This blog is specifically designed to address issues in secondary education in general, with a particular focus on RI Social Studies. A major focus of mine is the loss of content breadth in Social Studies courses which has resulted from the well meaning reforms of the past decade. You'll find this article in the Depth vs Breadth section. See list on the right.
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1) Find Blog Archive in the right hand column. Click on a particular month and then find a topic you're interested in. Another option is to find "Labels" in the right hand column. (Ex: Homework) Click on the label you're interested in and you'll have choice of posts on that topic appear in the middle column of the Blog. 2) Go to the end of the post where you'll find the word "comments" (or No Comments) highlighted. Click on this. 3) You'll then see a space to "enter your comment." At the bottom of that "page" you'll find a pull down menu asking you to "Comment as." You can pick Name/URL. If you pick Name/URL, then insert your name (or initials) and ignore the URL space. You'll note that most of the comments are submitted by contributors using their initials. This is because almost all of the current contributors are students in a course I teach at Salve.
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Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Content coverage now vis-a-vis ten years ago: Open Forum # 1
I think all HS Social Studies teachers would agree that they cover less material now than they did 5, 10 or 20 years ago, but how much less? Submit a post which conveys your comparative coverage, and include your thoughts about that.
We have been relatively free in our school district to make our own decisions about content coverage. This has left me essentially free to set my own content policies as I see fit.
On the whole, the content coverage for classes that I have taught for close to 20 years has not changed significantly. But I have to say that the content my students have actually learned over the last 5-10 years has notably declined. In my classes, the issue is less content coverage, more content mastery.
The factor that troubles me the most about this reality is that declining content mastery seems to go hand-in-hand with declining literacy and word power. Our students today cannot read as well or as patiently as students of the previous generation.
Each September, I administer Cloze tests from our textbooks to all my students. The Cloze is a semi-formal, easily administered assessment of reading power. The results provide the teacher with an early indication of the individual students who are verbally strong and weak, as well as a class average to help determine the appropriateness of the text and other materials for the group as a whole.
Average Cloze results in my classes have declined 8 of the last ten years. On average, the reading skills of my classes are down seven months over the last ten years. That is approximately ¾ of one academic year.
Another change worth noting is the increase in extra-help time and the quality of our discussions during extra-help sessions. Today, we spend far more time reviewing passages from readings as compared with years ago. Often, students do not comprehend terms or some of the basic vocabulary or expressions that are used in the readings. Other times, just getting students to slow down a bit and reflect on one paragraph for a moment before rushing into the next produces results.
If the students struggle reading the materials, it’s not the volume or the complexity of content that causes problems…it’s basically a language deficit. And sluggish language skills produce sluggish content mastery.
I teach primarily US History in Georgia, and I must admit that I teach much less history content these days than I did 15 years ago, let's say. Indeed, I do have concerns about not getting to the last fifth of the text in any comprehensive manner. Typically, towards the end of the year, I have students do presentations on topics related to the 1960s on. The presentations certainly vary in quality, and the audience learns much more about certain topics than others. However, all the students benefit from the experience of speaking in front of the class. In recent years, I have focused a lot more time on helping students do research, read effectively, write papers and work with primary documents. I believe these are all very important skills, and I think we're on the right track prioritizing skills. These skills are sadly missing in so many of our students, as was said by the previous commenter, Mr. Welsh.
I definitely agree that there are important historical content pieces that all HS students should learn, and the Common Core does address some of these. For example, the Common Core Reading Standards stipulate that grade 11-12 students should be able to "analyze seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes and rhetorical features." However, the Common Core Standards are realistic in how much historical content can be expected.
One more thing: isn't it more important that we teach our students skills, as well as the ability to think, than it is to fill them up with so much specific information, that they will soon forget. In actual fact, couldn't it be argued that the student can find any information he or she wants from the internet?
Oops, there's the bell - got to get to my next class.
Hope you yanks don't mind an outsider commenting on your RI issues!
We have been relatively free in our school district to make our own decisions about content coverage. This has left me essentially free to set my own content policies as I see fit.
ReplyDeleteOn the whole, the content coverage for classes that I have taught for close to 20 years has not changed significantly. But I have to say that the content my students have actually learned over the last 5-10 years has notably declined. In my classes, the issue is less content coverage, more content mastery.
The factor that troubles me the most about this reality is that declining content mastery seems to go hand-in-hand with declining literacy and word power. Our students today cannot read as well or as patiently as students of the previous generation.
Each September, I administer Cloze tests from our textbooks to all my students. The Cloze is a semi-formal, easily administered assessment of reading power. The results provide the teacher with an early indication of the individual students who are verbally strong and weak, as well as a class average to help determine the appropriateness of the text and other materials for the group as a whole.
Average Cloze results in my classes have declined 8 of the last ten years. On average, the reading skills of my classes are down seven months over the last ten years. That is approximately ¾ of one academic year.
Another change worth noting is the increase in extra-help time and the quality of our discussions during extra-help sessions. Today, we spend far more time reviewing passages from readings as compared with years ago. Often, students do not comprehend terms or some of the basic vocabulary or expressions that are used in the readings. Other times, just getting students to slow down a bit and reflect on one paragraph for a moment before rushing into the next produces results.
If the students struggle reading the materials, it’s not the volume or the complexity of content that causes problems…it’s basically a language deficit. And sluggish language skills produce sluggish content mastery.
Ted Welsh
Norwalk High School (recently retired)
I teach primarily US History in Georgia, and I must admit that I teach much less history content these days than I did 15 years ago, let's say. Indeed, I do have concerns about not getting to the last fifth of the text in any comprehensive manner. Typically, towards the end of the year, I have students do presentations on topics related to the 1960s on. The presentations certainly vary in quality, and the audience learns much more about certain topics than others. However, all the students benefit from the experience of speaking in front of the class. In recent years, I have focused a lot more time on helping students do research, read effectively, write papers and work with primary documents. I believe these are all very important skills, and I think we're on the right track prioritizing skills. These skills are sadly missing in so many of our students, as was said by the previous commenter, Mr. Welsh.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that there are important historical content pieces that all HS students should learn, and the Common Core does address some of these. For example, the Common Core Reading Standards stipulate that grade 11-12 students should be able to "analyze seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth century foundational U.S. documents of historical and literary significance (including The Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address) for their themes, purposes and rhetorical features." However, the Common Core Standards are realistic in how much historical content can be expected.
One more thing: isn't it more important that we teach our students skills, as well as the ability to think, than it is to fill them up with so much specific information, that they will soon forget. In actual fact, couldn't it be argued that the student can find any information he or she wants from the internet?
Oops, there's the bell - got to get to my next class.
Hope you yanks don't mind an outsider commenting on your RI issues!