Several thoughts from chapter 4:
1. Should I be worried? According to Gallagher, teaching has long-term effects. Meaning, "even two years after the fact, the performance of fifth grade students is still affected by the quality of their third-grade teachers." If this is the case, which I believe it is - how could they ever dream about performance pay? And, should I be worried? What if my students had a HORRIBLE math experience in 7th grade... do I pay the price?
2. I love what Gallagher says - "students are spending way too much time listening to their teachers and not enough time developing their critical thinking skills." How true! It is difficult to show tough love and not directly show students what to do. Where do you draw the line between instruction and no, you need to think on your own?!?! And, what happens if you misinterpret their confusion for laziness? So often my students are lazy... simply saying "I don't get it" when in reality, they don't want to think. How do I know when they actually don't get it and when they just aren't thinking?
3. I too struggle with the balance, or as Gallagher calls it - I struggle with identifying the sweet spot. I love his questions as I too ask them daily - "how much help is too much help? How much help is too little help? What is the right balance?"
In fact, I struggled with all of these issues today in my classroom. Many of my students were giving me the, "I don't get it. I don't understand" when they have performed on these same problems before. How do you know if its lack of understanding or simply lack of wanting? I would love some feedback.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Readicide Chapter 3.... part 2
How true! Mr. Gallagher really hit the nail on the head with this one when he wrote,
We would never buy a book at Barnes and Noble if it came with mandated chapter-by-chapter exams. We would never read a book so that we could tackle worksheets afterward. We would never being a new read with the expressed goal of earning points. And we would never feel compelled to read if we had to complete a project after ever book. Yet, as teachers, we do all of these things to developing readers. We subject them repeatedly to treatments that are counterproductive to developing book lovers. (page 72-73).
How true! And, we do this with so much more than just reading. We bore students to death with standardized tests, multiple choice this and standards that and we are fully surprised to learn they hate school! Instead, we need to appeal to students and meet them where they are. In fact, I loved Mr. Gallagher's idea of assessment. I enjoyed reading Mr. Gallagher's idea of one page papers - yes, accountability is important, but it doesn't have to be boring. Why can't we just let students tell us whats going on? Instead of always quizzing, testing, questioning, etc. - why can't we just let them tell us what they know in an informal kind of way?
And, then, here's another point - on the way to school this morning, I was disheartened to hear President Obama's take on the educational system. To paraphrase Obama, our students are not performing as well as other countries. So, to fix the problem, he suggests a mandated additional month of school. Wait a minute - to me, this idea further promotes everything we as educators are striving to fight against. Why make students who hate school and perform poorly in school continue to attend for an additional month - its school-i-cide.
Instead of systematically killing the love of learning, let's revamp the school system we have now. Let's quit asking teachers to teach the test and quiz and question students into boredom. Instead, let's allow students an opportunity to TRULY learn and to develop a love of learning. Only when students desire to learn - will they actually learn. Just like only when students desire to read will they actually read... and get something out of it. We should not bully students into reading. And, we should not bully students into school. There is a right way and a wrong way to educate. And, unfortunately, many of our practices now are pushing students further away from reading and further away from school.
We would never buy a book at Barnes and Noble if it came with mandated chapter-by-chapter exams. We would never read a book so that we could tackle worksheets afterward. We would never being a new read with the expressed goal of earning points. And we would never feel compelled to read if we had to complete a project after ever book. Yet, as teachers, we do all of these things to developing readers. We subject them repeatedly to treatments that are counterproductive to developing book lovers. (page 72-73).
How true! And, we do this with so much more than just reading. We bore students to death with standardized tests, multiple choice this and standards that and we are fully surprised to learn they hate school! Instead, we need to appeal to students and meet them where they are. In fact, I loved Mr. Gallagher's idea of assessment. I enjoyed reading Mr. Gallagher's idea of one page papers - yes, accountability is important, but it doesn't have to be boring. Why can't we just let students tell us whats going on? Instead of always quizzing, testing, questioning, etc. - why can't we just let them tell us what they know in an informal kind of way?
And, then, here's another point - on the way to school this morning, I was disheartened to hear President Obama's take on the educational system. To paraphrase Obama, our students are not performing as well as other countries. So, to fix the problem, he suggests a mandated additional month of school. Wait a minute - to me, this idea further promotes everything we as educators are striving to fight against. Why make students who hate school and perform poorly in school continue to attend for an additional month - its school-i-cide.
Instead of systematically killing the love of learning, let's revamp the school system we have now. Let's quit asking teachers to teach the test and quiz and question students into boredom. Instead, let's allow students an opportunity to TRULY learn and to develop a love of learning. Only when students desire to learn - will they actually learn. Just like only when students desire to read will they actually read... and get something out of it. We should not bully students into reading. And, we should not bully students into school. There is a right way and a wrong way to educate. And, unfortunately, many of our practices now are pushing students further away from reading and further away from school.
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