Comments on: Education in a Perfect World

By: Whittydeb

Whittydeb — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 21:49:22 +0000

Such great ideas for more meaningful learning experiences in the classroom and relationship building between teachers and students. I can tell you from my experiences throughout my education (Kindergarten through completion of my Bachelor’s degree) that a good relationship with the teacher was paramount to my success as a student. It was important to me to know that they cared about how I was doing, if I was meeting their expectations, and that they were willing to give encouragement when I needed it to press on towards achieving the level of success that I could reach. How well I remember my 2nd grade teacher who treated me like a “dummy” when I asked a question. Or how about the math teacher in 6th grade who met up with another math teacher in the hallway right behind my locker (where I was standing at the time) after school and called my mom (also a teacher) a bitch for wanting me to be tested to see I qualified for a higher level math class. Kudos to my mom who did not return the favor by bad mouthing the teacher in front of me, but calmed me down and then went to meet with the principal to discuss the incident and work out a solution that would not negatively affect my math learning that year.

You have great ideas to bring education to a whole new level, keep pressing those ideas and lets get them implemented in schools everywhere.

By: Heather B.

Heather B. — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 11:42:20 +0000

Well, right now the administration is on this whole competitive grant kick where instead of just giving money to states and LEA’s for education – you know to help ALL kids – they’re making the adults compete for it like some crazy episode of Fear Factor. I would like to see LESS of that. The administration is all for reauthorizing ESEA which I’m down for but making it into a giant competitive grant program totally defeats the purpose of a piece of legislation meant to help all students, not just the adults who can write the best application.

By: mommymae

mommymae — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 21:18:46 +0000

i’ve been saving this because i wanted to write to you. we’re in a bit of a bind here in az where we are in a school that touts a progressive teaching model in multi-grade level classrooms, but the girls are NOT getting that. they’re getting a traditional rote memory/worksheet/boring, boring, boring education. they tell me it’s boring. they tell me they’re getting 1st grade work as 2nd graders. and it kills me. we have no other options here besides homeschooling & i’m just not sure i want to do that. we’re meeting the principal this week, but i’m leery of him assuading my doubts about choosing this school. until i see actual progress back to student-led work, teaching to the top learners, project-based learning based on material chosen by the students, real direction in projects that are done in class, i’ll just feel like we made a horrible choice moving here.

sad panda.

By: Calvin Mackie

Calvin Mackie — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:07:02 +0000

Keep Pushing Mocha Momma!!!! Good Stuff!!! I am glad you though about what I attempting to get across!!

By: Suebob

Suebob — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 07:07:45 +0000

I would like to see schools where NO students come out thinking they are stupid. My mother and my brother both have mild learning disabilities of the dyslexia type (they were never diagnosed) and they both think they are stupid because they weren’t “good in school.” This happens to so many people and I think it stinks. Everyone is good at something and can use their talents to their advantage in life. The student who hates to read and hates math and hates doing reports may still be a brilliant salesperson or drummer or artist.

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:48:28 +0000

My son did better with 17 students in his class than with 25 this year. He needs the extra help/pat on the back to get his stuff done. He is in a mixed class with 2nd & 3rd graders & it isn’t working. I thought she would teach with another teacher & get 4th/3rd/2nd/1st grade reading & math depending on each students level. Nope. If you are in 2nd grade, you get second grade work. If you are ahead, sit there & be quiet when you get your work done. If you are behind, just sit there and be quiet. They are graded on being good. My son is reading a year behind but got an A. He does get graded on my initals in his planner too.

By: Mocha

Mocha — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 03:18:22 +0000

You know what that does, Amanda? It micromanages what teachers THINK that parents should be doing for their kids. It’s meaningless. It shows you which kid knows how to say, “Mom? Dad? I need a signature.” Oh, yeah? Well, so does a bank teller and that’s for identification purposes.

Meg is right – we need to re-examine this practice and ask ourselves, “What does this prove? What does the signature of a parent tell us? Why are we grading that?”

By: Amanda

Amanda — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:20:04 +0000

I thought of something to add, it actually came up today at school.

Practice is just that, practice and should not count towards the final mark. Summative tasks, that’s where the marks lie.

I have been fighting with this one…at least one teacher I work with seems to think that writing _a_ persuasive piece for 4-6 weeks, and conferencing, is enough. My group by comparison, have seen me write, practiced it themselves, are going to be working on and creating a podcast (about a global issue) and then will have a final summative writing task – write a letter, using the info gathered from your podcast. All this in grade 6!

Meg Evans – sadly I am not surprised that your child’s mark is affected by whether you sign the agenda. I share my room with other teachers (who teach my class while I am out is my other position) and the agenda seemed to be the biggest focus…upto 50 mins. checking/signing/writing in it!

By: Aviatrixt

Aviatrixt — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:56:35 +0000

Jesus. I can’t believe an adult called you a slut. An adult. Speaks so much louder about the adult than it does about the student, doesn’t it?

This makes me miss teaching.

By: Beth

Beth — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 00:43:47 +0000

I’m in a unique position in that I have to teach patients and families in almost the same breath that I have to teach medical students and residents. It’s challenging at times.

For me, it’s all about the buy-in. I can only get my teenager with bad acne to use the meds I recommend and prescribe only if she wants to do something about it. Likewise, I can only get my med students to learn if I make it worth their while and make them *want* to learn. I also try to be a great model. So much of our learning in medicine is done by modeling. When I’m talking to patients and families, I always try to have a resident or student with me to see how it’s done. If they can take something away from the encounter that’s empowered them to change (both patient and resident/student), then I’ve done my job.

For example, I have a patient that wants to go on birth control. She’s already taking a daily medication. I’ve stressed to her the importance of taking her BCP every day. I gave her homework today – she needs to come up with a way to remind herself to take her pills every day. If she wants the BCPs (which she says she does) and after our discussion she knows what she needs to do for them to work, my hope is that it’s empowered her to make good decisions. It has to be something she wants to do; even though I prescribe it, I can’t make her take it.

Even though I have two widely different groups of people that I teach – different socioeconomically and educationally – I use the same skills to teach both.