Community Chat

[wildcat fan]

I wanted to share with you something that happened today. There is a student in one of my classes who can be quite disruptive during independent work. Today I brought him a new pencil and paper and wrote his name in cursive at the top then had him do the same. He asked me to show him how to write certain letters and words. The guy who usually won't do any class work at all and screams, "Just give me a zero!" sat there and practiced his cursive.  By the end of class he had written his name several times so beautifully.  I could tell he was proud and felt success, and I felt so good to have made a connection and to have reasons to praise him.  I probably would have not thought of this if it hadn't have been for this thread.  Thank you for inspiring me and helping me reach this student. ❤️

[aroc3435]

@wildcat fan  That is wonderful.  Thank you for being such an excellent, resourceful teacher.  Every child has a gift for something.  Perhaps his is art or graphic design.

The cursive project must have helped him to focus because the shapes and relationship to words appealed to him.

I just checked and Dover still publishes books.  They have books on penmanship and calligraphy.  (I remember having some of their books in high school and college and they were wonderful.)

Edited to add:  I remember in school printing or writing a word--like hat--and then making a hat shape out of the letters and then coloring it in.  The teacher used to hang them up on the ledge above the chalkboards around the sides and back of the room.

[ECBG]

I was a N. C.  teacher until 2010.  My students could read and write cursive.

[sfnative]

It starts with not being able to express oneself in cursive.

It continues with an inability verbally and in written form express oneself correctly, without errors. 

And, this simply drives me crazy: when did educators STOP teaching students the difference in usage between the articles "a" and "an" and between "the" and "the(e)," written thusly for pronunciation purposes.

Examples:

One uses the article "a" if it precedes a noun which begins with a consonant; but uses the article "an" when it precedes a noun which begins with a vowel.

She has a towel in has hand.

She ate an apple today.

Same rule with "the" and "the(e)."

The table is round.

The(e) apple had a worm in it.

I simply cannot believe that these rules of grammar have fallen off of the radar and have done so decades ago.

[HiLo]

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@grandma r wrote:

A very sad situation in our school system. Very few schools even teach cursive.  Even fewer teach children how to tell time!  In fact, many school districts teach these ridiculous new math techniques!!!  No times tables, no carrying or borrowing;  ridiculous!!!  Basics aren't taught anymore.  No wonder our students are so far behind other countries in math and science!

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My Dad taught me how to tell time before I even went to kindergarten. The teachers in my area never taught time, maybe it was because all of us already knew how to do it by then.  But then, that was in the dark ages!  The other basics were also taught early when children could grasp most easily.  Those basics never left us and I believe using them has helped to keep our minds sharp.

[panda1234]

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@wildcat fan wrote:

I wanted to share with you something that happened today. There is a student in one of my classes who can be quite disruptive during independent work. Today I brought him a new pencil and paper and wrote his name in cursive at the top then had him do the same. He asked me to show him how to write certain letters and words. The guy who usually won't do any class work at all and screams, "Just give me a zero!" sat there and practiced his cursive.  By the end of class he had written his name several times so beautifully.  I could tell he was proud and felt success, and I felt so good to have made a connection and to have reasons to praise him.  I probably would have not thought of this if it hadn't have been for this thread.  Thank you for inspiring me and helping me reach this student. ❤️

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@wildcat fan  What a nice story. Thank you for posting.

[Oznell]

What a super teacher you must be, @wildcat fan.  Inspiring.

[LTT1]

@software

I think the original documents are beautiful, too, and admit to finding them more difficult to read now than even five years ago (need my glasses! lol)

We are watching again the old version of the movie “Pride and Prejudice.” Starring Colin Firth (PBS)

They sure used a lot of language compared to our usage these days! But then, look at them! What else did they have to do? They (apparently) traveled around the countryside visiting each other!

From the document:

“a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”  What??? lol

@sidsmom@BirkiLady

As for math, IMO, an abacus 🧮 would have helped my students so much. Most (and my students were behind in their math skills) could not relate amounts (sums) to quantity. So, five pennies equals a nickel—and since it takes 20 nickels to make a dollar, a nickel is 1/20th of a dollar.

for something funny but so true when it comes to understanding math:

https://youtu.be/Qhm7-LEBznk

One concept comes to mind that my students had immense trouble with and that is “grouping.” This concept is so important when using # as an identifying characteristic (on Twitter for instance)

Also, look at Twitter. One must limit a post to a small number of characters including spaces!  So, we must get used to news/science/health stories delivered in what tantamountly amounts to “code.” 

[LTT1]

@Mersha

Immense kudos to you for teaching your granddaughter those skills necessary to become President of the US someday!

How wonderful! Civics/Geography/cursive!

[LTT1]

@kittyloo@Oznell@panda1234@HiLo@sfnative

@BirkiLady@GingerPeach

if I notified you in error, or left you out, please forgive

I think maybe we all are wondering if there is a new definition of what we would consider to be “educated or uneducated” “LITERATE or illiterate” ?

My students would get wide-eyed when I would suggest that they wanted to be considered educated (in behavior) when they entered adult society.

 That was one little technique that worked!