How I miss teachable moments and principals who understood them. I still do teachable moments but no one but the children understand why. Sad Pat K
"to be nobody but yourself -- in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else -- means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight, and never stop fighting." e.e. cummings On Sep 27, 2008, at 8:19 AM, Renee wrote: > In the good old days, long before NCLB and when teachers were treated > more like people who actually knew what they were doing, we used to > have what were called "teachable moments." When my son, (now age 32) > was in third grade, he had a fantastic teacher who lived well outside > the box. I was helping in class one day during reading time when there > was a big racket up on the roof. The teacher sent out a child to find > out what was going on. The student came back to say that there were men > working on the roof. Soon after that, the electricity went off. The > teacher asked the kids why they thought that happened. Lots of > responses, all over the board. So the teacher suggested they call the > electric company. He sent a child to the office to make the call (in > those days, we did not have phones in our classrooms). Of course, the > child came back with a note from the secretary wanting clarification, > yadda yadda, but in the end the child made the call. What did kids > learn here? Problem solving. Inferencing. Cause and effect. etc etc > etc. > > I shudder to think what happens these days when teachers are mandated > to get *this* much done in *this* amount of time, and to teach *this* > skill on *this* day. > > Frankly, I long for the days when we weren't so nit-picky about > discrete things and looked at education with a larger view. In general. > > Just thinking on a Saturday morning.... > Renee > > On Sep 27, 2008, at 8:11 AM, jan sanders wrote: > >> Hi Mary- >> If the mini-lessons aren't mini, then perhaps they have more than one >> teaching point? Too much at once? Could the lesson be broken down in >> parts over two or three days? .... > >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: Mary Manges<mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> Hi everyone, >> I'm wondering how long most of you have each day for teaching >> language >> arts? > > > "The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in > a thing makes it happen." > ~ Frank Lloyd Wright > > > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
