tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post5161395470913317303..comments2024-03-26T07:00:11.620-05:00Comments on Wisdom of the Hands: let's fix the thing!Doug Stowehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-48649565319924702222009-09-08T11:57:17.032-05:002009-09-08T11:57:17.032-05:00I wouldn't be minding if someone were to throw...I wouldn't be minding if someone were to throw money at my program, but things don't seem to work that way.<br /><br />Administrators are looking for surefire administration and classroom management that takes the guesswork out of teaching and teacher performance. Can the teacher do it or not? Let's make sure by creating a careful script and check to make sure the teacher follows it.<br /><br />But teaching is more art than science. Some teachers just want to do what it takes to follow the plan and get by. They make administrators happy. Other teachers try to creatively adapt the curriculum to meet the real needs of their particular students and classroom circumstances.<br /><br />Guess who gets to control the money?Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-28776732330936309802009-09-08T11:45:20.058-05:002009-09-08T11:45:20.058-05:00Doug,
I wonder when we will get over the idea tha...Doug,<br /><br />I wonder when we will get over the idea that throwing money at something will make it work better! There is such a simplistic notion here that teacher reward ought to based on student learning. While teachers are surely instrumental in helping students learn, it is the students who do the learning. And there are many, many other factors that determine whether they learn or not. As long as the govt has a unilateral view of what NEEDS to be learned and continues to try to measure it with tests, we're all going to be in deep trouble.<br /><br /> Yesterday, Matthew Crawford was a guest on the Diane Rheem show on PBS. The callers were 100% behind what he had to say and told story after story of their own experiences. I surely hope there is a growing movement in what you and he (and many others of us...) stand for, although I am not seeing evidence of such in this kind of government claptrap. <br /><br />JDJDnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-10318389144269237152009-09-07T19:00:36.020-05:002009-09-07T19:00:36.020-05:00Susanne, P.S. Thanks for the great quote.Susanne, P.S. Thanks for the great quote.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-66772817628892234152009-09-07T18:40:50.284-05:002009-09-07T18:40:50.284-05:00Susanne, Thanks for reading and sharing your encou...Susanne, Thanks for reading and sharing your encouragement of these thoughts. I am concerned that we have become a nation of idiots, believing what we choose, rather than being engaged in the exploration of reality, and that makes us subject to manipulation. Years ago a major foundation suggested that we engineer our system of education for the purpose of creating a large body of easily manipulated consumers. <br /><br />Purposely still the hands, keep them untrained and inexperienced in making things and keep them disengaged from personal scientific discovery and our current culture is what we get.Doug Stowehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13003845322415622289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-68118841677594789092009-09-07T18:27:15.939-05:002009-09-07T18:27:15.939-05:00Hello Doug,
I have been enjoying your blog so muc...Hello Doug,<br /><br />I have been enjoying your blog so much! Thank you! I'm a Montessori teacher and feel very strongly about your message in this post. In Montessori we say "Give the world to the hands of the child", all the theory behind the method supports the idea that the hands are the vehicles for intelligence to be created. <br /><br />Thanks again for your wonderful posts,<br /><br />SusanneSusannehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03091714936994801010noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34011427.post-23920484713064585822009-09-07T16:56:47.623-05:002009-09-07T16:56:47.623-05:00Such an obvious connection, and so easily ignored....Such an obvious connection, and so easily ignored.<br /><br />Enjoy your new year.<br /><br />MarioAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com