Saturday, October 11, 2008
Chapter 8
As stated in the text, validation is the process of determining whether the goals and objectives are accepted as appropriate or “right” for the intended audience. Do you have additional goals and objectives to teach as mandated by your division and/or school? Do you feel that the goals and objectives you are required to teach are appropriate and beneficial for your students?
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With regard to content goals and objectives, we do not have additional ones mandated by either the division or school. However, we are in the first year of full implementation of Effective Schoolwide Discipline, and our school has established goals and objectives associated with that initiative. In fact, staff members have developed a curriculum specific to our students' and school's specific needs, including lesson plans and booster lessons. Although we started off the year outlining school-wide expectations for student behavior, we did not see a significant drop in office referrals for the first month of school. In fact, just the opposite occurred--a significant increase. Time to re-evaluate. I do feel our content goals and objectives are appropriate and beneficial to our students because they are able to take the skills and strategies we teach in the classroom apply them to other situations, not just regurgitate facts.
While my division does not have any additional goals to include in my content, I do have some of my own. Middle school math is an area of concern within the state, and nation in general. I have always viewed the SOLs as minimum comtempencies, and strive to go beyond these for my students. I include many instructionally different goals from the SOLs to address higher order thinking skills and real life application. These objectivies are benefical to students by helping them learn to problem solve, and particulary reason algebraically.
Beyond the content areas, the division has implemented a research-based bullying program that teaches character to the students. This will benefit them as the move throughout life and into the real world.
No, we do not have additional goals mandated by the school or county. We have worked on a bullying program and we have implemented goals and knowledge that we would like mastered by our students in a grade level sense. I think a lot of grade levels in our school work to go beyond the goals mandated by the state for student mastery.
We do not have additional goals and objectives mandated by the division. However, implementing an iep requires teaching additional goals and objectives, which are intended to bring students up to levels that their same age peers are performing on. Mastery is required before a student should move on, and evaluation is an ongoing tool is measure progress of student achievement in specified areas.
My division does not have any additional goals to include but like Anita, implementing IEP's require teaching additional goals and objectives that go beyond and sometimes before the current goals.
I am in the same division as Christy, so our school has implemented a bullying program that teaches character to the students.
Clay Moran
Our school is implementing a program called Positive Action. This program is implemented in addition to the instructional goals and objectives set forth by the Standards of Learning. Positive Action is a character education program that will enable us, as teachers, to help our students develop a postive self-concept and learn to be productive members of a community beyond our school. The goals and objectives are appropriate and beneficial to our students.
We do not have additional content goals and/or objectives to teach other than those mandated by the state. I have been concerned for sometime that many of our staff may only be teaching the minimum expectations. Several of my colleagues and I have approached our principal with the idea of developing curriculum objectives that would indeed go beyond the state mandated minimums. She is listening to us; however, our test scores are really good division wide. Our point to the principal is while the SOL scores are a wonderful reflection of the abilities of our student, we owe our students a curriculum that is much more rich and diverse and will prepare our students to succeed in this very competitive academic world.
In addition to the instructional goals and objectives set forth by the Virginia Standards of Learning, my school also implements the Olweus Bullying Prevention program. This is a bullying program that uses class meetings/discussions and role playing to help our students develop a positive self-concept and deal with problematic situations they will encounter in life. It teaches good social skills, as well as problem solving strategies. While this program does require us to utilize some “instructional” time, the goals and objective of this program are appropriate and beneficial for our students to become better citizens in the world.
We do not have any additional content goals or objectives to teach other than those that align with the Standards of Learning test. I agree with Terri on the blog where there is great concern about what we are teaching our students. I have been teaching mathematics for 14 years and I have been required to teach less material each year. I believe that we should teach what is required of us BUT we should try to include material that will challenge our students. We should also try to incorporate real life problems, problem solving skills, and technology into the classroom. For example, some teachers may choose not to use Geometer’s Sketchpad due to time constraints. I try to incorporate Geometer’s Sketchpad into each unit of study. (I do remember when I used to have time to use the technology 2 or 3 times in a unit of study) Students should not only be taught the material covered on an SOL test. In mathematics it is very easy to teach students how to pass an SOL test. The question is do they know how to pass the test (use the calculator) or do they truly understand the mathematics?
Allison mentioned that our school division implements the Olweus Bullying Prevention program. This program is required for all employees to be trained in bullying prevention. We do not use as much “instructional” time as required by the elementary/middle schools. The Bullying Prevention program’s goals and objectives are appropriate for all ages.
Anita mentioned the goals and objectives that are needed for IEPs. Our county teachers(classroom teachers and gifted resource teachers) are also required to send Differentiated Educational Plans (DEPS) for K-8 students. These are additional goals and objectives for students that are in the Talent Pool or Identified gifted. This additional planning and documentation is mandated by the county and state. Since there is no separate gifted curriculum and our county supports the inclusion model, I do think these additional goals are appropriate and definitely beneficial to the students. The gifted staff does try to support classroom teachers by providing materials and staff development training on teaching strategies. On the elementary level, teachers and gifted specialists have written math extension units to follow the math curriculum in an efort to provide more depth or extentions to the math goals and objectives. Similar materials (William & Mary, Enguinuity, Interact, etc. are available through a resource library for differentation and extension of the language arts curriculum.
I think my perspective on this is a little different becasue I am a counselor, I am not teacher. I personally do not have any goals and objectives to teach mandated by my school or division. I do not believe that teachers do not have additional goals and objectives to teach. I have to say that the SOL's are a minimum and therefore I am sure that some teachers are just teaching that.
My previous school also participated in the Olweus Bullying Prevention program. I feel that the additional goals associated with this program were definitely appropriate and beneficial for our students, and there seemed to be a high degree of teacher buy-in for the program. The major issue that we had to work through was how best to streamline the processes for reporting and contacting parents to help sustain the program. Again, because most teachers saw value in the program, they were willing to work to improve its implementation.
We do not have additional goals or objectives that are mandated by our division. The teachers in my particular content area (Foreign Language)have worked quite diligently in the past year to align our curriculum goals and objectives in order to make sure that we all agree with one another as to what is important and most beneficial for the students. We also have aligned our county curriculum with expectations from the state and national guidelines as well. At the school level we have incorporated a Bullying Prevention Program and all teachers are a part of presenting that program to the students. I do feel that all of the goals and objectives that go with that program are beneficial to the students.
We do not have additional goals and objectives that are mandated by our school division. As Anita has stated, our IEP's are a means of teaching additional goals and objectives to align with student's specific needs and academic levels. Since goals and objectives stated in an IEP are specific to the student's needs, learning styles and ability, I feel that they are appropriate and beneficial and are adjusted periodically in an ongoing effort to continue to meet the student's needs.
I do not have additional goals to teach within my content area, either. As I teach 5th grade math, I know the content is very similiar to 4th grade but very different from 6th grade. As I am teaching many concepts throughout the year, I include 6th grade standards. I don't necessarily assess students on them, but introduce and incorporate the additional standards often to hopefully allow the students to be more successful the following year.
Overall, I feel that the standards are reasonable and benefit the students in many ways presently and in the future. As Christy, I aim to link the content to "real-life" context on a daily basis and challenge them to go beyond the bare minimum as well.
I have a unique position being a specialty area teacher. Often many people don't believe our curriculum matters because it isn't tested and doesn't determine our status as a school - many people don't even consider me a teacher. However, I am very passionate about what I teach (Health and Physical Education), and try daily to share that with my students. I feel the VA SOLs I base my teaching on are very relevant and appropriate to my audience. I do strive to include concepts of other curriculum areas (math, social studies, science, language arts)to promote a well rounded education. This isn't mandated, but is strongly encouraged in today's educational environment, and I feel it does benefit the students.
