In a message dated 8/31/2001 4:08:03 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:<< There is, however, a big difference between
teaching in college and teaching in secondary or elementary school. >>

Paul,

All I can say is amen.  This is a very divisive subject at our school.
Several of our teachers teach middle school as if it were college.  Lots of
lectures, 3-5 pages of notes a day, three-day tests, rock-firm deadlines,
etc.  On the other side several of us have decided to explore the time in
school where learning suddenly stops being fun and see if we can slow that
process.  (Remember that I have never taught college, so my comments here are
from personal experience - always suspect!)

Remember elementary school?  You probably learned the most intensely there
than you ever learned in your life.  You learned to read, to write, to use
numbers - and it was fun.  Learning IS fun for most of us.

At what point does it become something that we have to coerce with grades and
implied threats to affect a kid's future?  From our absolutely nonscientific
look around at local schools, it seems that middle school is the demarcation
line.  In middle school, suddenly the push is on to prepare kids for high
school.  High school is a huge push for college.  There's suddenly no time
for fun.  "Sit down, learn what I present, and get ready for your exit exams"
seems to become the norm.  Many teachers are faced with huge pressure for
producing expert test takers and feel they have no choice.

I get very sad when I see teachers say that classes aren't supposed to be
fun.  Why not?  With a small shift in focus, the material (and
responsibility) can be given to the students in a way that IS fun. Get the
kids interacting, moving, and digging the material out for themselves.  Bring
in computers, art, poetry, and music to help you.  (In a grammar workshop I
took from Johanna last year, she had a room full of adults on the floor,
using magnetic poetry to illustrate some points she was making about teaching
linguistics - now, that was fun, and we were adults!!)

You don't have to be Vanna White or Steve Martin - in fact is it
counterproductive to have a teacher-centered classroom where the teacher is
the focus of attention, IMHO.  It might just come down to whether we are
teaching our specific subject or kids.

I just got back from a conference in Japan, so I am jet lagged.  I probably
wasn't as tactful as I should have been, but it is a subject about which I
feel strongly.

~Gretchen in San Jose
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