hahaha Joy.....
The first year my son was in high school, his best friend's mom and I
were helping the dozen or so girls in the marching band color guard put
elastics in the necks of their costumes/uniforms. She and I discovered
that the ONLY students present who knew how to thread a needle and sew
a button were OUR TWO SONS! :-)
Renee
On Jun 14, 2009, at 12:18 PM, Joy wrote:
omg, one of the defining moments that got me to quit my job and go
back to college and become a teacher was when camping with Girl
Scouts. It was time to prepare dinner, and being the constructivist
that I am, I pretty much left it up to the girls.(I didn't know that's
what it is called) It wasn't very long before I discovered that they
did not know how to slice, chop, or peel any vegetables or fruit.
These girls were in middle school!
Last year I brought in a chef who taught each child basic cutting
skills, allowing them to do the chopping, slicing, and peeling while
he stood nearby. The kids made 8 large trays of sushi for our
international festival. They did it ALL. I watched him teaching them,
guiding them, and used what I learned from him with my class this
year. I plan to always give students experiences with real life
skills. I think parents today coddle their kids way too much.
Joy/NC/4
How children learn is as important as what they learn: process and
content go hand in hand. http://www.responsiveclassroom.org
________________________________
From: Renee <[email protected]>
To: Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group
<[email protected]>
Sent: Sunday, June 14, 2009 10:51:29 AM
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] ***SPAM*** Re: Do we really need to teach
explicit strategies?
Hi Deidra,
I agree with you and whoever said that it is also due to parents'
expectations. I recall two years ago when I was working in a
Kindergarten classroom and we had a certain student who was VERY
bright but who sometimes just seemed to really lack confidence. Then
one day we were making "stone soup" and his mom came in to help with
the vegetable preparation, etc. She and I were working at a table
together, calling each student over to cut up the particular vegetable
he/she had brought. While I was guiding each child in the use of a
knife, watching carefully while he or she did the cutting, this mom
was doing ALL the cutting FOR the child while the child watched her. I
kid you not. I got a huge insight that day.
Renee
On Jun 14, 2009, at 5:04 AM, djchan wrote:
Renee,
I am a retired teacher and I found these same problems when I taught.
I think it comes from adults in the child's life who are controlling
and do not allow the child to learn by mistakes. I once had a child
(boy) in my first grade classroom who was held back because of
failure to perform. Trying to get him to put anything on paper was a
nightmare. He was so scared of making a mistake that he refused to
try to do anything. I later found out his previous teacher stood over
him while working and pointed out every mistake he made and he had to
do it all over. It took over half the school year for him to relax
and gain confidence in himself before he could write anything other
than his name on a piece of paper. He ended the year well but had
lots more 'trauma' to overcome from that year with the controlling
teacher. Children who have issues with self confidence ie "Is this
right?" have not been allowed to feel successful after a mistake and
fear being wrong
and punished. They don't understand that it's ok to make mistakes and
that mistakes are normal parts of learning.
I hope you have a very successful school year next year.
Deidra Chandler
MA Reading
MA Early Childhood Ed.
ps. I teach adult education now and still find this same mentality
among them.
----- Original Message ----- From: "Renee" <[email protected]>
To: "Mosaic: A Reading Comprehension Strategies Email Group"
<[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, June 13, 2009 10:32 PM
Subject: Re: [MOSAIC] Do we really need to teach explicit strategies?
I teach Art to Kindergarten, first, and second graders. I have many,
many, many students who constantly ask, "Is this right?" and "Can I
(whatever)?" and "What do I do?" and many, many, many students who
say, "I don't know how to (whatever)" and.... the most disconcerting
of all.... many students who, right after I give directions for
whatever we are doing and send them off to the tables to get
started, will just sit there. Just sit, and sit, waiting for me to
tell them to start, even though the paper and/or other materials is
sitting right there in the middle of their table. I walk by and say,
"I'm not sure what you are waiting for" and they look at me.
This is all AFTER I give directions, perhaps model the use of a new
tool or show a couple of techniques or show a few examples (which I
then put away) to spark some ideas. I always end my introduction
(which takes place as a whole group, sitting on the floor), with
directions to go find a seat and get started.
I really think this is a direct result of way too much direct
instruction and focus on "the right thing" and "the right answer"
and not enough discovery and/or inquiry. I base this, of course, on
my own deductions relating to the degree of "is this right?"
behavior among different classes (I taught 24 classes last year) and
my impressions of their regular classroom teachers' teaching styles.
Very unscientific, to be sure. :-)
A story:
I had one little boy this year, a first grader, who in the beginning
of the year REALLY wanted me to tell him he was doing the right
thing. Early on, I said to him, "This is art class. If you are
following directions and taking care of the materials, whatever you
put on the paper is going to be the right thing!" and after that, if
other students asked if they were doing the right thing (which they
did, often), I referred them to the first boy. On the last day of
school, when we were charting what they had learned in Art class, my
young man offered, "that anything you make in art class is the right
thing." :-)
Renee
On Jun 13, 2009, at 6:02 PM, [email protected] wrote:
Renee
........
I am very interested in your comment about kids getting into that
place
where they can't function without modeling. Can you talk a little
more about
that idea for me? I tend to think that my kids ALREADY come to me
like
that...even the K kids. Maybe what we need to model is independent
thought and
problem solving.
Jennifer
"The important thing is not to stop questioning."
~ Albert Einstein
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"The reward of a thing well done is to have done it."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, The Conduct of Life, 'Fate,' 1860
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There is no shortage of good days. It is good lives that are hard to
come by.
~ Annie Dillard, 'The Writing Life'
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