DailyDirt: Back To School Time...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
It's that time of year again -- time for kids in the US to go back to school after a summer break. There are plenty of folks who argue that summer breaks are unnecessary and waste valuable teaching time. There also seems to be no end of suggestions on how to fix the US education system. Here are just a few more opinions about improving educational systems.- Would students be better served by taking "applied math" classes instead of pre-algebra, algebra, pre-calculus and calculus? Mothers, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboys, engineers or scientists... [url]
- Google's Eric Schmidt admonishes British teachers for teaching students how to use Microsoft applications -- instead of programming. Out of spite, how about we teach kids how to use Microsoft Visual C++? [url]
- Teachers have a hard job in NYC... and it doesn't help when it's so easy for new teachers to be dismissed as bad teachers. But it's not easy to grade teachers, either. [url]
- Teaching as a career doesn't seem to be a highly-regarded profession, according to several polls. But it's not clear how the trend of diminishing status for teaching professionals can be reversed. [url]
- To discover more interesting education-related content, check out what's currently floating around the StumbleUpon universe. [url]
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Filed Under: education, knowledge, learning, math, schools, teachers
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Teachers have a hard job in NYC...
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Don't you know? Knowing how to check your email and browse web sites counts as knowing how to use a computer. If you know how to download and install something, you're an advanced user and if you can edit an INI file, you're an expert.
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Teaching as a career doesn't seem to be a highly-regarded profession
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Re: Teaching as a career doesn't seem to be a highly-regarded profession
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Re: Teaching as a career doesn't seem to be a highly-regarded profession
and government asses
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Re: Teaching as a career doesn't seem to be a highly-regarded profession
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I have to agree with the second article
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Re: I have to agree with the second article
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Re: Re: I have to agree with the second article
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Que?
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Teaching Kids Programming
But what sort of programming problems would keep their interest? Back in the days of LOGO, they used “turtle” graphics in 2D.
Would a similar thing work today? How about if we extend it to 3D, if not at first then in the later stages?
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They have 197 school days and he works at least 10 hours each of those days. So in the end he works about the same as a typical job with the bonus of being able to 'bank' that extra time and get two months off in the summer and nearly two weeks at Christmas.
At times I wish was a teacher but then as stated earlier you have to deal with crap from overly delusional parents.
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>>"But it's not clear how the trend of diminishing status for teaching professionals can be reversed."
OR
"But it's not clear how the trend of giving a shit about the 'status' of your profession can be reversed. Status among peers - sure, whatever floats your boat (or bank account)
I know, some businesses are all about status (like Floor64) - but that's a choice.
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Re:
No one will ever stop caring about the status of their professions.
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Reform Tenure
Can someone please explain what's wring with this idea?
As a 24 year old typical American, I can say I have dealt with a wide array of teachers. Half were totally average. They cared, but usually more about the subject matter than the students - they knew their material, just not their audience. Of the other half, about 30% were total mooches, and were pty clearly phoning it in 4+ days per week. These people would've made excellent white collat managers, but just aren't cut out for a job that doesn't welcome sociopaths. They kept their head low, got tenure, and shelled out discioplanary infractions on a whim just because they felt like teaching a smaller class that day. The remaining 20% are like my 8th grade science teacher. We had 34 students in that class. I was new of 5 she had on a special curricukum. We'd be given chaoters to read just like the other kids. The next class, she'd ask us each a totally random question, and it was usually very, very specific. No way to skim those answers. If we got them right, we got to spend the class goofing off on a classroom computer that day. However, ALL of us had to get our question right, else we ALL spend the class listening too the lecture. I actually got mine wring twice because some of her lectures where that good, but usually we all made a point of living with 20 minutes of bring text each night because it meant an hour less boredom the next day.
This was an innovative technique she used on then smartest kids in the class. Hiwevwr, it eventually inspired many of my classmates to also study harder. I came back the next year for a visit and she had improved the program. Now, after each test, she chose the top 5 scores to participate in the program rather than a static 5 each year. A month from the end of the achol year, she said her test scores were uip almost 40% overa
In otherwords, she knew her students. She realized that if given a proper incentive, they'd put in the effort. In this case, she had a class full of two kinds of people. Those who wanted to learn, and lost causes. By using laziness as an incentive, she motivated both. In the end, the kids learned more, enjoyed the class more, and I heard the got a raise 2 years later.
Anyhow...badly off topic, but if we'd structure tenure to give an oppritunity to fire the worst teachers, then rehire more teachers like my 8th grade science teacher, I think it'd make the system better for everyone.
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Re: Reform Tenure
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How about: a tax incentive for movie studios if they include hot schoolteacher characters in their movies that kick bad guys in the shin at opportune moments, like Clara in Back to the Future 3?
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