ImportantEducational management Changes in the Last 5 Decades

There are many studies and reflections on the future of education in Asia and the Pacific. These raise crucial ideas that might be utilized as building blocks for developing alternative regional future scenarios for education. These depend on the economic, political and socio-cultural contexts of education in different countries, which vary a lot and are factors to reckon with in any consideration of the future of education. The interaction between societal forces and patterns of educational development at the national, community and individual levels are obviously very complex. Some of the main issues that need to be resolved, because of their substantial impact on the development of future scenarios for schooling and teacher education, include the following.

These issues and developments have implications for the future of education, including teacher education and possible new reorientations and tasks that need to be initiated to prepare education systems for the twenty-first century. Some of the pressing questions which arise and need to be answered include the following.

What are the implications of the issues and developments identified above for future educational innovations in Member Countries?

What possible new tasks and new orientations are necessary to prepare education systems in the region for the next century?

What should be done to strengthen networking in the region to facilitate the sharing of experience between Member Countries with regard to the types of issues, developments and innovations discussed in this report?

To what extent and in what ways are the systems of teacher education in Member Countries being responsive to these trends and developments in school systems in order to equip teachers to deal with such developments?

What adjustments need to be made to the systems of teacher education in the region to better enable them to keep abreast of such developments in schooling systems in the region?

The emerging trends and developments of education identified above are all firmly rooted in the past since they are partly the outcome of what has already occurred in Member Countries. Perhaps countries in the region should engage in a type of 'futureology' exercise in which are identified the developments in education they would like to see emerge in the future in their own particular countries and in the Asia and Pacific region as a whole. In light of such thinking, they may then be able to plan innovations and initiatives in teacher education which foreshadow rather than lag behind such developments. With these considerations foremost, this report will now review studies and reflections on the future of education in Asia and the Pacific countries.

Development and Traditional Values: Development is one of the ultimate goals of education for the future. However, development has at least two main aspects: socio-economic development, which is materialistic in nature, and socio-cultural, which is, by and large, concerned with preservation of cherished values and traditions of a country. Some countries in the region have attained unprecedented economic development so that, by virtue of higher per capita income, people appear to be economically better off.

Some believe that cultural values need to be modified in line with socio-economic development. In an effort to preserve cherished socio-cultural values, a number of countries have emphasized values education (e.g. Philippines) or moral education (e.g. Japan and the Republic of Korea). One of the main projects of the Southeast Asian Research Review and Advisory Group is to study the 'state of the practice of values education in Southeast Asia.'

Values education, however, is not a monopoly of the school. The family and religious centre play even more important roles. Paradoxically, sometimes the school acts to negate the values learned at home. For instance, the cooperative ethic may be a virtue stressed at home, but competitive ethics dominate in schools. There is, therefore, a need to continually re-examine certain socio-cultural values in relation to a country's national development goals with an aim to modifying those that are obstacles to desirable developmental efforts.

Education for the World of Work: It is apparent that there is an increasing emphasis on relating education to the world of work, this being viewed in a much broader sense than merely preparing individuals for entry to a particular occupation. This reflects the belief that, although education systems need to prepare pupils in practical as well as moral and psychological terms to better enable them to choose socially useful and productive work in industry, science, culture and education, the systems should also cater to the needs of those who are unable to find employment and, at the same time, recognize that an individual's self-image and sense of social identification are often closely associated with personal participation in the work force.

These trends, which relate to the interface between education and the world of work, entail three particularly important aspects:

Practical activities relating to the world of work which are considered an integral part of the learning processthis enables a suitable balance to be struck between theory and practice; it is aimed at the all-round development of the individual (trends in this area are manifested in such various educational practices as: participation in community development activities; productive work projects, both inside and outside the home, that are specially designed for females; 'life skills' projects; and program involvement in such areas as health, nutrition, sanitation, population and environmental conservation);

Participation in work activities which help strengthen and develop desirable social attitudes, including the value of the work ethicrespect for manual labor, a sense of social identification and participation in national development are some of the benefits referred to by Member States; thus, educational programs increasingly embody work-experience projects, whether on farms, in industrial enterprises or as may involve social development activities; and

Provision of a transition from school to work by preparing pupils for 'working life'this being considered on a wider basis than only that of preparation for an occupation. Trends in this respect include linking education programs more closely to work skills and developing appropriate work competencies, habits and styles. The integration of vocational experiences with general education has also been sought in many countries and has resulted in: courses in basic practical skills development; self-employment programs and entrepreneur training; the mobilization of development agencies, with the private sector participating in the education effort; promotion of technological literacy; and moves to achieve closer links between education and other production systems in the countries concerned.

