Tracking:Why Schools Need to Take Another Route
By: Jeannine Oakes
Quote #1: "Few low-ability classes, on the other hand, were taught these topics and skills. Students in the latter classes learned basic reading skills taught mostly by workbooks, kits, and easy-to-read stories. Learning tasks consisted most often of memorizing and repeating answers back to the teacher."
Comment #1: I think that the low ability classes should be taught the same things the regular classes are taught. They classes should run the same way except the low ability class should have a help and go at a different pace than the other classes. That would be fair to all the students instead of secluding them and making them do work that isn't really helping them in the long run.
Quote #2:"In classrooms where the curriculum consists of a sequence of topics and skills to require prerequisite knowledge and skill master, mixing students who have different skills is difficult."
Comment #2: I agree with this statement in the fact that it is difficult to mix the students who are at different skill levels. However it is kind of rude to just take them out of their surroundings just because they are slower than the other students. I think that with them being in the group with the children who are really smart and understand the concepts that it would actually help them in the long run. Being around people who know what they are doing helps you and allows them to see the problems and be able to fix them.
Quote #3: "To be successful, heterogeneous classrooms probably need to lean toward placing students more in charge of their own evaluation-checking their own understanding and asking for and providing feedback. This is what happens naturally when students are engaged in complex tasks and have lots of interaction."
Comment #3: I agree with this, it is somewhat like our class and how when the students are paying attention they can figure out their own problems and discuss them between each other and figure out the problems. It is a good sign when kids are asking one another to help solve the problems it shows they truely care about what they are learning and they are helping everybody around them.
I don't know... I think that grouping similar learners is the best way to go. Whether that means placing those will learning disabilities together or visual, auditory, etc learners together, I don't know for sure. But I think the whole idea of randomly placing kids into a classroom without acknowledging their learning abilities is even ruder than separating them by their mental capabilities.
ReplyDeleteIt's a tricky subject to talk about. I went to a high school that had your standard AP classes and regular level classes. However the special education children were placed in classes with children with regular mental capabilities. So for me I think grouping people based on their learning ability is just fine.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the first quote, and the comment you wrote to that. Lower and higher classes should all be taught the same, and all be at the same level. Lower and higher to me is just a label. Children should have the same knowledge of education, and people should not be following the children as higher or lower class. It is just not fair.
ReplyDeleteHowever it is kind of rude to just take them out of their surroundings just because they are slower than the other students
ReplyDeleteSometimes it can be helpful, and sometimes it isn't. In my VIPS class it seemed to be helpful to have some kids learning slower, as it helps them understand it better.