Posted on 12/12/2021 10:05:26 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Educators think all it takes to fix schools is a new theory. At my high school we’d get a new pedagogical strategy to employ every year — every year, usually based on some new study or program somebody was hawking to schools. I just ignored it, but it was both hilarious and pathetic to watch other teachers desperately trying “differentiated learning,” “cooperative learning,” “learner-centered education,” blah blah... all the while wasting hours on “curriculum mapping,” “pacing guides” and “proficiency v. mastery” charts.
I’d tell my students what the school wanted us to do, and the kids would laugh in disbelief. One time our principal was teaching a class, and when I told the kids that she wanted all the teachers to employ “instructional pacing” techniques, they cracked up saying, “So that’s why she tells us to do something, then plays bad music for five minutes. It’s so annoying!”
My strategies were simple: 1) always and constantly clarify expectations; 2) always and constantly explain why we do anything, down to little tasks and routines; 3) never assume prior knowledge in a student; and 4) be flexible, supportive and positive. I had only one flat rule for the students: no trash on the floor — and everything else came out of that starting point of mutual respect.
As for this proposed policy in CA, I don’t mind allowing test retakes, but I’d have a really hard time explaining to students that the F or D they just got isn’t an F or a D. Actually, it’d be easy: “They don’t want you to get an F or a D because it makes them look bad.”
Btw, in many school districts, a zero is worth 50% or 60%. Seriously.
Exactly. Nothing is of merit under this administration.....and they call it “Building back Better’????? Lawlessness unleashed and encouraged, basic moral shoved beneath an avalanche of sexual deviant behavior,....etc.etc.
What we see is a nation without restraint or leadership.
Keep stealing from the Taxpayers...State run schools.
I moved to So Calif in 1964 from the Midwest.
The kids next door could NOT make change for a dollar-—NOT KIDDING.
I learned things as a high school freshman they were ATTEMPTING to learn as HS Seniors in Calif.
When there is an EMPLOYER in the picture, their “Participation Trophies” will be totally inadequate.
A PAYCHECK is NOT a PARTICIPATION TROPHY-—I guarantee you all.
LOL!
Garrison Keillor
Incurable leftist, but a truly funny storyteller.
If you’ve not read “Lake Wobegon Days,” you’re missing out; there’s something familiar in that book for just about everybody.
If getting rid of F and D gets more kids into college then why are they keeping C and B?
RE: why are they keeping C and B?
OK, if we get rid of these, will there still be valedictorians and honor students? Or will these be scrapped because they demoralize the under achievers?
Everyone gets a “”A” for just showing up.
And a “B” if you do not.
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