• Previous message: halexa: "Re: Things kids can not do, was: Printing grids on images"
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

 . .If we, indeed, "teach how to learn", then we fly in the face
> of research that tells us this is not how we learn. "So, what is a
complete
> education? In the year 2000, what is most important for our young people
to
> know? A ruler?" Does this describe an outcome based education? Are we
asking
> what the outcome should be instead of knowing what we want? Your
frustration
> with hs students with little or no written communication skills mirrors
that
> of college professors. In graduate school ('99)I encountered colleagues
who
> taught school and at the same time could not write a coherent paper. I
don't
> know how to categorize specific areas of knowledge that students should
have
> when they graduate from public school... but I do know that if we don't
teach
> basic skills to elementary students we won't be getting much from hs
> graduates.

This is all very fascinating . . . I'm beginning to think that a good
education is
hit or miss, unfortunately. What I mean, basically, is those of us who can
write,
who know basic math concepts, who can think, were lucky enough to have had
teachers who could teach (and of course, were born with or taught the
ability
to understand). This is true, at least, in my case. I think all teachers
know that
there are basic things that students need to know in order to engage in
"life long
learning" (our school's catch phrase) that meets their personal needs. The
trick
is, how do we go about teaching these things. I can think back to those
teachers, no
matter what the subject, that made it impossible not to learn. They passed
on
their excitement, their conviction that the information they had to share
was
relevant in my life. Honestly, I've had teachers that made grammar
completely
exciting. Problem is, different people need different things from their
instructors,
the trick is to find out what every student's needs are, a daunting task.
That's why
I say it seems "hit or miss," some of us are lucky to be matched with
teachers
that meet our needs, and we learn (it also helps if we have an innate need
to
learn). So, it seems this cycle will go on and on, we will learn about many
educational "magic bullets," some will work for us, some will not. However,
education will never be an exact science that turns out perfect, quality
controlled products that meet everyone's needs. We are human, it is not
possible.

One final note, we learn what we need to learn . . . all we have to do is
convince
our students that they need what we are giving them, it's as simple as that
(vbg).

Leah

---

• Next message: KPRS: "Re: Art Books"
• Previous message: halexa: "Re: Things kids can not do, was: Printing grids on images"
• Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ]

This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Aug 08 2000 - 08:29:56 PDT