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Teaching theory discussion...book...The Art of Teaching- sorta Circe'-ish realm stuff..


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So a bunch of us are doing all these videos and books from this one thingy. (I can't say thingy IRL, so I abuse it here for my own amusement)

 

Anyways. :)

 

There's a bunch of resources and chatter out there. These are initial notes (not mine) of interest from the book, "Art of Teaching" so far.

 

Discuss at will, have fun.

 

I intend to get the book shortly, just finished a second reading of "The Intellectual Life". Both books were recommended in the lectures from Perrin.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/ViaNovaMedia1?feature=watch (Only two of them are published thus far)

 

----clip

 

So Around pg 100 of The Art of Teaching, he starts breaking down methodology. First is Socratic method, which is the best, but only can be used with a few students because it is exhausting for the teacher.

 

"It is far easier to give two one-hour lectures to classes if fifty or sixty than to tutor one or two pupils for two house, questioning, objecting, remembering, following up and arguing, defending yourself and counterattacking, and always moving toward a definite end which mist not be hurried or overemphasized. And after giving tow such tutorials you are exhausted. Virtue has gone out of you. You cannot teach anymore. And, what is worse, you cannot work at anything else. It is very hard to finish an active session with a few vigorous and stimulating pupils and then to open your own books and continue with the job of research. It is sometimes possible, I believe, for teachers of mathematics, medicine, and laboratory subjects subjects generally, whose tuition, although quite as intense, is shorter and less sustained; bit for teachers of languages, literature, philosophy, history, and the humane subjects generally, it is very hard indeed" pg 109

 

SO TRUE. After we were done schooling I was *done*. Totally exhausting. Like, go make a PB&J for dinner because I need to not think until tomorrow when I have to do this all over again. So. reading that was totally a "So I'm not just lazy!" moment. Plus, being an introvert..whew.

 

"But, for the pupils, tutoring on this system is far the best kind of education." Yeah, this we know. So. Where do we go from here?

 

Secondly, the tutorial system.

 

"The pupil prepares a body of work by himself. He takes it for criticism and correction to the tutor, who then goes over it with the greatest possible thoroughness, criticizing everything from the general conception to the tiniest detail. The pupil learns from three different activities; first, from doing his own work alone; second, from observing the mistakes he has made, and also from defending himself on points where he believes he is right; third from looking over the completed and corrected work, and comparing it with the original assignment and his first draft. The first of these is the work if creation, the second, is criticism, the third is appreciation and wholeness." pg 111

 

-------------------- notes:

 

Now, it's when he goes into how HE Was taught at Harvard that it really comes alive.

 

He and another student were tutored by an prof two days a week. They were assigned to write on a particular subject. One essay a week. Tuesdays was his turn. Prof sits backs, listens to the essay and starts tearing it apart.

 

Friday, the next student read his essay and the same thing happened.

 

--------------

 

"Then he began to ask me questions about my essay, page by page, paragraph by paragraph, word by word. What was my authority for the statement about he Allies on the first page? Yes, it was all in the books on the subject, but what was the original evidence? Didn't that deserve more careful analysis? WHat other interpretations of it were possible? Did I know who proposed them? Shouldn't they have been given more attention in view of recent discoveries? And on page 5, what was the usual translation? How could the version I offered be justified? Let's look it up now and see. (Dick was brought in at this point and we engaged in a three sided argument.) The third page was a rehash of the Tuskar theory wasn't it?And so on through the whole essay."

 

-------------------

 

"After that, Mr. Hamish took the essay as a whole and pointed out the omissions, calling on me to justify them or suggest how they could be filled in. He finished off by a few airy references to pieces of research just concluded, to arguments carried out on last week at the Philobiblian Society, and to Caversham's new book on the subject, look at it sometime, wont' you? and for next week you might write about Mumble Mumble; and so shoved us ogg toward the Buttery and a well earned glass of sherry."

