What is the changing role of the teacher, and how do we support that new role?

How do we help students discover their passions?

How do we adapt curriculum to the technologies that kids are already using?

What is the purpose of school?

What sort of professional development are teachers receiving to ensure that they have the latest in knowledge/technology and strategies to engage and involve our children?

How do teachers engage with students on each topic to ensure that they are learning?
To counterpoint Claudia's earlier question: What would student say gets in the way of doing their best work?

Every child learns in a different way, visual, auditory, tactical -Are we equipping our teachers with varying approaches to teach to these learning processes?

Jumping off of Karlie's question:
What are the PUBLIC school options for children that learn differently? (since not everyone has access to private options)

What responsibilities do parents have to the educational process?

Should we be teaching with the expectation that all learning happens at school?

What are the options for exceptional students that don't require skipping grades?

Are the expectations we have for education reasonable?

When did the expectations change or did they?

On a side note I must say that I had a conversation with Charlotte's "teacher" the other day about how kindergarten used to be optional and it was used as a socialization tool with minimal learning. Then we went to half day kindergarten with learning of letters, numbers, the basics. Now it is full day and there is a test to take before you start and you have to know the alphabet and sounds, numbers up to 20, colors, shapes, writing your name, etc...
So if students are starting out MORE prepared how are we losing ground?

I recently watched the documentary "Waiting for Superman" which is about the public school system in America. If you haven't seen it and this topic interests you, I definitely recommend watching it.

My questions- some of which stem from that movie:

When a child falls behind- whose responsibility does it become to help that student- the parent, the teacher, or the school? How is that communicated?

What options do parents have to send their children to the "better" schools- how does classism effect what options a family has?

How much longer do we have to endure the "teach to the test" philosophy before something will be done about it?

Having lived in and had my public education and most of my children's primary education in Wisconsin (have you heard of Madison???) , having lived in Tennessee for part of my children's primary education, having lived in Illinois for my children's secondary education.... having volunteered in the classroom in primary education (extensively with reading and art programs) and having been a paraprofessional at the middle school level... I have seen a lot of things...

*Unions used to be great, if they are up to date, however, probably should be optional in this day and age...no union in Tennessee
*Some schools should be treated like a business.... get rid of employees (teachers. aides, principals) who don't perform, promote or give raises to those who do their job and above
*Teacher's deserve 3 months off (have you seen some of the kids they have to teach, or for that matter... parents & administration they have to 'deal' with?) But then should they HAVE to buy things out of their own pocket to provide the classroom? Should they have to pay and take extensive courses to be certified?
*If a teacher has to plan their class itinerary and correct their papers at home, are they being overworked or not accurately utilizing their time at school (see the three months 'off' if you consider summer break, winter break, spring break, thanksgiving, in service days, federal holidays)
*If your PTA is active and raises a lot of money to be able to purchase many up to date FUN educational programs, play ground equipment, computers etc.... should children of other schools go without? Can you or should you lie about your address to get your child into a better school?
*How active should parents be in their children's education?

This my friends is a very hot topic!!!!

I think with anything in life...you need balance. Including education! Teaching to the test philosophy, in my opinion, has gotten out of hand. The teachers feel pressure to push a student to perform to a certain level. What if the child is not a good test taker?

Is there balance in the current education system?

How much homework is to much?

Why is health/nutrition not as important as the fundamentals? Our obesity rate in childeren is higher than it has EVER been.

Mind, body, spirit...its all about balance.

Sorry I missed all of this fun yesterday!

As a parent of a 1st grader, I am intrigued with the questions you all posed about the role of parents in the education process. I remember from the first week of school "meet the teacher" night that we are supposed to read each night for 15-20 minutes, but other than that, we haven't gotten any additional feedback on things we should be doing with our son to help him be successful. Maybe that means he's doing fine and the teacher would contact me if she needed me to help, but isn't there a way to better inform the parents of what concepts are being learned and what questions we could be asking our kids over dinner to find out how much they are learning?