Submitted by J.R. Moulton (not verified) on February 6, 2008 - 16:10.
I am working in a small New England Middle school this week, and I happened to be working in a space where an ed tech was working with a young man for whom academics are a huge challenge. They were doing the classic mathematics drill, and I am sure they were focused on meeting standards, but my, oh my, how boring it sounded. I know if I had to do that kind of stuff day in day out, I don't think I would want to play! The fact that the student was not in open rebellion was evidence of a good teacher-student relationship.
This observation led me to a conversation with the librarian, classroom teachers and the principal about the value of traditional teaching methodologies for supporting diverse learners as opposed to the kind of pracitce I describe in this series of posts, and I passed on a link to them all.
So I was wondering if anyone else has passed this along to administration, and could comment on the "do-ability" of this kind of project. Would it be supported or tolerated in your school?
Are there administrators reading this who could comment on the kind of institutional change that would be required to let this happen as more than a "non conforming single classroom?"
This topic came up...
Submitted by J.R. Moulton (not verified) on February 6, 2008 - 16:10.
I am working in a small New England Middle school this week, and I happened to be working in a space where an ed tech was working with a young man for whom academics are a huge challenge. They were doing the classic mathematics drill, and I am sure they were focused on meeting standards, but my, oh my, how boring it sounded. I know if I had to do that kind of stuff day in day out, I don't think I would want to play! The fact that the student was not in open rebellion was evidence of a good teacher-student relationship.
This observation led me to a conversation with the librarian, classroom teachers and the principal about the value of traditional teaching methodologies for supporting diverse learners as opposed to the kind of pracitce I describe in this series of posts, and I passed on a link to them all.
So I was wondering if anyone else has passed this along to administration, and could comment on the "do-ability" of this kind of project. Would it be supported or tolerated in your school?
Are there administrators reading this who could comment on the kind of institutional change that would be required to let this happen as more than a "non conforming single classroom?"
Thanks for caring enough to be educators!
Jim Moulton