DIP.ED.

(TESL)

EDC 5360: SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY

ARTICLE REVIEW TITLE:

STANDARDS REVISITED: THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING THERE

BY:

VIMALLE D/O KALIAPPAN (G0914632)

LECTURER:
ASSOC. PROF. DR. HAIRUDDIN BIN MOHD ALI

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 TABLE OF CONTENT

NO. TITLE PAGE NUMBER

1 Summary of article (not more than 2 3
pages)
2 Strong points of article (half page) 5
3 Weak points of article (half page) 5
4 Your recommendation of how to 6
improve the weak points (1 page
maximum)
5 As an educational planner, how would 7
you apply the ideas from the article?
(1 page maximum)
6 Appendix (original copy of your
article)

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 Summary of article

Whenever a commission comes out with a set of recommendations or policy statements

the rest of the field had to follow. The public will greet them with curiosity, indifference but with
little passion or stimulation to act. English Coalition Conference was designed to change the
teaching of English in profound ways but most English teachers and language arts coordinators
of a large, prosperous school district never had heard of it.

The future of the IRA/NCTE will be worrying. Most of the English teachers and
language arts coordinators weren’t there during the development of the standards. Most of them
know the standards through announcements and publications from IRA or NCTE and sometimes
through articles from popular press. Most English teachers had little to do with their
development. According to the writer, the teachers need to be there during the conference if they
are to believe in standards and want to implement them. They need to participate in the
conversations that produce the standards that they seek to enact through their teaching. Every
English department or elementary faculty in every school must undertake its own standard
projects. The IRA/NCTE standards are the beginning of a process that teachers, departments and
faculties need to be intensively involved in if they are to take standards seriously.

When developing standards, the definition of standards we are referring to must be

known. Different people in the same conversation often have different definitions in mind. There
are several definitions for standards. The first one is making things the same for all students.
When students in every school study the same content, the citizens will have better
comprehension of those issues that are based on this common core of knowledge. This can
provide a single assessment designed for all thus providing a single means of comparison for
schools ranging across the country.

The second definition is minimum level of performance. This is the lowest acceptable
level of performance before promotion to the next grade. The last definition is typology of
competencies. This meaning of standards is the one found in IRA/NCTE standards and refers to
a range of areas in which students must be proficient. The level of the performance however is
never described, nor are all students expected to meet the standards in a uniform way.
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 The member of IRA/NCTE tend to share values on teaching and learning that are student-
centered, activity oriented, constructivist, interaction-based and collaborative, multidirectional,
open-ended and so on. These show that their standards are not values-neutral but have a liberal
perspective. These liberal values are not shared by all members of the general public or all
members of the teaching profession. Parents have the right to assure that their children’s beliefs
and moral values. This article is not to criticize either the IRA/NCTE standards or those
communities who reject them. It is actually to clarify that the IRA/NCTE standards are
undergirded by a liberal ideology that is not shared by all. The standards should be developed by
different type of people with different background so that it will be better informed. Education
ought to be devoted to cultivating particular traits (caring, joyous, inquiring, etc).

Standards can be thought of by considering metaphors for representing the process of

schooling. The metaphors are school is seen as factory, health care, prison, war, athletics, and
gardener. Teachers who consider the issue of educational standards ought to examine their
metaphors for schooling to help identify their assumptions about what they expect students to do
and how they mean to help them do it.

As a conclusion the standards should provide a starting point for both local and national
discussions of the meaning of having standards, the effects the standards can have and the way
we go about developing them. It is important that every teacher be there during these
discussions.

Strong points of article

The positive side of this article is the writer stresses the importance for the all the
teachers and certain people from the society to be there during the development of the standards.
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He gives out the reasons these people should be there and the consequences of their absence
during the process of developing the standards. He also defines the meaning of standards
available and the standards used by the IRA/NCTE.

Besides that, the way he relates the metaphors to teaching and learning process is
interesting. He defines the metaphor and shows the ways to utilize the metaphors on students.
This will create understanding about the students and give ideas to teachers on how to handle the
learning process in school.

Other than that, the ways he stresses his main points or his idea (My goal is…, my point
is…, etc) reveals his objective of debating over the topic. This shows clearly his stand and
subject of discussion.

Weak points of article

The negative side of this article is the writer does not take opinions or views from the
IRA/NCTE into account while discussing this topic. He is debating based on his experiences and
knowledge. He is looking from the perspective of people who is neglected during the process of
development of standard. The way he writes shows that he is condemning IRA/NCTE without
considering their opinions.

Furthermore he does not provide enough examples (real story) for some of the situations
(metaphors). He only provides example for major issues. At the end of his article, he gives a few
questions that teachers can discuss with their colleagues. However he does not provide
suggestions of answers for the questions. It is opinion-based questions but he does not share his
opinion here.

Your recommendation of how to improve the weak points

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 The weak points stated previously should be amended in order to make the article better.
Firstly the writer should get opinions from the members of IRA/NCTE so that he can find the
reason of neglecting others during the process of developing the standard. I am sure there is a
reason for IRA/NCTE not to take all the teachers and particular people from the society. If the
writer could get their opinion, the issue here can be well elaborated and can be seen from all
perspectives. Besides that, the article will be balanced and stable.

Other than that, the writer can provide examples for minor issues in his article. He
provides example on the method of applying the theories but not the real stories. For an example,
in metaphors in schooling, there is a metaphor that says school as prison. Here, the writer can
quote an experience from a teacher or a student. This can make the theories clearer.

Furthermore the writer could have elaborated more on the traits he gives such as
caring,joyous, inquiring and so on. Rather than just stating the traits, he could have defined the
traits in details and provides some methods of applying it.

Finally, the questions that the writer provides for discussion will be better if he gives his
own opinion there. Besides that, he also can do research among a group of teachers and provides
their opinion for that questions. This can make the readers know what is happening in real life.

As an educational planner, how would you apply the ideas

from the article?

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 As an educational planner, the job is to plan the growth and development of education.
The first thing I will do here is research before introducing any new commission comes out. I am
sure I can’t get everyone to be there during the development of standards. I will select people
from different background and social status to be in the conference but of course I can’t get each
of the people in the society to be there. So I will distribute questionnaire to all the teachers,
students, parents and other people who are involved in education. I will make sure the response
from them be analyzed and take into consideration before any launching of new policy.

Other than that, I will apply the values shared on teaching and learning by IRA/NCTE
such as students centered rather than centered on teachers’ knowledge, activity oriented rather
than inactive and so on. The IRA/NCTE has a liberal perspective which is good to apply in the
education system. As the liberal values are not shared by all the members of the public, I will
amend it according to their response so that everyone will be satisfied with the education system.

Besides that, I will implement the traits for education given by the writer. These traits
imply a set of practice for schooling in terms of how teachers arrange learning contexts and
experiences for students.

Finally I will give courses for teachers on the metaphors for schooling. I will stress
teachers to implement the positive metaphors such as school as factory. The negative metaphors
such as school as prison should be changed. Rather than punishing the students in a rough or
hard way, the teachers can punish them in soft way. For an example, students whose behavior is
good can be given treats or gift so that the students with bad behavior will feel isolated and will
not do the wrong things.

As a conclusion, it is important for everyone who are involved in education to be there

during development of standards in order to get a better education system.