Hi Michael,
Thanks for raising these issues. I've spent 30 years teaching
students from kindergarten to Gr. 20. (Gr. 20 is the average number of
years of schooling that my B.ED students have endured.) In
kindergarten you have to accept the 4 year olds as they are. If you
don't you won't last long. The range of physical and cognitive
abilities of 4 year olds is remarkable. Gross and fine motor skills
(running, skipping, using scissors, printing, colouring etc.) vary
greatly.There is a strong correlation between these motor skills and
reading readiness. It is beautiful to behold a gifted teacher
'reading' the signposts of development in each child and providing
them with the appropriate learning materials and activities. Little
girls are usually more advanced than little boys. Of course the
less than gifted teachers often aren't aware of these signposts and
attempt to force young learners to do the impossible. This leads to
all kinds of problems. Reading readiness signs can show up as early as
age 3 and as late as age 8. This shouldn't surprise us if we stop and
consider physical development. Some babies are born with a few
teeth and lots of hair. I was a year old and had 0 teeth and next to
no hair.(I have lots of both now.) Think of learning to tie your
shoes or telling the time on a clock with hands or learning your
colours or the age at which the child is toilet trained. There are
significant age differences amongst children as to when they are able
to do these things.
Should schools try to narrow these gaps in physical/cognitive
abilities or should they expect them to widen over time? Your answer
to this question will significantly shape your response to what
follows.
Teachers' attitude' tend to change significantly as you
proceed through the grades. We soon hear the first year
university prof blaming the high school senior calculus teacher for
the sorry state of his students' abilities. Unlike the kindergarten
teacher, he wants everyone to be at the same starting point:
HIS! I remember an honest math prof friend of mine telling me the
story of a student he was trying to help. In frustration he asked
"Who taught you last year?" The student replied 'You did
Sir'
I'd like to wrap this up with a quote by Erich Fromm:
Another meaning of having faith in a person refers to the faith we have in the potentialities of others, of ourselves, and of mankind. The most rudimentary form in which this faith exists is the faith which the mother has toward her newborn baby: that it will live, grow, walk, and talk. However, the development of the child in this respect happens with such regularity that the expectation of it does not seem to require faith. It is different with those potentialities which can fail to develop: the child's potentialities to love, to be happy, to use his reason, and more specific potentialities like artistic gifts. They are the seeds which grow and become manifest if the proper conditions for their development are given, and they can be stifled if they are absent. One of the most important of these conditions is that the significant persons in a child's life have faith in these potentialities. The presence of this faith makes the difference between education and manipulation. Education is identical with helping the child realize his potentialities. The opposite of education is manipulation, which is based on the absence of faith in the growth of potentialities and on the conviction that a child will be right only if the adult puts into him what is desirable and cut off what seems to be undesirable. There is no need of faith in the robot since there is no life in it either.
Erich Fromm, "Man for Himself", 1947, p. 209
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* Brian McAndrews, Practicum Coordinator *
* Faculty of Education, Queen's University *
* Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 *
* Brian McAndrews, Practicum Coordinator *
* Faculty of Education, Queen's University *
* Kingston, Ontario K7L 3N6 *
* FAX:(613) 533-6596 Phone (613) 533-6000x74937*
* e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* "Education is not the filling of a pail, *
* but the lighting of a fire. *
* W.B.Yeats *
* *
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* e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* "Education is not the filling of a pail, *
* but the lighting of a fire. *
* W.B.Yeats *
* *
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