The whole language approach to learning how to read has been a disaster. Phonics worked for how many eons yet somehow they decided that there has to be a better way. Same with math. Start with getting rid of common core and get back to basics. Teach children the 3 r's. But then teachers would have to do their job and teach instead of ind…
The whole language approach to learning how to read has been a disaster. Phonics worked for how many eons yet somehow they decided that there has to be a better way. Same with math. Start with getting rid of common core and get back to basics. Teach children the 3 r's. But then teachers would have to do their job and teach instead of indoctrinate.
BTW my father was a teacher. Some parents brought a complaint of racism against him because he insisted his students write in full sentences. He even had to put on his whiteboard a permanent display of the different parts of a sentence so students remembered how to write one. This was 8th grade and he was trying to get them ready for high school. PS his principal told him to ignore the complaint that it was nonsensical.
Sometimes it's really not all the teachers fault if a child can't read, write, or do math either.
I taught high school at a prestigious private school for 12 years and I can tell you lazy teachers abound. As I had my own kids and monitored their education, I would say there are more lazy teachers than not. The great teachers really stand out because there just aren’t that many of them. If I did it again I’d try homeschooling.
I am a retired English teacher. When the parents quit putting an emphasis on reading as being important, things changed. Children learn to read at home. It's got to start there... just my opinion. Independent readers make for independent learners, and those two things go hand in hand..... and children who have disabilities in learning to read have to work harder, and my heart always went out to them......
After having retired from the teaching profession for 40 years, I agreed to tutor some fourth and fifth graders, who were having trouble with reading. The first thing I did was teach them how to write a sentence and that all answers were to be given in complete sentences. Their performance in school skyrocketed. It’s such a simple thing. Complete a sentence, but you’d be absolutely gobsmacked to know how few students can do it. My husband teaches at a local college. Students answer questions in fragments. It’s very discouraging.
As a former English-language arts teacher of kids from 5th to 8th grade, I can affirm that lower-grade phonics instruction is highly important. But so is kids' (of all ages and grade levels) *willingness* to read and *think*, and not turn to Spark Notes and other online sites that will do the work for them, from summarizing to evaluating theme, characters, and conflict. It takes work. Maybe there were fewer opportunities for kids to access online "shortcut" sites, but my students from 20-25 years ago did not try to laze their way through English. They were willing to engage with literature. My students of the past 5 years, not so much.
My daughter has been teaching K and 1st grade for 14 years. What she describes as the preparedness of kids coming into her class now vs when she started is appalling. Also, as I have written before, out of 25+ students she has 5 that are English speaking, 2-3 that are SP Ed and the remainder speak many different languages, yet her job is to prepare them all for 1st or 2nd grade requirements. She DOES NOT have an aide in the room. Tell me how and how do any of these kids advance on schedule?
I went to St Rita’s, 62 in my class. One nun, Sister Norrita. Sister Rose Anthony was the Principal. You did not mess around. Differences from my daughter's class, it was a homogenous class in that all spoke English and no Special Ed being mainstreamed.
My daughter’s SPED kids are truly SPED…they need extra care, more than just being “on the spectrum”. When I was in school (I’m 68) there were classes within my school for those deemed “slow”, behavioral, etc. They were not mainstreamed into the regular class rooms.
If she can make it on a lower salary, she should consider a private school with smaller class sizes, few to no special education students (many private and independent schools just don't have the resources to offer much in the way of special education), and also fewer non-English speaking kids.
My sons 20 years ago were taught that going on line, using spark notes etc was cheating and it wasn’t allowed. I think boundaries have been removed and what was once considered anathema is now the norm.
Its not just boundaries, but parental engagement. The number of times I see parents defend not parenting is astonishing to me. Essentially there are a number of parents who just don't want to ever have to be the Heavy. They either want to be their kids friend first and foremost or they don't want to do the hard work of discipline. So even if a parent says that sparks notes is wrong, they are less likely to be following up to make sure their kid is doing what they are supposed to.
Of course there is also the idea that some parents have learned that grades are what matters since schools have done a poor job of tracking if kids actually LEARN, so many parents and students just worry about the grades.
When you need at least a 4.2 GPA to attend any public university, one bad grade can literally derail your entire academic plans. My kids school is drastically more difficult than when we went to school.
Problem is, a A at one school is not the same as an A at another.
Also, depending on the state there are other ways around GPA. Many states have programs that allow people with a Junior College degree automatically approval to a same state school.
I understand how important grades have become. But if you only focus on the GPA and not actually learning, your kid may not have the skills they need to actually pass at university.
And of course, it also depends on what you actually are going to do with your life. I feel there are a lot of kids working on degrees that realistically could skip college.
I agree, and our approach is for the kids to to their best and not stress over college. The 2 + 2 route is perfectly fine, and I argue it's smarter because it's only $106 per credit hour in FL. Why pay double for college algebra?
I know so many parents that are dead set on their kids getting into the best colleges as a Freshman, and will do anything to make it happen. These kids don't benefit from this approach. I've worked with college interns in the HIT and financial industries.The best and brightest on paper were often highly anxious and didn't have any common sense. I didn't think they were the best candidates after interviews, but we were required to hire for diversity first so we ended up with very anxious white women with exemplary academic records.
One of my favorite scenes in Good Will Hunting is when Skylar declines Will’s help while she’s studying and tells him, “I do actually want to learn this.”
The whole language approach to learning how to read has been a disaster. Phonics worked for how many eons yet somehow they decided that there has to be a better way. Same with math. Start with getting rid of common core and get back to basics. Teach children the 3 r's. But then teachers would have to do their job and teach instead of indoctrinate.
BTW my father was a teacher. Some parents brought a complaint of racism against him because he insisted his students write in full sentences. He even had to put on his whiteboard a permanent display of the different parts of a sentence so students remembered how to write one. This was 8th grade and he was trying to get them ready for high school. PS his principal told him to ignore the complaint that it was nonsensical.
Sometimes it's really not all the teachers fault if a child can't read, write, or do math either.
I taught high school at a prestigious private school for 12 years and I can tell you lazy teachers abound. As I had my own kids and monitored their education, I would say there are more lazy teachers than not. The great teachers really stand out because there just aren’t that many of them. If I did it again I’d try homeschooling.
I am a retired English teacher. When the parents quit putting an emphasis on reading as being important, things changed. Children learn to read at home. It's got to start there... just my opinion. Independent readers make for independent learners, and those two things go hand in hand..... and children who have disabilities in learning to read have to work harder, and my heart always went out to them......
After having retired from the teaching profession for 40 years, I agreed to tutor some fourth and fifth graders, who were having trouble with reading. The first thing I did was teach them how to write a sentence and that all answers were to be given in complete sentences. Their performance in school skyrocketed. It’s such a simple thing. Complete a sentence, but you’d be absolutely gobsmacked to know how few students can do it. My husband teaches at a local college. Students answer questions in fragments. It’s very discouraging.
Another issue with math, is the "real world" math approach. Literacy in everything the administrators
say! So now, the tests are mostly word problems. Struggling readers aren't able to learn math either, which disproportionately affects boys.
When they switched to common core math, leading STEM professors across the country said this will ruin math literacy and it has
As a former English-language arts teacher of kids from 5th to 8th grade, I can affirm that lower-grade phonics instruction is highly important. But so is kids' (of all ages and grade levels) *willingness* to read and *think*, and not turn to Spark Notes and other online sites that will do the work for them, from summarizing to evaluating theme, characters, and conflict. It takes work. Maybe there were fewer opportunities for kids to access online "shortcut" sites, but my students from 20-25 years ago did not try to laze their way through English. They were willing to engage with literature. My students of the past 5 years, not so much.
