<p>I teach it too, but I’m in the minority in these parts!</p>
<p>What they teach in school these days has its strong points and its weak points. My freshman is taking AP Human Geography at, at 15, is being exposed to concepts that I hadn’t heard of at 19. However, as far as grammar, by 7th grade we were way ahead of where both my 15 yr old and my 17 yr old are now.</p>
<p>Roman numbers can be used to demonstrate fuzzy math, like one half of 12 being 7.</p>
<p>/ | |
/\ | |</p>
<p>/ | |
----- or /|| = 7
/\ | |</p>
<p>Works nicely with matches! :D</p>
<p>Very cute!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, math is very fuzzy in a lot of schools these days!</p>
<p>My 6th grade students are expected to do a lot more than I ever was, especially in terms of writing. For example, I’m supposed to teach them to read a short story, determine the theme and show how the author uses literary elements (characterization, settings, symbols) to present that theme… and show their understanding in five-paragraph essays of ~500-600 words written in 90 minutes or less. And I do teach them. By the end of the quarter, I’m happy to say that the majority of my students are turning in well-crafted analyses. </p>
<p>Some of my students come in at the beginning of the year reading at a high second-grade level and have never written a five-paragraph essay, so they really struggle with the higher expectations, not to mention the higher level thinking required.</p>
<p>As for me, I remember doing a couple book reports in 6th grade, basically just summaries of a text and a “research” paper on Guatemala. So it’s a big step up from the 70s.</p>
<p>The “fuzzy math” post reminds me of the folks who thought that the recently deceased Pope was “John Paul the Eleventh.”</p>
<p>Hee hee, DD came home one day and reported that a kid in her World History class asked ‘what is this xvi stuff’ after the Louis names (Louis XIV)</p>
<p>My kid went bonkers trying to memorize the Louis line for AP!</p>
<p>(Hmmm… that was sure time well spent.)</p>
<p>Chevda: Too funny!</p>
<p>oughta be teaching chinese number characters.</p>
<p>With NCLBBB, the fastest student is the slowest student and there just isn’t enough teachers and time to do everything except to teach the fastest.</p>
<p>Well, my third graders were learning Roman numerals today. My second graders are writing 5 paragraph reports on their hero, and my third graders are researching local heroes (I decided to have them research who the local schools were named after and why) and writing their own reports.
The third graders are also learning lattice multiplication and their math is very rigorous. </p>
<p>BTW, I know I am just a primary teacher, but I could not figure out Thisoldman’s second paragraph. Please elaborate.</p>
<p>The complaint in our school district is that the TAG students are not being identified, taught, or have a program for their needs, besides not in compliance of our state’s education law. The district essential says that it has no money. I do not need to tell you about NCLB (pretty much ambivalent, because our S is done, cook, and baked). NCLBBB=NCLB But Bush, is his program that is based on initial false Texan data but origins in the Clinton years. </p>
<p>Since the emphasis is on NCLB, (slower students) the faster students can not be faster than the slowest student, which also makes the slowest student the fastest. Of course there is grade skipping, AP and IB but which student/parent want to jeopardize GPA with the really fast kids? Hence the failings of TAG. </p>
<p>The tails of the Bell Curve are lost in the mean. And since we are forever trying to rectify the tails of this curve, we only create new tails but somewhere else. (this will probably confuse many, even me after tomorrow).</p>
<p>Our public elementary teaches roman numerals. Roman numerals are part of the k-2 calendar time in the morning. (That’s where they discuss weather, calendar items, and coin counting). This is done every day. They also still teach analog time. My main wish is that they would teach business etiquette or something similar to the high school students.</p>
<p>Check your state’s law. Most do not have programs which include students who are TAG (More than 2 standard deviations above the norm, or 130 IQ) under the SPED umbrella. There are, however, Extended Learning programs and enrichment which are available through most school districts. If a parent is really concerned, speak with the teacher about differentiation or curriculum compacting or with the administration about creating a GT cohort in the school, basically a homogeneously grouped class with a GT certified teacher to keep them on their toes. Most teachers I know are happy to challenge the most able, and the most gifted are the ones who are asking to do projects and to create their own learning experiences from interest rather than assigned topics. </p>
<p>Remember, too, that the objective should be the learning, not the GPA. I do agree, though, that children should be kept with their chronological peers for social reasons rather than be grade accellerated into social situations that may not be appropriate.</p>
<p>I do agree, however, that if public education is willing to spend so much money on the extreme left end of the Bell Curve, then we should be willing to spend a commensurate amount on those who are on the extreme right. IMHO I believe that the investment would be returned to a greater degree by those on the right extreme of the curve.</p>
<p>When I was growing up in suburban Maryland, the 90 or so kids in my third-grade were divided into three math sections: below-level, on-level, and advanced (they had some better term for the sections, I think–I feel like we were named after fruit, so instead of “below-level” you were a “banana”). Most of my friends were in the advanced class, and they learned Roman numerals. I was in the on-level class, and I did not learn Roman numerals. I never was taught them, and I never understood why the rest of us didn’t get to learn them.</p>
<p>We got Roman Numerals in elementary school. We even did arithmetic with them. It was only in college in German that I found out they were used for ordinals.</p>
<p>On another more somber note I found the following headline on Excite.com:
“Chicago’s Surburbs Grieve NIU Victims”
It struck me that ‘mourn’ would more fitting than ‘grieve.’ Just from how it sounds. But then playing grammar police is maybe just my way of getting away from thinking about the whole situation.</p>
<p>no! i go to school in kentucky and they never taught us this but when we get to hs they magically expect us to know them…</p>