Unfortunanty...

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Home : 2008 : March : 21

Unfortunanty...
By URMySunshine

Many universities are teaching things that those of us who have been in the system a while would think are crazy. They are taught to 'think outside of the box' and chaos is ok as long as students are learning. Some places
REQUIRE that teachers place desks into groups for community learning and will not allow teachers to place their desks in rows. (Please understand that I am not saying kids should be placed in rows as opposed to tables or groups. I just think it should be left up to the teacher and the needs of her students - not mandated by the administration.) I do like for my students to work in groups

but I have to have order and quiet. I took a class recently (early childhood). The professor told the class that if the teacher was not 'actively engaging her students' then the child should be allowed to get up and find an activity that would 'actively engage' him/her. WHAT???? I thought surely I had misunderstood, so I questioned it. He stated that I had heard correctly. When I told him that in so doing we were not preparing our children for the 'real world' - that if my principal isn't actively engaging me at our next meeting I can't just get up and leave. He said our students had a lot of time for the 'real world'. CRAZY!!! Your student teacher may be perceiving what you are doing in your class as 'the old way of doing things' and she is there to expose the children to something 'new and wonderful'. That may explain her lack of respect for you, your way of doing things, and your authority. She THINKS she is right! Heaven help our school systems if this mentality is allowed to continue.