These changes are helping to broaden the foundation of general education, on the one hand, and integrate formal and non-formal education on the other. Recognition is made of the importance of both primary and secondary level education. Changing program structures, for instance, may provide for two years of vocational training after general education, or for 'streaming' after a general education forcareer and work contingencies has been provided for. Trends are also evident with regard to the techniques and criteria used for selection into work-oriented programs by those involved with vocational aptitude training, and breaking the link between entries to work with other more academic entry requirements.

In some countries, curriculum developments for these programs have resulted in: the definition of minimum skills and values regarded as relevant for the world of work; the involvement of industry in jointly formulating what is seen as being an appropriate curriculum; and providing off-campus industry-based training. Because of a shortage of resources, countries are also integrating available facilities to facilitate a broader coverage of the programs. As a result of such changes, programs have been developed across the curriculum to enhance vocational preparation and choice. Foundation courses incorporated within secondary education have introduced students to industrial or vocational skills, and there has been development and expansion of polytechnics and increasing stress on vocational guidance facilities.

Restructuring Secondary Education: The socioeconomic and political changes currently taking place in many countries in Asia and the Pacific require that these countries undertake a restructuring of secondary education. There are, however, variations from country to country in the manner in which the restructuring processes are carried outthe direction of efforts being dependent on the particular needs and priorities these countries have identified. One common belief is that, as with primary education, the goal should be to provide universal and free secondary education for all.

While some countries with predominantly agricultural economies are beginning to shift towards industrialization, others are preoccupied with re-strengthening agriculture as the best way to produce an economic base adequate to achieve national stability, growth and peace.

While the demands of producing skilled manpower to match the societal needs at the production, technical and professional levels are great, it is also important for secondary education (as is the case with primary education) to produce young citizens who are highly motivated (with 'appropriate' values and attitudes) and want to pursue learning as a lifelong process. In most countries the restructuring of secondary education seeks to ensure that the maximum potential of every individual in the school system is addressed.

In helping to achieve such objectives, secondary education is confronted with several major concerns, which include:

The need to balance the drive that is occurring in some Member States to develop a national core curriculum, the central goal of which is to develop a curriculum that covers what are regarded as being fundamentally important skills and knowledge, with the simultaneous desire to democratize decision making of the important aspects of curriculum content at the local level;

A wish to improve the retention rate from primary to secondary school and reduce the high rate of school drop-outs that is occurring in both developing and more developed countries (one possible solution identified is the emergence of more flexible entry and re-entry mechanisms in many countries such as easier school access and the provision of a second chance for school drop-outs and adults; another possible solution is 'vocationalization' of secondary education, however, this raises important questions as to which type of vocational education is the best to provide and how it can respond effectively to satisfy both manpower planning needs and the needs of the individual, whether employed or not); and

The need to develop the non-formal aspect of secondary education through the provision of a less structured, more child-centered type of curriculum this being delivered to clients through such means as distance education, correspondence courses and open education.

EDUCATIONAL THEORIES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF K-12 PROGRAM

Constructivism

What is constructivism?

Constructivism is basically a theory based on observation and scientific study about how people learn. It is a philosophy of learning founded on the premise that, by reflecting on our experiences, we construct our own understanding of the world we live in. Each of us generates our own "rules" and "mental models," which we use to make sense of our experiences. Learning, therefore, is simply the process of adjusting our mental models to accommodate new experiences. It says that people construct their own understanding and knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know.

In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students' preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on them.

The guiding principles of Constructivism:

Learning is a search for meaning. Therefore, learning must start with the issues around which students are actively trying to construct meaning.

Meaning requires understanding wholes as well as parts. And parts must be understood in the context of wholes. Therefore, the learning process focuses on primary concepts, not isolated facts.

In order to teach well, we must understand the mental models that students use to perceive the world and the assumptions they make to support those models.

The purpose of learning is for an individual to construct his or her own meaning, not just memorize the "right" answers and regurgitate someone else's meaning. Since education is inherently interdisciplinary, the only valuable way to measure learning is to make assessment part of the learning process, ensuring it provides students with information on the quality of their learning.

Constructivist teachers encourage students to constantly assess how the activity is helping them gain understanding. By questioning themselves and their strategies, students in the constructivist classroom ideally become "expert learners." This gives them ever-broadening tools to keep learning. With a well-planned classroom environment, the students learn HOW TO LEARN.

