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people at my school use to call the elementary ed majors "cut-and-paste" majors. Oh,
Yep, that's about what it boils down to at the elementary level, at least. Cut and paste, and I don't mean with a computer. I mean cut up paper with little scissors, paste it on little boards, pages, etc, make pretties, for an extra touch add glitter, use crayons, markers, etc..That's an education! That's why I took my son out of public school, his brain was turning to mush with all the fiddle faddle. Honestly, I know more than most of his teachers, anyways! At least with me he's learning something besides coloring!
My wife recently graduated as an el-ed major and she now teaches first grade. Do you want to know why el-ed majors have to do so much of that seemingly useless stuff? It's because schools have done away with ability grouping by class. GOD FORBID we risk damaging their self-esteem by grouping kids with other kids of like abilities... in my wife's class, she has all kinds... from the genius who aces everything to the slow kid who is perpetually behind in everything. And you know what my wife gets to do on account of having slow kids in her class? That's right, she gets to TUTOR them! (I don't think she gets paid extra for that... and if she does, I have yet to determine how much.)
When I was in school, kids were ability-grouped for the most part. That's why we didn't have as much fiddle-faddle. But no, now it's all about inclusion... keep the slower kids in the normal classes to maintain their self-esteem.... then totally shoot it to you-know-where when they graduate by making them feel like they're too fat or too thin or too tall or too short or SOMETHING that makes them unworthy and substandard.
No, they just add another student to take his place. So now my son is doing algebra and reading books on the high school senior year reading list (he's 11 years old) instead of coloring half the day. I really think that's all many teachers know, color, cut, glue, make pretties, etc.
It's not all they KNOW. It's all they're ALLOWED TO DO. Sometimes it's all they CAN do.
I was the best high school physicist in the state of New Jersey when I was a senior (according to the NJ State Science League). I am now a physics teacher. Due to the low-performing nature of the students in my class, I am reduced to doing problems with them which are nothing more than "find what the problem tells you, then look at what you have to solve for, then pick the formula that has all of that and grind it out". This is stuff I could've done in middle school.
To illustrate, you should know that there is an equation in physics which looks like this: F=ma. The force applied to an object equals the object's mass times its acceleration. F=force, m=mass, a=acceleration. Pretty intuitive, right? At least one-fourth of my kids would not get the following problem correct on their own:
"An object with mass of 5 kilograms is being pushed, and it is accelerating at 3 m/s^2. What is the force, in newtons, that is being applied to the object?"
I can do physics problems that involve three-dimensional calculus. There are physics problems that'd pose no challenge whatsoever to me, which would cause all but maybe one or two of my students to fall flat on their faces. Does that mean that I don't know much about my subject due to the fact that my class is the Mary Had A Little Lamb of physics? NO... it means that I have no choice but to gear my pace to the slowest learners and hope to be able to enrich the more capable kids as we go.
Thanks, NWPAGuy, you sound like a great teacher who is being wasted where you are. Wish you could come teach at our private school. Look around, I think you can do better.
Strange?? Yeah, cuz schools aren't open in June or August. And of course the teachers take every available moment for teaching. They would never WASTE 2-3 weeks of the school year after testing is done and when they run out of ideas to keep the kids busy in the classroom decide to take the kids outside, with no sunscreen for the afternoon. Yeah, I think that is strange too.
And you know very well well what you are implying....
Actually, our school dismisses the first week of June and starts the 20ish of August, but....in any case, kids in Texas do wear sunscreen regardless of if they're in school or not.
I don't know about your kids' school, or former school, but our school wouldn't waste 3 hours outside unless it were a special project, which would have been announced ahead of time. I guess it depends on the quality of the school.
NWPAguy, you seem to have a very good understanding of what your job would mean as a salaried employee with flex time. It sounds reasonable to me although all the teachers would want their planning periods first and last period...LOL. Now, why is it that teachers (in general) don't push more for change in policy that would make it easier to teach and get good results? At school board meetings there are plenty of parents who want things to be different, they want less homework or to make sure their kid doesn't get reassigned or whatever, but IME teachers are not showing up giving a real voice to their concerns.
