51–60 of 142 posts
Imagine being unable to interview the new hire. You're not even told their name until the day before they start. Imagine this new hire is your boss. Who stands in front of you all day every day and watches you work. Imagine that no one in the company – not even the CEO – can fire them. Imagine being unable to quit this job for any reason. Imagine this is your first job, and you are a child, and your boss is an adult.…
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It's probably true; schools are generally run for the benefit and convenience of teachers, not students. The former have a strong union with outsized influence on local elections, whereas the latter don't even vote. The same incentives lead to early school start times which help teachers at the cost of students (particularly teenagers who generally have 'later' circadian rhythms).
Are teachers really the ones pushing for such early starts of school? Anecdotally, most teachers I know don't love waking up at 5am in order to get ready and get to school on time. I always thought the early start was to have enough time in the afternoon and evening for after-school activities, but not sure.
Imagine being unable to interview the new hire. You're not even told their name until the day before they start. Imagine this new hire is your boss. Who stands in front of you all day every day and watches you work. Imagine that no one in the company – not even the CEO – can fire them. Imagine being unable to quit this job for any reason. Imagine this is your first job, and you are a child, and your boss is an adult.…
Looping is stupid though because whatever small benefits accrue they don’t justify teachers learning a new curriculum every year as they bounce from grade to grade. I want my grade eight history course taught by someone who knows grade eight history well. I don’t want it to be taught by someone who spent the last three years on completely unrelated topics in previous grade’s history.
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Looping is stupid though because whatever small benefits accrue they don’t justify teachers learning a new curriculum every year as they bounce from grade to grade. I want my grade eight history course taught by someone who knows grade eight history well. I don’t want it to be taught by someone who spent the last three years on completely unrelated topics in previous grade’s history.
Have you talked to actual teachers about the concept? Based on what you’ve written here, what I understand from teacher friends, and my own child’s experience with looping, you all have a very different outlook than what I’ve witnessed and heard. My son had his 1st grade teacher loop; he loved her and she loved him. It was a joy to have him feel comfortable with his teacher two years in a row. As a kid with a harder…
This shares the benefit of "looping" with homeschooling, which is sort of an extreme form of looping I guess. Homeschooled kids benefit tremendously from having a teacher who is _incredibly_ familiar with their previous experiences and learnings, which the teacher can draw upon to teach new ideas. If a teacher has an even slightly better understanding of what their children already know, they are set up to succeed at…
Imagine being unable to interview the new hire. You're not even told their name until the day before they start. Imagine this new hire is your boss. Who stands in front of you all day every day and watches you work. Imagine that no one in the company – not even the CEO – can fire them. Imagine being unable to quit this job for any reason. Imagine this is your first job, and you are a child, and your boss is an adult.…
Looping is stupid though because whatever small benefits accrue they don’t justify teachers learning a new curriculum every year as they bounce from grade to grade. I want my grade eight history course taught by someone who knows grade eight history well. I don’t want it to be taught by someone who spent the last three years on completely unrelated topics in previous grade’s history.
(I don't have a source for that on hand, that's mostly from discussion with relatives who teach.)
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That one student should be able to switch to a different group. If all want to switch then there's a problem with the instructor. Let's look at the opposite end of the spectrum. Student loves an instructor but is needlessly switched to someone new. My point though is that the flexibility to change or stay in the same group should exist.
Tried this. Was not allowed to switch because it would cause an uneven class size. At least, that's what I was told the policy was for.
This is certainly a good idea (but only if the teachers are great). Nevertheless I recommend everyone to read "I would never send my kids to school" by Piotr Wozniak: https://supermemo.guru/wiki/I_would_never_send_my_kids_to_sc... Something is fundamentally wrong with the educational system and it's holding humanity(/your children) back big time.
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Looping is stupid though because whatever small benefits accrue they don’t justify teachers learning a new curriculum every year as they bounce from grade to grade. I want my grade eight history course taught by someone who knows grade eight history well. I don’t want it to be taught by someone who spent the last three years on completely unrelated topics in previous grade’s history.
If a teacher can't "learn" the next year's curriculum faster than the children they are teaching, there is something very wrong with the selection and hiring process for teachers...
My literature professor in high school knew literature. His class was amazing. He spent each period bringing the material to life and telling stories from authors’ lives, the background behind each story and poem, additional anecdotes etc, and really put the whole thing in context. Then for the last 10 minutes he explained what we needed to know for the standardized curriculum.
It was great