Blog Post 9

Oaks

"Tracking Why Students Need to Take Another Route"

     Oaks discusses tracking and how students placed in higher ability classes will have a better chance of succeeding because of the enhanced materials they will have access too. Oaks says when placed in a higher ability class the teachers are usually the best of the best. Teachers will focus more on learning activities rather than worrying about disciplining students. Teachers will put more effort in and give students more homework to make sure they truly understand what is being taught. 

     This quote really stood out too me,

"Students who need more time to learn appear to get less; those who have the most difficulty learning seem to have fewer of the best teachers." I believe this quote is true. Many students who struggle teachers do not have the patience to deal with them or help them. Which she points on when she says "students who have the most difficultly learning seem to have fewer of the best teachers".

     When placed in a lower ability classroom teachers are already expecting it to be students who may get in trouble a lot or students who don't really care about school. This makes the teacher focus more on discipline then building relationships with students. A teacher student relationship would allow students to feel they are in a comfortable environment with someone who cares about their education. Its already setting students up for failure before they even walk into the classroom when they know there in a low ability class. Also when a student knows their in a lower ability class their self esteem is shut down. Students need to be motivated to know they can do something instead of being classified by what they already have done. If both class ability types merged together it would benefit students equally. The students of lower ability would have someone of a higher learning ability to help them and motivate them. The class room would be all split so no student would less important. Although there is benefits of putting students of different abilities together there is some negative. When mixing students of abilities it can be harder for the lower ability student to keep up. This could cause them more stress when completing work. On the other hand for the higher ability student they could be bored. They would finish their work and not be challenged. Proper lesson plans would have to be put into play to allow both learning abilities to succeed. Teachers would have to have certain lessons set up to ensure a positive learning experience for both types.