Education Twitter Accounts, Essay Example

Shanna Jamanis’ tweets (Jamanis) over the last six weeks show that she is particularly taking interest in improving the quality of teachers as well as the use of technology and other new tools to improve students’ learning. Before internet came, the standard classroom format remained unchanged for decades and it is a positive thing that internet technologies are being embraced. Nor only they make learning more fun and keep students engaged but they can also be used to accommodate students’ individual learning styles. One of the articles Shanna posted about improving the quality of teachers mentions that the state of New York will fire those with low performance evaluations. Even though, I do believe that teachers should be evaluated for their performance but the threat of job loss alone will not work. Teachers should also be given incentives to show above-average performance.

Diane Ravitch has primarily tweeted (Ravitch) about charter schools and is opposed to them. Diane believes that charter school are destructive for the public education system and instead proposes Finish school model. Diane believes that children are not being allowed to freely explore their curiosity and tests and assessments do nothing to improve students’ performance in the long run. Diane also opposes the huge administrative costs at charter school which is very much like bureaucracy. Diane believes that the solution is professionalism by the teaching profession and not assessments. I believe with Diane because I think Montessori system should be promoted in the U.S. as it emphasizes exploration by students. Too much emphasis on testing may leave little room for children to understand material and pursue creative interests.

Stephen Sawchuck (Sawchuck) also seems to be opposed to the testing system and proposed education reforms. One of the articles mentioned by Sawchuck reported that states are having difficulty developing effective teachers’ evaluation systems. Another article mentions that the government funding under No Child Left Behind to improve teachers’ quality has been a failure. It seems that most education experts do think that the solution to America’s education problem is not more government funding but more practical and creative solutions. One of these is less emphasis on tests and assessments and giving more room to children to explore their interests and curiosity. The focus should be on learning and not on test scores. I agree with this because the focus on test scores may result in teachers focusing on how to beat the system instead of focusing on effective teaching.

Reference

Jamanis, S. (n.d.). Retrieved February 9, 2012, from Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/ShannaJamanis

Ravitch, D. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2012, from Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/dianeravitch

Sawchuck, S. (n.d.). Retrieved February 10, 2012, from Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/teacherbeat