Re: [arn-l Digest] Vol. 3 No. 537 Messages: 7

["ElsaHaas" <ElsaHaas@si.rr.com>]

I rarely read what Art says and I even less often reply to it. But what
Jennifer wrote was full of the kind of specifics I like to read, and Art's
comment is just plain rude. 

Maybe I shouldn't have said this because he seems to like to tick people
off, but I couldn't help myself. I'll now go back to not reading most of
what he posts, and not commenting on it.

Jennifer, thanks for writing.

Elsa Haas 

-----Original Message-----
From: arn-l-owner@interversity.org [mailto:arn-l-owner@interversity.org] On
Behalf Of aburke5054@aol.com
Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2007 10:14 PM
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Subject: Re: [arn-l] [arn-l Digest] Vol. 3 No. 537 Messages: 7

Perhaps a better teacher could have managed both to get the kids to pass the
tests and to make their learning interesting and exciting and varied.

Art

-----Original Message-----
From: Jennifer Parker <jenbie44@hotmail.com>
To: arn-l@interversity.org
Sent: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 2:00 pm
Subject: Re: [arn-l] [arn-l Digest] Vol. 3 No. 537 Messages: 7

[...]
Art: No, I didn't say in my post that the parents and children were
dissatisfied 
with my "teaching". However, I can assure you that they were and still are 
dissatisfied with the price paid. Although they liked me personally and were

relieved their children didn't "fail" the tests, there was no joy for any of
us 
in attaining the results we did. 
 
For the students, school was an endless session of memorizing unrelated,
random 
facts that had no connection with their lives.  Every day the children were 
either taking a standardized test, taking a "formative assessment" in 
preparation for the test, taking a prior year's formative assessment test
for 
practice, completing homework assignments from old formative assessments, 
penciling in bubbles, or being taught disjointed lessons on the skills
covered 
in the formative assessment tests. By November they couldn't stand the sight
of 
these assessment booklets. By December the students were either incredibly
angry 
about school or in tears during these cramming sessions. 
 
They rightly wanted to know: "WHY AREN'T WE TAKING ANY FIELD TRIPS?", "WHY
CAN'T 
WE DO SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS?" [...]