“Why should Johnny bother to read when the vast majority of teachers and parents prefer football games to science fairs?”
That’s what one parent asked me recently when we met at a local pizza parlor in Beckley.
The man’s views seemed to be in concordance with my own.
For instance, he was saying that all too often the learning experience for students is characterized by teachers talking and by students taking notes and endlessly memorizing facts and then regurgitating those facts on a Friday exam.
This approach simply bores students, he said, noting that the schools that will be recognized as institutions of excellence are the ones that directly engage students in the learning process through strong reliance on class discussion, cooperative student projects, community-based learning, meaningful field trips and guest lecturers.
To an old-timer in public education, much of the material could have been describing the circumstances of 30 years ago.
The only major changes in public education in the second half of the 20th century have been demographic in nature. The national debate over methods of instruction in reading continues unabated.
Sometime, back in the day, a savvy old primary teacher summed it up: she said the only thing new in education is Scotch tape.
Technology, the veteran educator explained, is the not the “be all” and “end all” component to the woes of public education, saying that computers and internet are not the “magic bullet” when it comes to motivating students in the classroom.
“It certainly is no universal remedy for all teacher problems,” she said. “It has never been a necessary aid in teaching children.”
And while technologically advanced equipment may make it easier for teachers (recording and averaging grades, preparing lesson plans to meet the state ed requirements, sending emails to parents, and monitoring the ups and downs of daily life in the classroom), school is not exactly for entertainment.
Computers are significant to those who are interested in them, but the World Wide Web has nothing to teach that books, magazines and printed out materials cannot, the retired Wyoming County teacher let on. As a matter of fact, her former students consistently scored among the highest in the state on their writing exams.
“Probably the most important thing for students to learn is how to teach yourself, the woman explained. “Everything else, computers included, is just a detail.”
When I was a writing coach for Raleigh County Schools, I discovered that if there was one “right” way to teach reading, there would be no illiteracy and every child would be reading at grade level.
It takes an experienced teacher using sound pedagogy to teach a child to read. Children must enjoy reading and want to improve their skills, otherwise they just float from one topic to another.
To support phonics instruction and make the advocates of “whole language” the whipping boy does a disservice to our own schools and teachers.
Teaching reading and writing is a complex process. Pitting one method of instruction against another is confusing and only raises the anxiety level of already concerned parents and teachers.
I was always destressed by “Where Does the Money Go?”
Baltimore, New York, Chicago, and San Francisco public schools admittedly have overwhelming problems and a record of achievement that is less than satisfactory when compared with schools in mostly suburban communities.
However, these mega cities have many similarities to other urban schools—problems such as poverty, shortages of resources, aging facilities, and competition for staff.
Add teachers’ unions to the equation and you have what amounts to trouble on steroids.
Still, all of these school systems seemingly are still moving forward with new ideas and programs.
Please keep an eye out and watch for reports on their successes.
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Let me shift gears and move to another subject on the humorous side of student responses to history exams, compiled by other teachers.
- Ancient Egypt was inhabited by mummies and they all wrote in Hydraulics. They lived in the Sarah Dessert. The climate of the Sarah is such that the inhabitants have to live elsewhere.
- Moses led the Hebrew slaves to the Red Sea, where they made unleavened bread, which is bread made without any ingredients. Moses went up on Mount Cyanide to get the ten commandments. He died before he ever reached Canada.
- Solomon had three hundred wives and seven hundred porcupines.
- Actually, Homer was not written by Homer but by another man of that name.
- Socrates was a famous Greek teacher who went around giving people advice. They killed him. Socrates died from an overdose of wedlock. After his death, his career suffered a dramatic decline.
- In the Olympic games, Greeks ran races, jumped, hurled biscuits, and threw the java.
- Nero was a cruel tyranny who would torture his subjects by playing his fiddle to them.
- In medieval times most people were alliterate. The greatest writer of the futile ages was Chaucer, who wrote many poems and verses and also wrote literature.
- It was an age of great inventions and discoveries. Gutenberg invented removable type and the Bible. Another important invention was the circulation of blood. Sir Walter Raleigh is a historical figure because he invented cigarettes and started smoking. And Sir Francis Drake circumcised the world with a 100-foot clipper.
- Writing at the same time as Shakespeare was Miguel Cervantes. He wrote Donkey Hote. The next great author was John Milton. Milton wrote Paradise Lost. Then his wife died and he wrote Paradise Regained.
- One of the causes of the Revolutionary War was the English put tacks in their tea. Also, the colonists would send their parcels through the post without stamps. Finally, the colonists won the War and no longer had to pay for taxis.
- Soon the Constitution of the United States was adopted to secure domestic hostility. Under the constitution the people enjoyed the right to keep bare arms.
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Top o’ the morning!