I think our country could do that, if education were really a priority. But people like to say it is, they just don't like to DO anything about it.
I have had tremendous results by innovating in my summer school program. My read naturally lady, who comes to help run the program in my classroom had her socks knocked off by my kids scores. She was practically jumping up and down. I had kids doing about 5X improvement on their reading, and more in some cases. She wanted to know how I did that. And I told her I took the product, which is meant to be used one on one, and ran the whole class through it. I even innovated some ways to keep running them through it, by using reading "races"- something I've never seen done, but that doesn't mean someone else hasn't thought of it. However I'm trying to get my innovation out there. I think if we had a way to get the innovative things teachers do in their classrooms, that have measurable success with children, out to all teachers, we would see rapid improvement. We definitely need some sort of clearing house to get this sort of stuff out- and I think we need to make sure teachers provide data to show their methods work. I have data, and I have it from an unbiased source who was not even aware of what I was doing.
I'm writing a memo tonight for the district on my method. Whether it is acceptable to them or not, at least I did my best. But I think we need a system that encourages people who innovate to share. Not everyone has my appetite for extra projects. |
