This site is a class blog space for new Career and Technical Specializations and Heathcare Science teachers enrolled in the New Teacher Institute (NTI) at Georgia State University in Atlanta, Georgia.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Slipping through the cracks
I know some of you new teachers are wondering just like me "How did some of our students make it to the twelve grade and cannot read or write? My first day in class I will never forget when I ask the class to go out in the parking lot and find there favorite car and bring me a brief description about what they like and dislike about the vehicle. I couldn't believe what I had seen. I was so shocked to see some of their writing. I went to a veteran teacher and ask her if she had notice after all these years of teaching how bad some of the students writing was. She replied "don't worry about it just do your job it will be OK" I know that parent send us their best, but it scary. This is our future.
i agree walter...school is nothing like it was when we were students
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean. I have been grading research papers and I am shocked at the lack of writing skills. How did they make it to the 11th and 12th grade?
ReplyDeleteI have too agree also. If we could not read and write we repeated our grade until we learned to do so.
ReplyDeleteNow I hear that they are no longer teaching elementary students their time tables!!!
Unbelievable!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Next year the standards based students start High School. We will see then if the system has made a difference.
ReplyDeleteHi Walter and all,
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should devote part of a practicum class next semester to Writing Across the Curriculum. I LOVE to teach writing, and there are so many strategies and tactics you can use to teach it. If you ever have an extra 15 minutes or so of class time that you need to fill, have your students write the Story of their Names. Believe me, every name has a story, and your students will delight in writing about how/why they got their names. For example, I was named after my paternal great grandfather, an old jug-eared fellow who hailed from rural Arkansas. What can I say, parents were hoping desperately for a boy. I always liked the fact that I was named after a guy, but I liked it even better when my maternal grandmother, who was Jewish (but married a Roman Catholic-- loooong story), told me that my name in Hebrew meant "gift". Pretty cool, huh?