Yes, but mandated is rather is a rigid word to use because in most cases these additional goals and objectives are determined at the building level and have no formal evaluation process in place to ensure that they have been taught or been taught properly. Examples of such goals and objectives are character educational, social norms (school pride, ‘green’ habits), technology skills, ect. I do believe these skills are beneficial to students as they teach the underlying/hidden curriculum of appropriate behaviors within our culture.
I teach language arts in the middle school. The goals and objectives set forth through the state SOL's are appropriate as a base line of knowledge. Neither my school nor division mandate any additional goals. But, as several others have stated, I use the SOL's as a guideline and regularly incorporate differentiation strategies that both go beyond what is required and instructional strategies to remediate and review prior knowledge.
Like Rob, I am a Health and Physical Education teacher and often viewed as “only teaching health.” The Standards of Learning are a good starting point for Health and P.E teachers however I do not feel that it is enough. Due to the surge in childhood obesity I feel that we need to do more for students. I often tell people, students included, that if the student does extremely well in the SOL classes but they only live to age thirty because of poor health choices then it was almost in vain. I feel that we should have higher standards for health and P.E., which may or may not cure the childhood obesity, but it would make students take their health more seriously.
Our district-wide pacing guides for each grade-level/content include both state mandatated standards of learning, and also appropriate vocabulary from the curriculum framework. I agree with Rosalind in that appropriate use of calculators and other resources beneficial for assessments should be an expectation in the classroom, whether district mandated, or school. I wish I were able to say that I feel that the standards of learning I am expected to provide instruction of were perfectly appropriate for all students, however, I teach resource math to seventh grade students, several of whom qualify for services under the lable of "intellectually disabled." More adaptive skills would be appropriate for such students as opposed to what they are currently being taught. BUT shouldn't they have the same opportunites as all students...not a soapbox I should step onto :)
Yes, we do have additional goals that we are required to teach. One that comes to mind is a University of Kansas sentence and paragraph writing program. Although I feel both programs are useful to students, there is not always the time available to cover both the state mandates SOLs and the co. mandated program. As a result teachers end up having to shorten lessons on one area or the other.. a difficult decision for a teacher to make and one that is not necessarily beneficial to students.
Like most that have already posted, I don't have additional goals and objectives that are mandated, but I occassionally have lessons that I have to teach that are added at some point during the year.
Three years ago, I was instructed to stop teaching what I was teaching, so that my students could participate in an essay contest. The contest was beneficial to my students because students had to write a narrative paper (which is one of my SOL's). Unfortunately, we had just written narrative essays and the assignment was repetitive and boring to some students.
Since then, I don't believe we have had to teach any specific curriculum outside of the SOL's, but I agree with others that say they have to make accomidations (IEP's, DEP's, etc...) that sometimes that would fall into the category of additional goals.
Our school, and I believe county, has implemented a "Bully free" schools curriculum. After surveying the students, teachers and parents, we found where the problem areas were located, and through curriculum and ending surveys, we found that we significantly reduced the problems in most areas of the school. We now have choosen a "Bully Free Buss" curriculum to reduce the problems found on the buses. These goals are appropriate and beneficial, as the goals were formed with the help of the students themselves.
As my fellow division teachers have mentioned, we do not have any additional curricular goals or objectives. The Bullying Prevention Program does provide additional objectives for character education and classroom teachers are required to meet certain obligations for the program's implementation.
I feel that an effective teacher, or instructional leader should have personal objectives that go above and beyond any established goals to meet the special needs of students in their care. As a classroom teacher, I like the freedom that my division has given me to include additional learning objectives. As a student in an educational leadership program, I would like to see some oversight in my division so that teachers are not locked into the state curriculum and instead are encouraged to include additional (and appropriate) goals.
