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

washingtonpost.com

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

#31

Post by pher »

mwfunk wrote: post #11
misuba wrote: post #3

...does she learn how to write clickbait headlines?

The headline must have changed since the link was posted to HN- it's currently "Teacher spends two days as a student and is shocked at what she learns", which is about as matter-of-fact and non-clickbaity as it gets. It's just a literal description of the article contents. What was it originally that was so sensationalistic?

It's the word shocked. You're not wrong, there is nothing wrong with the post title in itself. But the internet has caused a lot of people to falsely attribute some form of grandeur to innocuous content in order to get you to click on the article. It's the crossroads of intellectualism with capitalism. The point is we're all striving for the most clicks because clicks translate to dollars, either directly in the form of advertising, or a personal brand. But on HN, it's considered gauche to acquire links in this nature. You should be getting the clicks because the content is worthy, not the title.

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

#32

Post by intopieces »

bcaine wrote: post #14
intopieces wrote: post #10

I do wish that my school had had the block scheduling this school seems to have. We had 8 periods in a day (school was a half period) and they were all ~50 minutes. This is barely enough time to accomplish anything, and days where the classes were shorter (teachers' meetings) then each class was worthless.

The problem is that it's near impossible for a student to pay attention during longer classes. I think you're trying to measure accomplishing things by the amount of material you work through during a given class, instead of by the amount of information the student actually absorbs during that time. That seemed to be one of the main points in the article, just getting through material was a terrible way to look at cl…

>The problem is that it's near impossible for a student to pay attention during longer classes.

Impossible seems a bit harsh. The situation could certainly be improved, and it might certainly be improved if the instructor has more time to engage in students as individuals, which can't be done much in a short period system (this was my main complaint with HS and why I never took a huge lecture course). I do agree that the current method of engagement, overall, is not ideal.

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

#33

Post by bytecoin »

Sambdala wrote: post #22
zrail wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've experienced similar, to a lesser extent (I never cheated, I just didn't do the homework). I also recently struck out on my own and so far I've been successful. In your case, you may want to just farm out all of the non-passion-inducing work. Accountants, book keepers, virtual assistance, all of these are there to help you succeed.

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?

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

#35

Post by zyxley »

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…

For me, the biggest change between high school and college was honestly just being able to wake up at 8 AM instead of 6-something. Suddenly my recurring insomnia, and my tendency to just flat-out fall asleep during afternoon classes, were mostly gone.

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

#36

Post by jschwartzi »

aarohmankad wrote: post #15

This is one of the reasons I like my school. Points 1 and 3 in the article are pretty close to nonexistent. [1]: We operate on a 4x4 schedule (4 classes August - December, 4 classes January - June). So we sit in one class for 90 minutes, a good time to focus on a task and get it done. [2]: Issue 2 is a problem with every school I've been in and seen. I can't think of any school that has managed time in a way that wil…

My experience with a 4x4 schedule was that I would lose focus about 15 to 20 minutes in, start trying to work whatever homework the teacher had assigned, realize I didn't understand it, refocus on the lecture, and realize that I had missed half of it. The only reason I graduated High School on time was because one of my math teachers gave out D's. This was really only an issue in Math classes, where we were expected to passively absorb information. The classes I did really well in were Honors English, AP English, and History/Social Studies courses where the teachers asked us to think about what they were telling us.

Looking back, the only reason that I was able to go to college, get a degree, and end up working in Engineering is that my parents were willing to support me monetarily while I replaced my shitty High School record with a good Community College record.

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

#37

Post by markbnj »

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.

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

#38

Post by undata »

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…

Entrepreneurship will be a fantastic experience for you, succeed or fail. It's exactly what you need.

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

#39

Post by alexgrist »

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.

Maybe you just become more accustomed to long periods of sitting and listening for hours while you're frequently having to. First day back after a break always seemed more exhausting possibly because you weren't having to do it all week.
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