Promising Futures

After reading Promising Futures, I thoroughly think that some standardization is necessary in schools.  As much as I hate to say it, there doesn’t seem to be any better way of making sure teachers are meeting the needs of their students.  I wish there could be a more effective means of making sure teachers are following the principles described in this piece.  It could be cool if schools adopted a similar model to summer camps; having visits from administrative officials to make sure certain practices are being implemented.

                Principle 10 stands out to me as the principle that is the most powerful.  It essentially suggests that students should be able to base their learning around a schedule that is most effective for them.  I especially like the idea of bringing together a team of teachers to evaluate what would work best of their students.  This idea reminds me of when I had an IEP that allowed me to go to school for half days due to increased fatigue.  How great would it be if we could take the time to make an IEP for every student?!

                I’m also really into the idea of integrating learning into discussions about life outside of school.  As a future social studies teacher, I spend a lot of time looking at events happening around the world.  For me, having students looking at implementing what I teach them to better the world is my idea of success.  I know when I was in high school, my government teacher continually pushed us to write to our elected officials about issues that affected us.