Okay class: As I've said all semester, your final examination will consist of one question. Open your bluebooks and begin: "Who is Don Draper?" http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/...s_an_entire_course_only_about_the.single.html Make sure you refer to at least three of the following texts in your answer: Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, Frank O'Hara's Meditations in an Emergency, Paul Goodman's [/I]Growing Up Absurd[/I], Norman Mailer's "The White Negro" and/or Sloan Wilson's The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
This might be a good spot to mention the fluoridated water/Common Core mania. Which I stumbled upon thinking that maybe something was there, as the big Internet sites haven't reported this story as "conservatives attack national education standard," but instead have reported it as "Look at this terrible Common Core question." All the news that is fit for the Tea Party to print. Yes I know the mainstream media is a liberal conspiracy. A liberal conspiracy out to lynch Common Core.
The problem with Common Core is that people who think they know about education don't know about education pedogy. My wife, who is among the most intelliegent people I know, saw a Facebook post of a parent's responce to a homework assignment the parent could not figure out. It was written by an engineer. My wife is a scientist. I, a Civics/History teacher had to explain the problem to her. And, I also had to explain the logic behind asking that type of question and how it coorinates with other lessons, and possibly on coming years. In my example, this guy knew his math, and could probably help his son. But he doesn't know education. And a lot of people who don't really know education are trying to pick apart Common Core for really shitty reasons. There was a post of a video many pages back in this thread claiming the same thing.
Yes I saw that. It has gone viral. The problem did seem to be confusingly put together. However, the notion of visualizing numbers via a number line, and making the connection between that and the conventional subtraction equation, is useful. There was nothing wrong with the idea (although again, I think the execution flopped). I love how he name drops about how he's an engineer. Cool. I took partial differential equations, does that make me an expert on this too?
One would think an Engineer would recognize the usefulness of the concepts involved. They are foundational, the further one goes in math the more the numbers will be translated to a graphical form. Seems to be ignorant of the fact that math is not just a numerical exercise, the numbers represent something. As to diff Eq, well good luck with that. I am working on a diff eq final project to describe a micro ecosystem in mathematical terms. I hope to be able to produce a diff eq that accounts for all the various rates of change. I don't know if I can get it or not, but I have enough to get my degree I think.
Exactly what I'm talking about people's problems with CC - when they don't understand the work, rather than try and understand, they blame CC.
Precisely. I don't remember my college calculus very well because it was taught the way that the engineer would have it -- we cut to the chase to get at the answer as quickly as possible, and glossed over the foundations. So I learned magic tricks. It's easy to forget magic tricks. Good luck on that! As with most people, I found partial differential equations to be difficult. That was when I decided not to be a math major. I have since met math majors and they laugh at me, telling me that I quit after completing the single hardest undergrad math class. They said it all got easier after that. But nobody told me so a the time, I figured it all got harder, and I wasn't good enough for that.
What age would the children be that are taught using number lines? I'm assuming quite young and that the aim is to introduce the concept of the numbers and the action being performed, meaning something/ It rather sounds like the controversy surrounding synthetic phonics over here. I know my late mother-in-law always said that SP created as many problems as it solved because you had to teach the child one way and then, with some children, you had to teach them again to actually read. With other kids it at least gave them the idea that the squiggles on the page actually meant something. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18493436 One controversial aspect of a phonics-based approach is the use of fabricate words to test children. Children at the end of Year 1 will be asked to read 20 words and 20 "made-up words". According to a number of teachers' unions, the non-words include "voo", "terg", "bim", "thazz", "spron", "geck", "blan" and "fape". Unions have suggested that including made-up words will frustrate youngsters who can already read, and confuse those with special educational needs, or for whom English is a second language. She also said that, in some ways, part of the problem was the idea of standardisation of teaching methods and that bad teachers would struggle however they worked... SP and similar methods just made it easier for them to fail in their job. She favoured a more flexible approach and that, if a child didn't 'get it' one way he might 'get it' another but, obviously, that took TIME!
Not sure who approved the issuance of the complaint, or a warrant, but somebody's getting sued! http://nypost.com/2014/04/13/bronx-teacher-thrown-in-jail-after-criticizing-principal/ "a call from the NYPD asking her to surrender on Urena’s charge of aggravated harassment ... spent seven hours in the 84th Precinct house before being moved to Brooklyn’s Central Booking. After seven more hours, a court officer said the DA had dismissed the charge." Well, 14 hours is less than the 35 the other arrested teacher spent in custody.
An annual year-end kindergarten show has been canceled at a New York school because the kids have to keep working so they will be “college and career” ready. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...ng-to-become-college-and-career-ready-really/ Or does this belong in the Weird News thread?
My guess is that "the interim principal of Harley Avenue Primary School in Elwood, N.Y., and four kindergarten teachers" have been reading the classics of English literature, like this one, which has something pertinent to say about the education of children: Unfortunately, they seem to have read it as a how-to manual.
so they won't be submitting answers like these: http://www.rantchic.com/2014/01/24/...=referral&utm_source=Outbrain&utm_term=Title6
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/u-s-high-school-graduation-rate-80-article-1.1772388 Bigger question may be, what percentage of those diplomas represent a valid secondary education?
As HS principal, how would you deal with these antics: http://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/...n_teaneck_high_school_prank.html#incart_river What message is sent to those who did not participate, if no action is taken against those who did?
I am not in favor of criminal sanctions but I do think paying the cost of clean-up/repair is in order. The school district would be within its education purview to offer the kids summer employment to "work" the damage off, wirte a checkl or go to jail/detnetion. A life lesson is taught as well as responmsibility for your actions. That is probably more than most of the graduating class in America learned in their matriculation.