Two of the blogs I read this morning are about mothers and their daughters. In one the mother is homeschooling her daughter. She's discussing testing. Should a student know the answer without multiple choices? One of the commenters on her blog writes that a person should be able to recognize an answer as well.
As a teacher in mid school, I gave different types of tests. Mostly, however, I had to give clues or the kids just didn't get it. When I tried essay, I got one sentence answers that sometimes didn't make any sense at all. I always liked oral better because most students were able to tell me the answer but couldn't put the answer into the written word. Maybe it was the age. Maybe it was the way they'd been taught forever. Maybe it was the way I taught.
The other blog is written by a mom who coaches her daughter's T-ball team. She's found a way to make playing ball fun. It takes a special coach to make learning fun. Those little girls will remember this season all their lives. The sad part will be if they continue playing and they get coaches who only want to win. Winning is good, too, but not when it trumps fun.
How did we get to this place in life where everything has to be so hard? Learning, playing, just living? With all the sickness (We know so many people with cancer) and corruption (Just read the paper. Every day there's one more politician or government official who has broken the law) and name-calling (A Miss U.S.A contestant who is asked if she supports gay marriage is called names by one of the gay judges and misses her chance to win the title because she doesn't give the P.C. answer--and that's only one example)and bleak economic future of our country, we could use a little fun.
One of our favorite TV newspeople thinks watching Dancing With the Stars is a waste of time. He says we need to be aware of what is going on in the world instead. We KNOW what is going on in the world. How can you miss it if you are living and breathing? But we need a break from it.
Jesus said He came to give us the abundant life. I don't think He was talking about money, prestige or happiness. I think He might have been talking about peace and security in Him and maybe even fun.
What I think is ideal in education and what teachers can actually do are two very different propositions.
ReplyDeleteMost classroom teachers do the best they can. They have to face huge odds, a legacy of bad educational theory, and opposition whenever they try to keep high standards. So I don't blame any teacher for whatever she has to do to survive and teach the best she can under her particular circumstances. Lots of excellent teachers have been fired for refusing to toe the line. While that preserved their principles, it didn't help the kids who lost their excellent teachers.