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Is "correctness" the only way to judge whether students are learning to write and to think? Teacher Talk's Erica Jacobs argues that it shouldn't be. She's been in the classroom for 30 years, and says it's true that, in this age of text messaging and IM, students seem to care less about commas and apostrophes. But:

Because we were taught that “correctness” was the most visible signal of a good education, we continue to impose that standard. Once we give up these preconceptions, we can measure the education of our youth more accurately.

Jacobs developed this viewpoint after working with learning-disabled students, for whom "correctness" of spelling, punctuation, and other grammar points wasn't even on the radar. But these students were equally capable as their non-LD peers, she says, of thinking critically. So while Jacobs isn't in favor of giving up on correctness, she does think it's time to expand what counts as correct. She suggests one measure might be how critically students can question the information they receive:

They want the reassurance that there are answers out there in the world, but are intrigued by the notion that some questions do not have answers—or at least not easy ones...It’s time for society to ask better questions in assessing learning, to give up correctness as the standard, and to concede that maybe the old measure isn’t the only measure.

Seems like a worthwhile exercise to us.

Posted by at 5:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Mr. Lawrence overheard this surprisingly insightful comment while getting his morning coffee: "Good teaching is one-third basic instruction and two-thirds theater." And that got him thinking:

A lot of people can be patient and explain a concept, but to make it "sink in" I'm starting to believe the "theater" part is the key—you need to "dress up" stale old concepts with flair to gain attention (and for the Playstation Generation, attention is constantly waning).

The trouble is, there's a fine line to it, too: recall that a major part of early theater were jesters, and the risk of looking like a fool (sometimes referred to disdainfully as the "cool teacher" or "just like the kids") is tricky.

So maybe there's a balancing act good teachers should master, treading the line between effectively creative and ridiculous. What do you think? Does "theater" have any role in your classroom? Do students learn better when concepts are presented with flair?

Posted by at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

A History Teacher finds it unfortunate—though also understandable—that many school districts block access to YouTube, the video-sharing Web site. He explains the possible educational uses of the site that schools are missing:

The ability for students to easily share school projects is lost (at school). Additionally, there are videos on YouTube that potentially could be used in an educational setting. It could be video clips from a television program, an expert discussing a specific topic, or maybe just some nice home movie footage of a place you are teaching about.

But don't despair. Ever the troubleshooter, A History Teacher also offers a clever workaround—and it might not even get you into trouble.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

English teacher turned edu-tech consultant Will Richardson tips his readers off to a budding new technology that allows users to comment on individual paragraphs within a Web page or blog post. The tool, he says, would have natural educational uses:

From a writing teacher’s standpoint, I think it would be pretty awesome. You could annotate specific sections of blog posted essays or stories and then leave more general comments at the end. Other people (students) could come in and leave their own pointed feedback. It would come pretty close to the type of handwritten comments that teachers have been leaving on student work (for better or worse) for ages.

It does sound promising. Just make sure your students don't figure out how to disallow comments. Because then you'd be in a pickle.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 1:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Median Sib recounts how, during a game of "explorer Jeopardy," a learning-disabled student in her class responded that the name of one of Columbus' ships was the "Cauliflower." Surmising that the girl meant the "Mayflower"—the wrong answer, anyway, but never mind—she offers an illuminating and sympathetic glimpse into the student's mind:

Someone once explained that having a learning disability is similar to having a filing cabinet full of papers spread out on the floor. Most of us have filing cabinets that are in order so that we can locate needed information easily and quickly. For the learning disabled child, though, the information is there, but the person must sort through all the disarrayed papers to get the piece of information needed at any given time. For Cheryl, the word "flower" was the key element, but she picked up the "names of vegetables" file instead of the "names of Explorer’s ships" file—and in the process provided a little comic relief for all of us.

The student, by the way, quickly saw her mistake, so apparently wasn't bothered by the laughter.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 3:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Hobo Teacher reacts to a new school policy requiring that teachers "document" any instance when a student goes out to the hallway. This includes, he surmises, not only when they are sent out for disciplinary reasons but also when they are just making up a quiz, going to the restroom, or blowing their noses--although "there have been no requests, so far, for saving the used tissue as evidence. ..."

In any case, he's not wild about the added paperwork:

I really don't get it. Why don't they just get it over with and inject tracking devices into the students' blood streams. That, or just beat the teachers over the head with a baseball bat. That would be preferable at this point.

Posted by Anthony Rebora, teachermagazine.org at 5:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)