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"The third method of teaching is the commonest. This is classroom work. It is difficult to give it a single name. "Repetition: sounds too mechanical. "Discussion" is more of a free give-and-take than the average meeting of a class, at least in schools The traditional American word is "recitation," which suffers from the same fault as 'repetition'. Classroom study of this kind ought to be much more than memory-work, although it is based on memorizing." {snip}

 

"The teacher divides the subject into sections, each of which is to be studied privately in preparation for one session of the class. When the class meets he has two duties. One is to explain what the pupils have been trying to learn: this he does by filling in the gaps in their understanding, pointing out things they have missed, sometimes helping them practice and repetition and public reading to deepen their confidence. The other is to ensure that they have actually done the preparation. The second of these is less important than the first, but unfortunately it has come, in many schools, to seem much more important. The real job for which teachers are trained and paid is to *help* the young to learn,. It should not be necessary to also *Make* them learn."

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I will be following with interest! I just started The Intellectual Life yesterday and put  The Art of Teaching in my Amazon cart.  I probably won't have much to add, but I love to sit back and just absorb the greatness of thought that comes out of this sort of  discussion. ;)

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Just from looking over your notes, I wonder if perhaps there is an ages/stages thing going on with these three methods of teaching. The youngest students need the read and absorb method with the teacher filling in the missing areas, logic age students are primed for Socratic arguing/discussing, and Rhetoric stage students begin to need to formulate their own ideas and to defend them. But the first method is so much more efficient in terms of the teacher's time and mental energy that perhaps it is easier to avoid the more intense tutorial and Socratic methods in the later years. Think of the number of teachers required in a system wherein each teacher is mentally drained by only 2 or 3 students! Frankly, I have three children and the thought of doing such intense one-on-one teaching, in every subject, scares the pants off of me. Just for my own chiildren! It is a tall order.

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Gilbert something or rather is the author....

 

I've a lot to do today so no time to extrapolate. For myself, growing up, I recall a lot of this phrase: "I don't care what you read, what did you think?" At home. And a lot of "why?" Going on.

 

These books are the sort of thing I have to print small clips out of and carry them around a while to really get it. I'm slow yo catch on like that.

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Fascinating conversation!   I would say that we fall into a general blender-mix of all 3 pretty much every day--depends on what subject, what frame of mind I am in, child' mood, etc.    My kids' writing experience is pretty much what you describe except on age appropriate levels.   When we meet for reviewing their writing, they have to explain to me why they wrote something the way they did and if it meets certain criteria, etc.   If not, then they have to explain (via guidance) why it should be re-written, etc.

 

We start back to school tomorrow, so, phooey, my free time is about to be severely limited.

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Just from looking over your notes, I wonder if perhaps there is an ages/stages thing going on with these three methods of teaching. The youngest students need the read and absorb method with the teacher filling in the missing areas, logic age students are primed for Socratic arguing/discussing, and Rhetoric stage students begin to need to formulate their own ideas and to defend them.

 

I'm not sure that I agree with this.   There is a difference between the teacher filling in the missing areas and a teacher guiding a student toward filling in the missing areas themselves.   A simple youngish age example would be the difference between how to explain carrying to the 10s column in a math problem.   A teacher can simply tell as student what to do or the teacher can help a student determine what to do with the double digit number.     When the student gives a wrong answer, the teacher doesn't corner them into an argument to defend what they say, but ask questions to redirect their thoughts.   Contrast this with simply showing them over and over the correct way to do it and giving them lots of practice in replicating the procedure.

 

The same can go for pretty much any subject.   Even little kids can think about situations in stories and consider whether characters had other options they could have chosen and how that might have lead to possible different outcomes.   Asking lots of questions and having kids consider thoughts/ideas that force them to think for themselves vs. simply repeating answers that have been explained and given to them is not limited to only older kids. 

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(In process of laundry taking time..have a minute..)

Preface/Disclaimer. I'm the mother of one student at home-so my views are colored by my current experience, those with two or more or any other learning issues/styles may take a different view..I can only talk from what I am experiencing here and now...
Disclamer: I am not in current possession of the book to co read just yet..

Anyways. :)

 

A learning style I am extremely fond of and use often is the guided reading techniques I learned as a lead in Junior Great Books.  It's highly intentional and can be used in groups.  I have not seen this discussed yet, not sure if anyone out there is familiar with it either..but if it comes up later on here, I'm glad to chat about it.

