Nobody talks about the student who came ready to learn, sat through the disruption, said nothing, and fell further behind while every adult in the building focused on the one who made the most noise. She is still waiting for someone to notice she was there, too.
This is a good article and this point is more critical than ever: "But if teachers are not taught explicitly about the connection between knowledge & critical thinking, some may leave with the impression that factual content matters less than it used to."
https://t.co/Dt93QsY7O3
“If a screen were an adequate substitute for a human teacher, COVID would have revealed it. Instead, it revealed the opposite; that what happens between a child and a teacher in a room together is not just about content delivery mechanisms.”
The idea that life is about happiness is a lie. People who only pursue happiness end up miserable, because they ignore the pursuit of purpose, and its purpose that leads to happiness. A person with purpose can smile even as they are dying.
Nobody talks about the tens of thousands of dollars districts spend on curriculum teachers didn't want, didn't choose, and have to supplement heavily to make it relevant to our students.
Universities don't need to "teach students to use AI well." The whole point of AI is that it doesn't require any skill. Universities *should* teach students how to write and research on their own, and foster an ethic of shaming people who outsource their basic ability to think.
Instead of creating a generation to be products of a tech-obsessed age, we need to teach them to know what is timeless and true, to be able to see through the noise. The Catholic schools that are thriving are not the ones that maximize tech, but the ones that limit it the most. Places like Chesterton Academy have no tech. They are doing exactly what the tech giants in Silicon Valley who make this poison are doing: giving their children an unplugged and offline education.
Adults are never going to be able to teach children anything about technology. It is the air they breathe. As soon as we try to introduce some new technology into a school, the kids have already learned it, learned all the ways to hack it, and are busy looking at porn and Instagram Reels before the adults can even implement the new technology program.
Until today, this has all been happening in secret. We have been working with the University of Dallas, Founders Classical, and Founders Bastrop, to launch the beginnings of an alternative to College Board’s AP. Today, for the first time in history, students took the first ever Classical Baccalaureate Exam (U.S. Government and Politics). The exam even included an oral component where students had to have a conversation with an adult about the foundations of American government. We made history today and College Board’s AP program just got a new competitor. This isn’t simply a battle between two companies, this is a battle between competing visions for the future of American education.
I believe that joy + rigor in education belong together
Too many think that rigor is stuffy & boring (and it can be)
But it can also be thrilling. There's nothing like climbing to the top of the tallest mountain around & looking out knowing what you conquered
Math, Writing, Reading can be the same♥️
Three things that seem to be contributing to poor math achievement:
1. Multiple strategies for novice learners.
Recommendation: Choose an efficient strategy that generalizes easily to (e.g.) larger numbers, teach it well, give lots of practice on it.
2. Too much focus on manipulatives & pictures.
Recommendation: Fluency with abstract symbols sets kids up for later success. Move quickly to the abstract - that's where the majority of practice should be.
3. Not enough practice.
Recommendation: Give lots of practice and then give more. It's how we get good at math.
Practice is the key to getting good at math. Fluency=accuracy+speed and it seems to be getting skipped. Students need to be fluent with foundational math (using abstract symbols��–not pictures & concrete materials) if they are to have any hope of succeeding in later math.
https://t.co/GJ9jmsZq4k
Not teaching students math facts because they can use calculators, spelling rules because they have spell check, historical dates because they can google it, or writing skills because they have Al is a travesty. Depriving students of these things enslaves them to technology rather than freeing them to flourish as human beings.