Chapter 3 is out... yeah! I am not going to bother analyzing it, because others are much more adept at that than I am, but I do want to say one thing. This chapter literally made me shake with anger.
One of the recurring themes in the book, was how much the school establishment worked against the implementation of the Direct Instruction model. I found myself cussing the various antagonists out under my breath as I was reading. The stupidity of some of the characters is amazing.
There was one bright spot in the chapter though. In a fairly long and very descriptive passage, Zig describes a well run kindergarten class room. Here is a teaser:
The story is much more involved, but illustrates how the teacher and the aids work together, like a well oiled machine. It's amazing how much attention to detail is given to every aspect of the learning environment.As soon as the bell rings, the teacher says, “Everybody, you can finish your worksheet later. It’s time for our morning warm-up. So get those thinking engines ready to go. The blue group is ready ... so is the yellow group.”
The aides are positioned on each side of the room. The teacher walks to the chalkboard. “We’re going to start with the days of the week. Tell me what day it is today ... Get ready.”
The teacher claps. As she does, nearly all of the children respond, “Tuesday.”
As I read the passage, I couldn't help to get a little depressed as I thought about all the trouble my bright 1st grader is having reading, yet here is a story about poor kindergartners from disadvantaged homes who were performing above the level my daughter is now. It's enough to piss you off.
(cross posted at parentalcation)
I haven't read any of the chapters....in part because I'm going to have to be trying not to be furious every second.
ReplyDeleteI'll have to post Engelmann's account of the movie he made of 4 year old disadvantaged black kids solving fraction problems.
iirc he made the movie to try to sway the government to make Head Start academic in focus instead of emotional.
Didn't work.
Tomorrow night the Board will meet to discuss the "middle school model" which the administration is now trying to implement in toto.
ReplyDeleteMy take is here:
ReplyDeletepublic relations resources for the "middle school model"
well-oiled machine, btw, is exactly why you will never see any teaching of this kind in a public school near you
ReplyDeleteRomanticism opposes the machine to nature
Nature is good; the machine is bad
It's probably right to say that the idea of a classroom being a "well-oiled machine" would be blasphemous to a Romantic
needja -
ReplyDeleteYour father died today?
I'm incredibly sorry ---
Do you know what happened in the program?
How it went?