[PRCo] Re: learning/sharing

[Schneider Fred]

Don't even begin, Dennis, to get me started on standardized tests.    
You will get me p---ing and moaning about how the courts said they  
should be standard but Philadelphia should have different standards  
than the suburbs to protect the incompetent (those who cannot teach  
and those who choose not to learn).

Your second paragraph:   I know.   The history department at Franklin  
and Marshall, where I went to school, was where those who flunked out  
of geology or pre-med wound up.  Those who don't teach history are  
protected by the historians full employment law (the one that says we  
need a history degree to dust the exhibits in a museum).

They should sample what the student learned.   The teacher should now  
have even a clue that 2+2 is on the test therefore teach 2+2.   The  
teacher should be teach mathematics and the test should sample what  
should be taught ... and the test should be changed every year within  
certain parameters.

On Dec 22, 2008, at 7:42 PM, Dennis F. Cramer wrote:

> Fred,
>
> Most people see very little use in history, so they spend no time  
> trying to
> understand the mathematical concept of counting beginning with zero  
> instead
> of 1.  Our entire number system is based that way, but we teach the  
> first
> number as 1 and that is what gets people confused about centuries.   
> I used
> the concept with my students that this Thursday will be my 56th  
> Christmas,
> even though I am only 55.  We turn 1 on our second birthday, thus  
> completing
> a year.  Don't even try to get them to understand that calendars do  
> not
> remain consistent over time and no one ever counted backwards as we  
> teach
> with BC/AD concept.
>
> Most history teachers on the public school level majored in it  
> because they
> wanted to coach a sport or had no other idea of what to do with  
> their life.
> I hate to generalize, but the is in the pudding. Motivation is  
> difficult.  I
> was lucky, I had my band students for 6 years in a row and could  
> help them
> grow and mature.  Many times I had them in small groups or 1 on 1.   
> Students
> can learn; many do.  We just have to make it make it relate to  
> their world.
>
> You mentioned the show "Connections" or something along that line a  
> while
> back.  Connecting the student to the material is key.
>
> Every teacher should relate their material in a historical context  
> to show
> how it has changed.  When was the last time you heard a math  
> teacher even
> mention math history?  They are too busy getting the students ready  
> for the
> standardized test.
>
>
> Now for the sharing--everyone send us your favorite winter trolley  
> scene.
> Now back to practicing, I work on Christmas Eve.
>
> Dennis F. Cramer
>       Trombone
>
>
>
>