differences between different members of society. It is also difficult to control the research and nearly impossible to replicate some events to attempt to generalize and verify certain phenomena.

Instead, we might look to Post-Positivism which includes more qualitative research such as Naturalistic Inquiry and Ethnographic Research. Naturalistic inquiry basically rejects positivism by rejecting causality, statistical analysis, prediction, deduction, absolutes, and the forcing of social phenomena into variables. Naturalistic inquiry is qualitative, carried out in a natural setting, purposive as opposed to random sampling, and involves the subjects being observed. When conducting ethnographic research, the observer uses continuous observation to record everything that occurs in the setting under study. Research is also contextualized.

At first, I thought this qualitative method of research made the most sense and didn’t see a problem with it. After all, one of my main peeves about sociology is that is seems like everyone is trying to generalize everything and determine how all of society functions when in actuality you can’t put society in a box and research and findings should be based on context (in my opinion, there are always exceptions). Apart from being contextualized, this type of research offers data that is based on observation, hopefully providing a complete picture. That is why I liked this method. However, some disadvantages were presented. These included observer biases, difficulty in recording absolutely everything that is observed, long hours, costly studies, requirement of highly polished language skills, difficulty in quantifying and interpreting field notes, and potential role conflicts on the part of the observer.

After considering all of the advantages and limitations of both paradigms, I would agree that both can be valuable and one may not necessarily be better than the other. Specific studies may require one or the other, or both methods. Also, it is definitely an asset to understand these advantages and limitations when reviewing research. All types of research can be put together to provide us with an accurate conclusion.

Research Tools!

Over the last week of classes we were exposed to many different online sources and learned how to use them to our advantage. Although I am very familiar with journal databases, there was definitely a handful of really useful things I learned! I also found it interesting that only half of the class had been involved in a session such as this one. Throughout my university career, I believe I have taken 5 of them. I feel that this is something that is so important but it is also important to make sure everyone is on the same page. I think that sessions such as this should be required in first year university. In fact, why not start in high school? After completing my PS II, it was amazing to see how poor my Grade 9 class’s research skills were. In addition, I think that determining whether or not a source is reliable and accurate is even more important than learning to use databases. I know a few individuals at the university who were caught either using inaccurate sources or plagiarizing. The weird thing was it that they didn’t even realize it or understand why it was a bad thing. That just sounded crazy to me and so it is apparent how sessions such as these can be vital to success in university.

One of my favorite new references to use is Credo Reference. With this resource, you can do a basic search or an advanced search of any topic you wish to research. It offers dictionary and encyclopedia information. You can also choose how to organize your results. One component of this tool that is really cool is the concept map option. Instead of listing results, a concept map of all sub topics is created. This source is very valuable. However, there is an obvious limitation. We are only able to use it because we are U of L students and the U of L is registered to use it. I think that this would be a great tool to expose high school students to but it would only be available to them if the school has a subscription. It would be great to encourage students to use this source instead of Wikipedia or dictionary.com.

Fortunately, we also went over how to use sources online that are available to everyone. For example, when searching topics in Google, everything under the sun can come up. However, using tools such as Google Scholar allows the user to know that the results they are getting are reliable. In addition, if you like the visualization option available with Credo Reference, you can use a search engine called Kartoo. Using this resource allows you to organize your information in a web and allows you to refine your topic visually.

One source that I thought was really interesting was the Way Back Machine. This tool allows you to look at archives of a website that are no longer available on the current site. This can be very valuable. However, when I tried to use it, it would not allow me to set my search any later than 2005. This would not be useful for sites that change monthly. However, I do not have a lot of experience using this tool so I’m sure I am missing something.

Having sessions such as this is very important and topics discussed should definitely be address to secondary students. I wish I knew about all of these earlier in my academic career!

Structure & Governance – Centralized versus Decentralized

I found it really interesting to read about Canada’s system of education in the text. Although I already knew a lot of this information, I also never really considered it before. Canada’s system of education is highly decentralized at a national level but is centralized within each province and territory. This means that each province/territory controls its own education system. On a federal level, the government deals with such issues as the equalization of funding between the provinces/territories (Barakett & Cleghorn, 2008, p. 19).

