Wed+2-22

What can we learn from the educators before us?

Inquiry Guides: Jessica French and Sarah Woods

**Before Class:** Please read this article, "Merit pay could revive child labor" by Stephanie Jones. http://www.ajc.com/opinion/merit-pay-could-revive-709659.html

**During Class:** For journal time, write your opinions and thoughts about the article, the questions listed below, or anything relating to the topic of merit pay. > Turn and talk to your neighbor about your thoughts and opinions from your journal.
 * Is forcing children to work under conditions where their teacher's salary is determined by the student's standardized test scores considered a form child labor?
 * How do you think a child would feel if they knew their teacher's salary was depending on their test scores?

Circle time to discuss merit pay, balancing critical literacy with the standard curriculum, and critical literacy strategies.

"The neglect of children’s social, emotional, physical and academic needs inside schools where they spend most of their waking hours for most of their childhood is likely to become accepted practice under merit pay legislation linked to test scores" (Jones).
 * Why does teaching to the standardized tests neglect children and their needs in schools?
 * How is a child affected by the neglect of these needs?

"Among the many pressures that teachers perform under, I wonder how other teachers can negotiate the demands of teaching in schools and create critical classrooms. Ultimately, I feel like I did not do that. I had to give up one for the other. I argue that what I did that year was better than the constant use of test prep books and multiple-choice practice. Inciting critical talk and action was the only way I saw for a possibility of people being better" (Baker, pg. 49).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Do you think it is possible to balance creating a critical classroom with meeting the demands of the standard curriculum? If so, how? If not, why?
 * Were you encouraged in your elementary classrooms to think critically and share your thoughts and experiences on different social issues?
 * How would being encouraged to critically think in the classroom have benefited you and your school experiences?

What teacher practices/strategies have you seen in classrooms that you would or would not want to implement in the classroom? > The following website has a variety of teacher resources for critical literacy in the classroom: http://ddl.dyc.edu/~khand/strategies.html
 * Critical Literacy Strategies:**
 * 1) Reading Supplementary Texts- Teacher provides a variety of texts that discuss the same issue from different perspectives. Comparing the textbook with literacy's that relate or interest the students.
 * 2) Reading Multiple Texts- Students read texts written from different perspectives and subjectively think about the text. The three little pigs written from the wolf's perspective and the pig's perspective.
 * 3) Reading from a Resistant Perspective- Observing how students of different race, ethnicity, class, gender, etc. might approach the same text.
 * 4) Producing Counter Texts- Writing the same text from another perspective or point of view. The marginalized group is given a voice.
 * 5) Conducting Student Choice Research Projects- Students are given the chance to research a topic that interests them. Less structured learning
 * 6) Promoting Social Action- Students engage in social actions that are important and interesting to them. Precious Knowledge: Protesting to the take away of Raza studies in their school