Comments on: Teaching Through Natural Inspiration

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 22:52:41 +0000

Thanks Stella. Forgive our delay in response as your comments are most interesting. It is quite a subjective area, the idea of giving grades. i.e. What does it mean to the child on an emotional level? What are we saying to them if they are not making the grade, so to speak? And does the educational system continue if there is no longer grading. Alfie Kohn’s ideas are non-conventional to the traditional school system, though at the same time inspiring, and not impossible to achieve. Much courage would be required, by more than one teacher in a system to bring such a concept into the physical school system.

By: Vidal Aponte

Vidal Aponte — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 16:44:23 +0000

You nailed it right on the head! If we want our kids to improve in math or just do excellent in this subject we have to help them. We can’t depend on the educational school system to do it all. We have to take responsibility as parents and teach them. This is something we should do at a very young age. I read a comment on a blog where the parent said they are teaching their kids math through the television program Noggin. We have to teach them ourselves, because then with our help and what they are getting in school your son or daughter will succeed without a doubt.

By: Stella

Stella — Sat, 01 May 2010 01:07:34 +0000

I am currently in a Master’s teaching program in Maine and we have talked about this over and over in all of my classes. One thing we discussed during our last class is that Maine might be changing their whole education system, where everything is standards based. The idea behind it is that grades will be eliminated, and students will move to the next “subject” when they have mastered the content and reached the standard. Grades can be a very difficult thing for students and for teachers, because they don’t always measure the actual knowledge. As you said, some students learn to memorize things (and forget it after the test or assignment), and don’t actually learn the material. I feel that all students want to learn and succeed in school, but there is a stigma attached to doing well in school and getting good grades. I am dreading giving A,B,C,D,F grades when I teach because I don’t always feel that they are an accurate measure of the student’s progress and hard work.