Teaching without gimmicks
My guest today is Diana Senechal, who taught for four years in the New York City public schools and is writing a book about the loss of solitude in schools and culture.
By Diana Senechal
In discussions of “effective” teaching, we often hear about the “objectives” that teachers should spell out and repeat, the “learning styles” they should target, the “engagement” they should guarantee at every moment, and the constant encouragement and praise they should provide—all in the interest of raising test scores. The D.C. public schools IMPACT (the teacher assessment system for D.C. public schools) awards points to teachers who implement such practices;Teach For America addresses some of them in its forthcoming book.
Except for the misguided notion of targeting learning styles, none of these techniques is wrong in itself. But together they raise a barrier. Instead of bringing the subject closer to the students, this heap of tools proclaims: “No entrance! The subject is too hard without spelled-out skills, too boring without adornment, and too frustrating without pep talks and cheers!”
Continue reading this post »In discussions of “effective” teaching, we often hear about the “objectives” that teachers should spell out and repeat, the “learning styles” they should target, the “engagement” they should guarantee at every moment, and the constant encouragement and praise they should provide—all in the interest of raising test scores. The D.C. public schools IMPACT (the teacher assessment system for D.C. public schools) awards points to teachers who implement such practices;Teach For America addresses some of them in its forthcoming book.
Except for the misguided notion of targeting learning styles, none of these techniques is wrong in itself. But together they raise a barrier. Instead of bringing the subject closer to the students, this heap of tools proclaims: “No entrance! The subject is too hard without spelled-out skills, too boring without adornment, and too frustrating without pep talks and cheers!”
Rhee vs. teacher-student sex
You have to read right away my colleague Bill Turque's latest post on his hot new blog, D.C. Schools Insider. He reports that D.C. schools chancellor Michelle A. Rhee is quoted in Fast Company magazine saying people who accuse her of firing teachers unfairly don't mention that some of the people let go hit children, had sex with children and missed many days of school.
I have been in the news business for 44 years, so I am not so dumb as to reach any conclusions from such a quote until I know more. What does Rhee say about this? What was the context of her quote? Turque has already sent to Rhee the good questions, such as: how many teachers did these things and did she seek criminal prosection?
I thought from the beginning that the appointment of Rhee as chancellor was the most amazing decision by a big city mayor I had ever seen, both because she knew so much about how urban schools raised student achievement and because she had zero experience dealing with the press in such a high-profile job. She has stumbled a few times since in her relations with the Post, but has found a way to regain her feet each time. I will get back to this issue when I know more, but for the moment I hope she answers Turque's questions quickly and completely, as she
Rhee mum on teacher sex flap
Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee passed on multiple chances Friday to explain her remark that some of the 266 DCPS teachers laid off last October had hit children or had sex with them. The quote appears in the February issue of Fast Company magazine.
In a brief item, Rhee addressed the union charge that she contrived the budget crunch to circumvent seniority rules and rid the system of older teachers.
In a brief item, Rhee addressed the union charge that she contrived the budget crunch to circumvent seniority rules and rid the system of older teachers.
"I got rid of teachers who had hit children, who had had sex with children, who had missed 78 days of school. Why wouldn't we take those things into consideration?" she said.
The only official word came from Mayor Adrian M. Fenty's spokeswoman, Mafara Hobson, who said (brace yourselves):
"The mayor cannot comment on personnel matters."
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