The issue regarding class size that Mr. Brandt's article really pointed out
and that, to someone who doesn't teach, might be hard to REALLY understand
is the issue of time. There are certain things that you simply cannot do
with a class of 30 - 35 plus because of the sheer mass. The truly
interactive learning can be harder. Let's face it, lecture is hardly
interactive for most of the students, but in a class of 35, it is often the
most expedient way of delivering the content (notice that I did not say
assessing their knowledge and skills). But even lecture can get slowed down
by the number of questions asked by students. With 8 - 10 more kids in a
class, that can mean minimally 4 - 6 more students asking questions, which
is good but is also time-consuming. This doesn't even address the time it
takes to get 35 kids organized and ready to go versus 25.
But, the even bigger time issue is the preparation and the grading that goes
into teaching. There are some teachers in this district that have 200 kids
A DAY. This makes me feel a bit guilty for complaining that I see about 160
a day. Planning for that many and then assessing the knowledge and skills
of that many is incredibly time-consuming. This Thanksgiving weekend, I
will grade about 200 essays and 40 projects before I even get to prep for
the coming weeks. To really give the students the feedback they need and
deserve, my only day off during this holiday break will be Thursday and only
then because it is a holiday. But we, as teachers, know that grading and
feedback work best when returned to the students in a timely manner and that
parents are increasingly demanding of weekly (sometimes daily) updates on
their student's progress and technology, however imperfect, is pushing us to
provide instant results. Still, there are only so many hours in the day.
Please keep that in mind when you judge a teacher for changing the way
he/she teaches out of necessity, based on the situation.
Brionna Harder
St Paul resident, heading to North Minneapolis to spend the day in my
classroom grading and prepping for December
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