Current Trends in Education and Educational Reform Notebook Activity 10

Question 1

Explain analysis of teaching and teacher effectiveness.

Answer 1

Procedures used to enable teacher to critique their own performance in the classroom. The change in focus from studies of teacher characteristics to analyses of what actually occurs in classrooms has offered educators insights into teaching and learning.

Teacher effectiveness is movement to improve teaching performance. Five key findings:
1. Teacher preparation helps candidates develop the knowledge and skill they need in the classroom
2. Well prepared teachers are more likely to remain in teaching
3. Well prepared teachers produce higher student achievement
4 . Leading industrialized nations invest heavily in pre-service teacher preparation
5. NCATE makes a difference in teacher preparation
The effective teaching movement improved teaching performance based on structured lessons and learning goals

Question 2

Explain National Curriculum

Answer 2

National Curriculum is a centralized curriculum at the national level, so that teachers implement the same curriculum in every school all over the country. While the U.S. does not have a National Curriculum, many countries do. A concern is if all states adopt the Common Core State Standards then we will move to a national curriculum.

Question 3

Explain how we use technology to track student learning.

Answer 3

Teachers can track student learning and share their assessments with students and families. Teachers can keep track of students’ grades electronically and use technology in other ways to increase their professional productivity. When students complete their work in an electronic format, teachers can keep samples of student work and projects electronically, retain their own comments/feedback, review that work with students and families, and rely on that work as the basis of end-of-semester or end-of-year presentations of student achievement. Technology can support students by facilitating communication among teachers, students, and families. Teachers and families can communicate via e-mail.