 

I think I've done that particular type of guided reading for so long it's second nature to me, and I script my responses in that pattern.  That style of guided reading has about forty zillion tons in common with the reading techniques so carefully and brilliantly recorded in The Well Educated Mind.

 

Please note, I'm NOT talking about the two issues of a.  The Well Trained Mind - nor b. The suggested canon in the Well Educated Mind.

 

So follow me here....it's the method, the presentation, delivery and thought that the guide has to put in, to stifle an automatic response, about gently guiding those bunny trail conversations back to the core content.

 

Finish your milk.  Then eat dessert if you have room.

 

Self control of your faculties is one thing.  To train your guidance (and words) to an alien river is difficult, but rewarding.  This comes back full circle to the idea of the exhaustion of virtue in the teacher. To teach from a place of rest, interest and all of that...

 

Very foundational, but the hallways are many.
 

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Some further quotes from the book. 

"That was Tuesday. On Friday Dick read his essay of his own, while I listened in silence and then heard Mr. Harmish dissecting it the same way. Next week, the same. By the end of the term we had each written eight essays and heard eight more, all in the same field, about which we were also reading books and attending lectures. Eight weeks is a short term, but at the end of such an intensive stretch we know the particular field fairly well."

"The third method of teaching is the commonest. This is classroom work. It is difficult to give it a single name. "Repetition: sounds too mechanical. "Discussion" is more of a free give-and-take than the average meeting of a class, at least in schools The traditional American word is "recitation," which suffers from the same fault as 'repetition'. Classroom study of this kind ought to be much more than memory-work, although it is based on memorizing." {snip}


"The teacher divides the subject into sections, each of which is to be studied privately in preparation for one session of the class. When the class meets he has two duties. One is to explain what the pupils have been trying to learn: this he does by filling in the gaps in their understanding, pointing out things they have missed, sometimes helping them practice and repetition and public reading to deepen their confidence. The other is to ensure that they have actually done the preparation. The second of these is less important than the first, but unfortunately it has come, in many schools, to seem much more important. The real job for which teachers are trained and paid is to *help* the young to learn. It should not be necessary to also *Make* them learn."

 

Then he goes onto to talk about modern testing, multiple choice tests, and the reasons for it (to balance the scales for the students) and says this. 

 

"As students become more inured to this type of examination, their attention is shifted away from these broader questions to the atomic facts which can be learnt almost entirely without real knowledge and real education. "

The author REALLY gets into Jesuit methodology, and it's pretty spectacular. 

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I'm not sure that I agree with this. There is a difference between the teacher filling in the missing areas and a teacher guiding a student toward filling in the missing areas themselves. A simple youngish age example would be the difference between how to explain carrying to the 10s column in a math problem. A teacher can simply tell as student what to do or the teacher can help a student determine what to do with the double digit number. When the student gives a wrong answer, the teacher doesn't corner them into an argument to defend what they say, but ask questions to redirect their thoughts. Contrast this with simply showing them over and over the correct way to do it and giving them lots of practice in replicating the procedure.

 

The same can go for pretty much any subject. Even little kids can think about situations in stories and consider whether characters had other options they could have chosen and how that might have lead to possible different outcomes. Asking lots of questions and having kids consider thoughts/ideas that force them to think for themselves vs. simply repeating answers that have been explained and given to them is not limited to only older kids.

Yes, perhaps the statement was a little too broad. Speaking from my own very limited experience, at the grammar stage *my* children absolutely needed me to show them the correct way over and over. Asking questions just confused them--I am sure that my own lack of teaching skills had something to do with it :tongue_smilie: , but I also think that my particular kids are/were very concrete thinkers in the younger years. Using your example of carrying, I tried with both children to discuss the process, explaining why we carry numbers. They got more and more confused. So I said," Just put the one here and the other digit there," and they could do that. Understanding came after they had been doing it for a while. Or, when my children were younger, learning the days of the week--leading questions couldn't help them figure out what came after Monday, unless they had already memorized the days in order. It is like priming a pump--you have to put some water in to get the thing started. I think that until a certain point it almost has to be the primary (not sole) method, although I agree that younger children are not incapable of learning from discussion and gentle questions. A good teacher sees when that point has been reached and changes methods to suit the student, something I am trying to do.

