Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

washingtonpost.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 185 posts

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#61

Post by pdonis »

The money quote to me is this one:

"I was struck by this takeaway [#2] in particular because it made me realize how little autonomy students have, how little of their learning they are directing or choosing."

What strikes me about this is how none of the solutions the author offers fix this problem. In fact, it's unfixable with our current concept of what a school is. No amount of monkeying with how classes are taught will change the fact that the kids are there because they have to be there, not because they chose to be there.

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#62

Post by calebhicks »

jasonm23 wrote: post #47
calebhicks wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my 4th year of teaching, yet I graduated from high school 10 years ago. How well do you remember your daily schedule from 10 years ago? Do you remember what made you restless? What made you tired? What made you stop paying attention? And were you so meta cognizant that you recognized the source of that restlessness? Doubt it. It is rare for teachers to have the time to truly consider the student's perspective…

I was last in highschool over 25 years ago, I still remember how awful it was as an educational experience.

Remembering that it was awful isn't the same as remembering, or appropriately identifying, why.

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#63

Post by bane »

nilkn wrote: post #56
vacri wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People wonder why high school aged students are unruly, unpleasant, and filled with deep negative emotions (anger, disdain, need-to-rebel) They don't wonder it at all; it's not some mystery solved by sitting in a classroom. Adolescents, as a demographic, have always been known to be raging pits of hormones with mood swings and strong passions. Items 1 and 3 are common in the working world, and there's a few jobs out…

I do sit a lot during my day job, but I can tell you that my sitting conditions are vastly more preferable than those of the typical high school student. I sit in an $800+ chair, with a desk with more space than I need, next to a huge window. I can get up anytime I want and go for a walk or break. In high school, I sat in chairs that often felt like they were going to fall apart, and my butt was numb or in pain half…

Echoing all of this plus I'm left handed and every desk in every class I ever sat in was geared for right handed students.

http://thumbs.dreamstime.com/x/student-desk-844709.jpg

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#64

Post by calebhicks »

derekp7 wrote: post #26
calebhicks wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm in my 4th year of teaching, yet I graduated from high school 10 years ago. How well do you remember your daily schedule from 10 years ago? Do you remember what made you restless? What made you tired? What made you stop paying attention? And were you so meta cognizant that you recognized the source of that restlessness? Doubt it. It is rare for teachers to have the time to truly consider the student's perspective…

I can appreciate the fresh aspect of it, but I do definitely recall the stark contrast between 12th grade and my first semester at the local community college. Just the fact that you didn't always have to be in a class room -- you could schedule an hour break between classes, and go hang out in the cafeteria or library to catch up on some work. Or go outside between classes and walk around (in high school it was like…

I don't disagree. In fact, I agree completely with the author of the linked post. The symptoms he writes about are very real, and very damaging.

I just think it's hard to expect every teacher (even fresh ones, 4-6 years out of high school themselves), to remember these specific causes of what made high school a subpar learning environment.

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#65

Post by stevewilhelm »

pbreit wrote: post #40

Wow, 7:45 sounds awfully early. And out at 2:35?

LAHS, heart of the Silicon Valley, has "zero period" start at 7:15am [1].

Not all kids take a zero period class, mostly kids taking PE or an extra curricular like band.

[1] http://www.mvla.net/LAHS/Department/110-About-LAHS/Portal/Be...

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#66

Post by bennesvig »

markbnj wrote: post #37

I think to some extent she underestimated the differences in her own body after 15 years. I recall being bored and fidgety in school, but I was never so physically drained just from sitting in the way that she describes. That's probably something an increasingly inflexible adult experiences more than a child does.

I remember being tired every day in Jr. High and High School, struggling to not fall asleep. Once the school day was over, I'd suddenly get a huge boost of energy.

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#67

Post by hnriot »

bytecoin wrote: post #33
Sambdala wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm hiring a CSP to handle all the paperwork/taxes/etc and an assistant to handle organizing my appointments/schedule. I'm hoping that will be sufficient for at least the first six months or so.

What is a csp?

I think, although cannot speak for the person, they really meant CPA, they mention taxes and only a CPA would be legally able to do that.

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#68

Post by yummyfajitas »

Sambdala wrote: post #13

I remember high school. During class I hid whatever book I actually wanted to read at the time inside the class book and drowned out the teacher. If homework was worth >10% of the total grade for the class (so that you couldn't get an A from tests/quizzes alone), I would copy the homework from someone else the period before. Tests & quizzes are so gameable it's a complete joke. Standardized tests even more so. Withou…

Standardized tests even more so. Without any actual learning from the class itself, you can generally come close to ace'ing most high school tests by being moderately intelligent.

How do you do this? I mean if a test asks you to solve 3x^2+5+2x=7, how do you solve it without know the quadratic formula or some such?

There is a difference between gaming a test (in the sense of not knowing the material, but still passing) and simply learning the material very rapidly. If you actually know how to do the former, I'd love to hear a concrete explanation of the mechanics of it.

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#69

Post by seanmcdirmid »

nilkn wrote: post #55
Sambdala wrote: post #13

I remember high school. During class I hid whatever book I actually wanted to read at the time inside the class book and drowned out the teacher. If homework was worth >10% of the total grade for the class (so that you couldn't get an A from tests/quizzes alone), I would copy the homework from someone else the period before. Tests & quizzes are so gameable it's a complete joke. Standardized tests even more so. Withou…

I know tons of high school students who attempt the strategies you just described. The great majority of them barely scrape by with Bs and Cs and they do indeed crash and burn in college. You are not even remotely a representative case.

It actually depends more on what the college is and what the classes. Is it a party school and are the courses in a soft major? Or is it a tier one research university and the courses are weed outs for engineering or medical school?

I was one of those students in high school, and I could see it going either way (thankfully, I took the hard classes and got my act together).

Re: Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns

#70

Post by treehau5 »

Sambdala wrote: post #13

I remember high school. During class I hid whatever book I actually wanted to read at the time inside the class book and drowned out the teacher. If homework was worth >10% of the total grade for the class (so that you couldn't get an A from tests/quizzes alone), I would copy the homework from someone else the period before. Tests & quizzes are so gameable it's a complete joke. Standardized tests even more so. Withou…

I can relate to this so much it's not even funny. Don't let your fear of failure get in the way. I currently struggle with the same -- applying myself to a difficult task. Staying focused longer than 10 minutes at a time was difficult -- so difficult I was even suspicious I may of had adult ADHD. Turns out that I don't. What I have is the fear of failing and rejection. The fear of exposing my weaknesses to others, and my coping mechanism is procrastination. My procrastination shields me from the possibility of ever failing because, hey, I never gave it my best shot anyway, right?

Hopefully this wasn't too off base, Just thought I'd share as well because I related to this so much.

I wish you all the best!

Post reply on HN