Saturday, November 13, 2004
Friday I was appalled at the lesson being taught to the fourth graders in their language class
it was a lesson on comparisons and superlatives
-er,-est, more, most
the teacher started out with an activity using words and word parts on index cards
the students had to combine their card with another students to make a comparison and use it in a sentence
for example, the student with "slow" combined with the student that had"-er" for slower and made a sentence like "you are slower than me"
later in the lesson the teacher taught the children to use more and most and that is where she screwed up
she taught them to use more and most in conjunction with words ending in -er and -est
for example she corrected a child that said "I am stronger than you" to say "I am more stronger than you" and "I am the most strongest in the class"
I kept waiting for her to go back and correct herself or to do something to show that this was all part of some larger scheme to show the children that you use one or the other(most strong or strongest but not most strongest) but she never did
I was already sick to my stomach from the hernia(but maybe I also have a tummy virus) but this exhibition of stupidity was just too much
what do I do?
do I tell the principal that her star fourth grade teacher doesn't know her content?
I have to work in the classroom and team teach with this woman every day
but the kids have to pass the LEAP to get to 5th grade (No Child Left Behind)
if I try to correct MS (the teacher) she will get pissed
if I try to give a "just between us" heads up to BD, she'll tell MS what I said
its a no win for me
but I have to do something
this same teacher has trouble differentiating between adjectives and adverbs
other days she is brilliant and has a great rapport with her students and few to zero discipline problems
I hate situations like these
it was a lesson on comparisons and superlatives
-er,-est, more, most
the teacher started out with an activity using words and word parts on index cards
the students had to combine their card with another students to make a comparison and use it in a sentence
for example, the student with "slow" combined with the student that had"-er" for slower and made a sentence like "you are slower than me"
later in the lesson the teacher taught the children to use more and most and that is where she screwed up
she taught them to use more and most in conjunction with words ending in -er and -est
for example she corrected a child that said "I am stronger than you" to say "I am more stronger than you" and "I am the most strongest in the class"
I kept waiting for her to go back and correct herself or to do something to show that this was all part of some larger scheme to show the children that you use one or the other(most strong or strongest but not most strongest) but she never did
I was already sick to my stomach from the hernia(but maybe I also have a tummy virus) but this exhibition of stupidity was just too much
what do I do?
do I tell the principal that her star fourth grade teacher doesn't know her content?
I have to work in the classroom and team teach with this woman every day
but the kids have to pass the LEAP to get to 5th grade (No Child Left Behind)
if I try to correct MS (the teacher) she will get pissed
if I try to give a "just between us" heads up to BD, she'll tell MS what I said
its a no win for me
but I have to do something
this same teacher has trouble differentiating between adjectives and adverbs
other days she is brilliant and has a great rapport with her students and few to zero discipline problems
I hate situations like these
