tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953824858138173072.post830915698339266535..comments2023-09-11T04:24:49.609-07:00Comments on Old-School Navel-Gazer: Is It Good Enough for Your Child?Danhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10779592065792744507noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953824858138173072.post-48115842251470478912010-10-05T20:50:58.685-07:002010-10-05T20:50:58.685-07:00There you go! 21st Century skills in one simple (...There you go! 21st Century skills in one simple (albeit slightly sarcastic) phrase...Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10779592065792744507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953824858138173072.post-71123354745409629602010-10-05T20:31:58.320-07:002010-10-05T20:31:58.320-07:00Assessing and analyzing info, effective communicat...Assessing and analyzing info, effective communication skills, collaboration, creative thinking and problem solving..."Thanks for your note; can you translate it for me? You see, we never studied cursive in my school."Tarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06565404603326233760noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953824858138173072.post-36356117303380698422010-10-05T12:08:46.359-07:002010-10-05T12:08:46.359-07:00Alison: There's a great book that we use with...Alison: There's a great book that we use with some of the school administrators we work with called "The Skillful Leader: Confronting Mediocre Teaching" by Alexander D. Platt, et. al.<br /><br />In all seriousness, you may want to suggest that Gabe's principal read it. <br /><br />And as for the teachers who "clearly do not enjoy being with children," I always tell the new teachers I work with the same thing: "The best weapon you can have in terms of 'classroom management' is the sincere wish to be there. Kids know right away whether you want to be in the room with them or not, and if you don't, it's going to end badly for everyone involved. So do us all a favor: If you don't want to be in the classroom, DON'T be. They're hiring at the Post Office."Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10779592065792744507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953824858138173072.post-87194466841487116022010-10-05T12:03:41.854-07:002010-10-05T12:03:41.854-07:00Maura: so the subtext of what you're saying i...Maura: so the subtext of what you're saying is "Never mind the TWENTY-FIRST century . . . teach them the EIGHTEENTH century skills at least." Sheesh! <br /><br />I want my kids to learn to have the confidence to politely go to their boss and say, "Thanks for your note; can you translate it for me? You see, we never studied cursive in my school."Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10779592065792744507noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953824858138173072.post-79446689552635903672010-10-05T09:12:54.293-07:002010-10-05T09:12:54.293-07:00My biggest frustration is mediocrity, and even inc...My biggest frustration is mediocrity, and even incompetency amongst tenured educators and administrators. There are teachers in my son's NJ elementary school that clearly do not enjoy being with children! But they are going nowhere, even those that have formal complaints lodged against them year after year. <br />I realize that there is external, district-wide pressure to prepare the children to do well on standardized testing but if you can't engage them at all, then even these efforts are likely to fail.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2953824858138173072.post-2985005483248200112010-10-05T08:12:23.808-07:002010-10-05T08:12:23.808-07:00Most kids I teach in high school have trouble read...Most kids I teach in high school have trouble reading clocks (in Spanish class I used to have to teach them in English, so I could then teach them in Spanish) and they can't read cursive. Apparently, these skills are not on any TAKS test, so they are skipped. I don't care if kids stop doing handwriting "dittos" like I used to do, but being able to READ cursive is still a valuable skill. We are going more and more to computers, but there are still a lot of people who write notes. Seriously, if after you graduate and get a job, if you boss puts a simple note on your desk or someone gives you a phone message, what are you going to say. Sorry, I don't read that way?Maura Patricia Turkelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08736220795553113048noreply@blogger.com