No doubt Dear Readers have said to themselves, "Surely
the examples of wakawaka that Professor Plum so
kindly shared with us yestere'en 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
Objectives
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
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)
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.