tl;dr - Cuomo is not acknowledging how important the teaching of social skills that goes on in schools is. But school is harder than it needs to be because we all have to be "on" at the same time. Learning remotely eliminates that problem. It's fucked up for kids to sit still and listen all day. And watching videos means they can watch it when they're in the right mindset and they can rewatch it to grasp details.
I'm a teacher. Elementary school for 15 years. I only SLIGHTLY disagree with Cuomo on this. I think that school serves a vital purpose that he's not acknowledging, which is to teach socialization skills. Many of our students enter in Pre-K having only known a life where they are the center of the universe (the universe being their house with their parent(s)), or maybe they share that with a sibling or two. But taking turns, sharing, not interrupting, expressing frustration and impatience in a healthy way - there are many days when I think it's the only important thing I do. They'll forget a lot of what they learned past the basics, but social skills are forever.
With that said, every education group I'm a member of on facebook is filled with intense vitriol over these comments that I just don't feel. And frankly, it's a feature of Teacher Culture to over-sentimentalize the job that I think at times is a bit much. I love my kids. I miss them. I'm not a superhero, and I wasn't born to do this. I don't wake up hungry for it every day. It's an intense job. Some days I love it and some days it's a fucking nightmare. I'm happy to do it, but there are other things in this world that would also make me happy.
Anyway back to Cuomo - He's not crazy. The idea of everyone coming to some central location to experience something at the same time is something we do out of habit. The technology to work around this has only existed for a few years frankly. Sure, we've had email for a long time, but video conferencing, and the internet bandwidth/hardware to stream clear videos smoothly, is still very new.
The idea of going to see a play or a concert, or sharing a meal with a few good friends, or having a party is something that I miss desperately. Tech will never replace that. But going to school - it's a lot easier I think for many kids to learn through video, since they can watch it as many times as they want. Teachers talking is stone age shit compared to that. And the fact that students can now learn on their own schedule, and frankly according to their moods is a benefit.
I admit there are aspects of it I like a lot better myself. I love that if I'm beat I can watch a movie instead of teaching. And then when my energy is up I can record a video of myself explaining a concept in clear, crisp language, and to boot - without being interrupted because kids are having a hard time all sitting still and being quiet at the same time.
It's fucking insane that we ask kids to sit and be quiet all day. I know that teaching is not like that anymore - that they have group activities and lots of 'independent learning'. But overall, the whole structure goes against what is natural for human beings. I tell these kids to be quiet for hours - then we have some staff development day when the kids are out and we have meetings all day and someone asks me to be quiet for hours and I'm like this is awful. I get up and 'go to the bathroom' just to move my legs. I look at my phone (which I don't let kids do). It's inhumane. Especially for young children.
Meanwhile recess is in retreat - kids in the USA have less recess time than ever. In my school it's 15 minutes a day and it's supervised. We know forever now that it's not natural for teenagers to wake up early, but we make them sync up with the rest of us anyway. Kids and adults working at their own pace and working according to their own schedule and body/energy rhythms sounds really good to me to be honest.
Submitted May 06, 2020 at 05:57PM by ag425 https://ift.tt/3ceHpKG
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario