Education this week

I still stand behind education being a set of survival skills and all that good stuff.  The readings last week made me think about the timelessness of philosophies.  When I first started reading Dewey's pedagogic creed I thought this stuff is really great but it's not very realistic in the current education system.  But after contemplating the philosophy and discussing it with some of my colleagues I decided that even though it's not realistic doesn't mean it's not do-able at all.  I think the most important aspect of Dewey's Pedagogy is the fact that students learn better when they are interested in the subject.  I think in general people remember things better when they are interested.  What I have trouble consolidating is the idea that students will develop an interest eventually.  I’m not sure if a student or a person in general can develop and maintain an interest in something for an extended period of time.  I think even if the student isn’t totally interested in math or biology they can become interested for certain sections or parts but I don’t know how to keep them interested the entire time.  I think sometimes the kids get really interested in the overall concepts or ideas of things, like gene therapy or gene replicating, but not super interested in the details of what proteins are doing what and when.

I thought the Kohn article presented some interesting ideas.  We talked a little bit in class about grading and why or if grades are important.  I’ve thought about that a lot and I think grades function to test the water.  I think of grades as a form of constructive criticism.  I don’t think you should just put a C on someone’s paper.  I think if you put a grade on the paper you should also put comments or questions that would guide the individual to think about why the answer wasn’t completely right.  I think grades represent a cumulative score of evaluations.  I don’t mean evaluations as in tests.  I think every time you look at something made or written by someone else you evaluate it.  Without evaluation people or ideas would never change.  I don’t think people need grades but they need to be evaluated and grades are the most efficient way of giving an overall evaluation to 30 or 40 people regularly. 

The other idea that really struck me was not grading on effort.  I didn’t know if it meant don’t give points for trying or participation.  I started to use participation as part of my students’ grades last six week and I think grades have gone up.  Participation is based on cooperating and trying to be engaged in the class.  Meaning if I’m lecturing or someone in class is talking people are listening and using time in class to work on their assignments and asking for help.  Since they want the points they actually look at their assignments and try to do them.  Even the kids that began pretending to look at their stuff began turning work in because when they looked they realized they could do it.  I think if there is no external motivation to look and intrinsic motivation is lacking (as it is in many 16 year olds) they wouldn’t look.