You might look at it as a spiral. When they continuously reflect on their experiences, students find their ideas gaining in complexity and power, and they develop increasingly strong abilities to integrate new information. One of the teacher's main roles becomes to encourage this learning and reflection process.

For example: Groups of students in a science class are discussing a problem in physics. Though the teacher knows the "answer" to the problem, she focuses on helping students restate their questions in useful ways. She prompts each student to reflect on and examine his or her current knowledge. When one of the students comes up with the relevant concept, the teacher seizes upon it, and indicates to the group that this might be a fruitful avenue for them to explore. They design and perform relevant experiments. Afterward, the students and teacher talk about what they have learned, and how their observations and experiments helped (or did not help) them to better understand the concept.

Contrary to criticisms by some (conservative/traditional) educators, constructivism does not dismiss the active role of the teacher or the value of expert knowledge. Constructivism modifies that role, so that teachers help students to construct knowledge rather than to reproduce a series of facts. The constructivist teacher provides tools such as problem-solving and inquiry-based learning activities with which students formulate and test their ideas, draw conclusions and inferences, and pool and convey their knowledge in a collaborative learning environment. Constructivism transforms the student from a passive recipient of information to an active participant in the learning process. Always guided by the teacher, students construct their knowledge actively rather than just mechanically ingesting knowledge from the teacher or the textbook.

Constructivism is also often misconstrued as a learning theory that compels students to "reinvent the wheel." In fact, constructivism taps into and triggers the student's innate curiosity about the world and how things work. Students do not reinvent the wheel but, rather, attempt to understand how it turns, how it functions. They become engaged by applying their existing knowledge and real-world experience, learning to hypothesize, testing their theories, and ultimately drawing conclusions from their findings.

The best way for you to really understand what constructivism is and what it means in your classroom is by seeing examples of it at work, speaking with others about it, and trying it yourself. As you progress through each segment of this workshop, keep in mind questions or ideas to share with your colleagues.

Benefits of Constructivism

Children learn more, and enjoy learning more when they are actively involved, rather than passive listeners.

Education works best when it concentrates on thinking and understanding, rather than on rote memorization. Constructivism concentrates on learning how to think and understand.

Constructivist learning is transferable. In constructivist classrooms, students create organizing principles that they can take with them to other learning settings.

Constructivism gives students ownership of what they learn, since learning is based on students' questions and explorations, and often the students have a hand in designing the assessments as well. Constructivist assessment engages the students' initiatives and personal investments in their journals, research reports, physical models, and artistic representations. Engaging the creative instincts develops students' abilities to express knowledge through a variety of ways. The students are also more likely to retain and transfer the new knowledge to real life.

By grounding learning activities in an authentic, real-world context, constructivism stimulates and engages students. Students in constructivist classrooms learn to question things and to apply their natural curiosity to the world.

Constructivism promotes social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas. Students must learn how to articulate their ideas clearly as well as to collaborate on tasks effectively by sharing in group projects. Students must therefore exchange ideas and so must learn to "negotiate" with others and to evaluate their contributions in a socially acceptable manner. This is essential to success in the real world, since they will always be exposed to a variety of experiences in which they will have to cooperate and navigate among the ideas of others.

Pose problems that are or will be relevant to the students.

In many cases, the problem you pose is or will be relevant to the students, and they will approach it sensing its relevance to their lives.

For example, the general music class in an American middle school is a popular one the students find musical composition relevant because of their interest in popular music. The fact that there is an electronic keyboard connected to a computer on which to compose only heightens their interest.

A group of Australian middle-school students whose siblings, aunts, uncles, fathers, mothers, or neighbors are living in East Timor find issues of global peace immediately relevant. Their teacher acknowledges their strong feelings by creating a writing unit that allows the students to write about these feelings.

But relevance need not be preexisting for students. When connected to their Australian peers via the Internet, the American middle-school students can empathize and sense the relevance of peacekeeping in East Timor. The Australian students can e-mail the American students some of their writing. The teachers exchange digital photographs of their respective classes, and the children get to see their peers and their peers' surroundings.

Relevance can emerge through teacher mediation. Teachers can add elements to the learning situation that make the activity relevant to the students.

For instance, the Australian and American teachers can set up an interchange where the Australian youngsters write poetry and song lyrics about peace that the American students set to music. Both groups then post the results on a Web page. The teachers structure the situation so that the students gain skills in several areas (writing, music, communication, and Web-page construction) that have increasing meaning as the project proceeds.

