02-18-10


 * Questions to Consider:**
 * 1) As teachers, what are we here to do together?
 * 2) What is our purpose?
 * 3) How do we treat each other?
 * 4) How do we treat our students?
 * 5) How have we measured our progress in the past?


 * Answers from our discussion:**
 * 1) To prepare kids to leave school. To prepare them for their future.
 * 2) Teach kids to be responsible adults. Some feel that our curriculum is being dumbed-down to allow everyone to succeed, even when high-achievers are being short-changed. By making excuses for kids, we're teaching them to be irresponsible. Family is different from the past; parents are so involved in their personal lives that they're not doing as much parenting. Our purpose is to assure that we establish reasonable boundaries, understanding that the students will push those boundaries. Need to help the kids learn to focus; there are times that multitasking is not appropriate. Goals and focus are still important. We're not necessarily teaching our kids to use technology efficiently and appropriately.
 * 3) Leave each other alone a little too much; people assume that everyone wants to be left alone to do their own "thing", and there's not a lot of support, collaboration, etc. We treat each other with respect, but also from a distance. There can also be a disconnect between how education is viewed by educators vs the general public.
 * 4) We sometimes assume a higher level of maturity or worldliness than the students really have; we have to remember that they are still children. We may have to center our curriculum and instruction around the process of identifying student interests, and designing individualized instructional programs around individual student interest.