No doubt Dear Readers have said to themselves, "Surely the first examples of wakawaka that Professor Plum kindly shared were the ONLY examples of the aforementioned waka. There are no MORE possibilities of idiocy and infantilization masquerading as "authentic" teacher education.
Professor Plum is always (okay, once in a great while) loath to burst anyone's pretty balloon, but, indeed---and forsooth (!)---there ARE more cases of wakawaka. And here they are.
This first poster advertises the various roles and occupations available to women. Oddly, teacher is not one of them. But this comment begs the question. Why is anyone doing a poster on women's roles and occupations, anyway? What about men? Oh, I forgot. Men are the oppressors.
This next one focuses on food groups arranged into a pyramid, or triangle, possibly in celebration of the birthday of King Tut, or perhaps Pythagoras. But this is immaterial. The q. is, How come adults (teacher candidates) are making posters of foods? Oh, I forgot. This is socialization into a job of elementary ed teacher, who will "engage" students in mindless activities, and will therefore totally miss the opportunity to generalize basic principles of chemistry and biology to food.
Here's another one that warns little kids of the dangers of drugs and alcohol. They are "wack." Nothing on cell biology, violence, and addiction. "Wack" says it all.
This next one must be from an elementary science education course, where teacher candidates learn that it is much better to use the proper term---"germs"---rather than bacteria and virus---and that these are best depicted with crayola in the form of slashes and dots. Why search the internet and get detailed pictures? However, it IS good that the teacher-to-be said that these "germs" would be "enlarged to show texture"---perhaps with wider crayons and bits of flannel glued on.
This next one builds on ed students' making-dots-and-slashes-with-crayons skills. Students now cut and paste strips of paper and assemble them into an attractive paper chain filled with messages of great pith and moment. I'd say this one is worth an "A."
This next one beats me. It appears to depict a family. There are a male and a female; a dog and a cat; and a stuffed chair laying on its side. Wait a minute! I get it. This is a dysfunctional family. Notice the male all puffed up with machismo. The female stands on the other side of the room with a look of horror on her face. The pets are rightly staying out of it. Who knows, this violent male may suddenly switch from throwing stuffed chairs to heaving pets.
This next one tells the story of government intervention into school food. Apparently, too many kids are getting hefty on potato chips, cheeseburgers, and pepperoni pizza, when they shoud be eating apples. Interesting that this appears to be of more concern than effective instruction. Students must have spent a week making this poster. Clearly more important than learning to write scripts for teaching all of the reading skills.
Here's a huge poster on an ideal school---Egalitarian Island High School. The name is important. It suggests more concern with politically correct shibboleths than with achievement. Note that in the name of egalitarianism there will be "No standardized tests." Of course not! Standardized tests would show that students are not equal---in effort or smarts. And THAT information would be bad. How can you have a utopia based on truth? This is another example of emptiness and void, or eduvacuosity; there is nothing on how achievement will be ensured at Egalitarian Island High School. This is because teacher education is not FOR ensuring student achievement. It is for SHOWING political correctitude---of perfessers, who enjoy the easiest gig in the known universe. "Make a poster, class, I'll be back next week with more hot poster ideas."
Here's an examples of the ideal classroom. Funny, it looks just like a home. I'm hoping that the ed students who made this realized how stupid the project was and just cut out some pics from House and Garden.
Here's a model of the Keystone Bible School. The only thing missing is bible study. I'm not sure I get it. Is this the secularization of religious school. What's with the animals bottom left? Are they waiting for Noah to show up?
Uh, oh. Another model school. The ed students who made this one decided that there is no place for religion in a religious school. But there is a place for "real life experiences" [In contrast to what, real death experiences?] The objective in this religion-free religious school is self-actualization, which is fostered by choice, positive reinforcement, democracy, and all of those real life experiences, such as walking around in the desert for 40 years, or being crucified. Nothing about living a moral life, or seeking connection with divinity. Maybe these students got the message from their perfessers that schools are not about education.
