While No Child Left Behind seems like a good plan of action for todays teachers and students, the reality is, is that this plan is really not a plan at all. While the plan itself has a great name, No Child Left Behind, that everybody would like to see happen, the plan has been a big flop and a hinderance to the education of many students. Of course, as well all already know, especially as future teachers, it has seemed that the hatred of NCLB has been ingrained into our minds. While NCLB was intended to have all students prosper in the classrooms, it has stifled the learning of many, most of which are the students who are not "mainstream" students, thus putting them at a greater disadvantage at getting ahead in society. Because teachers have to have their students meet certain standards, or achieve high on standardized tests, teachers are limited in their ability to create lessons that accomodate all students or spend an adequate amount of time teaching students the content that is important to success in school and in life. One area in particular is that of Language Arts. I feel like teachers must race through the curriculum in order to meet the benchmarks and to "teach" the students what they must know for these tests. What happens in the process is that students do get left behind, and in the long run the schools must pay for this by not receiving the aid that they need in order to provide students with a better education. The students that really concern me are those that are learning English as a second language. These students, and others as well, may need more time to learn how to read and write in a second language, or in a language that they are already fluent in, than the time restricted NCLB Act allows. For most students, the process of learning how to read and write will begin with phonics and learning the relationship between written and spoken langauge, or the letter sound correspondence. For students who come to the U.S. and enter third grade, for example, or higher, have already missed out on the opportunity to learn how to read and write English through phonics, which is usually taught in kindergarten through second grade. What are teachers to do about these students? The teachers cannot slow down the pace of the whole class or else the majority of students will not learn enough to do well on standardized tests, yet at the same time, they must slow down in order to accomodate those who are learning at a slower pace. What results is an attempt to educate students at a pace that is unreasonably fast and an education system that fails many students. Overall, the NCLB Act influences Language Arts, as well as all other subject matters, in a way that is unacceptable. If students do not learn how to read and write, how will they succeed outside of school? The answer is that they probably won't.
On the brighter side, I really enjoyed going to Mrs. Sturk's class on Monday and getting the opportunity to see a book club in action. I think, that as a teacher I will frequently implement book club style teaching of literature. I really had fun seeing and being part of the book club. In my group, there was a girl who had recently moved to the U.S. I think that she moved to the U.S. on Jan. 8th of this year. From what I saw, she does not know English very well, but she knows enough to get by. I think the book club will be very beneficial to her. Not only will she learn English through reading the book, she will hear Enlgish often from the peers in her group, and she will learn how English can be interpreted in many ways as her group talks about the many meanings of the books that they discuss. Overall, I do not see any downside of doing bookclubs. When students are paired together, they are sure to learn something new. Each student has his or her own ideas, ways of speaking, and ways of interpreting the things that they read. I think that each student in the classroom will become more knowledgeable about literature and language in general as they have discusions with their peers as well as the teacher.
Until Next Time,
*Lisa*
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Lisa touches on a great point that I completely left out of my post- I think that it is such a disadvantage to teachers and students who can only teach certain things and lesson plans that accommodate all students- I know that all plans should accommodate all students, however, I feel like advanced or even mainstream students are not excelling like they could be. I also think that the other kids in the class are getting left behind too, since the teacher is going through the material so quickly in order to meet the benchmarks. In my post I discussed the idea of NCLB and how it affects language arts directly – I wasn’t really thinking about it the same way that Lisa did~ I feel that she was thinking about it more realistically while I was thinking more about the idea of it. Overall, it seems that we both agree that NCLB is just an idea in the sense that it is so hard to implement and it seems like nobody wins. I am not really sure how I really feel about NCLB, because I like the idea of every student getting an educational opportunity, it just doesn’t seem to be working out, but I don’t think we should throw the entire thing out the window…. I go back and forth, which is why my post might be confusing (since I’m still confused!).
Although I was sick and couldn’t go on Monday, I am looking forward to going to the make up and seeing an actual elementary school book club in action. I love the idea of book clubs for many reasons- not only because I love reading, but also because it is a great way for students to interact in a positive way. I also think it opens the door for students to share their own ideas, regardless if they are different or not. Having a book club could also build classroom community because students could share personal stories that somehow relate to the book- this builds community because it builds a trusting relationship among the students.
-nicki lendo
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