1. Structure learning around essential concepts.

Encourage students to make meaning by breaking wholes into parts. Avoid starting with the parts to build a "whole."

For example, young storywriters can approach the concept of "telling a story" through discovery activities. These can include a class library of illustrated storybooks, a visit by a storyteller, and some Web activities sponsored by a book publisher. The teacher prepares the students for writing their own stories, and introduces the idea of sequencing through visuals. Students can rearrange parts of a known story or even digitized video material. This last activity might allow the students to reconstruct the order in which a visiting storyteller told her story.

Or, considering the world of a terrarium might help students construct knowledge about flora and fauna in relation to each other. Facts about mosses can make more sense in the context of microhabitats that the students have observed.

You can define or find "essential concepts" in different ways. You might refer to the list of standards your professional group publishes. Or, you can organize your constructivist work by exploring significant historical events (e.g., the Holocaust) or seminal works (e.g., a Mozart opera) from multiple perspectives.

Applying "Big Ideas" to Various Subject Areas

First Column: Concept

The following list of "big ideas" contains conceptual themes that emerge across various content areas. We chose to set down samples from two professional organizations. You might wish to examine the lists of similar materials from other organizations. Several states have published thematic and content-area standards as well.

What are cooperative and collaborative learning?

Collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project. A group of students discussing a lecture or students from different schools working together over the Internet on a shared assignment are both examples of collaborative learning.

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning is a learning situation that involves two or more individuals who are attempting to have a shared educational experience. In these environments, students are able to learn from each other, utilize each other's skill sets and resources, and share experiences that may benefit the entire group. As a theory, it suggests that learners who are educated in a group setting and cooperate in order to achieve a set of common goals are more likely to be successful in doing so, while those who work autonomously are more likely to exhibit competitive behaviors.

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning benefit not only the academic, but also the learners social persona, since it emphasizes on teamwork and team spirit. In a classroom this means higher levels of achievement, potential cross-ethnic friendships, life-long interaction, enhanced communication and cognitive skills, and critical thinking.

Cooperative learning, which will be the primary focus of this workshop, is a specific kind of collaborative learning. In cooperative learning, students work together in small groups on a structured activity. They are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed. Cooperative groups work face-to-face and learn to work as a team.

In small groups, students can share strengths and also develop their weaker skills. They develop their interpersonal skills. They learn to deal with conflict. When cooperative groups are guided by clear objectives, students engage in numerous activities that improve their understanding of subjects explored.

In order to create an environment in which cooperative learning can take place, three things are necessary. First, students need to feel safe, but also challenged. Second, groups need to be small enough that everyone can contribute. Third, the task students work together on must be clearly defined. The cooperative and collaborative learning techniques presented here should help make this possible for teachers.

Benefits of Constructivism

Children learn more, and enjoy learning more when they are actively involved, rather than passive listeners.

Education works best when it concentrates on thinking and understanding, rather than on rote memorization. Constructivism concentrates on learning how to think and understand.

Constructivist learning is transferable. In constructivist classrooms, students create organizing principles that they can take with them to other learning settings.

Constructivism gives students ownership of what they learn, since learning is based on students' questions and explorations, and often the students have a hand in designing the assessments as well. Constructivist assessment engages the students' initiatives and personal investments in their journals, research reports, physical models, and artistic representations. Engaging the creative instincts develops students' abilities to express knowledge through a variety of ways. The students are also more likely to retain and transfer the new knowledge to real life.

By grounding learning activities in an authentic, real-world context, constructivism stimulates and engages students. Students in constructivist classrooms learn to question things and to apply their natural curiosity to the world.

Constructivism promotes social and communication skills by creating a classroom environment that emphasizes collaboration and exchange of ideas. Students must learn how to articulate their ideas clearly as well as to collaborate on tasks effectively by sharing in group projects. Students must therefore exchange ideas and so must learn to "negotiate" with others and to evaluate their contributions in a socially acceptable manner. This is essential to success in the real world, since they will always be exposed to a variety of experiences in which they will have to cooperate and navigate among the ideas of others.

What are cooperative and collaborative learning?

Collaborative learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students team together to explore a significant question or create a meaningful project. A group of students discussing a lecture or students from different schools working together over the Internet on a shared assignment are both examples of collaborative learning.

