Text 10241, 109 rader
Skriven 2007-01-09 11:41:16 av hap newsom
     Kommentar till en text av Ruth Haffly
Ärende: RE: Flat Stanley                                             [1]
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Hey Ruth!
-> 
-> ->  hn> year...just too much stuff to get done and this year the whole 
group
-> ->  hn> of kids is "slower" and doesn't get things as quickly so it takes 
more
-> ->  hn> instructional time for them to grasp concepts and apply them.
-> 
-> -> But if they leave her classroom well grounded in the basics, so much
-> -> community.  If Anne can teach her students well enough that they 
don't
-> -> fall back on non standard English, then it won't matter whether the kids
-> -> did Flat Stanley or not; they had a better teacher than one who may 
have
-> -> done the Flat Stanley and not concentrated on getting them as well
-> -> educated in the basics.  (stepping off my soapbox)
-> 
->  hn> With these kids it's just get them to absorb as much as you can at 
the
->  hn> rate they can absorb it. There is a lot of pressure to meet "District
->  hn> Goals" and with
-> 
-> Sounds like the 5th grade class Rachel had teaching her first year--in
-> Warner Robbins. Plus the District Goals, NCLB, and all that--it's tough
-> being a public school teacher these days. When we were kids, classes had
-> one teacher, no helper, and about 30 kids but the reacher did it all
-> (excpet for art & music), no matter what level of learning (except the
-> special ed) the kids were on.
-> 
When I was a kid the special ed kids were never in the regular classroom they 
were in small (usually 12 or so) classes with special teachers and helpers. 
Now Anne has 25 kids and about 5 of them are on IEP's (special ed) and 
another 5 or so should be. Back when I was a kid all the teacher did was 
teach...now they have to be/do so much more. 
-> 
->  hn> this group of kids (the whole grade level !) that's just gonna be a
->  hn> very tough goal to achieve. They are not stupid, they just don't 
catch
->  hn> on to anything very quickly (must have been something in the water
->  hn> that year{grin}) and it simply takes longer for them to grasp an idea
->  hn> goals...Anne says it's like trying to go 50 mph in a car that will
->  hn> only
->  hn> do 35mph. It's very frustrating for her and the other teachers at her
->  hn> grade level. The flat stanley project is really a great learning
-> 
-> I can see where she's coming from; hopefully the problem won't persist
-> into the 4th grade.
-> 
It will, this group has been slow at every gradelevel so far. It would help if 
they could break them down into smaller groups and give them much more 
individualized instruction and tailor the pace to their abilities...but that's 
never going to happen. 

->  hn> experience for the kids...they have to write, calculate math,
->  hn> geography, do a lot of reading, and be able to integrate all those
->  hn> concepts into a meaningful "report" Plus it's exciting and interesting
->  hn> to them and the children are usually very enthusiastic about the 
whole
->  hn> experience....much better than (and often much more
->  hn> effective) than the "old" way. (off my soapbox (G))
-> 
-> IN some ways, it might be good to take a break from "traditionaL"
-> learning and do a week long special interest project--maybe a local
-> "Flat Stanley" type.  Send him to a local museum, the ball park, etc and
-> have the class go on a couple of field trips to other places.  Pull it
-> all together into a booklet.  Rachel's 5th grade class did that in
-> Germany; we've got a book of Frankfurt as seen thru the eyes of 10 year
-> olds.
-> 
Anne thinks that would be nice as well...but with state and district 
assessments upcoming it's not going to happen. The district is all fired up 
about "teaching to the test" for best results on the test...rather than 
teaching the kids how to really learn. Anne has been very frustrated over the 
district policies on this, which goes contrary to most of the research that has

been done on learning in the early years. One of the big advantages to 
Anne's being Nationally Board Certified now is that the district is inviting
her 
to be on steering and cirriculum assessment committees and her voice carries 
a bit more weight with the "Board Certified" behind her name as well as the 
MaEd. 

-> -> We've talked several times with Rachel, once or twice with Deborah.
-> -> Steve is back to work on a regular schedule and I'm still half out of
-> 
->  hn> We've talked with Amanda several times, but she's back into her final
->  hn> class (a very complicated statistica analysis class) and is spending
->  hn> about 30 hrs a week in homework for it, a LOT of work! After this
->  hn> she's off on her own to do her research and work on her Phd thesis.
->  hn> She has her oral boards sometime in May I think (she makes a
->  hn> presentation to a board of 6 phd's and then spends 2-3 hours 
answering
->  hn> questions from them; very in depth and very intense) and then she'll
->  hn> be "in the field or lab" the rest of the way unless she is teaching a
->  hn> class or TA'ing in a class.
-> 
-> Super busy!  When does she get the actual degree?  Talked to Deborah
-> last night; she's in the first of quite a few military schools/ special
-> classes she will be doing this year all over the country.  Right now,
-> she's at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri--where Steve had his Basic.
-> 
Basically there's no real time limit on when she'll get the Doctorate...it all 
depends on how the research goes. More than likely however, she'll be 
looking at another 2-3 years before she's finished.
chat with you soon
hap
 
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