I was quite a dork.
Posted on 12/06/2012 9:57:12 AM PST by mojito
I substitute in my local district and have worked with nearly everyone in the English Dept. Freshman seem to still get some work with grammar and vocabulary but for the older grades there is less reliance on spelling and grammar and more on the ability to use reasoning and deduction when reading and having that translate into other areas like science and social studies. These kids are reading Ayn Rand in addition to classics like Beowolf and To Kill a Mockingbird. Ohio is undergoing a conversion to CORE Standards and my teachers are by no means moving toward doing away with literature. That said, I am appalled at what it turned in as work. Spelling is horrible. It is like pulling teeth to get them to write with an intro, body and conclusion. Some of the older teachers will get on the kids but the two newer ones (late 20’s) let it slide if the kids can understand the work. I have seen text symbols and abbreviations appear in papers and if I see one more kid tear a sheet out of his or her notebook with all of the raggedy edges left on I will scream. Hello...loose leaf paper with your name at the top!! Grrr...
I was in school during the last days when anything decent was taught, IMO, and even then we were expected to read all sorts of trash - Catcher, Flies, Slaughterhouse. I loved Latin class because we read things worth reading.
Slaves don’t need it.
Welcome to the USSA, comrades.
5 videos
Video Series: Why The Common Core Must Be Stopped
Schools in the eastern part of the country are much better than schools out west. You would also have been appalled at an algebra class where 40% is a passing grade.
The kids might be reading the books, but what are they getting out of it and how is it being taught? What kind of writing assignments are given? What kind of vocabulary building goes with the reading? Kids will take the short cut every time, if you let them.
When I was in 8th grade, we had an English teacher that deducted one point for every “i” that was not dotted and every “t” that was not properly crossed in our homework. We could, however, earn back points by properly using one of the “words” of the day in a sentence in class. I still remember some of those words, like, niggardly and shote because they got quite a work out in class.
As far as the benefits of literature are concerned, I remember reading in an article about preparing for standardized tests, that one woman was able to pull her GRE English Score up 100 points by re-reading her Norton Readers from start to finish. She admitted that it might not have been exactly “re-reading”.
Consider that one of the "informational texts" recommended as a replacement for, say, Great Expectations is "Executive Order 13423: Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management." Students would thus study government propaganda in English class... "the Obama administration kicked the notion into high gear when it required states to adopt the common standards -- or an equivalent -- in order to compete for Race to the Top grant funds.”This is GREAT, because now our next Ronald Reagan will emerge, blah blah blah, foaming mouth, fall down...
I don’t recall exactly, but I’m thinking it was study hall. I could whiz thru my assignments pretty quick. Back then...
I was quite a dork.
Wow, “an alien being comprised of negative energy”... You predicted the wh occupier on 12/12/12. Not a dork at all, but prescient! :)
Clever students should see thru these stupid programs like they do the moochelle-inspired ill conceived lunchroom menus.
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