Much of what is referred to as” instructional practice” has been passed on through generations while prospective teachers simply imitate what their teachers did when they were students.
I recently retired from what I consider to be one of the noblest of all professions, namely education. During my 30 years I was privileged to serve in a variety of placements from teacher to district office employee. As I followed my professional path, I made pretty much every mistake one can make in the classroom. But I rarely recognized them as mistakes until I began to write grants. Grant-writing requires research, and my eyes began to open as I read more and more about school organization and teaching. I purchased books on education and joined several professional organizations.
The more I read, the more I became aware through simple observation that research frequently disagreed with actual practice in schools. With the advent of the Internet, I began to seek out varying opinions about school practices that interested me, often sharing these ideas with others.
Frequently I found disagreement with my developing views, but managed to eliminate many bad practices from my teaching. I adopted a philosophy that required that I find empirically supported evidence to support what I did and what I recommended.
Many of the points listed stem from the tendency to “forget” much of what was formally taught and simply do what was done to us. Educator attitudes can be seriously impaired by the assumption that our former teachers knew what they were doing. Likely, most did. Just as likely a significant number used instructional and disciplinary techniques that were deeply flawed. I suggest that all educators seriously examine their beliefs and practices and objectively seek to validate their philosophies of education.
Homework. We have somehow managed to convince large numbers of parents that homework is the sine qua non of education. As far as I can tell, the jury will be out for a long time on this issue. The problem is divided into at least three considerations: (1) How much homework is enough, (2) what is the role of homework in instruction, and (3) how does homework affect a student’s grade, or should it even be counted as part of assessment. I stopped grading homework before I had been teaching for five years. I believe, as do many others, that homework’s primary use if for practice and diagnosis.
Continuing to apply techniques that don’t work. Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity was “doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.” How often have you heard a teacher expression frustration over a frequently applied method just doesn’t work as expected? As you listen more it becomes evident that the technique has been used for years.
I recall as a rookie science teacher complaining to the principal that two classes (homogeneously grouped by low standardized test scores and low grades) almost never brought their texts to class. Texts, I thought then, were the hub around which instruction revolved.
“If they won’t bring them to class, why do to you require that they take them home in the first place?” he asked.
I was baffled by his question. Why, indeed? Where was it written that students had to take textbooks home? But everyone required it (or so I assumed). Could everyone be wrong? The solution was simple: keep a class set of books in class. We would use textbooks in class as needed. Homework would no longer require removing textbooks from the classroom, but would consist of activities that students could complete without a textbook.
The new system worked well. The major problem now became the complaints of several teachers who felt I was violating a sacred practice.
Developing Responsibility. I will never argue that responsibility is a bad thing. But what is it? Responsibility is a concept with too many dimensions to be discussed here. Having been involved in dozens of formal and informal discussions about the topic, I have concluded that fundamentally responsibility means knowing the right thing to do and doing it. I believe that an examination of what teachers perceive it to be and how they try to instill it in students is needed.
Many years ago while walking to the school office I met the principal. We were good friends, and I respected him for his intelligence and keen judgment. As we approached one another, we slowed and stopped. I made an obligatory social inquiry about how his day was going. After a pause, and uncharacteristic scowl transformed his face.
“I wish teachers didn’t feel like they were required to teach responsibility!” he said, shaking his head and hurrying off.
I never discussed his statement with him again, but I never forgot his scowl and the frustration it implied. As years passed and I became involved in various administrative positions, I quickly learned the meaning of his words. The R-word became an almost daily issue in various ways. Simply for the sake of faculty clarification, I once held a teachers’ meeting to discuss what responsibility was and what was the teacher’s role in educating students to be responsible. I came away from the meeting with the feeling that teachers expected students to be responsible in the same way they wanted their children to be responsible, which was how the teachers viewed themselves as responsible. In a few words responsibility meant "Do as you're told!" The meeting left me conflicted, as it generated many views that seemed utterly “at odds.”
Among the questions I was cursed to juggle for years were:
- Does punishment help develop responsibility?
- Do rewards foster responsibility?
- Can teachers fundamentally change students?
- Do parents want teachers to “teach” their children to be responsible?
- Does homework develop responsibility?
- Should students be allowed more choices in school to help them develop responsibility?
Rules. There can be no questions that rules are necessary in classrooms and everywhere in society. The problem is that class rules can influence the classroom environment in a positive or negative way. They can reveal volumes about the personality of the teacher or cause students to misinterpret whether or not the teacher is “good” or “bad.” Many teachers post their rules on the Internet. Scrutinizing these expectations” often reveals that rules contain pet peeves, are rudely composed, are based on antiquated practices, reveal a hunger for control and an over-reliance on the use of “zeros,” and are unnecessarily threatening. Their carved-in-stone tone leaves little room for exceptions and exceptions are unavoidable. Sarcasm is rampant (“Your mother doesn’t work here!”).
I posted one “rule” in my class: “Do the right thing -- just because!” I held a discussion the first day of class about what that meant. Students were always willing to take part in clarifying the statement, and they applied it to behavior, turning in work, mutual respect, and pretty much all issues included in class rules, including exceptions. When students violated “the rule,” there was room to discuss the violation as it applied to students as individuals. I found that one size rarely fit all.
Lists of rules, it seems, are never complete. Teachers and administrators are constantly finding new rules to address new issues. Frequently rules of this type are made in haste in response to an anger or irritation, and in the busy school environment they provide additional burdens for students and /or teachers. Rules should be carefully considered and written when emotions are not involved. Rules may have unexpected consequences. The problem may be solved, but those affected may harbor unspoken resentment. Teachers and principals might avoid problems by discussing the problem with the class or faculty before producing. Gathering the perspectives of others can often be a solution and avoid another rule.
How and why we grade. The most contentious faculty meeting I ever attended involved a discussion of grading within the school. The debate centered on alternative methods of grading, including median grading. I decided that most teachers would rather give up their jobs than abandon their grading method most of which were based on variations of “averaging.” That is, after all, what had been done to them in school and college.
In my experience I have encountered few educators who realize that the statistically proper way to determine a single, representative grade from a list of scores is by using the median (middle) score. The reason for this requires a little understanding of statistics. I suggest readers search the Internet for explanations. It is almost unbelievable after all these years that most of us are not grading properly because we don’t know better. Median grades have several advantages that are too lengthy to be discussed here, but one of the most important is that it solves the problem of what to do with all of those zeros.
On the day of the discussion, however, the most vocal teachers interpreted the “zero issue” as giving students points they didn’t deserve. To them, the issue seemed to be that zeros could be applied as punishment for poor work. Correctness in grading didn’t seem to matter. After all, widely used computerized grading systems included averaging as the only option.
However, even if simple averaging is OK, what about the multitude of ways teachers average? I’m referring how teachers determine the relative values of the different components of a grade. Tests, in my experience, count the most, but not always. Some teachers may not count homework in arriving at a quarterly grade but some count it excessively. Then consider the inclusion of questionable practices: extra credit, adding or subtracting points for non-academic reasons, arbitrarily taking away or adding points for punitive reasons, and on an on. That some students pass or fail merely because some have teachers who grade in manner that artificially lowers grades is unacceptable.
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Answers to Assessment Quiz:
1. B 2. D 3. A 4. C 5. C 6. D 7. B 8.A 9. C 10. A
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