Even though Canada’s system is decentralized and each province has a separate system of education, according to Barakett and Cleghorn (2008), they are remarkably similar (p. 18). One possible reason for this is to allow students to move around Canada without being behind or ahead of their classmates. In other words, most provinces agree on what a child should learn by each grade level. If a child were to move from another country however, they may be significantly behind or ahead of their peers.

The unique structure of the education system in Canada has some advantages and disadvantages in my mind. First of all, I think that is it good that each province/territory is in charge of its own system of education. The ministry of education of each system in Canada can determine what is important in their education system and can focus on issues that are significant to their area. On the other hand, one area that surprised me was the teaching time spent in schools. Because our system is decentralized on a large scale, the amount of time spent teaching varies greatly from province to province. Specifically, Ontario is considerably lower than other provinces at ~3.75 hours per day. This is just one example of the difference between provinces.

Because I went to school in Saskatchewan and now am doing my post-secondary in Alberta, I notice a lot of differences between our school systems – especially being in the education faculty. I will admit that I really didn’t know what diploma exams and provincial achievement tests were all about until I moved here. A lot of Alberta students don’t realize this but in Saskatchewan we don’t have to do those. As a teacher in Saskatchewan, you can achieve a type of certification that allows you to write your own finals. Therefore, every final exam I wrote in high school was written by my teacher. When I found out that in Alberta you had to write a standardized test worth 50% of your mark in grade 12, I thought it sounded ridiculous – no offense Alberta! After I got into the education faculty, it seemed as though that was all anyone talked about. It seems like such a huge issue here, whereas in Saskatchewan it isn’t. I find that really interesting because we are right beside each other! That is yet another example of a difference.

Is it a good idea to allow these differences between provinces or should we be more centralized across the country?

Comparing Theories – Functionalist, Conflict, & Interactionist

We have spent the last few classes focused on discussing and comparing various sociological theories. Since I have already discussed functionalism in some detail, this post will focus on conflict theorists and interactionist theories. To be honest, I was wondering what the significance in learning all of these theories was to studying education, but I understand now how important it is to understand these theories so that I am able to relate back to them when discussing the education system.

One of the most important aspects of conflict theorists that I took away was the idea that all institutions are controlled by and benefit the dominant class. Your social class is determined by your relationship to the “means of production” – basically your power. Conflict theorists seek the answers to questions that address whose interests institutions serve. According to conflict theories, the dominate ideas in society are those of the dominate class and one role of the school system is to transmit the ideology of this dominate class. In addition, schools train students for their already determined place in the economy. That is, those working class children will be streamed into shop class while their elite counterparts will be streamed into more academic courses. After reading Eric’s blog post - The Role of Schools and Education (Marxist/conflict theorist point of view) - I completely related to what he was saying about his experience in school. It is clear that this theory is not without flaws but sometimes this is the case. In the high school I went to, it seemed that many of the “lower status” (or working class) individuals were not encouraged to go to university and it was the role of the school to determine what job they should go for after high school and how to prepare them for it. According to this theory it is not our role as teacher to provide knowledge but to instill the “right” attitudes and lead them to their predestined roles. (Side note: I also hope that my degree gets me more that just credentials.)

While functionalists ask “How does it work?” and conflict theorists ask “Whose interest does this serve?”, interactionists ask “What does it mean?” For interactionist theories, according to Joyce Barakett and Ailie Cleghorn (Sociology of Education, 2008), “the task is to understand how structural variables become incorporated into the individual’s perceptions and interpretations of social action and how he or she acts on the basis of these” (p. 39). Within these theories, underlying assumptions and hidden meanings are addressed. In addition, it is explained how our perceptions of problems and what is in reality the problem have little to no connection. I think that this will be interesting when discussing the issues of education.

Now that we have some information about sociological theories under our belts, I am looking forward to discussing how these theories relate to education.

Barakett, J. & Cleghorn, A. (2008) Sociology of Education: an Introductory View from Canada. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada. p. 39-41.

Admission to the Faculty

I just finished reading and commenting on a colleague's blog! I'd like to hear more comments on this topic. Here's the link:

Faculty of Education Admission Requirements On Trial
http://thesociologyofeducation.blogspot.com/2009/09/faculty-of-education-admission.html