my internet file cabinet.
welikesnow
Posts tagged “education”
“ To some students, getting cues from the teacher rather than thinking about the math has become such an ingrained habit that it is their entire modus operandi when doing math with an expert around (teacher, tutor, parent, peer, etc.). They usually have lost faith in their ability to have math actually make sense to them, and this cueing has become their sole survival strategy. They regularly fail tests and have come to accept this, but they would rather fake you out than admit ignorance – understandable, since they often carry a feeling of stupidity arising from their lost faith, and admitting ignorance would mean exposing this supposed stupidity. So they watch you and produce the right answers more often than not. Not with any sense of trickery or getting over on anyone – often, they’re barely conscious of the game. But it’s how they survive. ”
“ See how high school teachers use the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics standards and group learning to reach a broad range of students. In this library, teachers demonstrate the fine art of guiding students through reasoning and problem solving. Students comment on the new way of learning, often expressing frustration as well as the sense of accomplishment they feel when working through problems with peers. ”
Page from How to Be an Explorer of the World: Portable Life Museum by Keri Smith…
This book started with a list that I wrote one night when I couldn’t sleep. These ideas are an accumulation of things that I have learned from various teacher and artists over the years. They all spewed out at once.
How to Be an Explorer of the World:
1. Always be looking. (Notice the ground beneath your feet.)
2. Consider everything alive and animate.
3. Everything is interesting. Look closer.
4. Alter your course often.
5. Observe for long durations (and short ones).
6. Notice the stories going on around you.
7. Make patterns. Make connections.
8. Document your findings (field notes) in a variety of ways.
9. Incorporate indeterminacy.
10. Observe movement.
11. Create a personal dialogue with your environment. Talk to it.
12. Trace things to their origins.
13. Use all of the senses in your investigations.
“ Consider this one example from my recent experience. I attended a conference of school counselors, where the latest ideas in the realm of student counseling were being presented. I went to a session on the development of self-discipline and responsibility, wondering what these concepts mean to people embedded in traditional schooling. To me, self-discipline means the ability to pursue one’s goals without outside coercion; responsibility means taking appropriate action on one’s own initiative, without being goaded by others. To the people presenting the session, both concepts had to do solely with the child’s ability to do his or her assigned class work. They explained that a guidance counselor’s proper function was to get students to understand that responsible behavior meant doing their homework in a timely and effective manner, as prescribed, and self-discipline meant the determination to get that homework done. George Orwell was winking in the back of the room. ”
“ So much about the current school improvement ideas are about trying to improve twenty different things at once, and I don’t think that works. It sounds good — especially because we can all see that there are often many, many problems in schools — but it rings hollow, because the sum of all those parts rarely add up to a whole. ”
John Taylor Gatto - 01 The Elite Private Boarding Schools (via rinkuhero)
14 Principles of Elite Private Schools:
1.) No kid should graduate without a theory of human nature attained through the study of History, philosophy, theology, literature, and law.
2.) Every graduate has a strong experience with the active literacies: writing and public speaking.
3.) Insight into the major institutional forms: courts, corporations, military, etc.
4.) Repeated exercises in the forms of good manners and politeness, based on the fact that these things are the basis of future relationships.
5.) Independent work. (Contrast with public school where the teacher is tasked with filling 90% of the class time.)
6.) Energetic physical sports are not a luxury, but are rather the only way to confer grace on the human presence.
7.) A complete theory of access to any workplace or any person. (Imagine an assignment for a student to get a personal meeting with the governor.)
8.) Responsibiity as an utterly essential part of the curriculum. Always grab for responsibility when it is offered, and always deliver more than what is expected.
9.) Arrive at a personal code of standards. Standards of production, behavior, and morality.
10.) Familiarity with the master creations of the arts so that you are at ease within all the arts.
11.) Realize the power of accurate observation and recording. (Drawing is Gatto’s example.)
12.) The ability to handle challenges of all sorts. Challenges are different for different people.
13.) A habit of caution in reasoning to conclusions.
14.) The constant development and testing of judgements. You make judgements, but you keep an eye on results to see how you’re doing.
“ There is never any busy work at the Harkness Table. Instead of a math book with an endless number of identical problems and the answers in the back of the book, your math teachers write their own text and design problems that will challenge you. ”
“Students begin to view academic wealth as determined by the number of points they can accumulate. Teachers set the currency rate when they establish their grading standards and simplify the required bookkeeping with modern computerized grading programs. Savvy students keep track of current exchange rates, calculating far in advance the exact number of points they need to attain the grade they want, and adjust their efforts accordingly. They know they must plan cautiously since they can lose points or be fined for certain transgressions, such as not completing a homework assignment or turning in a project late. They also make note of contingencies that allow them to earn points or bonuses, such as doing special projects or volunteering for work outside of class (Guskey & Bailey, 2001, p. 19).
&
Sadly, this emphasis on earning points in order to procure the grade commodity diminishes the value of learning
”
(Guskey & Bailey, 2001, p. 20)
MeTA musings: Grading: Points vs. Learning
Interesting that I found this just as I was considering the end of checked homework in my classes.
