Memo #6

As I finish my I-Search research and interviews, I seem to be at a point of uncertainty. When I started this project, I was so excited about teaching across the curriculum, and helping students learn through writing. However, as time has gone on, I have realized that teaching across the curriculum may be an empty dream. There is a lot of research and evidence out there to prove that teaching across the curriculum works and that it's a great thing! However, the practicality of this seems to be few and far between. My research has shown me that, although teaching across the curriculum works, it rarely happens. Teachers are dealing with a lot already, it's even harder for them to incorperate writing into their lesson plans. They don't have time to grade all that writing and help their students develop writing skills, on top of everything else they already do. Even if a teacher wants to incorperate writing into their curriculum, the system doesn't seem to be working to teach these teachers how to do that. I though maybe there would be writing in at least science classrooms, but there I was easily proven wrong. When looking at the CCSS, there are so many oppurtunities for students to write in the classroom; however, a teacher could easily get away with not having their students write at all. There are no writing standards for classes that are not English classrooms. Students are not required to keep math journals or write lab reports. Thus, students can easily go all day without writing more than a few words.

This really frustrates me. How are we supposed to be moving forwards with reading and writing if we make no effort for our students to read and write? How are we supposed to help improve their scores in math and science if they don't know how to read or write in these areas? Why is Obama focusing on Science and Math without taking Literature and Reading into account? It seems like we are running on a hamster wheel; coming up with great ideas to help our students learn, but then not bothering to put them into effect.

This I-Search has definitely increased my uneasiness of becoming a high school teacher. There is so much I question now, and every day I realize how more and more broken our education system is. I'm questioning whether it can ever be fixed.