Not all posters are exercises in idiocy. These next two are scope and sequence charts for a curriculum in beginning reading. The students read recent research on reading; identified the five main skills, or strands, and examples of each skill; and arranged these from left to right (teach earlier----> later) in a logical progression. They also wrote scripts for teaching all of the skills. I am honored and that they were my students. Message? Ed students can be smart if you treat them as adults and expect them to be smart.
Alphabetic Principle: Sounding Out Regular Words
Frame. Now we're going to read words the slow way.
Model. Everyone, listen. [Gets attention first.]
I’ll show you how to read this word (Points to word on board) the slow way. [Preparation by stating the task. Uses a visual prompt to focus attention and a verbal prompt to distinguish between reading the slow way and the fast way.]
Get ready. [Gives think time to orient to the model.]
sssnnnaaaap. [The model. Moves her finger under the word and sounds it out.]
Lead. Everyone [attention], read this word [points] with me, the slow [prompt] way.
Get ready. [Think time]… (Signals students to respond by moving her finger under the word.) sssnnnaaaap.
Again. Get ready… sssnnnaaaap. [Repeats another time to ensure that all students respond promptly, together, and correctly.]
Test/ Your turn to read this word (points) the slow way. Get
Check ready… (Signals students to respond by moving her finger under the word.)
sssnnnaaaap.
Verification
Yes, sssnnnaaaap. I love the way you said each sound without stopping.
Phonemic Awareness
Format for Identifying Words That Sound the Same and Different
Objectives
The teacher presents a pair of words with the same and different endings (man/ran, mouse/car, ice/rock, boat/float, fly/try, tickle/pickle, cat/chair) and says, “You tell me if they sound the same or different.” Students answer correctly within three seconds.
1. Let’s play a game.
These words sound the same. fun…run
Fun sounds the same as run.
2. These words sound the same. toy…boy
Toy sounds the same as boy.
3. These words sound the same. car…star
Car sounds the same as star.
4. These words sound different. cat…house
Cat sounds different from house.
5. These words sound different. tree…dog
Tree sounds different from dog.
6. Now I’ll say some words. You tell me if they sound the same or different.
Get ready.
man….ran
Same or different (signal) same
Yes, man and ran sound the same.
[Error correction. Maaannn and raaannnn sound the same. Listen. maaaannnn…raaaannn. aaaaannnn. The same.
Listen. man…ran. Same or different?]
7. Listen. mouse…car
Same or different? different
Yes, mouse sounds different from car.
8. Listen. ice…rock
Same or different? different
Yes, ice sounds different from rock.
9. Listen. boat…float
Same or different? same
Yes, boat sounds the same as float.
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[Next lessons, review and add a few more. If some children continue to err, give brief instruction focuses on the word ending that sounds the same/different. oat in boat/float, ice/ock in ice/rock.
Phonemic Awareness
Format for identifying the first sound in a word
1. Listen to the first sound in mmmmmeeeee. (hold up a finger or puppet for each sound)
mmmm is the first sound in mmmmeeeee.
2. Listen to the first sound in aaaaammmm (hold up a finger or puppet for each sound)
What’s the first sound in aaaaaaammmmmm (hold up a finger or puppet for each sound)
[error correction: repeat 2]
[Add more examples--if, ram, mif, fan Continue the numbering scheme.]
3. Acquisition test.
Now YOU tell me the FIRST sound.
Listen. mmmmmiiiiiffff
What’s the first sound? mmm
Yes, mmm.
Listen. aaaaammmmm.
What’s the first sound? aaaa
Yes, aaaa.
[error correction. Listen. aaaaa (hold up one finger) mmmm (hold up second finger). The first sound (hold up first finger) is aaaaa. What’s the first sound in aaaaammmm. (point to first finger) Start over and repeat the series until firm.]
Get rid of ed schools!