My son got real homework today... a math worksheet. Of course it was only because his class was acting up, otherwise all they would of had was the project.
Would it be wrong of me to tell my son to act up everyday to ensure he actually learns something?
Today my son doesn't have any math, reading, or writing homework. Instead, he has to do a fire prevention poster, due by Friday.
The poster will be graded on creativity and neatness.
I am still trying to decide if I should question the assignment or literally have him shut up and color.
According to this book, Direct Instruction works, at least thats what Marginal Revolution says:
Ayres argues that large experimental studies have shown that the teaching method which works best is Direct Instruction (here and here are two non-academic discussions which summarizes much of the same academic evidence discussed in Ayres). In Direct Instruction the teacher follows a script, a carefully designed and evaluated script. As Ayres notes this is key:
DI is scalable. Its success isn't contingent on the personality of some uber-teacher....You don't need to be a genius to be an effective DI teacher. DI can be implemented in dozens upon dozens of classrooms with just ordinary teachers. You just need to be able to follow the script.
Contrary to what you might think, the data also show that DI does not impede creativity or self-esteem. The education establishment, however, hates DI because it is a threat to the power and prestige of teaching, they prefer the model of teacher as hero. As Ayres says "The education establishment is wedded to its pet theories regardless of what the evidence says." As a result they have fought it tooth and nail so that "Direct Instruction, the oldest and most validated program, has captured only a little more than 1 percent of the grade-school market."
Even though my 4th grade son was in the gifted program at his last school, I declined to have him tested for the gifted program here in Anchorage. I asked around and discovered that the gifted program here was exactly like I feared it would be.
It wasn't all that hard a decision. His experience last year in South Carolina was a waste of time. He colored more posters in his gifted class than he did in art class.
It seems like the supervisor of Anchorage's gifted program ran across my post, and is concerned (last comment), to quote her:
Last week there was a Gifted Parent Forum in Anchorage and its too bad you did not attend. There was much discussion about Gifted Education and the challenges educators face when trying to meet the educational needs of gifted children.I am more concerned about the challenges that gifted children have, than the challenges of their teachers.
Have I mentioned how awesome Alaska is? The people are unbelieveably friendly, not fake friendly like in the south, really seriously friendly.
Last week we got "termination dust" on the mountains. When you see snow settling on the peaks of the mountains, you know that that it will be snowing in the city within a few weeks. It is natures way of telling us that summer is over, and winter is here. (There isn't much of a fall)
We have managed to get a handle on the four kids homework.
We used to make the kids do it as soon as they got home from school, but because school starts and ends late here (930 - 330), we let the kids play until dinner, and then do their homework. It gives them and us a break after school and work to relax and unwind before dealing with the tears...
Our biggest problem is that one of our 4th graders teachers gives more homework than the other one. It causes a few problems, but we usually supplement the homework to mitigate the problems.
In other news, a guy from work brought in some smoked salmon today... OMG was it good. I am so taking up fishing next year.
To Rightwingprofessor: No moose BBQ yet, but we have a family of three moose hanging out in our backyard.
I swear once I get settled in more, I will have more sarky commentary. For now go read D-Edreckoning... he had attitude and facts.
I was helping my 2nd grader read her decodeable books this evening and all of the sudden I noticed the helping e rule of thumb for whether a vowel is going to be long or short, except for "v" words. (i.e. the "i" in hide is long and the "i" in hid is short, long "a" in made, short "a" in mad. I don't know if there is an official name for it)
I told my daugher the rule, then practiced it for a bit, and it was amazing how quickly her reading improved in a matter of minutes.
Instead of guessing long or short vowel sounds, now she can figure it out most of the time. I swear her reading speed improved by 50% within half an hour.
I am an extremely fluent reader, and this simple rule of thumb never occurred to me consciously until tonight. I had somehow internalized the rule without being aware of it. What I can't figure out is why her 1st grade teacher never pointed it out to her. Perhaps she would be reading on grade level.
I also pointed out that "v" words are weird and don't always follow this rule. i.e. "ive" words can be short or long, and ave words are almost always short.
Teaching kids how to read is hard. You would think someone would come up with a systematic way to teach all the phonetic sounds and letter combinations, instead of relying on a parent to stumble on them by accident.
I got my sons first weekly progress report today, and he was missing one assignment.
Last Friday, he gave me a copy of his weekly home journal, which I read then promptly forgot.
I guess I was meant to not only sign it, but also write back comments for him to turn in on Monday.
So he did the writing, but because his father mess up, he gets dinged with a missing assignment.
I didn't realize I would be graded this year.
I sure hope I am not required to do a science project...
Don't worry though, I already did my assignment this Friday. I signed my name in my best cursive, and wrote a three sentence paragraph. The paper is already back in my sons folder.
p.s. to be fair, we love Alaska, and the school is pretty well run (except the whole curriculum thing, but you can't have everything).
I have nightmares about writing sentences for spelling words. Helping 2nd and 4th graders write 15 - 25 (correct) sentences is tedius.
Why can't teachers split the sentences up through out the week... it aint rocket science.
Posted during hour 2 of 15 2nd grade sentences.
St. Paul school conquers the education achievement gap
Great title for an article, except of course it isn't true. While the schools test scores are excellent for all demographic groups, there is still a significant achievement gap.
Approximately 90% of the schools white students are proficient in reading (according to the Minnesota state test), while 65% of its black students are proficient and only about 40% of its Native American students are proficient.
It has managed to eliminate the gap between Hispanic and white students.
Don't believe me? Check for yourself.
Do newspapers fact check education stories at all?
