tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post2456451505190588813..comments2024-03-24T11:39:28.574-04:00Comments on NYC Public School Parents: Even Harvard recognizes the value of smaller classesPatrick Sullivanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10631038958645725010noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2586988941850907367.post-990430299290578762007-05-12T09:19:00.000-04:002007-05-12T09:19:00.000-04:00What's problematic, I think, is that people tend t...What's problematic, I think, is that people tend to grab onto teaching methods and say, "This works." Now that's fine, but they tend to make another step and claim, "Because this works, nothing else works."<BR/><BR/>I've been teaching for 22 years, and almost every September someone stands in front of me with the virtual Ten Commandments, something that works to the exclusion of everything else. It makes no difference if that same person, one year ago, claimed something else worked to the exclusion of everything else.<BR/><BR/>There are some people gifted enough to give enthralling lectures, but those people are far from the norm, and it's a preposterous approach, for the most part, for children.<BR/><BR/>But there are many different ways to involve kids. To say the workshop model, for example, works to the exclusion of all other models, is impossible.<BR/><BR/>I really believe good teachers find their own voices, just like good writers. I know great teachers whose approaches I wouldn't emulate, because they're not what works for me. I wouldn't impose my particular methods on them either.<BR/><BR/>It's very simplistic and unrealistic, though, to say every teacher must teach like this, whatever "this" may represent. In this respect, Klein and Co. represent no change whatsoever from their predecessors.NYC Educatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12188066345722781723noreply@blogger.com