This semester I am taking some classes that require me to be out in a public school classroom for 12 hours to observe and help with math. I have only had the chance to spend 6 hours in a class so far, but some questions really puzzle me about the thinking process of public education system.
Each time I am in the classroom I have been asked to go over a worksheet with the students. The first few times I assumed the students had already completed that worksheet, but they had not. I was going over the worksheet with them and they were putting in the answers that were given either by me or by other students. This is apparently a common practice in that classroom because it has happened almsot every time I have been there. Don't get me wrong, the students do some of the problems. I have several come to the board to work a problem, of they work it at their desks, but I am still confused as to why we are not having the students do the work on their own and then go over it. If they have trouble, then we can help them, but why provide an answer for them either directly through the teacher or through peers? Is this something that is limited to the one classroom that I have been in or is it prevelent throughout the public education system (especially in West Virginia)?
Another puzzling thing that I have observed it help on a test. The other day I was in the classroom as they were preparing for math test for the next day. The host teacher asked me to go over the test with them, so I did. The day before the test we took time in class to go through and work the problems directly from the test. I understand making sure they have the concept down by doing problems that are similar, but doing the exact problems does not quite make sense to me. Then, the last time I was observing, the teacher gave out a test for them to start on (this is a different test than what I was referring to above). Before they started the test, she went through and had the students answer some different questions about some of the problem. Things such as, "How would we begin this problem?", or "What items do we need to focus on in this word problem?". Once again, I was confused. I thought it was supposed to be a test and directly before they started it she had them open the test and tell other students how they should work the problem.
Review is one thing, practically giving the answers is something completely different!
Does anyone else feel this way? Have you seen this before? Or better yet, can you help me understand why this is happening and the logic behind it?
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2 comments:
I know exactly what you are talking about here. I spent my spring break in the public school back home and I saw a lot of what you are referring to here. It seemed like the students did not do a lot of work on their own and that a lot of the work was done with small groups or with the whole class. I was also very confused with what was going on and why the students were not doing a lot of work on their own. I asked the teacher that I was with for that week if they mainly did a lot of groupwork and she said that the students seem to get a lot more out of working with group members rather than her teaching. That did not make too much sense to me because it seemed like it was just one student doing all the work and the others copying.
Rachel (from Lindsay Jones):
Rachel's blog...
Rachel, I know what you are talking about as well. I also spent time in a local (West Virginia) public school and they were doing a lot of group work as well. I think that they think that it helps them learn together in a group. I think group learning is a good way to get those that are stuggeling along with those that have the particular concept down, but I would agree that it should not be done on a test. The teacher that I was observing reviewed some of the questions from the test, and actually gave some math answers to the quiz. Yes, I think this is alarming, and could be the reason for lower test scores across the nation.
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