In this one, we’re examing reasons that educators give for shirking what I’ve sometimes called the “instructional obligation.” It’s your chance to consider alternative rationales for not teaching.The choices are:
If you’re a teacher, you might have heard colleagues advance explanations such as these. Which is the most bogus? If you’re a parent, you may have heard one (or more) of these justifications for your child’s learning problems. Which one drove you the most batty? If you’re an administrator, I hope you haven’t suggested to your faculty that members use any of these.
- That kind of instruction may be good for some students, but it just doesn’t fit my teaching style.
- Nobody can teach students who come from bad homes.
- Students will learn it when they’re ready.
- Some students just have crossed wires in their heads.
John is also looking for suggestions for future Bogus Bowl competitions. Help him out. Leave suggestions in the comments.
I voted for bogus developmentalism because we have so much of it here.
ReplyDeleteThat is the reason given for why not all 8th graders can take Earth Science: different levels of maturity.
Everyone believes this.
I was floored when this idea was first explained to me by another parent. The ability to learn Earth Science isn't "developmental." There's no "Earth Science" module in the brain that has to reach some minimal level of myelination before a kid can study the subject.
But this is a universal belief here. The science chair publicly gave it as the reason for excluding so many students from the class.
Of course, the fact that Pelham teaches Earth Science to all its kids including kids in SPED would seem to be a glaring piece of evidence to the contrary, but never mind.
Hmmm, the developmentalism fallacy is right up there with most annoying justifications ever heard, but how about:
ReplyDelete- Test scores don't reflect authentic student learning (you can also insert "state standards" or your accountability measurement of choice for "test scores")
- Babies all learn to walk at different times, students learn to read at different times too
- Students need to take ownership of their own learning
Yes, there is great concern about being developmentally appropriate. They just don't notice when they do something developmentally inappropriate like writing 5-paragraph persuasive essays when you can't write a decent sentence or paragraph and haven't learned anything about punctuation or grammar.
ReplyDelete"Authentic" is definitely the word of the moment.
Susan
Hey!
ReplyDeleteWe need to start another collection.
I have:
"Students need to take responsibility for their own learning."
"Students need to be proactive and take ownership of their own learning."
"Students need to be proactive and seek Extra Help."
"Students need to self-advocate."
That's just for starters.
ReplyDeletesomething developmentally inappropriate like writing 5-paragraph persuasive essays when you can't write a decent sentence
ReplyDeleteExactly. And its counterpart in the parallel universe: coloring tessellations as a 7th grader.
By the way, I've devised a new response to coloring assignments, particularly the ones that come out of math class. I tell my kids to simply write the letter "b" in the areas that are supposed to be blue, "g" in the green areas, etc. I just dare a math teacher to dock my kids for that (and, to give them credit, so far they haven't made an issue of it).
Sure saves time and prevents headaches at home.