You have been telling me I
should try teaching in a more student centered way. What do you mean by
that?
Most students can learn best
by lecture, worksheets, drill and practice.
Students cannot learn as
much in groups or with projects, they learn best by sitting quietly in rows and
listening to the teacher. This way is more effective; students learn all the
steps and procedures.
I learned it the old
way. It
worked for me. I learned it this way and so can my students. I don't think the new system will work
as well.
This way has been used for
500 years, why change now?
The
old way works best and there is no need for change. The test scores show
students are having difficulty learning math. So we just need to teach the old way
better. Give more drill and practice on the basics, flash cards, mnemonics,
tricks and poems for better memorization.
Understanding will
automatically follow memorization.
I don't expect students to understand
when they first learn it. If
students memorize the material, they will begin to understand it as they
progress through more advanced classes.
It is easier to teach the
old way. I already know how. All I need is a textbook and chalk. No extra materials to order or prepare
for class. Everything is in the textbook.
I don't need to learn anything new. I don't have time to spend on
assigning and grading projects. It is quicker just to give them an assignment
out of the book and have them do it for homework.
Testing knowledge is easier
than testing higher order thinking skills. Grading knowledge of facts
objectively with multiple choice and single answer tests is easy. It is more
difficult to grade essay questions and to find out if students understand the
concepts. Students are less likely
to question a test graded objectively.
My textbook makes grading easy with a computerized gradebook program linked to chapter tests with multiple
choice questions. I don't know how
to perform alternative assessments.
I don't want to add more
work to my teaching load.
I
spend many hours both at school and at home gathering information, writing
lectures, and grading student homework papers.
I am too old to learn a new
way. I am going to retire in a few years, it is too late for me to bother to learn new ways of
teaching. Teaching in a new way is a lot of work. I would have to learning new
stuff and
prepare materials.
I feel uncomfortable doing
something new. I like the way I teach and
do not want to learn to teach another way.
I have always used this way.
I am used to it.
I am afraid I will make a
mistake if I teach it a new way. Then students will not respect me or
think I am smart. I am afraid I might not understand how to do math the new
way.
My colleagues will laugh at
me for doing activities when everyone else lectures. They will say I don't know
how to teach and that I don't know the subject well enough to lecture. All the
other teachers teach the old way. It is more dignified to be a sage on the stage
than a guide on the side.
The other teachers will say
college teachers should not use toys to teach. Hands-on activities are for
kindergarten children.
The students will think I
don't know the subject unless I present eloquent
lectures.
The students think I am
smart when I demonstrate how well I know how to do the problems that are so
difficult for them.
There may be more discipline
problems. The students are quieter and
better behaved when listening to a lecture. They stay in one place and pay
attention to what I am teaching them. Students will goof around and not pay
attention if they are allowed to talk. The class will be out of my control when
students are allow to work together in
groups.
I am evaluated as a teacher
on how well I lecture. My supervisor thinks I am
not teaching unless I am lecturing.
I was hired to teach not coach.
Some students may know more
about the topic than I do. If I let them show how much they know I
will look stupid by comparison.
We must cover a lot of
material quickly in order to finish the curriculum in
time.
The textbooks are designed
to teach a lot of material quickly with lectures and drill problems. I can cover more material faster by
lecturing.
The new way is "dumbed down". Students will not learn as
much as I learned.
Hands-on activities teach
silly stuff that is not in the syllabus and does not relate to the
subject.
Students won't understand
unless I explain it first. Students are not smart
enough to construct their own knowledge.
They will come to the wrong conclusions. Students working on projects may
have to learn more than one skill at a time. They may need to use information they
have not yet been taught.
Students do not have the
motivation and self-discipline to plan and research on their
own. Their
work will be sloppy and careless.
Students who are absent will
find it difficult to make up work from activities done in
class. Many students do not like to have to come to class every day. It is easier for them to read lecture
notes and a book at home to make up work missed in class.
The students want me to tell
them what to do. Students don't
like to make mistakes.
They like it when the
teacher tells them what to do. They
believe their unquestioning obedience will be rewarded by a good grade. Understanding is irrelevant. They don't like it when the teacher asks
them questions because they are afraid they will answer wrong and look stupid to
the teacher and their peers.
Students don't like to
think. Students demand that I tell them how to
do the problems. They do not want
to figure them out themselves. They
do not like to think critically or independently. They do not like to feel confused.
I prepare my lecture
carefully
so that students will receive all the information in the course curriculum. I
help students during office hours and after school. I even bring in things to show them to
demonstrate the principles. I show video tapes and accompany many of my lectures
with Powerpoint presentations. I stay up-to-date in my
teaching area and tell students about recent developments. Most of my students get A's and
B's. Only the ones who don't try
hard enough or who are not capable of learning math fail my
class.
I am preparing my students
for their next classes. They need to learn how to listen to
lectures and take notes to prepare to pass their future classes which will be
traditional lecture classes.
I was trained to teach the
old way and
I have improved through many years of experience. I don't even know how to begin to teach
the new way.
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The purpose of math classes
is to teach self-discipline and perseverance at doing
something boring
and difficult The old way of teaching requires more
effort and responsibility by the students. It teaches students to obey without
question, a skill required by their future jobs. Understanding math concepts is
irrelevant and unnecessary.
The purpose of math classes
is to select the best students and weed out the poor students. Math classes identify and weed out
students who are not good at memorizing steps and procedures and those who are
not capable of succeeding in further education.
The purposed of math classes
is just to introduce students to math. School math is not
real math. Most students will never really use any math above basic
arithmetic. Math learned in school
is of little use in everyday life. Later in life the persons who need math will
study it on their own and understand it because they
were introduced to it in school.
The new national and state
tests force us to "teach to the test" There is no time for
students to learn concepts, they just have to memorize
the material. It takes longer to
teach understanding and understanding is not required in order to pass the
test.
Students do not want to
understand math. They just want to memorize the
procedures long enough to pass the test and then forget them. They don't believe
they can understand math so they are unwilling to try.
Most students are not
capable of understanding
math. Only geniuses can really understand
math. Everyone else just memorizes
it to get through school.
If we reteach the same material every year, students will remember
it.
If we teach enough things
enough times, some students will learn some of them.
Everyone hates word
problems. Every word problem is
different, so it is difficult to provide students with formulas for word
problems. Students prefer to
memorize rules and follow precise instructions. Students feel uncomfortable with
ambiguity. They like simple
problems with only one answer.
The students will get
confused if they learn more than one way to do math. It is easier for students
to learn only one way to do a problem with all the correct steps and procedures.
For most math problems there is only one correct method and one correct
answer.