My daughter has been teaching K and 1st grade for 14 years. What she describes as the preparedness of kids coming into her class now vs when she started is appalling. Also, as I have written before, out of 25+ students she has 5 that are English speaking, 2-3 that are SP Ed and the remainder speak many different languages, yet her job is to prepare them all for 1st or 2nd grade requirements. She DOES NOT have an aide in the room. Tell me how and how do any of these kids advance on schedule?
I went to catholic school in Chicago in 1960’s
We had 36 students in classroom and one nun who was our teacher
She was kind but tough- nonsense was not tolerated
Maybe if kids knew they need to behave…..
I had 2 nuns as teachers during my grade school years - best teachers I would ever have. Shout out to Sr. Josephine and Sr. Angela!
I went to St Rita’s, 62 in my class. One nun, Sister Norrita. Sister Rose Anthony was the Principal. You did not mess around. Differences from my daughter's class, it was a homogenous class in that all spoke English and no Special Ed being mainstreamed.
Yes, but there was no Special Ed at that time
Kids who would now be diagnosed “on the spectrum” were then just considered odd kids with no social skills
Discipline at home and at school made education work
My daughter’s SPED kids are truly SPED…they need extra care, more than just being “on the spectrum”. When I was in school (I’m 68) there were classes within my school for those deemed “slow”, behavioral, etc. They were not mainstreamed into the regular class rooms.
I don't blame teachers for this at all. They really have to put up so much BS from all sides with crappy pay.
If they are teaching whole language I blame the teacher/principal/district superintendent/school board, but mostly the teacher/union.
Just impossible. Very difficult conditions for your daughter—and all the students, too.
She is considering not teaching b/c of the conditions and the direction of school administration. Maybe that will change w/Trump.
If she can make it on a lower salary, she should consider a private school with smaller class sizes, few to no special education students (many private and independent schools just don't have the resources to offer much in the way of special education), and also fewer non-English speaking kids.
My sons 20 years ago were taught that going on line, using spark notes etc was cheating and it wasn’t allowed. I think boundaries have been removed and what was once considered anathema is now the norm.
Its not just boundaries, but parental engagement. The number of times I see parents defend not parenting is astonishing to me. Essentially there are a number of parents who just don't want to ever have to be the Heavy. They either want to be their kids friend first and foremost or they don't want to do the hard work of discipline. So even if a parent says that sparks notes is wrong, they are less likely to be following up to make sure their kid is doing what they are supposed to.
Of course there is also the idea that some parents have learned that grades are what matters since schools have done a poor job of tracking if kids actually LEARN, so many parents and students just worry about the grades.
When you need at least a 4.2 GPA to attend any public university, one bad grade can literally derail your entire academic plans. My kids school is drastically more difficult than when we went to school.
Problem is, a A at one school is not the same as an A at another.
Also, depending on the state there are other ways around GPA. Many states have programs that allow people with a Junior College degree automatically approval to a same state school.
I understand how important grades have become. But if you only focus on the GPA and not actually learning, your kid may not have the skills they need to actually pass at university.
And of course, it also depends on what you actually are going to do with your life. I feel there are a lot of kids working on degrees that realistically could skip college.
I agree, and our approach is for the kids to to their best and not stress over college. The 2 + 2 route is perfectly fine, and I argue it's smarter because it's only $106 per credit hour in FL. Why pay double for college algebra?
I know so many parents that are dead set on their kids getting into the best colleges as a Freshman, and will do anything to make it happen. These kids don't benefit from this approach. I've worked with college interns in the HIT and financial industries.The best and brightest on paper were often highly anxious and didn't have any common sense. I didn't think they were the best candidates after interviews, but we were required to hire for diversity first so we ended up with very anxious white women with exemplary academic records.
One of my favorite scenes in Good Will Hunting is when Skylar declines Will’s help while she’s studying and tells him, “I do actually want to learn this.”
The best thing to ever come out of Boston.
Go Habs!