Accountability for High Standards (Ch. 6)

Abstract:
This chapter is about the accountability of teachers and students in the classroom. The main focus is encouraging teachers to help students be held accountable for their work and effort in positive ways, but the chapter also talks about teachers being held accountable for updated/new information and also being sure that the students are developing into lifelong learners and not just "learning" for a test or assignment. The chapter suggests some ways to help hold students accountable are showing examples of good work to help students understand the expectations, avoiding any type of reward, allowing them to display their work publicly so they will work a little harder, allowing for corrections on their work rather than giving definitive grades, and even setting up the rubric so that it is perfectly clear what they are expected to do. Because the chapter is suggesting that teachers should be held accountable also, some suggestions for that are to be sure that all of the material is relevant and useful, be sure you're not teaching to any test, giving formative assessments to track progress, constantly thinking outside the box, and even just the basic idea of making sure students understand before moving on. The chapter helps demonstrate the importance of these practices and shows how both the teacher and student play a role in support one another.

Reflection:
This chapter was really a wonderful reminder of one of the many ways that teachers and students depend on each other for success. The teachers need to be held accountable because it is their job to get the students to where they need to be academically, which is why the students need to be held equally accountable. I had always loved the idea of students taking control of their education, but this chapter is a solid reminder that no matter what, I will never be out of a job, because the students need us, just as we need them to move us forward in our own learning and teaching. It was a cool chapter to read, with all of the idea intertwining and showing a very deep and important connection between the teaching and learning that occurs in a classroom.