Greetings from Finland!
Agree with Gretchen. When I took mandatory math in college, the first teacher I had was a PhD that nobody could understand. I made an F even though I tried to pass and had good math marks in high school and high math marks on my SAT. I then re-took the same course in night school. The teacher was a high school teacher who was moonlighting and knew how to teach. Same book, same material with a teacher who was a teacher and I made an A.
Teachers should teach at all levels, not just in primary and secondary education as I'm sure most people on the list agree.
Later, Mike
Gretchen Lee <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
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
[log in to unmask]
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
Dr. Mike Garant
English Philology Department Room C 353
University of Tampere
Pyynikintie 2
FIN-33014 University of Tampere
Finland Cell phone 050 357 5583 Office 03 215 6134
Associate Editor of AEQ: http://rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/