The difference in understanding between my 10yo and my 7yo is startlingly wide and I am trying to adjust and teach to each child in the way that meets them where they are, and it is hard! Which is part of the reason I am here, hoping to pick up some pointers! :001_smile:

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Because it's easier for me to type here than FB...

The Art of Teaching, pg 131, 132
 

The Jesuits, who worked out in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries one of the most successful educational techniques the Western world has seen, used the spirit of competition very stronglyy and variously. They treated it not as a method of making the boys learn, but as a way of helping them learn by bringing out their own hidden energies. As well as pitting the best individual pupils against each other, they used the technique familiar to modern leaders of mass meetings, and balanced groups against groups, half the class against the other half, teams of six against each other, and finally the whole class against another class slightly more or less advances. They got the best boys to challenge each-other to feats of brainwork which would astonish us nowadays. A top-notch pupil would volunteer to repeat a page of poetry after reading it only once; another would offer to repeat two pages. (The Jesuits teachers paid the greatest attention to the development of memory. Even their punishments were often designed to strengthen the memorizing powers, making a late or lazy pupil learn a hundred lines of poetry and the like.) A group of specially gifted boys would challenge another--always under the smiling, flexible encouraging, but canny Jesuit supervision--to meet them in debate on a series of important problems, and would spend weeks preparing the logic, the phrases, and the delivery of their speeches. Perhaps the fathers overdid it, although we do not seem to hear of nervous breakdowns among their pupils. Certainly they made ore of the spirit of competition than we could possibly do nowadays. Yet that was a part of the technique which produced Corneille, and Moliere, Descartes, and Voltaire, Bourdaloue, and Tasso. No bad educational system ever produced geniuses. 

 

It is, then, the teacher's dust to use the competitive spirit as variously as possible, to bring out the energies of his pupils. The simple carrot-and-stick principal does not work, except for donkeys. Really interesting challenges are required to elicit the hidden strengths of really complex minds. They are sometimes difficult to divide. But when established they are invaluable. It is sad, sometimes, to see a potentially brilliant pupil slouching through his work, , sulky and willful, wasting his time and though on trifles, because he has no real equals in his own class; and it is heartening to see how quickly, when a rival is transferred from another section or enters from another school, the first boy will find a fierce joy in learning, and a real purpose in life. In this situation--and in all situations involving keen emulation --the teacher must watch carefully for the time when competition becomes obsessive, and the legitimate wish to excel turns into self-torture and hatred. Long before that, the competition must be resolved to a kindlier co-operation. 

 

 

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You know, having gone back and re-read the definition of the "classroom" method, I think I may have misunderstood it before my first post. Obviously a 1st grader isn't going to read and study the material on their own before class...:tongue_smilie:

 

I understood it to be more that the teacher gives the child information directly and makes the connections for them that they are having difficulty making, as directly or indirectly as the student needs.

 

Meh. Maybe I should just stop babbling and read the posts. LOL.

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justamouse - the quote you posted reminds me what is talked about a bit in the book Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax. the author points out how boys really tend to excel in boys only schools where there is a lot of friendly competition among students and groups of students.  I can see that very much in my own ds and  I sometimes feel bad for him that he's got only sisters so far who are really not competitive (at least not yet... we'll see about my 3 year old!).  

 

 

 

 

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"The Jesuit teachers also knew that fixing the impression was extremely important. This fits in with their stress on memory work, and it was not the automatic memorizing, it had to be through understanding. Their manuals of teaching never tire of Repeat, Repeat, repeat. They nearly always add that the master must watch carefully and very his questions to ensure that there isn nothing mechanical about this repetition but then they urge once more Repeat, and Repeat. "

 

"There are three chief methods of fixing the impression on the minds of pupils whom you have just finished teaching. The first is probably the most important. It is review the ground you have covered." That reminds me of the Ratio Studiorum's Prelection.

