I Teach Students, Not
Subjects:
a written response to
Dorthy Sayers's
“The Lost Tools of
Learning”
This
past school year in the state public schools, we saw a huge epidemic
of stressed out administrators, panicked teachers, and frustrated
parents and students. In efforts to earn and keep Race to the Top
federal funding, Tennessee Department of Education implemented a new
and 'improved' teacher evaluation system that had even the most
seasoned veterans of education seeking refuge! Teachers were trained
on how to teach a standard learning principle by posting the 'wordy'
student performance indicator on the board and reference it often
during the lesson, so that students could then regurgitate the
lesson's goal. Students were forced into seminars instead of
nurturing learning environment. As educators our job is to foster
life-long learners not learners who are taught to become apathetic.
I
have said on numerous occasions that when we as teachers drill the
skill, we kill the thrill of learning. The Mighty Creator gave us
minds to learn, think, explore, and evaluate natural concepts or
basic skills. Students today who are not classically schooled are
lacking in many areas. That's not saying all students aren't capable
of learning; students, most average learners, are simply lacking the
building blocks of the basic learning process. In 2008, Tennessee
revamped their 'standard curriculum forcing many students mid-year to
forget about the basic skills but to solely rely on calculators and
computerized spell checking programs. For example, a third grade math
student was handed a Texas Instrument- 30X and taught how to use the
input data to derive at the correct outcome of a simple
multiplication fact 3X2=6. The goal of most teachers shifted to
teaching the student how to use technology, so that they could
successfully solved problems for a high-stakes multiple choice
achievement test. What happened if a student mistakenly entered an
wrong number? Failure. Because they were not taught the basic
multiplication fact, they would score below basic showing they had
not mastered the calculator, not the problem. As a result, we will be
producing students who have 'lost' a mathematical tool.
What
happens to a student when technological devices fail? Frustrated
students will not have the skills to fall back on, and they will soon
become discouraged. If a student is discouraged, they will seek
relief wherever they can find it. I have seen students cheat, lie,
and steal answers and assignments. These behaviors are coping
strategies to mask the real problem -deficiency in their learning
process. Where are all the teachers in this? Most modern, progressive
public educators are trapped between knowing what should be done and
what has to be done to keep a job. The pressure they feel has a
trickle down effect on their students. A vicious cycle of hurry up
memorize this skill and fill in a circle that best completes this
sentence.
Middle
school Language Arts for example, should be a class in which a
student is able to write his or her thoughts down in a logical,
well-thought out essay. Instead, they are given a common mistake of
the tedious nature to correct by analyzing a multiple choice
selection of four very similar sentences except the pesky comma that
was misplaced or misspelled word. Spelling, as a content area, has
been eliminated from most, if not all classrooms, nationwide. And
forget about students written responses! With the extremely high
pressure to keep up with the most current technology, students are
given remote controls to select the correct answer. Again a reliance
on a device instead of a firm foundation of phonemic awareness and
basic spelling rules. When a student fails to find comfort from their
personal failure and discouragement, they are left to find another
resource. If those so called resources have always been provided for
them, then they were taught they were entitlement not logical
application of basic skills. If their quest for things they feel is
owed to them isn't met with what they are accustomed to, then apathy
will be rooted. What happens to a society when a mode of
communication is eliminated? Failure.
What
caused us to digressively progress into a unmotivated, discouraged,
and apathetic learning society? In the early 1980's the word
accountability was beginning to be used in the business world and
other essential paradigms of our great nation. Holding people
responsible for their work process by evaluating their final product
in and of itself is not a bad concept for most businesses and their
so called bottom line. However, to assume that those same standards
of evaluation would hold true in the educational infrastructure is
ludicrous. To say a teacher may loose his or her job simply based on
the number of students that can pick the correct answer from a
multiple choice based assessment is asinine. After all a blind
squirrel can find a nut to eat once in a while. Students will guess
on those high-stakes test that are use as the basis of whether or not
a teacher is effective or not. There are too many outliers that are
beyond a teacher's control for the data to prove conclusively if a
teacher has been 'effective' or not. Authentic assessments,
periodically testing of basic skills, and students who can defend
their logic in conjunction with a nurturing learning environment
shows that learning has occurred; however, that can only be
ascertained over a longer period of time.
“Give
a man a fish, he eats for one day. Teach him to fish, he will never
go hungry.” If we as churches, families, and schools could grasp
all that this quote is truly saying, we would be more eager to
explore and evaluate new discoveries everyday. When reading
scripture, it says that our Lord has given us the Holy Spirit as a
comfort and teacher. He has prepared great things for us to do as we
are called laborers with Christ. He mercies are new every morning,
proving we are to be in constant daily communion with the Creator of
all things. We have to regain our true focus as humans. We were made
to love and live for God. Instead, what we have created is a system
overhaul that requires teachers to work harder than the student to
give students lessons to sole memorize, or teach them tricks to
answering multiple choice high-stakes test.
I
teach students not subjects. When a student comes into my class, I
want them to know that they are loved and were designed for a
specific purpose. God has a plan for each of their lives. As we train
up the child, we should be equipping them with the tools necessary
for achieving those goals with Christ and for His glory. As parents
and educators, we should pray for wisdom and discernment to recognize
and call out those undiscovered talents of the child so that he or
she can then prepare for the future use of that talent. When teaching
the grammar aged child, those basic building blocks are critical for
mastery of the latter stages. Teaching a child to read will then
allow that student to read to learn more in the future. Having the
basics mastered before demanding that partially mastered skills to be
applied in various hypothetical circumstances will build the
student's confidence and will not allow the ugly cousins of
frustration, discouragement, and apathy to take root! Since each of
us, in the body of Christ, have a specialized purpose then we should
be taught as an individual. Intervention, prevention, and correction
of folly in learning will allow students to master the skills
necessary to pursue God given talents and interest for His glory and
their satisfaction of learning and service. Then the student can live
life abundantly!
