tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15932919.post4948387325880712030..comments2024-03-26T07:07:14.304-07:00Comments on Teacher Tom: Standardization Is Always The Enemy Of LearningTeacher Tomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14606781724784785338noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15932919.post-88357331623542160982014-11-19T23:15:27.674-08:002014-11-19T23:15:27.674-08:00I work with children in a kindergarten program tha...I work with children in a kindergarten program that supplements the regular school day so that parents can work. I know that the teachers previous to me had a very highly structured curriculum that focused on academic performance. I believe that it's more important for the children to have hands on learning experiences such as cooking, mixing "potions" as they dip their paintbrushes in the brush rinsing bucket, building with blocks, and messing about with stuffed animals, or gathering around the scrap paper tub with scissors and gluesticks and exploring what they can create from odd bits. Occasionally like today I have a math game. I had a few children that visited the math game table and really enjoyed it. Most however were way more interested in decorating play dough with rhinestones, or drawing and writing in their journals, or making Tinkertoy creations. And no matter how wonderful my centers might be for most of the children, there are a couple of kids who only want to play with Legos and even when that's not a choice always sidle up to me and ask to build with them. And we don't even have cool Legos. We just have a tub of basic bricks! Honestly I've never had a child come up to me and ask to do workbook pages. I've had children ask me how to form a particular alphabet letter, or spell words or read a particular word. I've had children ask me if ten plus ten is twenty, but no one has ever clamored for the type of school work book pages that kids do in school. Educational corporations make a lot of money selling curricula. The curricula since the 1980's (at least to my knowledge) has been very scripted in order to be "teacher proof". Teacher's can select what's most significant from the text to teach. The materials come with way more instructional materials than can possibly be covered in the course of a school year. Many school districts now have grade level teams meet to plan which lessons/concepts they will present so no class lags behind in covering the material to meet state/federal guidelines. <br /> I have two children. One learned to read at six and the other at nine. They both learned to read. The one that learned at age nine is actually a more avid reader than the one that learned at age six. The one that learned to read at age nine was traumatized by the school system because of his failure to read at the mandated age of six. <br /> Children are learning every day. When they are interested in something they will pursue it with zest. Why has school become such a chore that is pretty boring and not much fun? Because a group of people (politicians) want an easy way to measure academic progress. Tests are easy. And you can grade the teacher as well as the student. Authentic documentation of an individual's learning is time consuming and because it is individual it's hard to lump a class/school/state group into a few criteria.<br /> Sadly many schools have become warehouses for children run for the convenience of adults. <br /> As parents and educators it is important for us to actively teach in a way that supports children developmentally and stands up against corporate influence and greed.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com