Thursday, April 11, 2013

Doing Hokey Pokey In Math Class



My former AP thinks he has a fool proof method of knowing which kids understand and which kids don't.  He tells them to raise their right hand if they comprehend and the left if they don't.  This way, he believes, every kid is responding and by looking out at the 34 raised arms, the teacher can easily count lefts and rights and know what the next step in the lesson should be.  He doesn't believe in asking "do you understand?"  He has no confidence in the answers the students will give.

The difference between him, the newbies he likes to think are the best and experienced teachers is that we don't need hands raised to see who understands and who does not.  I can tell by the way lips turn up, or down slightly, by a head movement or by a students eyes whether they get the concept or not.  I can see by how quickly they pick up a pencil to begin a problem on their own.  I know from marking exams and homework which kids get things easily and which struggle.  I don't need a left or right hand waving in the air to give me this information.

In my former AP's latest memo, he berated teachers who don't use this method of measuring comprehension.  He claims the teachers that use this have 100% or close to 100% passing, which, quite frankly is bull.  If he really cares, like he claims to, he needs to stop hassling teachers about nonsense, stop bashing and realize there are many ways to measure understanding.  Hand raising might work for him, and those not astute enough to know their students, but it is not for everyone.  Hand raising does not a good teacher make!!!

2 comments:

Ms. Tsouris said...

Mr. AP is a delusional, incompetent lunatic.

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