tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post6742490329154416271..comments2024-03-28T01:33:17.573-04:00Comments on History Is Elementary: Teaching Strategies: Scourge or Savior for EducationEHThttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17964668210604436937noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post-68517122912811418452007-03-06T23:44:00.000-05:002007-03-06T23:44:00.000-05:00Thanks for the perspective Tour Marm and the suppo...Thanks for the perspective Tour Marm and the support. I find it amazing that you have some of the difficulties you do in YOUR profession.<BR/><BR/>Matt, thanks for the link. Your site looks interesting and I'll be around soon.EHThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964668210604436937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post-73520252346627722852007-03-05T23:50:00.000-05:002007-03-05T23:50:00.000-05:00Excellent post. My own experience with education c...Excellent post. My own experience with education courses did involve slightly more allowance for different learning styles, etc. than what you describe, but was still way too heavy on the theory. I usually walked out thinking "Neat. Now when will I use that?" And eventually I dropped out of the ed. program and decided to get my M.A. in history instead.<BR/><BR/>Anyway, I've just joined the blogosphere myself--hope you'll check out my site (http://southernpasts.wordpress.com). I actually just posted about a new report from the AHA on "The Next Generation of History Teachers"--you may find it interesting.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post-26858120659977060592007-03-05T22:16:00.000-05:002007-03-05T22:16:00.000-05:00Be prepared for my usual long comment because you ...Be prepared for my usual long comment because you pressed a ‘button’:<BR/><BR/>As you know I'm not a classroom teacher; I am a 24-hour educational tour guide that teaches on buses and on site.<BR/><BR/>Some years ago, one of the student tour companies I worked for became, 'accredited'. (Please understand the nuances attached of the quotation marks.) As a result of this, all of the tour guides (we're independent contractors) were required to go through a half-day 'accreditation' course through a representative of Fred Jones.<BR/><BR/>There were about twenty-five of us (many without college degrees or courses in education) crammed into a boardroom to learn how to manage our bus (classroom) and to implement various teaching strategies and promote critical thinking skills in order to keep students interested. We were all open to this and I have always welcomed new approaches. <BR/><BR/>Most teachers don't realize that tour guides spend their 'off' time going to historic seminars, classes, educational trips (busmen's holidays), exchanging information and stories with other tour guides, and discovering new ways to interpret memorials and monuments. We learn a lot from one another and develop our own curricula. A good guide will spend at least a thousand dollars each year on ’teaching’ aids and collect curriculum material from various museums and historic sites.<BR/><BR/>So this Rep was dealing with many tour guides who had been in the field over ten years conducting all sorts of groups from 3rd graders on, and every conceivable socio-economic background. The addition of the 'vacation' atmosphere away from the structure of home and school can make things a bit dicey. Some guides even conduct two groups per day (morning and afternoon) from different schools. And we need to keep it fresh!<BR/><BR/>But he started out by informing us that the students that run to the back of the bus will probably be 'troublesome'. DUH! Tell us something we don't know.<BR/><BR/>He continued to describe various ways to stimulate students through different teaching strategies that might have worked in a classroom, but not on a tour! We don't have the leisure to spend 45 minutes on a topic! We need to make our points quickly because the attention span for students on tour is just so long. And we don’t spend that much time on the bus!<BR/><BR/>Educational tour guides in DC (who are more than the normal city step-on guides) develop several teaching styles and strategies and are prepared to change tack at a moment's notice. We need to be intuitive and flexible. Don't underestimate the power of intuition! This trip can open all sorts of vistas for the students and several of us have been told that even a half day with us has made a difference in their lives. That's a huge responsibility!<BR/><BR/>I'm usually with my students from five to fifteen days; that's 24 hours a day, folks! Pacing is everything!<BR/><BR/>The Fred Jones Rep then went on to describe, 'contingency behavior'. He suggested that we throw candy to the students for correct answers, promise more time for swimming etc. This infuriated me! It was tantamount to bribery! Tangible rewards for learning are offensive to me. Education is its best reward. And promising things that one has no direct control over (suppose the pool was closed for swimming that night?) is wrong. <BR/><BR/>Anyone who has ever traveled with me will attest that I have the best groups. I take great pride in this. Truthfully, I have the same sort of students on my bus as anyone else. They learn a great deal. But I don't need to bribe them; that's demeaning! <BR/><BR/>The difference is that my students know from the get-go that I love them, and respect them, and I want to open a new world to them. They are my first priority. I discuss some of the challenges in conducting a large group and ask ways that they might be able to help me. They take ownership of the boundaries and some of their rules are stricter than mine! (Rewards are given for different reasons but they are always unannounced and ‘spontaneous’.)<BR/><BR/>I teach them, in a short time, the worth of education. <BR/><BR/>I couldn't stand it any longer and lashed out at him. I thought the seminar or 'certification course' was 'bogus' and realized that the teaching strategies being presented were precisely what was wrong with our current state of education.<BR/><BR/>I hated the fact that because of this 'accreditation', we were required to teach exactly from a specifically approved curriculum that was not relevant to every group. (In fact, it was a baseline approach that did not foster higher order thinking, although it purported it did; it was pedestrian and an insult to intelligence.)<BR/><BR/>I walked out and I refused to ever attend another such exercise and eventually quit the company.<BR/><BR/>Thankfully, I don’t have the same pressures from administration, parents, and NCLB that classroom teachers have. I am not teaching to tests and don't have to be obsessed with scores. I am independent and unencumbered. I can actually teach!<BR/><BR/>You have my sympathy.The Tour Marmhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16701469966951623627noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post-47926781444407976172007-03-05T20:40:00.000-05:002007-03-05T20:40:00.000-05:00Teachergirl, I've got your back!:)Mrs. Bluebird, I...Teachergirl, I've got your back!:)<BR/><BR/>Mrs. Bluebird, I thank you very much!EHThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17964668210604436937noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post-8091528133768779412007-03-05T20:05:00.000-05:002007-03-05T20:05:00.000-05:00Wow, what an absolutely outstanding post.Wow, what an absolutely outstanding post.Mrs. Bluebirdhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10283080212189118357noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20993778.post-25748815154004787362007-03-05T17:54:00.000-05:002007-03-05T17:54:00.000-05:00EHT: You're the best! I was totally frustrated o...EHT: You're the best! I was totally frustrated over at Dennis Fermoyle's site. Thanks for the comment. I truly think that some days you've got them, and other days you just don't. Unfortunately, my days are particularly long this year.teachergirlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05655615013367705872noreply@blogger.com