I appreciate your views on age based class assignment vs ability based...it's one of the reasons why we home schooled until middle school years. It's one of the reasons why my kids work such long weeks now (I'll get into that in a bit). The idea of lumping or mainstreaming all the kids together serves only those at the bottom while those at the top are bored and those in the middle pace along, never reaching their full potential because they are never challenged.
As far as students not working...that depends on the students and I was speaking for mine. My kids work pretty hard, especially in middle school where the teaching to the lowest common denominator is still very evident. We're first year in high school so the jury is still out. DS is in a special program and all honors courses...so far so good but honestly, he could be working harder this year even though he has all A's. You see, we are not interested in getting good grades as that takes very little actual learning and even less effort. We are interested in having kids who have a good education. Our kids are often doing more than is required by the teacher because more is required to be educated. What they get in the classroom is remedial as compared to what they are capable of. I don't fault the teacher necessarily but when they teach how to plug in numbers to solve equations we have to teach them the right way to solve the equations. They only have to pass the multiple choice test for the teacher, but they have to really know math to continue on to higher level math and science courses down the road. Some days they are actually doing double the work.
When we were home schooling the kids were starting to write reports and learning to research as part of their regular curriculum. Since starting in public school they are each required to write ONE report and pass to be promoted from 8th grade. So, from 6-8th grade DD has not done any real research or written one report. All of the 'reports' have been poster board projects graded based on 'artistic creativity' and ability to follow format instructions more than content. Ugh, I think if DD has to do one more poster board project she might rather eat a box of glue sticks. Now, in the third quarter of 8th grade the students will begin a crash course on writing research papers. Their history class will be dedicated to this project full time for the next 2 months as everyone needs to pass. They won't be able to finish their regular history course work. Fortunately, my kids already know the basics of researching and writing so not only will this project be easy for her to complete (while other students are struggling and starting from scratch) but those skills have helped my kids all along, in all of their classes. Just because it isn't required by the school doesn't mean they haven't been researching and writing all along.
I understand the majority of students are not working but don't assume it is all of them. Some students are still working very hard, going beyond the minimal expectations and able to do more than just pass the tests at the end of the year. IME, these students are usually former home schoolers who are used to higher standards but there are others as well. Maybe they'd be students you could really appreciate in your physics class but know they haven't just been writing love notes or playing games....they have been working very hard.
Last edited by NCyank; 02-26-2009 at 08:12 AM..
Reason: typo
Actually, our school dismisses the first week of June and starts the 20ish of August, but....in any case, kids in Texas do wear sunscreen regardless of if they're in school or not.
I don't know about your kids' school, or former school, but our school wouldn't waste 3 hours outside unless it were a special project, which would have been announced ahead of time. I guess it depends on the quality of the school.
Thanks, NWPAGuy, you sound like a great teacher who is being wasted where you are. Wish you could come teach at our private school. Look around, I think you can do better.
Yeah, look how much flex time mimimomx3 has to post...even during school hours!! LOL
I would think those two would parallel each other. Bad teachers don't tend to exist for too long in excellent schools.
There's part of the problem...an excellent public school is probably only really mediocre at best. You think you have to be a good teacher to get the kids to pass the test at the end of the year?? NOT!! Maybe you do in a challenging urban district but out here in the burbs it isn't all that hard. We have some pretty bad teachers (and some good ones as well).
BTW, our schools are excellent by both state and federal standards...whatever that means. It doesn't mean much to me but maybe it does to you.
By your parallel logic then the failing school all have bad teachers...no??
Yeah, look how much flex time mimimomx3 has to post...even during school hours!! LOL
Trusting you have a sense of humor mimimomx3.
You assume much! (on the sense of humor, you are right....)
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I really think that's all many teachers know, color, cut, glue, make pretties, etc.
And of course the teachers take every available moment for teaching. They would never WASTE 2-3 weeks of the school year after testing is done and when they run out of ideas to keep the kids busy in the classroom decide to take the kids outside, with no sunscreen for the afternoon. Yeah, I think that is strange too. 
They won't be able to finish their regular history course work. Fortunately, my kids already know the basics of researching and writing so not only will this project be easy for her to complete (while other students are struggling and starting from scratch) but those skills have helped my kids all along, in all of their classes. Just because it isn't required by the school doesn't mean they haven't been researching and writing all along. 