 

 

I keep seeing this stress on repetition without being mechanical, but I'm sort of at a loss as to what that looks like.  I don't know how to keep approaching a topic from different angles.  I especially struggle with this when I teach piano - when a student doesn't get something, I feel like there is nothing I can do except keep repeating the same message I've already given them even though I know it's not getting through.  I think I could be a much better teacher if I could only learn how to do this.  I did not set out to be a teacher so I never took any pedagogy classes - it might be a good idea to do that eventually I suppose!   :rolleyes:  But even if I do take a class for piano what about with school subjects?  How does one figure this out? 

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I keep seeing this stress on repetition without being mechanical, but I'm sort of at a loss as to what that looks like.  I don't know how to keep approaching a topic from different angles.  I especially struggle with this when I teach piano - when a student doesn't get something, I feel like there is nothing I can do except keep repeating the same message I've already given them even though I know it's not getting through.  I think I could be a much better teacher if I could only learn how to do this.  I did not set out to be a teacher so I never took any pedagogy classes - it might be a good idea to do that eventually I suppose!   :rolleyes:  But even if I do take a class for piano what about with school subjects?  How does one figure this out? 

 

 

You know, I think with music, just plain old repetition is the key. You will repeat, repeat, repeat, and struggle and then finally run that scale --whathave you--and push through the barrier and GET it. I remember *multiple* times doing that, and all of the barriers were ME. I wasn't getting the music, I was bored, I was...and then, I grew through that and GOT it. 

 

In this book, he talks about a eunuch soprano that has been taught nothing but basic scales and exercise his whole training. Never moving forward. But, when his teacher released him, he said congratulations, you are now the best singer in the world. (I forget what page that was on)

 

But I think these instances of repetition goes along with the Jesuit model of memory and socratic discussion. 

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THE METHOD AND FUNCTION OF
RECITATION

Good teaching embraces many diverse
elements. All of them are important in
some degree or other. Recitation is
amongst the most important. A master's
work does not end with explanations, how-
ever good and varied. For after he has
given the best that he knows in the best
possible way, he still has a grave dnty to-
wards his pupils. He must see what effect
his instructions are having on their minds.
For though he may work with great skill
and diligence, yet it is just possible that,
for some reason or other, the stream of
knowledge which flows from him may pass
into the intellect of his charges, be impeded
in its course for a moment, and then flow

68



TEACHER AND TEACHING 69

on and out, leaving the mind as arid and
fruitless as ever.

This should be corrected in the very be-
ginning. Otherwise it will work incalcu-
lable harm to pupil and teacher alike, caus-
ing stagnation in the one and a feeling akin
to despair in the other. The corrective
lies in intelligent recitations, oral and writ-
ten. This is apparent from the very na-
ture and function of the recitation. For
there is no instrument more capable of
testing and training the mind. Its aim is
not merely to gauge a pupil's knowledge.
It has a value above and beyond this. By
skilful use it becomes a wonderful agent
for correction of mental defects and defi-
ciencies. It promotes introspection, en-
genders habits of correct and orderly
thought,
and guides the mind into new
channels of unsuspected lore. Moreover,
it inspires to better work, and easily falls
in with the teacher's chief purpose by as-
sisting in the moulding of character, giv-
ing as it does, mental poise and resource-
fulness in difficult circumstances, two aids
to calmness, frankness and courtesy.

 

http://www.archive.org/stream/teacherteaching00tier/teacherteaching00tier_djvu.txt

 

Sorry Mouser, like you need more text in your life..lol  <3

 

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justamouse - the quote you posted reminds me what is talked about a bit in the book Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax. the author points out how boys really tend to excel in boys only schools where there is a lot of friendly competition among students and groups of students.  I can see that very much in my own ds and  I sometimes feel bad for him that he's got only sisters so far who are really not competitive (at least not yet... we'll see about my 3 year old!).  

 

Yup, I agree, another mark of the imperfection of homeschooling. Not that I would do anything else, but... I could totally see same sex schools with this type of teaching. 

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More from The Art of Teaching. 


