Susan Witt wrote:

> I had this one job interview, and they kept asking me "whose fault" it is
> that we get "at risk" kids.  They wanted to hear me say that it was the
> fault of the parents, that they shouldn't feel responsible for the
> problems.  I was pretty disgusted by the end of the interview.  Placing
> blame is a wonderful way of not dealing with the problems.
>
> There is a lot to be said for coming up with a general curriculum that
> builds up on prior knowledge, but sometimes we spend too much energy
> blaming those who come before us and not enough in figuring out how to
> teach the things we think the kids should know.

Bravo! I, too, find it frustrating when I hear others -- inside and outside
the education community -- passing the buck by placing blame. We need to
work as a community ("It takes a village ... ") to find solutions to
problems, not accuse others of causing them.

> When the kids have trouble understanding something, it might be because
the
> kids aren't smart enough to get it, or it might be that I need to keep
> trying to find another way to explain it.  If the kids are really ready to
> understand something, they will generally pick it up pretty easily.  If
> they don't, then I can't honestly say that the teacher before me didn't
> teach them what she should have.

Perhaps it wasn't only "the teacher before" you  missing the teachable
moment(s). The problems seem far more complex than what was taught/learned
the previous year. I've had students (mostly high school) from very
different backgrounds and very different cultures (everything from the inner
city to the burbs), but they many seem to have "anti-education" attitudes
built into their mind-sets. Many students come to class unwilling
(unprepared?) to read much, most are reluctant to write, and few do homework
with anything resembling a serious effort to accomplish something (often,
many of those who do regularly complete assignments use the "least I have to
do to get it done" approach). Then we have to pile the given curriculum on
top of this dubious salad; our jobs require it.

> A good example of this is when I worked with my Freshmen on understanding
> inferences, or "reading between the lines," as I called it.  With a bit of
> guidance these kids picked up the idea pretty easily, and they were
clearly
> more than ready to learn it.  However, when we began, they didn't have a
> clue.  I can tell that the teachers those particular kids had prior to
> being in my class, have focused mainly on fact based questions and little
> to nothing on inferencing.

Yes, I see this, too. Hopefully, as time progresses and the older generation
of teachers (I should be one, but I came to teaching late) retires, we will
get away from that sort of thing -- at least in "Language Arts/English"
classes.

> On the other hand, many of them have gone over traditional grammar
> exercises, and not gotten anything out of it.  It is not that their
> teachers have not tried to teach them, it is simply that their teachers
> have not found effective ways of teaching them.  Most of them are really
> sick of grammar exercises, and have had too much of something they are
> simply not learning from.

I've had an interesting response from some students when I teach more "open
question" type material (like literary discussion circles, etc.). I've had
students complain like this: "English is supposed to be verbs and nouns and
workesheets!" and "Why we doing this?" and "This is stupid!" and even the
classics, "This book sucks!" or "This book is boring." Usually, I try to
throw the ball back in the students court by saying something like, "If the
book is boring, it isn't the author's fault!" I haven't gotten too many
converts with that, however.

> At some point in time, I would like to do some doctoral level research on
> some of the strategies I was playing with, but will need to find the right
> college, the right advisors, and enough financial support to be able to
> focus on it more intently.  At this point in time, it seems that grammar
is
> not a hot topic for getting financial support, and those that are
> interested in it are not interested in the aspects of it I want to follow
> through on

Ain't that the truth! Good Luck, Susan

Paul E. Doniger
The Gilbert School