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| Yes | 91% | 676 votes | Total: 742 votes | |
| No | 9% | 66 votes |
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Add to FavoritesEducation is an ever growing field of study as it not only includes the development of new teaching methods and the integration of new subject material and technology in all academic areas, but it serves a diverse and expanding body of learners with their own special educational needs. The goal of education in America is to efficiently provide every citizen with an adequate education that gives them the power to be involved in their society along with the opportunity to reach their greatest potential. Furthermore, education requires initiatives that help teachers and the educational system, as a whole, improve drastically to meet the ever changing demands of modern times. Moreover, schools that are willing to adopt innovative instructional methods need to be encouraged and, because funding constraints are a reality, the federal and state government can provide grants to help schools innovate their education processes. On the other hand, innovative educational methods are not necessarily guaranteed to work, so they must be cautiously explored while grants must be focused to support the research and integration of superior educational methods.
When discussing innovative teaching methods in a school, the science of education is what needs to be examined, more specifically, innovation means schools can serve as case studies to develop and spread superior teaching methods. However, like any science experiment, evidence, suggesting the methods can be used to enhance students' learning experiences, needs to be presented so to avoid any negative effects of a lack of educational success. Furthermore, the psychologists and educators, who study innovative teaching methods, must be present to ensure the ideas are being used correctly by the teachers and administers along with students as self educators. In other words, experimenting with innovative methods must be treated as any other scientific study with all the safeguards and planning necessary to ensure, at the very least, a failure in the method has no negative effects on the students' education.
Furthermore, psychology is very much a fractured science; this means cognitive psychologists, behaviorists, social psychologists, and other schools of thoughts are very different, such that, they hold diverse views on issues like education while there may be techniques which can undermine the effectiveness of another perspective's initiatives. Therefore, schools administers and teachers must take on well-defined projects that aim to integrate a specific teaching method into their curriculum while they must also be aware of the theory behind the method to the point that they should be able to fully and clearly justify how the method will improve the students' academic success.
Personally, I am attracted to the behaviorist perspective as it is more like a natural science than a social science while behavioral interventions tend to be stronger, more process based, more logical, and more direct with traceable results. Although behavioral studies are largely underrated for various reasons mentioned in books like About Behaviorism by B.F. Skinner, educational methods based on behavioral theories are probably the best choice for schools to experiment with as behaviorism is largely the study of learning. Above all, whatever methods are explored, teachers, parents, and administration must be involved in the process and support the methods used; otherwise, the methods cannot be fully integrated into the educational community. Furthermore, expanding innovations also requires adequate professional involvement from those in the educational system and the research community while the government needs to provide the grant money necessary for professional support to be acquired by the schools.
Learn more about this author, Matthew J. Geiger.
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No
Why does everything have to be "innovative" in the first place? I understand that there are things that are not working in schools. Everyone can attest to that. However, I don't believe re-creating the wheel through "innovative" ideas is always the best approach to take. I am a stay-at-home mom at the moment, who taught elementary children for several years. I plan to go back to the noble profession when my own are in school full time. I feel that so many of the "innovative" proposals getting these funds aren't as innovative as they are pitched to be. Or, they are SO innovative, they are just plain a waste of time, money and effort.
The pressure to come up with something "innovative" is from the higher ups, not the teachers... and the pressure is ridiculous! Its the pressure to come up with something "innovative" that is blind-siding those who are begging for the money to be used in more practical terms to get REAL results! I just feel as though everyone is always trying to re-invent the wheel when there are wheels already out there that are working great to copy. I have been to countless teacher inservices that were an absolute waste of time, money and energy. (funded by grants) I hate saying that. I recall sitting at an inservice with an outstanding, veteran teacher who while attending, crossed her arms... leaned back in her chair... and she stated, "This too shall pass. I saw this same thing back in the 90's but it was called something else back then. This program will be gone before you know it." Meaning, this "new/innovative" idea that was being implemented by the higher ups (not the teachers who would put their time to better use elsewhere rather than sitting in another pointless meeting) would soon fall to the wayside like the gist of other over-the-top, "innovative" ideas.
The bottom line is this. Let teachers teach. The money needs to be invested in getting smaller class sizes. Focus on the little ones! I can't tell you how many teachers say that if a child doesn't "have it" by the end of third grade... you can next to guarantee they are going to struggle from there on out. As a mom, that is heartbreaking to me. Stop writing grants and instead, budget for more people in the primary grades to give these little ones the hands-on attention/instructio n that they need! My son just got done completing a year of half-day kindergarten. It was CRAZY to see the huge difference in abilities of his classmates at the end of the year. Parents need to stop complaining about "those teachers, and those schools" and pitch in a little more! I can say that... because not only am was I a teacher, I AM a parent! What is wrong is that some kids can leave kindergarten reading already... yet others leave not being able to identify all of their letters?! THATS A HUGE DIFFERENCE! Then... the first grade teachers are miraculously supposed to be able to challenge the readers while somehow managing to re-teach the others the kindergarten skills that they didn't seem to grasp in kindergarten. Teachers are always having to "make up" for the year prior. Throw a few more missed skills over the next few years... and before you know it, these children are failing.
Stop the grant writing and budget more teachers in to accommodate that tremendous gap as they enter into kindergarten. Catch them early! All I could think of as a mom who is also a teacher... those poor first grade teachers! Parents need to stop thinking teachers are magicians and kick in more help! Stop using the "I don't have time" excuse. Do you ride in the car with your kids? Quiz them on their multiplication facts. Practice the spelling lists in the car. When you're grocery shopping, have them add up a few items to practice math. Does it take time? Yes. Does it take energy/effort? Yes. But, am I missing something? Didn't parents know that having kids was going to take time and energy? (pardon the sarcasm) If parents are going to complain about grants... I hope these are the parents who are helping out a bit.
How many times have you heard that there are "only so many hours in a day" to get things done. Stop wasting teachers' time forcing them to sit in inservices for these "innovative" ideas and let them get back in the classroom for realistic/practical purposes. I worked for a principal that said, "We are skipping the meeting today. I want you to go back to your classrooms and make a phone call to the parents of the 5 kids in your classroom that you're the most concerned about. Take notes, and turn those notes into me. If you can't reach them, write the parents a letter. Give me a copy of those letters. Take the moment for the CONTACT! Then, use the rest of the time to write one complimentary thing about each child in your class, and leave that note for them on their desk to be the first thing they read when they walk in the class." I'm telling you, that was hugely more effective for getting positive results than wasting another day in a grant funded meeting. Use the money where it counts! Stop re-inventing the wheel and get back to who matters, the children! Give them more teachers at the primary grades to create smaller classes! Parents, chip in and make the time to help! This just isn't rocket science and that's the most frustrating thing of all.
Learn more about this author, Rebecca Becker.
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