"The best thing about its methods was the thoroughness with which they were planned. Planning is not a merit in itself. Many an outrageously bad school has been run like clockwork, But it helps to avoid some deadly faults which school often contract. It keeps the pupils and the masters from wasting time. Wasted time is not free time, it is not recreation and rest, Usually it is a feel, or a month, or a term, or year in which neither the teacher nor the pupils really know what they are doing. (YEOWCH!) They are working on some subject they have already done, in a boringly similar form; or they are filling in until June comes around, so as to start fresh next year; or they are taking some examination for the second year in succession in default of any other goal to aim at, The educators who drew up The Jesuit Plan of Studies arranged the entire schooling of their pupils as a continuos career, with plenty of free time but no duplication or waste."


"As well as avoiding waste, planning gives the young an unusual sense of purpose. They know where they are going, whereas very often in less systematic schools the boys feel they are shunted from one class to another like cattle in loading-pens. IT is terrible to feel chained when so young, but it is painful and humiliating to feel one's ;life is meaningless and purposeless, or, in the old Scot's phrase "like a knotless thread." The Jesuit regulations made sure that the pupils realized what they were doing and why. It is noticeable that very many of their pupils have turned out to be men of very strong will-power, and long vision. A good modern example is the Irishman who spent seven years on writing a book about the evens of a single day, and then spent seventeen more on writing about the dreams of a single night. You may not admire Ulysses and Finnegan's Wake but they are monuments of aesthetic planning and perseverance, and it was the Jesuits who taught Joyce how to make such plans." 


"Still, planning and purpose can be very inhuman. They can stifle independence and originality. Sometimes they are admired because they do just that. The Jesuits avoided this fault by their insistence on the complementary principal: adaptation. Again and again and again they repeat that pupils differ, classes differ, ages differ, and that the teacher's dust is to teach, not an abstraction, but the particular collection of boys he has in front of him. To begin with, he must allow for their youth. He is accustomed to learning and and to using his mind: they are not. Remembering this, he will adapt his teaching to their age, In a vivid image, Fr. Jouvancy says that the mind of a schoolboy is like a narrow necked bottle. It takes in plenty of learning in little drops, but any large quantity you try and pour in spills over and is wasted. Patience, patience, patience." 

"The teacher will adapt his teaching to different classes, and treat different pupils differently, To so this he must be a good psychologist. The boys look pretty much the same. He must detect the real character concealed by their appearance. In another vivid image (notice how the Jesuits teach in pictures) Fr Possevino says they are like salt, sugar, flour, and chalk, which all look pretty much alike and which have vastly different natures and uses, Having discovered the different capacity of his pupils, the teacher will--as far as possible within the plan--adapt his teaching to their differences."

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I've really enjoyed the discussion and the quotes, thanks so much one*mom and justamouse for contributing so many details.

 

 

I keep seeing this stress on repetition without being mechanical, but I'm sort of at a loss as to what that looks like.  I don't know how to keep approaching a topic from different angles.  I especially struggle with this when I teach piano - when a student doesn't get something, I feel like there is nothing I can do except keep repeating the same message I've already given them even though I know it's not getting through.  I think I could be a much better teacher if I could only learn how to do this.  I did not set out to be a teacher so I never took any pedagogy classes - it might be a good idea to do that eventually I suppose!   :rolleyes:  But even if I do take a class for piano what about with school subjects?  How does one figure this out?

I'm not a teaching expert and still have MUCH to learn but I have been focusing on repetition this year in our school. Here are some examples I can think of for repetition in a few subjects.

 

Math: Facts practice- ds' main program RS often has drill sheets in which he tries to beat his time, he uses Timez Attack, we play math card games, we do oral quizzes, and he has math puzzles and such- lots of these in Beast Academy. Word problems are a good way to address math problems from a different angle. RS also often focuses on different strategies for solving problems. I discuss w/ ds strategies I use as well and walk him through the mental steps. For new concepts I've been having ds teach me as well as me teaching him. First I started w/ narrating through the steps as I work- for example- long division - as we went along with more problems I had him figure out more of the problem himself. I had him tell me what to do next and then finally I now have him working the problem w/ me standing back to offer suggestions and tips when/if needed. When he is stuck I try to use guided questions to help him figure out the answer.

