Posted to The Age (21/19/2019 on 21/10/2019 (not published by he newspaper) Commenting on “Are high achievers the answer to teaching's poor reputation?”
https://www.theage.com.au/education/are-high-achievers-the-answer-to-teaching-s-poor-reputation-20190917-p52s4e.html
I walked to the reception of a primary school and asked to see someone who could take me on as a volunteer. I am one now and that story about how I finally get there is history.
It is true that not all teachers are qualified to teach in all subjects, but unfortunately there are too many subjects and there are not enough students of the same competency level in a class to justify employing more teachers. Removing streaming of students is a big problem and a half.
To qualify that, the students’ competency gap is too big within each class, but the teachers are expected to handle them as a counsellor, and child minding carer, besides being a “coach” and ‘trainer”.
I only volunteer a day each week in maths, not of my own choice, but I still enjoy it. During that day, I volunteer in three “grades” or “years”. I have no idea how some students in Year 5 having very much lower competency can be promoted to the grade.
Have you ever tried handling or keeping 20 young people quiet by not raising your voice? If a teacher raises his/her voice, or saying something perceived to damage the children’s psychology, the teacher is likely to get reprimanded or a marching order, because the children’s parents will come down like a ton of bricks. Well, the laws are very skewed.
The teachers allocate me to “teach” or help different groups of students with different problems. So far, the teachers have been very kind to me, probably the students like the way I assist them.
Many students are very eager to be “selected” to join my group. In fact, a teacher commented that the way the students “welcomed” me, I was like a rock star. I am not a high achiever, and definitely do not “teach” the students for the money. My success is attributed to my patience and lots of life experience gained from different discipline. Most importantly, I speak the students’ language; using action heroes, cartoon characters, famous people etc, to illustrate how problems can be solved, and reward them with a Hi 5 for correct answers.
Many people make too much assumption that their audience understand the underlying reasons or theories of a problem. Is it enough to have a right answer if a student cannot explain how it is derived? A student may have solved or seen a similar question or problem before so that they can quote the answers correctly.
Younger students want to know why and then how. Not everyone understands reasoning the same way, because some have better developed logic part of the brain, while others the cognitive part of the brain.
In general, If a picture speaks a thousand words, I shall throw in a line to say that an examples speaks a thousand times more. The best example is one that they can relate too.
Fun grabs students attention, makes them laugh and remember.
That’s my contribution to education, and to the younger generations.
Thank you for reading.
It is true that not all teachers are qualified to teach in all subjects, but unfortunately there are too many subjects and there are not enough students of the same competency level in a class to justify employing more teachers. Removing streaming of students is a big problem and a half.
To qualify that, the students’ competency gap is too big within each class, but the teachers are expected to handle them as a counsellor, and child minding carer, besides being a “coach” and ‘trainer”.
I only volunteer a day each week in maths, not of my own choice, but I still enjoy it. During that day, I volunteer in three “grades” or “years”. I have no idea how some students in Year 5 having very much lower competency can be promoted to the grade.
Have you ever tried handling or keeping 20 young people quiet by not raising your voice? If a teacher raises his/her voice, or saying something perceived to damage the children’s psychology, the teacher is likely to get reprimanded or a marching order, because the children’s parents will come down like a ton of bricks. Well, the laws are very skewed.
The teachers allocate me to “teach” or help different groups of students with different problems. So far, the teachers have been very kind to me, probably the students like the way I assist them.
Many students are very eager to be “selected” to join my group. In fact, a teacher commented that the way the students “welcomed” me, I was like a rock star. I am not a high achiever, and definitely do not “teach” the students for the money. My success is attributed to my patience and lots of life experience gained from different discipline. Most importantly, I speak the students’ language; using action heroes, cartoon characters, famous people etc, to illustrate how problems can be solved, and reward them with a Hi 5 for correct answers.
Many people make too much assumption that their audience understand the underlying reasons or theories of a problem. Is it enough to have a right answer if a student cannot explain how it is derived? A student may have solved or seen a similar question or problem before so that they can quote the answers correctly.
Younger students want to know why and then how. Not everyone understands reasoning the same way, because some have better developed logic part of the brain, while others the cognitive part of the brain.
In general, If a picture speaks a thousand words, I shall throw in a line to say that an examples speaks a thousand times more. The best example is one that they can relate too.
Fun grabs students attention, makes them laugh and remember.
That’s my contribution to education, and to the younger generations.
Thank you for reading.
