Minoosh
Penultimate Amazing
- Joined
- Jul 15, 2011
- Messages
- 12,594
"Data-driven" instruction is kind of a mantra at various schools where I've worked. I think that's OK, but you do tend to get kids who are jaded about taking such "benchmark" tests and don't try particularly hard. They know it's not for a grade. Some kids are inherently competitive, but these probably aren't the ones who absolutely need extra instruction to thrive. But they benefit from it, too. So then teachers have to be excellent at a lot of different things. Which is fine for society to demand, except that it's freakin' impossible for many people to accomplish. The culture of school - of the students, that is - is relentlessly social. They want to chat with their friends all day. A teacher has to then find a way to incorporate that socialization into learning (while also accommodating more introverted students). Guess what - this is great when it works, but it is not easy to get 30 students immersed in the lesson.In the Australia, they rank schools and compare states. The ACT performs better than other states. But then they adjust the scores for their parent's income and the ACT performs badly. What has happened? The ACT has a large % of people with good education. Hence the ACT performs well. But to attract them here they need to be paid higher than they would elsewhere. So to use income as a guide unfairly treats the ACT.
So it can get complicated with ranking systems.
I hate to sound this old but where I went to school students came into the room, chatted for maybe a minute, then the teacher began the lesson. Sometimes it was boring. Oh well. That's not the default in many modern classrooms and a lot of teachers wonder, "Is it just me? Am I hopelessly unsuited for this job?" They beat themselves up which does not really help them improve. They beat their brains out trying to work an 8-hour instructional day with maybe one bathroom break, then do as much planning and grading as they can at home, then collapse into bed. Really for what I'm paid as a substitute I could ring up groceries or do light clerical work. After a few years of feeling inadequate, that's what many teachers do.
There is a poster I screen due to overwhelmingly hostile attitudes toward almost anything done by a public school system, including the whole system of separating kids out by grade, even though changing that may be far beyond the power of administrators at a given site. He is right about some things though. Parents are important. Kids who read and are read to at home, who learn simple math at home and who know the alphabet before kindergarten will have a better foundation when they enter school. Siblings can make a huge difference too. The best tutor for a first-grader IMO (and according to studies) is a second-grader. So there are simple things parents can do, even if they don't speak English and even if they're not following the latest fad (the "new math", the new "new math," Common Core etc.)
Yes I know parents often feel overwhelmed as well. Sad to say I know many parents who would have difficulty with fifth-grade math problems, like "find 18 percent of 12". It's a simple algorithm, but a lot of fifth-graders don't really learn it, either, and those deficits become entrenched. If too many kids "don't get it," they'll switch off mid-lesson unless a hella skillful teacher is manipulating them to encourage peer tutoring (which involves precision pairing and often a modest reward for the "tutor.") For that you need to know all of their personalities, who works well together, who doesn't. There are a lot of moving parts in a lesson and in a classroom. A few people make it look easy. It's not. For most people it's an acquired skill. But many get out of education before they have fully acquired that skill. It takes a while. The best teachers in the world say it takes a while. Most people don't come out of college having those skills. So maybe they get out of education before they become highly effective teachers. It's not a great situation.
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