What does that mean? Mad scramble for a real job. EEP! Holla atcha girl if you know ANYTHING in the NYC area =) Thanks for lookin out!
I'm a free agent!!! But bills are piling up. You know how it is. Will work to get out of the house.
Siigh but yea. Summer is done. I've more or less taught a whole year's curriculum in 6 weeks. 6 weeks. 33 days. So we didn't do a LOT of reinforcing of the information and I couldn't help every child individually but I think I covered a lot and they learned a lot considering the time constraint. I wonder how it is possible that teachers have 6 times as much time with these kids and most don't seem to be doing THAT much more than what I have with them!
AGHHHHHHH what's going ON?!
I'm no expert, obviously. But I've spoken to the licensed public school teachers that teach with me at the tutoring center and I've spoken to my boss who has seen a decade's worth of kids come and go at her company. The kids seem to start at lower and lower reading and math levels. The kids seem increasingly less able to do any critical thinking. Don't get me wrong. It's not like bright kids aren't still out there. They blow us away and blow the rest of the class out of the water. But they are so few and far in between.
It seems old school methods and curricula worked. Then for whatever reasons (I can take a stab at a few but I won't) the school system decides that we need to have one big ol' cookie cutter method that aims at personalizing education to each child. But in the end, children get lost in the shuffle because a teacher can only do so much for each individual child one at a time. It's a good theory. But like communism, just doesn't work so well in reality.
All this griping about the underachieving kids being lost in the shuffle, but what about the kids that are at the tops of the class? Does anyone really pay attention to them anymore? Take a look at this vid my best friend made at work:
Fun Fact Friday! - Waiting.... from Education Gadfly on Vimeo.
By the way, all the smarty pants play-doh kid did that put itself ahead of the class was FACE THE RIGHT WAY!!! LOL did anyone else notice the underachievers weren't facing forward? How true is that in real life? Very much mirrored in a real classroom. HAHAHA
Not to pat myself on the back, but I was one of those kids. I didn't always feel like I was being held back because my mom always pushed me to my limits with outside tutoring that taught way beyond the regular school curriculum. But there were many times in elementary and middle school where I felt the homework and classwork (at least for math) was SO mundane and frustratingly slow.
That was then. It seems it's worse now. What can we do to promote and provide top notch education for EVERYONE in the class?
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Agree....
ReplyDeleteIn Elementary and Middle school I tried and worked my ass off...then I realized that I didn't have to try so hard and could get the same results. What was the realization? During basketball season in 8th we were tallying up what people had to get on their midterms to be able to play that term. My coach put me on the spot and said "You could receive a 13 on your midterm and still be eligible to play". Pretty much after that...I realized that I could still get a 98% or higher in every class with minimal effort (i.e. simply showing up). I slept through classes in high school and became the epitome of high school slacker with one catch: I had all A's. When I graduated people were surprised... when I was called among the top ten in my class... people were shocked...and when they announced (and OH did they announce) in front of EVERYONE at graduation that I had gotten into Dartmouth...yea...jaws dropped.
There's got to be a way outside of sending your kid to an expensive gifted high school/program to reward those who are at the top or are naturally gifted. Sitting in classes where the teacher would spend the entire class on one concept because a few students couldn't understand it (not knocking the students...) isn't fair to those who got it and were ready to move on...
Don't get me started on "No Child Left Behind"
wow that video is so cute!!!
ReplyDeletei used to think being a teacher was the easiest job because they got to boss us around as little kids but now that i'm older, i'm starting to think it's one of the toughest jobs out there..... its strange but so true
good luck in your field!