My kid can’t handle a virtual education, and neither can I

Post by dj_mc_merlin » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 6:23 PM UTC

Fezzik wrote: post #405

jdietrich wrote: post #401

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>All of these comments make me think HN has never interacted with a 5 year old. Your comment makes me think that you've never interacted with an East Asian 5 year old. Kids are a lot smarter than we give them credit for; long before they take their first steps, they've started decoding the incentive structures around them. Western kids live in a weird bubble that is totally devoid of any meaningful agency, so they ac…

Or French ( https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/why-are-fre... ). Or German, or Spanish (from first hand experience). The idea that every fit a child has is a real existential crisis is uniquely American as far as I can tell. Having lived in both Spain and Germany, in native homes with children... parents there “train” their children as mini-adults far better than parents do stateside. I wish I could pin…

Post by m0zg » Thu, Aug 20, 2020, 8:49 PM UTC

barry-cotter wrote: post #416

adflux wrote: post #403

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Learning to read, write, basic arithmetics, communicate with others ... Glorified childcare?

I taught kindergarten for five years and am just starting as a secondary school teacher. Primary school is mostly childcare. The only important skills we assume a child who has just finished primary school can do are reading, writing and arithmetic. You can teach a nine year old to read in 40 hours. You can teach a 12 year old the primary Math curriculum in 40 hours. It takes three years to take a child with fluent C…

Post by fithisux » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 4:49 AM UTC

zelphirkalt wrote: post #176

actfrench wrote: post #43

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This is how my class is structured and the activities we do. https://www.modulo.app/manishamodule Feel free to share with other teachers if it could benefit them. I"d also be happy to talk to your teacher or anyone else's teacher if they need support on making zoom more engaging. Also, if other teachers have ideas of activities that worked well for them, I'd love to hear! I'll just add that one thing that's been help…

Zoom does not belong in any classroom, regardless of virtual or physical. It is proprietary software, which has a back track record on privacy and security. It is not free software respecting children's and teachers' rights and freedom. I find the this reliance on proprietary shitty software annoying and absurd. Often teachers barely know manage to cobble together virtual classrooms. They lack information about alter…

Post by zelphirkalt » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 7:44 AM UTC

cbo100 wrote: post #287

sailfast wrote: post #185

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Can you say more about the format of remote learning in Australia? Age ranges? How much video per day? In my school district, they are looking at 4 hours (2, 2-hour blocks) of "live learning" in-person per day, for 5-6 year olds. I can't imagine they're doing that in Oz?

I can only assume they are talking about “school of the air”. Very much not the norm here, it’s very remote students hours from towns taking school remotely. It was 1 way or 2 way radio back in the day, now wiki says it’s 1 way video stream with 2 way voice. From wiki... “ Each student typically spends one hour per day receiving group or individual lessons from the teacher, and the rest of the day working through the…

Post by hluska » Fri, Aug 21, 2020, 4:10 PM UTC

Shared404 wrote: post #446

hluska wrote: post #414

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My opinion was pretty close to yours in my late teens/twenties but as I’ve aged and become friends with teachers, my feelings have gotten more nuanced. Those teachers make very little money, receive virtually no support from parents and are more often than not treated like babysitters, not educators. Complicating matters, school divisions are so poorly funded that despite all of that, they still fund many classroom a…

To be clear, I am not blaming most teachers. I can trace many of my current skills, interests and aspirations directly to several of my teachers, most often in contexts not directly related to their core subject. There is the occasional teacher who is there to power trip, but they are by far the minority. The school system crushes teachers just as much as it does the kids. Edit: Reread my comment you replied to, if I…