‘Teachers must teach to each individual student’s learning style’ Oh, and arguably the single most damaging romantic education idea of the 20th century: ‘Learning to read is a psycholinguistic guessing game’.
An EXCELLENT identification of these pernicious ideas. They've become so second-nature at this point they're (to riff on Kieran Egan) ideas that we think *with* rather than thinking *about*.
1. I wonder if some of their mimetic value comes from their pithiness. If so, something we could do is try to coin phrases that say the opposite that are just as ear-worm-y.
2. I'd be curious as to what you might identify as GOOD romantic ideas in teaching. I think that some romanticism is necessary both for teachers and for students; sometimes I worry that, in correcting the overreaches of educational progressivism, we risk cutting off the branch on which a truly excellent education sits.
I think your point about GOOD romantic ideas being necessary for both teachers and students is spot on. As teachers, we do need something to aspire to—an ideal that drives our classroom practices. But I believe this ideal can still be rooted in the science of how learning happens and how people learn. Perhaps a healthy realistic romantic ideas based on these.
I like this one by Dylan Wiliam, "Everything works in education. Teachers need to figure out, Under what Condition."
I also like your idea of coming up with ear-worm-y slogans. I have been repetitively using Willingham's "Memory is the residue of thought" in my workshops. I am also thinking this: "The more you know, the more you can know" or "The more you know, the more you can think".
As someone who taught 7th grade math, it is very upsetting to hear Ed pundits say that Elementary students shouldn’t have to memorize math facts. They tell me that it is unnecessary and will make the children think that math is not for them. But I know for a fact that they will think that math is not for them when they get to seventh grade and they need two numbers that multiply to be 56 but add to be 15. Good luck with that.
It is frustrating when Ed pundits think they know better than teachers who are in the class for years. BTW, if you are into listening to podcasts, I highly recommend Chalk and Talk by Anna Stokke, a math professor from Canada.
You’re EXACTLY right!! Bravo. https://open.substack.com/pub/johnnogowski/p/nogo-as-teacher-the-kids-talk-back?r=7pf7u&utm_medium=ios
‘Teachers must teach to each individual student’s learning style’ Oh, and arguably the single most damaging romantic education idea of the 20th century: ‘Learning to read is a psycholinguistic guessing game’.
Learning style is a pandemic in education that never goes away !!!
An EXCELLENT identification of these pernicious ideas. They've become so second-nature at this point they're (to riff on Kieran Egan) ideas that we think *with* rather than thinking *about*.
1. I wonder if some of their mimetic value comes from their pithiness. If so, something we could do is try to coin phrases that say the opposite that are just as ear-worm-y.
2. I'd be curious as to what you might identify as GOOD romantic ideas in teaching. I think that some romanticism is necessary both for teachers and for students; sometimes I worry that, in correcting the overreaches of educational progressivism, we risk cutting off the branch on which a truly excellent education sits.
Great points Brandon.
I think your point about GOOD romantic ideas being necessary for both teachers and students is spot on. As teachers, we do need something to aspire to—an ideal that drives our classroom practices. But I believe this ideal can still be rooted in the science of how learning happens and how people learn. Perhaps a healthy realistic romantic ideas based on these.
I like this one by Dylan Wiliam, "Everything works in education. Teachers need to figure out, Under what Condition."
I also like your idea of coming up with ear-worm-y slogans. I have been repetitively using Willingham's "Memory is the residue of thought" in my workshops. I am also thinking this: "The more you know, the more you can know" or "The more you know, the more you can think".
"The more Einstein knew, the more he imagined"
:)
As someone who taught 7th grade math, it is very upsetting to hear Ed pundits say that Elementary students shouldn’t have to memorize math facts. They tell me that it is unnecessary and will make the children think that math is not for them. But I know for a fact that they will think that math is not for them when they get to seventh grade and they need two numbers that multiply to be 56 but add to be 15. Good luck with that.
It is frustrating when Ed pundits think they know better than teachers who are in the class for years. BTW, if you are into listening to podcasts, I highly recommend Chalk and Talk by Anna Stokke, a math professor from Canada.