My county has pacing guides to help with instructional goals. I like having the pacing guides but I do not agree with the pace that the material needs to be presented at to meet the 9 weeks testing windows. There are times that you have to leave students that are struggling with a concept and continue on to keep pace. I also believe that the state tests are not developementally appropiate. When you ask for a student to take a test that you know will take most at least hour to finish, the Reading Test is longer. How is that appropiate to a 9 year old. Studies show that the longest time adults really can focus is 20 minutes.
Our county does not expect us to teach additional goals and objectives other than what is required by the SOLs. However, our county has developed curriculum and pacing guides to aid us in teaching these standards. Our county is very good in giving us some time to reteach material and review material that students need to know in order to be successful on their SOL tests.
My school system does not require additional criteria beyond the goals and objectives of the Virginia SOLs. However, as departments and grade levels we are encouraged through regular grade group meetings to update our pacing guides and curriculum materials to include enrichment beyond the SOLs. While it is not required, we do have some material outside of the required material but it varies widely by department and grade level.
Certainly teaching the required material benefits students who will go on to higher education. However, I do not believe that most of what we teach prepares those who are not college bound for a career.
In my division we are required to participate in the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program. Even though this is a valid program I would like to see more content related initiatives. I am, within my classroom, participating in the Jason Project to help enrich my students' understanding of science. We need to ensure that our disadvantaged population does not get left behind in mathematics so I have been trying a variety of methods to reach all of the learners in my classroom. Beyond that there are no set goals or objectives for our school or division at this time.
In addition to the SOL aligned content, we teach character education through the character counts program. I feel the character counts program is a little elementary for 8th graders. However, I try to use current events to teach character education in Civics class
Our division does not have additional goals and objectives for the schools to teach. We do have programs that are implemented from time to time based on need or recomendations. I saw many posts regarding the bulling program that Montgomery Co. has implemented over the last two years. I did feel that the program was beneficial to my students and I was required to teach that. I also noticed posts about IEP's, which could qualify as additional objectives. If IEP's count as additional objectives, I guess TDP's and DEP's would fall under the same category.
We do not have additional goals for the classes tha I teach. I feel thgat the goals and objectives that I am required to teach are appropriate to my classes and to the children in them.
I teach to the SOL's in the classes that have an end of year SOL test. Otherwise, I teach what is required by the SOL written for the class, adding what might be interesting to the students.
Teaching Agriculture as I do I do not have any additional local goals/objectives. As an individual I do add some content that I see as important for my students to know as long as it related to the course.
We do not have any additional goals or objectives that are required within our division. As previously mentioned we have implemented the Olweus Bullying program which ties into character education. We have a goals and objectives in place. I beleive it is a beneficial program becasue we are not just looking at bullying but teaching kids to be more respectful of themselves and others.
As most have stated, we do not have additional goals or objectives that we are required to teach. Being in special education, the requirement of students with cognitive disabilities to reach the same level of mastery of standardized testing, I feel, is both inappropriate and not beneficial to the student's confidence. I am pleased that students with a learning disabilities are included in testing, but I do not feel that the same passing rates should apply.
MCPS does not have additional goals that are mandated. Schools have individual programs that incorporate anti-bullying, character programs, or D.A.R.E. This year Career and Technical Education and the Technology Department are working on a keyboarding goal. The goal is that all fourth graders learn to keyboard. This will hopefully take the burden of bad typing habits off of the middle school teachers, so students can them focus on applications.
In the school I used to teach in, we had to cover Character Education and Conflict Resolution as part of our curriculum. My school was "chosen" to participate in this based on the number of office referrals and the overall climate of the school (needing character education). I think the role playing, especially if it begins early in school, gives students the necessary tools they need when faced with a real life situation. Students don't come from home knowing how to navigate around others that are different from them and the open dialogue can make all the difference when they are put into a situation they don't feel comfortable in. I didn't have a problem teaching these additional things as they benefited the students.
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