The kids (and schools) have hit the ground running. It's homework time again, and Aurora Elementary School on Elmendorf AFB, Alaska is no different than any other school in South Carolina (or any state for that matter).
4 school age kids = 3.5 hours of homework, of course the ironic thing is that it takes my 7th grader the least amount of time to do her homework.
Today only 3 out of 4 kids cried.
Frickin waste of time if you ask me. I guarantee, that except for learning their spelling words and about 15 minutes of reading, the rest of the stuff didn't increase my kids competence at all.
To any teachers out there, please remember that homework probably takes at least twice as long and causes at least three times the amount of stress at home than you think it does.
Rory
President of Parents United Against Useless Homework.
- Moved in to new house (unpacking sucks)
- Kids all enrolled in school (Heath math, not Everyday math... yeah!)
- Attended two school open houses (bla, bla, bla... teachers need to learn to get to the point)
I am back online, but wont have time to post to much until later next week.
We are making great time, and are about 250 miles ahead of schedule. I am posting from Mackenzie, Canada, a little sleepy town in northern British Columbia.
You wouldn't believe how beautiful it is up here. Rivers, lakes, mountains, and trees, British Columbia has it all.
Tomorrow we will hit the Alaskan Highway, and head to Fort Nelson.
Here is a link to our updated map.
We have decided to skip waiting for the Ferry and just drive to anchorage. We are anxious to get there, and we don't have to wait.
We figure we can do the trip in 7 days.
Link to our route.
When loving parents choose segregation - Opinion - USATODAY.com:
But a well-documented and powerful educational phenomenon known as the 'peer effect' comes into play. Simply put, Johnny stands a much better chance of academic success in a school filled with privileged kids whose parents value education and push them to excel. The likelihood of Johnny achieving at high levels plummets if you put him in a school where most students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and don't get enough encouragement and support from home. Even in the unlikely event that the two schools are exactly the same in every other way — including teacher quality — Johnny probably will fare much better where he is surrounded by affluent students. Will sending Johnny to school with disadvantaged kids make him a better person? Maybe. Will it make him a better student? Almost certainly not.Save me some google time... does anyone have any links to studies documenting the "peer effect"? Specifically, do middle class kids do better when they are sent to upper class schools?
So we took the four oldest kids to Disney yesterday, so there went $1,000K. It is so much more expensive than I remember it... then again it was my parents who were paying when I was a kid. What is it about amusement parks, airports, and sports stadiums that cause hyperinflation? Does it really cost 2 or 3 dollars more to prepare a hamburger at Disney than a mile away at the local fast food joint?
I saw approximately 127.5 people wearing USC Trojan shirts and hats, and only one person wearing a UCLA shirt (and I think he was a tourist).
Fight On!
It occurred to me that education funding could be significantly impacted by a housing market crash, since as property values go down, so would property taxes which are a significant source of school district funding.
I imagine that this would hit inner city urban neighborhoods a lot more than wealthy suburban neighborhoods.
Here in SoCal, small one bedroom houses in Compton and East LA have been going for half a mil. There true value is probably somewhere around 100K.
Disclaimer: OK, compton houses might not have quite gone for 500K, but they were fetching 400K for pretty damm small houses, but for an example of what I was talking about see...
Real Homes of Genius
We are enjoying our impromptu vacation here in Southern California, so much so that we have discussed moving back here after I retire. The only problem though is the outrageous price of real estate here in the bloated California market.
I am not that worried though. I have spent the last few days reading extensively on the housing market, and I am convinced that our country is going to have a massive real estate crash, even worse than the 90's. My prediction is that in 4 to 5 years, I should be able to pick up a decent house here for under $300K.
You only have to look around here at people earning maybe 80K - 90K a year living in million dollar homes, to know that they are overextended. Sub-prime loans are coming due, foreclosures are at record levels, housing starts are down, and the housing inventory is increasing.
Don't expect a soft landing... it is going to be harsh, and will probably put us into a deep recession.
Perhaps the most telling thing is seeing people paying for million dollar homes and then driving around in Saturn's and other mid-range vehicles. Something is obviously not jiving.
The only question is how low and how long. My prediction... 25% nationally, 40-50% in bubble markets, and for prices not to stabilize until 2011.
Just saying...
Search the term "achievement gap" on Google News any day of the year, and it will amaze you the number of dumb repetive articles that are posted around the country and the world.
The articles usually go something like this... (paraphrased)
Seriously! Check out a few articles. It's almost like there is a fill in the blank template.Recent test results continue to show an achievement gap between whites and (select any other racial category except for Asian).
[Optional comment about slight improvement in test scores and reduction on gap, though its never a significant amount.]
>insert quote from education official saying that the closing the achievement gap is their number one priority<>>insert quote from sociologist or educator who attribute the causes of the gap to (choose one: racism, school funding, crime, distribution of highly qualified teachers, expectations) to ensure that no one even considers IQ<
Education officials have recently started a new program/initiative to address (problem selected above).
Officials are optimistic because they have second hand knowledge of some school has made progress, even though there are rarely any facts to back up the assertion.
here
We get to Albuquerque, NM and everyone apologizes for the heat. When we left South Carolina, it was as hot as 111 degrees with loads of humidity. A dry 95 feels like a spring day to us.
My grandparents are both ex-educators... and of course we started talking about education. They are both fans of multiple learning methods, multiplication fact tricks (skip counting, finger tricks, etc...), and mo money. It was a nice little discussion, and my Grandpa might hit up my blog (Hey Gramps).
Tomorrow we head north towards Salt Lake City and Boise. It should be a much prettier drive, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas are pretty flat.