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning is a learning situation that involves two or more individuals who are attempting to have a shared educational experience. In these environments, students are able to learn from each other, utilize each other's skill sets and resources, and share experiences that may benefit the entire group. As a theory, it suggests that learners who are educated in a group setting and cooperate in order to achieve a set of common goals are more likely to be successful in doing so, while those who work autonomously are more likely to exhibit competitive behaviors.

Cooperative and Collaborative Learning benefit not only the academic, but also the learners social persona, since it emphasizes on teamwork and team spirit. In a classroom this means higher levels of achievement, potential cross-ethnic friendships, life-long interaction, enhanced communication and cognitive skills, and critical thinking.

Cooperative learning, which will be the primary focus of this workshop, is a specific kind of collaborative learning. In cooperative learning, students work together in small groups on a structured activity. They are individually accountable for their work, and the work of the group as a whole is also assessed. Cooperative groups work face-to-face and learn to work as a team.

In small groups, students can share strengths and also develop their weaker skills. They develop their interpersonal skills. They learn to deal with conflict. When cooperative groups are guided by clear objectives, students engage in numerous activities that improve their understanding of subjects explored.

In order to create an environment in which cooperative learning can take place, three things are necessary. First, students need to feel safe, but also challenged. Second, groups need to be small enough that everyone can contribute. Third, the task students work together on must be clearly defined. The cooperative and collaborative learning techniques presented here should help make this possible for teachers.

The 5 Basic Principles of Cooperative and Collaborative Theory

1. Interpersonal and collaborative skills

Students learn how to work together and support each other. Instructors should encourage brainstorming, reflection, and participation.

2. Face-to-face interaction

With face-to-face interaction learning becomes dynamic. Students discuss their ideas and make oral summarizations, while comprehending the value of individual differences and critical thinking.

3. Beneficial interdependence

Students learn the value of collaboration for the successful completion of a task, and the usefulness of team roles, and effective representation.

4. Individual responsibility

Collaboration aside, students should sense their responsibility towards the group and comprehend the value of their contribution for the successful completion of a task. Slacking, hiding behind someone else work and simply following instructions wont work.

5. Group interaction processing

Groups should learn how to interact and then evaluate their effectiveness and skills. Instructors should give students the time to reflect on the groups collaboration level, i.e. if everyone participated, if they supported and listened to each other, if everything went smoothly, etc.

Benefits from small-group learning in a collaborative environment include:

Celebration of diversity. Students learn to work with all types of people. During small-group interactions, they find many opportunities to reflect upon and reply to the diverse responses fellow learners bring to the questions raised. Small groups also allow students to add their perspectives to an issue based on their cultural differences. This exchange inevitably helps students to better understand other cultures and points of view.

Acknowledgment of individual differences. When questions are raised, different students will have a variety of responses. Each of these can help the group create a product that reflects a wide range of perspectives and is thus more complete and comprehensive.

Interpersonal development. Students learn to relate to their peers and other learners as they work together in group enterprises. This can be especially helpful for students who have difficulty with social skills. They can benefit from structured interactions with others.

Actively involving students in learning. Each member has opportunities to contribute in small groups. Students are apt to take more ownership of their material and to think critically about related issues when they work as a team.

More opportunities for personal feedback. Because there are more exchanges among students in small groups, your students receive more personal feedback about their ideas and responses. This feedback is often not possible in large-group instruction, in which one or two students exchange ideas and the rest of the class listens.

Steps in Initiating Collaborative Learning

1. Form a question. Excellent questions, as good teachers from the time of Socrates have known, form the bedrock for motivating small groups. A good question motivates students to ask, wonder, and discover in order to know. A quick checklist for small-group questions can help you get started. Good group questions should:

Work from the known to the unknown. When teams connect new ideas to their past knowledge and experiences, they draw from personal understanding for a deeper response.

Allow for distinctive roles for each student. For example, one student may record, another ensures that all students participate, another organizes Internet searches, another gathers creative responses from all participants.

Encourage additional queries. We teach students to ask each other follow-up questions about each topic in order to tap into deeper responses. Students can learn to probe each other through sets of questions they compile. Ask them to hand in lists of questions they create and add your own queries to their lists.

Vary the techniques used for moving toward answers. These might include humor, group competition, or mock interviews to respond to real world problems.

Allow students to create visuals such as charts, boards, overheads, and diagrams that students can use for presenting their ideas.

Avoid jargon. The questions that motivate small-group inquiry will adequately cover content, address real-life problems, and range from lower-level facts and comprehension to higher-level application and critical thinking.

