The class's view of the promising futures proposal had a few consistencies among the members of our class. For example, all of the students in the class see the need for changing our classes and agree that many of the practices proposed by promising futures are practices that would be beneficial for our classrooms. The main point that students found important about the promising futures model is that all students are given more of a voice within the school and we agree that students need to have their voices present. Some of the other elements of promising futures that our class liked were requirement for sufficient time and resources for teachers and the reduction of student loads. Megan pointed out that reducing the average number of students that a teacher has from 120 to 80 will greatly help the teachers produce more in depth relationship with their students. Some of the members of the class were skeptical about the proposal. That is not to say that they disliked the principals which promising futures attempts to create but rather that some members of the class fail to see how Promising Futures will change the state of schools in our state. I found the feeling of unease about promising futures was best summed up by Samantha when she said "I didn’t read this as the ground breaking movement it seems like it was meant to be, but as a booklet stating the obvious of what we need to do for our students to succeed. Obviously teachers need to respect and understand their student, obviously students need to be engaged on several levels and be an integral part of determining their own educations. What this booklet lacks however, is how they intend on carrying out these goals. I don’t think administrators and teachers start the day wondering how they cannot respect their students at this moment." My belief was that the principals were left open so that schools could have some flexibility to create their own ways to create this environment. The problem, however, is that I, like Samantha, feel that schools are trying to do all the things described in promising futures even before the proposal was created. So what is the difference that is going to be made by this little booklet?
http://www.ccsso.org/content/pdfs/DukeAlbanese_FridayPlenary_handout1.pdf
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
I think it's interesting, and a little ironic, that you arrive at the conclusion that we're collectively working towards this model anyway. The reason it sounds like a good idea is because it's one we already want to implement! What a racket!
In other news, you brought things together nicely, but the links were a touch bland. Could've gone farther with the reflective synthesis.
I think the Promising Futures schools are definitely a good idea, but I agree with what you cited Sam saying. The principles these schools follow should be basic principles we follow in all schools around the country.
I think that the link was useful with providing the background of how promising futures started and the purpose behind it. I think that the idea behind promising futures is very positive. It is just a matter of actually improving schools. We have all these great ideas, but no one ever seems to be very successful.
Post a Comment