Comments on: Narrowing minds http://www.jackzen.com/2006/03/26/narrowing-minds/ ...........................just noticing Wed, 20 Aug 2008 11:21:21 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: jack http://www.jackzen.com/2006/03/26/narrowing-minds/#comment-635 Mon, 27 Mar 2006 04:26:28 +0000 http://www.jackzen.com/2006/03/26/narrowing-minds/#comment-635 Yes, Chris to the innate creativity of children. What if we unleashed them instead of constraining them through control? As for your suggestion, Kat, there is absolutely no reason why math and reading can't be integrated into any real-life learning process from cooking to construction. Yes, Chris to the innate creativity of children. What if we unleashed them instead of constraining them through control?

As for your suggestion, Kat, there is absolutely no reason why math and reading can’t be integrated into any real-life learning process from cooking to construction.

]]> by: Kathryn http://www.jackzen.com/2006/03/26/narrowing-minds/#comment-634 Sun, 26 Mar 2006 19:26:58 +0000 http://www.jackzen.com/2006/03/26/narrowing-minds/#comment-634 I read the article this morning as well. As I read, I wondered *what* it is that the students are reading in reading class. I mean, social studies and science texts are written in English! I don't see why those topics cannot be incorporated somehow in a reading curriculum. I also worked last year for a start-up that contracted with public schools to provide after-school assistance (using the no child left behind funding). What I learned is that children respond to attention, praise, consistency, high expectations (especially for behavior), and concrete rewards. I also had only 10 students for two hours and could give each more assistance. They all improved by the end of the semester (for most, Spanish was their first language). And they all had science and history homework as well as math and reading. We do a disservice to children when their exposure to knowledge is strangled. I read the article this morning as well. As I read, I wondered *what* it is that the students are reading in reading class. I mean, social studies and science texts are written in English! I don’t see why those topics cannot be incorporated somehow in a reading curriculum. I also worked last year for a start-up that contracted with public schools to provide after-school assistance (using the no child left behind funding). What I learned is that children respond to attention, praise, consistency, high expectations (especially for behavior), and concrete rewards. I also had only 10 students for two hours and could give each more assistance. They all improved by the end of the semester (for most, Spanish was their first language). And they all had science and history homework as well as math and reading. We do a disservice to children when their exposure to knowledge is strangled.

]]> by: Chris Corrigan http://www.jackzen.com/2006/03/26/narrowing-minds/#comment-633 Sun, 26 Mar 2006 16:38:29 +0000 http://www.jackzen.com/2006/03/26/narrowing-minds/#comment-633 And math and reading are two things that kids can teach themselves, when they aren't packed into a room with 30 others and hassled for six hours a day by an underpaid teacher with great intentions and no freedom to foster learning. And math and reading are two things that kids can teach themselves, when they aren’t packed into a room with 30 others and hassled for six hours a day by an underpaid teacher with great intentions and no freedom to foster learning.

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