2. Identify goals. The second phase for successful group formation relates to creating goals for each group assignment. Foggy goals mean wasted time and poor motivation to learn.

Effective group objectives might include:

Learners will list and illustrate on a poster three foods that bears typically enjoy.

Learners will demonstrate ____________through a survey that determines ___________.

Learners will describe a business proposal for a bear conservation plan in state parks.

Learners will compare bear lifestyles in three countries.

3. Create rubrics. Rubrics provide another tool to guide students' expression of knowledge as they solve problems. They also help students and teachers to assess the group work accurately.

Group rubric that guides students' investigations about any topic might simply begin by listing areas of strength expected, such as:

Identifies relevant and meaningful problems

Creates effective responses or possibilities

Applies specific solutions from the text or Internet

Contributes data from interviews

Displays personal strengths and interests

Suggests future considerations about the problem

Illustrates communication about the problem

Armed with a probing question, clear objectives, and specific rubrics, you can then assign diverse tasks that enable students to express their unique methods of solving a real world problem. You may want to do this by challenging more of their brains' capacity to respond through multiple intelligence applications.

4. Assign a specific assessment task. The fourth phase of group work is the assignment of performances that:

Match related learning approaches. So, if group members conducted an interview, they might be expected to provide a transcript of dialogue, compare two different perspectives, and so on. You would not expect multiple-choice tests to accurately assess knowledge obtained in original interviews, for instance.

Cover content. The task should illustrate students' active engagement with the text and other learning materials used.

Enable students to develop their interests and abilities. Students might complete interest inventories to discover their interests and then check to determine how they used their unique interests and abilities to explore questions.

Involve authentic events. Authentic tasks are those relevant to your students' lives and usually represent solutions to real-life problems.

Create meaningful challenges for students. Students often use their stronger abilities or intelligences to develop weaker areas. Cooperative and collaborative groups can use multiple approaches to solve any problem so that students broker their gifts and abilities to explore topics at a deeper .

5.Reflect to adjust. Finally, the fifth phase of cooperative-group design ensures that teachers and students regularly reflect on group progress and make adjustments to improve outcomes. They look back over the small-group session through a series of simple questions.

In this phase, you ensure the regular adjustments that build more successful groups for each new task assigned. Following any group assignment, for instance, you and students might reflect on questions about content:

What main goal did the group cover today?

What facts did each member contribute? How?

What did the group not learn about the topic? Why?

What would the group do differently to achieve more?

What content did members find interesting?

Did members possess enough background knowledge?

What will future group goals are to ensure completion of its goals?

Reflection questions about process might include:

How much time did each member spend talking?

Who talked most? Why?

Did members question each other and wait for responses?

How do members motivate each one to participate?

Did motivation efforts work? Why or why not?

During a collaborative project, students might also reflect on their attitude, work habits, and areas of need. Reflective questions about attitude include:

What was I particularly good at during group work?

How did I improve over the time we worked together?

What do I still need to work on?

Reflective questions about work habits include:

How would I describe my work and cooperation?

Did I contribute regularly as we worked together?

What learning goals did I set and which ones did I achieve during this time together?

Reflective questions about areas of need include:

What three areas still need development most?

What areas do I need help to improve?

What advice would (or did) other group members give me?

What is inquiry-based learning?

"Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge - seeking information by questioning." Individuals carry on the process of inquiry from the time they are born until they die. This is true even though they might not reflect upon the process. Infants begin to make sense of the world by inquiring. From birth, babies observe faces that come near, they grasp objects, they put things in their mouths, and they turn toward voices. The process of inquiring begins with gathering information and data through applying the human senses -- seeing, hearing, touching, tasting, and smelling.

The Application of Inquiry

While much thought and research has been spent on the role of inquiry in science education, inquiry learning can be applied to all disciplines. Individuals need many perspectives for viewing the world. Such views could include artistic, scientific, historic, economic, and other perspectives. While disciplines should interrelate, inquiry learning includes the application of certain specific "ground rules" that insure the integrity of the various disciplines and their world views.

Outcomes of Inquiry

An important outcome of inquiry should be useful knowledge about the natural and human-designed worlds. How are these worlds organized? How do they change? How do they interrelate? And how do we communicate about, within, and across these worlds? These broad concepts contain important issues and questions that individuals will face throughout their lives. Also, these concepts can help organize the content of the school curriculum to provide a relevant and cumulative framework for effective learning. An appropriate education should provide individuals with different ways of viewing the world, communicating about it, and successfully coping with the questions and issues of daily living.

