Friday, March 11, 2016

Marching along!

 Our inquiry group is delving into the topic of closing the achievement gap.  As we all know, this is a huge issue that can only be achieved through ending poverty.  I recently read an article by Paul C. Gorski titled: Building a Pedagogy of Engagement for Students in Poverty in which he reiterated that idea when he said, "The only surefire way to eliminate the achievement gap is to eradicate poverty.  Since that's not going to happen anytime soon, educators can still take many research-proven steps to foster equality of opportunity in education."

Paul Gorski outlined the following research based steps that we as teachers and staff can follow to nurture equality in education.

  • express high expectations through higher order, engaging pedagogies
  • enhance family involvement
  • incorporate arts into instruction
  • incorporate movement into instruction
  • focus intently on student and family strengths
  • analyze materials for class bias
  • promote literacy enjoyment
  • reach out to families early and often
As I reflect on these steps, I'm wondering:
  • Am I doing a good job at these?
  • Is our school doing a good job at these?
  • What can we do as teachers and a staff to grow?
  • How can we (myself and our community) do a better job?

3 comments:

  1. This is such a huge and stressing issue. As teachers it is our job to do this but it can be so hard and stressful. I can't wait to hear what your group has to share during our inquiry share day.

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  2. I love your questions. I know our entire group has been grappling with this inquiry topic as we have moved through the year. As we learn together so much of what we already know is confirmed...That being said, how can we change the problems we know need to be addressed....

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  3. These are really thought provoking questions that are really good for us all as a staff to ponder. I do feel like we do some of these really well. For example, many of our students love to read. Even if students come to school anxious to read, I still think as a staff we do a good job instilling the love of reading. Although, I feel like I could get better at a lot of these. I could do a way better job incorporating families and inviting them into the classroom. These are the questions I'll ponder when I'm up at night. ;)

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