Almost Ever?

How would your child do in school,
If you didn’t or couldn’t help
with homework?
Almost ever?

If you didn’t or couldn’t provide
the pencils, paper, project boards
and trips to the library?
Almost ever?

How would your child do in school,
If you didn’t or couldn’t acquire
glue, fancy markers, a home computer
and the help to use them?
Almost ever?

If you didn’t or couldn’t make
Sure they’re not hang’n with
The wrong crowd?
Almost ever?

How would your child do in school,
If you didn’t or couldn’t admonish them
to get going on that project,
or make them do poor work over?
Almost ever?

If you didn’t or couldn’t help them
With that diorama or book report
or science fair project or making
that costume for the class play?
Almost ever?

How would your child do in school,
If you didn’t or couldn’t help when
That mean kid said really ugly,
hurtful things or punched or threatened
or laughed at your child?
Almost ever?

If since Kindergarten you were at work,
So you didn’t and couldn’t help them
get up and ready for school?
And they had to do it on their own,
including dressing appropriately,
and remembering lunch and school work,
and the permission slips?
Almost ever?

If YOU didn’t or couldn’t,
Could your child?
Or your child’s school?
Or your child’s teacher?
Almost ever?

There are those children you know,
Whose parents can’t or won’t,
How do those children do it?
Or their school do it?
Or their teacher do it?

Almost ever?

Why Field Trips, Technology and Project Based Learning?

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Why Field Trips and technology and project based learning? They build schema and experience many of our students don’t have.

School mission statements have revolved around developing students that know how to learn or teach themselves for many years.

“Students will develop the skills required to become lifelong learners,” has become almost a mantra in education. Then we go about this by doing what we have been doing forever – just more focused, organized and, “research based.” NCLB added “the stick” because obviously what was missing was strict accountability.

Language and math “literacy” have become the focus because the thinking is that underachieving students will never make it without the “Basics” – OK, fair enough – and some of those programs have made a difference – especially in primary grade reading and math test scores. However, as soon as students get to 3rd or 4th grade those scores drop and continue to drop more each grade level thereafter.

Why? Partly because the programs being mandated are so time consuming that there is no time for anything else (field trips, real science, real social studies, art, technology, PE, etc.) where students might experience at least some of the vocabulary and background knowledge required to make sense of what they read – and make it interesting. When students hit upper elementary, reading and math questions stress more and more analytical skills and vocabulary and students often just don’t have the schema in those areas to be successful. Reading then is too often meaningless and boring.
Technology has become a new tool of literacy – like it or not. Just like long ago:

At a teacher’s conference in 1703, it was reported that
students could no longer prepare bark to calculate problems. They depended instead on expensive slates. What would students do when the slate was dropped and broken?

According to the Rural American Teacher in 1928,
students depended too much on store bought ink. They did not
know how to make their own. What would happen when they
ran out? They wouldn’t be able to write until their next trip to
the settlement.

We are not doing our students justice by not giving them experience with the new tools of literacy because we don’t feel they know the old ones well enough. Technology is a gateway to learning that without the knowledge of its use students will be at a disadvantage compared to those that do.
Don’t believe that yet? We will continue to convince you.