School-Family-Community Partnerships

In the last decade, developments in social theory have provided greater insights into how strong connections between schools, families, and communities enhance childrens learning and social and emotional growth and well-being.

Why should family and community be connected to schools?

One thing that all sides in the educational debate agree upon is that parents and local communities should be involved in education.

Many studies have shown that when parents and families are involved in their children's schools, their children do better. When local community members become involved in schools, they can act as role models and mentors and provide an additional layer of support and inspiration for students and teachers.

There are a number of ways to create family partnerships with schools. Some focus on schools, and others focus on parents as the most active agents in the partnership equation. But both approaches target the same goal: programs that engage all the members of a community in the education of their children.

Building Partnership Programs

One way to meet these goals is to create a formalized School, Family, and Community Partnership program. This is a comprehensive program consisting of activities selected by each school to help students reach important goals.

Well-organized partnership programs can create goal-oriented activities that help students reach high levels of achievement. These activities do not promote involvement for involvement's sake but are designed to meet specific, measurable goals. Planning these goals is the first step of the program.

What are the benefits of family and community connections?

There are numerous benefits from well-implemented school and community partnership programs. They include increased student attendance, higher achievement and report-card grades, a sense of greater security, fewer behavioral problems, and an increase in positive attitudes about school and homework.

Research also finds that parent participation tends to decline as students get older, unless school programs are put in place to encourage it. Affluent communities tend to have better connections to schools. Poorer communities need to organize programs that reach out to parents to increase involvement. Poorer communities tend to have more negative perceptions about parent involvement; this is largely because without a planned program, contacts tend to occur only when students have problems or are in trouble.

How can improving school, family, and community connections help my class?

When parents are actively involved in their children's education, the results may include improved attendance, higher report card grades, increased class participation, and higher quality of student questions, classwork, homework, and projects.

When teachers are involved in partnerships with parents, contact between parents and teachers does not occur only when there are problems. Teachers also design systems to help parents monitor homework, interact with their children about schoolwork, curriculum-related decisions, and course choices, and encourage learning at home.

Improved communication between parents and teachers also leads to a whole range of new ideas and resources becoming available to the school - from experts for interviews to field trip ideas and other resources.

What kind of activities can be supported in a partnership program?

There are six general types of activities that have been identified by our workshop expert Joyce Epstein. These can each be used to encourage parent and family participation in children's education. These activities can be carried out in a variety of ways, but elements of each type should appear in a well-organized partnership program.

1. Parenting: The goal is to help all families establish home environments to support children as students. Planned activities can help parents think about their children's growth and development from the early years through high school and help schools understand families.

Come up with a list of suggestions for home conditions that support learning at each grade level.

Design activities to help inform parents about child health, safety, nutrition, and development. This might take the form of workshops, videos, and e-mail messages on parenting and child rearing.

Meetings can be organized, like an "attendance summit," designed to help parents and educators figure out ways to help children get to school every day and on time.

Present workshops on parenting (which can be videotaped or audiotaped for those who cannot attend), parenting classes, and family support programs that provide information and offer access to healthcare and other services.

Offer parent development and education courses (GED, college credit, family literacy programs).

Make home visits at transitional points to preschool, elementary, middle, and high school.

2. Communicating: Design effective means of communication between parents and schools, and vice versa. Communication is at the heart of partnership programs and should involve all parents. This may require translations of school materials into other languages. Communication activities can focus on improving parent-teacher conferences, report cards, handouts, newsletters, and other information that travels from schools to parents and back.

Have conferences with every parent at least once a year, with follow-ups as needed.

Provide language translators to assist families when needed.

Send home weekly or monthly folders of student work for review and comment.

Have parent-student pick-up of report cards, with conferences on grades.

Schedule regular meaningful notices, memos, phone calls, newsletters, and other communications.

Provide clear information on choosing courses, programs, and activities in school.

Provide clear information on all school policies, programs, reforms, and transitions.

3. Volunteering: Recruit and organize parents to help and support the school. This can take a variety of forms: parent volunteers can help teachers in class, work in safety patrols, offer expert advice to classes, and provide other resources.

The volunteer committee of the ATP works to help recruit parent volunteers and develop volunteer activities that help both parents and schools.

Designate a parent's room or family center for volunteer work, meetings, and providing resources to families.

Conduct an annual postcard survey to identify all available talents, times, and the location of volunteers.

Have a class parent, telephone tree, or other structure to provide all families with needed information.

