Monday, September 29, 2008

Week 4-Situation analysis

On page 96, I agreed with the comment that “ a person who is a good teacher may not make a good materials developer or project leader”. I have worked on many committees where experienced respectable teachers are put in charge, but they do not know the dynamics of running a functional and positive working situation because they get caught up in the trivial details of strong personalities that lead into power battles. As a result, the working group does not accomplish the assigned task, and people walk away feeling frustrated and defeated.
In regards to institutional factors, I could relate to the “culture” that is created in each school and how that culture affects the dynamics of change inside a school setting. I felt like the second paragraph described the two different schools here in Bethel: Kilbuck School and ME School. Ours, of course being the favorable environment and Kilbuck being the other. I was a miserable teacher at Kilbuck because of the negative culture of the school and the isolation that I felt because of the school politics and lack of cohesiveness amongst staff members. Since I moved to ME, I feel very fortunate to work in a school that is open, supportive, and collaborative, and always seeking ways to improve our curriculum and planning.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Blog #2-Needs analysis

BLOG #2-Needs Analysis

When discussing needs analysis, the author says that a need is reflective of the interests and values of the stakeholders…and that the language needs are often those described as the skills that are needed to live in an English dominant society. The author Auerbach also points out that English language teaching is considered to be a transfer of skills that are created by the needs of social institutions, rather than the actual language learners, and often ignores the questions of power. (p. 54-55) I think Auerbach is on the right track in his comment and beliefs. It is the institutions that are creating the curriculum guidelines and ideology that formulates the standards that we are faced with in our schools that we have to deal with as teachers. It gets more upsetting to me as I take more of these classes, how the questions of power are often ignored and yet they are the reason why so many languages are now on their way to being lost. The federal government and the policy makers are often making decisions based on the needs of a particular political agenda that most people don’t even realize.

Monday, September 15, 2008

I think I am officially a blogger!

I am presently testing my blog...
testing..
testing..
testing...
okay. I hope I can do this tomorrow..when I really need to say something important.