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To: Conservatrix; Howlin
Subs have to try to do what lessons plans say.

This is a very important point. As a former substitute teacher in Pennsylvania, I know it can be tough to go into a school and pick up lesson plans to teach when you find (a) factual errors and (b) political biases.

I once had to teach about supply/demand/price controls. The original lesson plan said great things about price controls, yet left out the disadvantages. I felt I would be doing them a huge disservce and would be very unfair to them to give them that partial understanding...so I told the principal that I'd like to cover both sides, and he agreed. Often, the adminstration is very busy in the morning, and that's why I went in early to review the lesson and meet the staff. And I think the students probably gained a more thorough understanding of pros and cons of a free market with the role-playing we did (the class had to decide whether to spend the money to drive to sell supplies to the hurricane victims that were price-controlled, and it turns out the poor people in the hurricane area got fewer supplies, etc).

If anyone thinks substitute teaching is lucrative...guess again. Very low pay, no benefits, etc. And not all teachers can think on their feet to create an activity. But at the very least, as this teacher has noted after the fact, there was a far better approach than she used in this case.

644 posted on 12/27/2005 8:32:10 AM PST by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
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To: Gondring

You sound like somebody who the vast majority of us would be THRILLED with if you stepped into our children's classroom.

I salute your fairness and common sense!


648 posted on 12/27/2005 8:47:45 AM PST by Howlin (Defeatism may have its partisan uses, but it is not justified by the facts. - GWB, 12/18/05)
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To: Gondring
I once had to teach about supply/demand/price controls. The original lesson plan said great things about price controls, yet left out the disadvantages. I felt I would be doing them a huge disservce and would be very unfair to them to give them that partial understanding...so I told the principal that I'd like to cover both sides, and he agreed

Thomas Sowell or the great Walter. E. Williams ................ glad to meet you.

;-)

***

Seriously though, congrats on trying to do the right thing in your circumstances as a sub in my state of Pennsylvania.

Happy New Year to you and yours.

656 posted on 12/27/2005 10:34:33 AM PST by beyond the sea (If you need a really new idea ..................... read a really old book.)
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