Glad to hear that the presentation went well. I meant to ask, last time around, who you were addressing as an audience - students, teachers or...... But, it's history now and it went well. Cool.
Back to where we left off recently.
Well, first of all being concerned about being "late" in your response in this conversation, as you were a bit ago , seems non-sequitor-ish. A conversation moves along at whatever speed the conversers set. So how could either be "late" to it ?
I haven't forgotten how busy it gets just before the Christmas break. I'd be prevaricating, in a manner that would make third-rate politicians, and used car salesmen turn scarlet, if I said I missed that mushing and slushing in the trenches part of educating.
BTW, recent archeological research in Mesopotamia revealed that one of the commandments on the third tablet - you know, the one Moses dropped on the way back down the mountain - was " Thou Shalt Not overextend thyself or Unduly Stress Thyself Out " .
I believe that the New Testament version read " Thou Shalt Chill" .
So many things you brought forth in the last little bit, beg responses that I don't know where to start. How 'bout the homework thing.
As an educator conversing informally with another educator I will admit straight-out that this one opens a can of hermaphroditic oligochaeta .
I feel kinda like Mel Gibson at the end of Braveheart right now - as far as this conversation between two lifelong teachers goes. I get the feeling that you are foursquare in favor of having the days educational activities follow the students home and be dealt with further therein - my verbose/evasive way of avoiding uttering that dirty word " homework ".
I can't be that unequivocal.
Yes, I see the continuity thing - pedagogically. But the cold and bothersome voice of reality butts in on the conversation here and reminds me that I have no idea what these students are facing at home. No, it's not a presumption that all, or any of them are going home to crack-houses, brothels or seedy orphanages. But with the other expectations that are often laid upon them by those parents with a wish to achieve things vicariously through their offspring , it may be better to err on the side of less than more.
The stuff you mentioned about homework being useless for students below grade 7 strikes a major chord here.
In my first decade, teaching grade 6 and grade eight students, I wasn't inclined to send them home with work at all. I felt that the core part of learning, and the prime situation to gauge just how much had gone past the eyes and into the cerebellum was done face to face in the classroom. When the freedom bell rang at the end of classI told my students that next time we met, ( i.e. tomorrow or Monday ) what we dealt with today would be our starting point.
I carried a lot of that approach with me when I switched back to secondary school. It served me well, perhaps in part because it was a semestered school and we still met daily. There were courses I taught that clearly required reading and follow-up at home ( ex. Law, English Lit., History ) but I tried to keep it to what would amount to about an hour at the most - spread over two evenings where possible. We spent a lot of class time " in conversation " as it were and I made it clear to my mid to late teen charges that oral responses were part of the daily routine and a crucial part of the evaluation process. In class I made a conscious effort to be part of the process as opposed to being the auditor general- as it were. I wasn't looking for the intimidating Socratic interrogation that I remember seeing portrayed in such a galvanising manner by John Houseman's in Paper Chase so much as the attempted pulling together of diverse strings that were touched upon in the subject matter. No surprise that this movie sticks with me, though.
I was in first year Law at Osgoode Hall Law School - the Canadian equivalent of Harvard Law School ) when this movie came out. I saw it a couple of times in a week. John Houseman was simply indelible for me in that role. The movie depiction was not too far from the reality of my experience.
I sometimes wonder if the part where Timothy Bottoms and a fellow student break into the Law Library and go back to look at Houseman's undergrad papers is an indirect influence on the scene in Harry Potter where Harry and his cohorts break into the library at Hogwarts. Just idle thoughts of course. - Jeeze, I hope you've seen The Paper Chase, if not this will be kinda superfluous.
Although if you haven't then I envy you for the experience you could have in store if you go and have a look at it, too.
Egad, even after 3/4 of a decade out of the classroom this teacheresque stuff just flows back in a polysyllabic torrent. - Class dismissed !
Your " practise grounds " for adulthood take on homework is interesting. I can certainly see it. Although, I always felt that the most significant experiences I had in those formative years as far as preparing me for the world of grownups were those first menial part-time jobs I had in the retail business. They were my actual exposure to the reality of self-centered, self-absorbed and uber-condescending folk. Alas, as I went further in academia I found that a not small number of the people who treated me almost like an "untouchable" while I was wearing my A&P apron were the same ones passing me in the halls at those universities I went to.Lessons in life, eh?
Well, this entry just about took on a life of its own. Anyhow, in about ten hours we are off to do the southern Ontario holiday swing. It includes a number of days in the land that wi-fi forgot so I'll catch again in a few days. In the meantime rock on and chill on.
Don
All images sourced from Google Images
Fig. 1 - vinylpulse.com
Fig. 2 - lawrencespencer.com
Fig. 3 - lifesomundane.net
Fig. 4 - mefedia.com
Fig. 5 - businessweek.com
Fig. 6 - scenenough.com
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