 

Phonics/Spelling- We do similar here as well, the program we are using LoE, addresses visual, kinesthetic and auditory learning. I dictate phonograms/phrases and he writes, he dictates back to me I write them on the white board- using different colors to accentuate certain rules and patterns. We don't study lists in isolation but examine words in different ways. We get up and play games. The games were mainly for dd(6) but I realized that he really enjoyed them as well, so it is kind of fun for them to play together. So, it works well for me as they both can practice at the same time. Ds knows more phonograms than dd so yet again he has a chance to teach her when phonograms come up that he knows and she doesn't. I don't expect full retention but it is a good primer for when she is introduced to them herself.

 

With Reading I have ds read a lot on his own but also orally as well, it is another way for me to gauge his progress in both phonics and elocution.

 

We haven't done much formal science and history but I try to hit subjects from a variety of angles, his reading, read-alouds, documentaries and field trips and such when possible or hands-on work when applicable(this is generally self-led).

 

Anyway, nothing earth shattering or special but some little things we are doing here. Hopefully it makes sense. I am working on my own self-education so I can really give the kids even more w/ my teaching but until then I am relying heavily on our curriculum to help me in this area.

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So a bunch of us are doing all these videos and books from this one thingy. (I can't say thingy IRL, so I abuse it here for my own amusement)

 

Anyways. :)

 

There's a bunch of resources and chatter out there. These are initial notes (not mine) of interest from the book, "Art of Teaching" so far.

 

 

Ok, who is "a bunch of us," what are the videos and books from what one thingy, and where do I find the chatter? :) 

 

I've been loving the Perrin videos. I almost *want* to go fold the laundry these days!

 

Art of Teaching has been on my shelf for 2-3 years, and I just pulled it off and will begin it. But I also want to reread Norms & Nobility & Leisure: The Basis of Culture! And James Smith's Desiring the Kingdom. And I'm afraid Perrin is going to make me buy more books before I'm done watching his videos. :)

 

I just ordered my 2013 CiRCE conference recordings. I've been on the boards infrequently lately, but if there's this sort of chatter, I'll have to be more consistent in checking for it. :)

 

On repetition & memory: I decided a couple years ago that instead of going for word-perfect recitation of our Scripture/catechism/poems memory work, I would favor long, complete-thought, "formative" selections and plan on reviewing them -- forever. These sorts of concepts chattered about here help me feel better about that practice. :) I think, in the long haul, it will bear fruit. But the rote-memory-as-brain-training argument sometimes gets me second-guessing. I want to get into their (and my own!) souls, into their subconscious, not only their brains.

 

And now that I've posted something, I'll know I won't miss anything more here. :)

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On repetition & memory: I decided a couple years ago that instead of going for word-perfect recitation of our Scripture/catechism/poems memory work, I would favor long, complete-thought, "formative" selections and plan on reviewing them -- forever. These sorts of concepts chattered about here help me feel better about that practice. :) I think, in the long haul, it will bear fruit. But the rote-memory-as-brain-training argument sometimes gets me second-guessing. I want to get into their (and my own!) souls, into their subconscious, not only their brains.

I've been wondering about this as well. I have a hard time forcing exact memorization as I don't see the value, especially in something like catechism. I want him to understand the idea but if we miss a the, or of or such or modernize the wording a bit without changing the meaning I don't understand why that is a problem. My ds has a hard time w/ memorizing though, so that colors my views as well. We do continue to work on it however. He is really good w/ dictation however.
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I've been wondering about this as well. I have a hard time forcing exact memorization as I don't see the value, especially in something like catechism. I want him to understand the idea but if we miss a the, or of or such or modernize the wording a bit without changing the meaning I don't understand why that is a problem. My ds has a hard time w/ memorizing though, so that colors my views as well. We do continue to work on it however. He is really good w/ dictation however.

We are memorizing to recite for Session, so it needs to be word perfect ... the Shorter anyway, we hope to finish the Cat for Young children soon.

 

I'm not very much more lax on poetry or Bible, though I must admit.

 

Mostly I'm commenting to subscribe, though ...

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