Institute parent patrols or other activities to aid safety and operation of schools.

4. Learning at Home: We can provide parents with information about their children as learners. This includes information on study skills, homework, the curriculum, educational decisions, and planning for the future. Some activities help parents to monitor homework or talk with their children about what they are learning in math, science, reading, and other subjects. Activities can also give students work that can be done with family partners at home.

Parents can facilitate and take part in their children's education by providing a study space with good lighting and the necessary materials for learning (paper, dictionary, pens, pencils, and computer).

Provide information on homework policies and how to monitor and discuss schoolwork at home.

Regularly schedule homework that requires students to discuss and interact with families on what they are learning in class.

Provide calendars with activities for parents and students to do at home or in the community.

Have family math, science, and reading activities at school.

Make up summer learning packets or activities.

Seek out family participation in setting student goals each year and planning for college or work.

5. Decision-Making: This kind of involvement stresses helping parents and community members become a part of the decision-making process in a school or district.

Activities include PTA/PTO organizing, advisory councils to the school board or principal, and independent advocacy groups to focus on particular issues and problems.

Providing information about school-board or other relevant elections is also part of decision-making work.

The election or appointment of parent representatives - who can be contacted by any family with questions, suggestions, and problems - is another important part of involving parents in the decision-making process.

Parents are included on the school's ATP to work with educators each year on the plan and program for family and community involvement.

Develop district-level councils and committees for family and community involvement.

Provide information on school or local elections for school representatives.

Form networks to link all families with parent representatives.

6. Collaborating with Community: Parents and educators can reach beyond the schools to learn to utilize local resources. Some examples include:

Inform parents about outside services like tutoring or mentoring programs and helping businesses get involved with school reform efforts.

How do the most effective teachers?

Manage behavior in their multi-ethnic, multi-cultural classrooms?

Develop and use classroom rules and routines?

Use classroom consequences that work?

Design positive behavioral supports for challenging behaviors?

Avoid career- and health-threatening frustration and burnout?

Everything starts with TEACH:

T.E.A.C.H.

T Tailor for diversity. Make it a point to know as much as possible about your students, including their diverse cultural, ethnic, behavioral, and learning characteristics, along with stressors they may experience outside of school.

E Encourage positive behavior. Aim for a 4:1 ratio of positive comments to negative corrections for all the students.

A Arrange the environment for success. Teach your behavioral expectations directly and immediately through collaboratively-established classroom rules and well designed classroom routines.

C Consult your peers. Seek collaboration with experienced teachers and specialists before difficult problems start to become entrenched.

H Hug yourself. Prevent stress and burnout by focusing each day on what you are accomplishing and not just on what is frustrating.

Principles, Values and Experience

Commit to these core value principles:

Fairness / Justice / Respect Honesty /Integrity

hear all sides before judging

act in the fairest way depending on the circumstances

criticize the behavior not the student

treat students of both sexes equally

protect students from unfairness from other students

model the behavior I expect from students

apologize when Im wrong

explain all the decisions I take in the classroom

help students learn in different ways

make learning engaging, challenging and fun

insist that everyone talks respectfully

treat students as individuals

be assertive without being aggressive

insist we all respect personal space, property and personal safety

avoid put downs

respect students right to high quality learning experiences

maintain a positive attitude

Philosophy

All students can learn

All students want to learn, at least some of the time

Most students want to learn most of the time

All students can succeed if context, activity and method of assessment are appropriate

Students learn in different ways, at different times and for different reasons, so I need to offer activities that give all students opportunities to learn effectively

Students are motivated by being engaged, being successful, being encouraged

Students learn best when they enjoy the learning activities

My personality puts me in the middle of the autocratic democratic continuum; I see this as being receptive to a wider range of solutions to problems rather than sitting on the fence

I seek to be an authoritative teacher, as opposed to an authoritarian or permissive teacher

Pragmatic solutions to problems are acceptable as long as they are congruent with my core value principles

My classroom management must reflect the general ethos of the whole school

CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT PLAN/SCHEMA

A classroom management plan is meant to be a working document that you refer to frequently. You should interact with it, add more details, try and test ideas, drop them if you think they don't work. Think of it as a work in progress.

Five main points:

1. Procedures and Routines

2. Class Rules

3. Behavior Management

4. Attention Signal

5. Classroom Jobs

Achieving Excellence

Take all opportunities to grow professionally

Undertake at least one major classroom management challenge per year

Be aware of how I might inspire others