As March 2015 winds to a close, the #MIpubED Twitter chats have uncovered more questions than answers…such is learning. In just a month we have discussed standards, high-stakes tests, and the creation of an online community where educators and their communities learn together about the challenges set forth. There is so much more and each day I come across experiences where I find myself wishing parents and community members knew some of the details educators face each day while trying to teach our kids.
The conflicts frequently come down to organization theories: natural vs. rational systems. Systems that are natural, such as public schools, are complex entities relying not only on the technologies used to accomplish our work, but also on the subtle social elements such as relationships, uncontrolled inputs, and public policy that affect our work. Systems that are rational, such as engineering or accounting, have complex and logical technologies to accomplish and measure their intended outcomes. Public schools cannot avoid their natural structure while increasingly expected to apply rational solutions. Therein lies the challenge, but educators have chosen to confront it and will continue to need community involved in these hard dialogues.
Following our previous chats at #MIpubED, here is a grab-bag of questions we’ll explore this week to see what teachers, parents, and community members are thinking about some other issues:
Q1: What is a teacher leader?
Q2:How do schools balance resources to be sure we are doing right by all students?
Q3:How do educators support those with no educational experience who create education policy?
Q4:How do we encourage and support the best and brightest to become teachers?
Q5:What are the pros and cons of for-profit schools?
Q6:How do educators explain standards-based grading to parents?
Q7:Parents, what do you want to know from educators?
Q8:What are the pros and cons of Schools of Choice?
Q9:What’s going right in your school?
Please join us and bring a friend to the Twitter chat at #MIpubED, Tuesday at 8:30pm!