Daniel Greenberg works at Sudbury Valley School, and wrote an article about the kids begging him to teach math. (Sudbury Schools are also called democratic schools, they function much like unschooling, with the kids deciding how to spend their time.)
He says at the end of his article that:
"In twenty weeks, after twenty contact hours, they had covered it all. Six years' worth. Every one of them knew the material cold."
(http://www.scribd.com/doc/14389275/And-Rithmetic-by-Daniel-Greenberg
Free at Last (excerpts)
By Daniel Greenberg
The Sudbury Valley School
And 'Rithmetic
Sitting before me were a dozen boys and girls, aged nine to twelve. A week earlier, they had
asked me to teach them arithmetic. They wanted to learn to add, subtract, multiply, divide, and
all the rest.
"You don't really want to do this," I said, when they first approached me.
"We do, we are sure we do," was their answer.
"You don't really," I persisted. "Your neighborhood friends, your parents, your relatives probably
want you to, but you yourselves would much rather be playing or doing something else."
"We know what we want, and we want to learn arithmetic. Teach us, and we'll prove it. We'll do
all the homework, and work as hard as we can."
I had to yield then, skeptically. I knew that arithmetic took six years to teach in regular schools,and I was sure their interest would flag after a few months. But I had no choice. They had
pressed hard, and I was cornered.
I was in for a surprise.
My biggest problem was a textbook to use as a guide. I had been involved in developing the
"new math," and I had come to hate it. Back then when we were working on it -- young
academicians of the Kennedy post-sputnik era -- we had few doubts. We were filled with the
beauty of abstract logic, set theory, number theory, and all the other exotic games
mathematicians had played for millenia. I think that if we had set out to design an agricultural
course for working farmers, we would have begun with organic chemistry, genetics, and
microbiology. Lucky for the world's hungry people that we weren't asked.
I had come to hate the pretensions and abstruseness of the "new math." Not one in a hundred
math teachers knew what it was about, not one in a thousand pupils. People need arithmetic for
reckoning; they want to know how to use the tools. That's what my students wanted now.
I found a book in our library, perfectly suited to the job at hand. It was a math primer written in 1898. Small and thick, it was brimming with thousands of exercises, meant to train young minds
to perform the basic tasks accurately and swiftly.
Class began -- on time. That was part of the deal. "You say you are serious?" I had asked,
challenging them; "then I expect to see you in the room on time -- 11:00AM sharp, every
Tuesday and Thursday. If you are five minutes late, no class. If you blow two classes -- no more
teaching." "It's a deal," they had said, with a glint of pleasure in their eyes.
Basic addition took two classes. They learned to add everything -- long thin columns, short fat
columns, long fat columns. They did dozens of exercises. Subtraction took another two classes.
It might have taken one, but "borrowing" needed some extra explanation.
On to multiplication, and the tables. Everyone had to memorize the tables. Each person was
quizzed again and again in class. Then the rules. Then the practice.
They were high, all of them. Sailing along, mastering all the techniques and algorithms, they
could feel the material entering their bones. Hundreds and hundreds of exercises, class
quizzes, oral tests, pounded the material into their heads.
Still they continued to come, all of them. They helped each other when they had to, to keep the
class moving. The twelve year olds and the nine year olds, the lions and the lambs, sat
peacefully together in harmonious cooperation -- no teasing, no shame.
They came at 11:00 sharp, stayed half an hour, and left with homework. They came back next
time with all the homework done. All of them.
In twenty weeks, after twenty contact hours, they had covered it all. Six years' worth. Every one
of them knew the material cold.
We celebrated the end of the classes with a rousing party. It wasn't the first time, and wasn't to
be the last, that I was amazed at the success of our own cherished theories. They had worked
here, with a vengeance.
Perhaps I should have been prepared for what happened, for what seemed to me to be a
miracle. A week after it was all over, I talked to Alan White, who had been an elementary math
specialist for years in the public schools and knew all the latest and best pedagogical methods.
I told him the story of my class.
He was not surprised.
"Why not?" I asked, amazed at his response. I was still reeling from the pace and thoroughness
with which my "dirty dozen" had learned.
"Because everyone knows," he answered, "that the subject matter itself isn't that hard. What's
hard, virtually impossible, is beating it into the heads of youngsters who hate every step. The
only way we have a ghost of a chance is to hammer away at the stuff bit by bit every day for
years. Even then it does not work. Most of the sixth graders are mathematical illiterates. Give
me a kid who wants to learn the stuff -- well, twenty hours or so makes sense."
I guess it does. It's never taken much more then that ever since.
Thursday, July 02, 2009
Students learn K-6 math in less than 20 weeks
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Sudbury Valley School
Sudbury Valley School (founded in 1968 in Framingham, Massachusetts, United States) practice a form of democratic education in which students individually decide what to do with their time, and learn as a by-product of ordinary experience rather than through classes or a standard curriculum. Students are given complete responsibility for their own education and the school is run by a direct democracy in which students and staff are equals.
There are now over 30 schools based on the Sudbury Model in the United States, Denmark, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Reaching goals-a communal effort
She lost her nerve; she couldn't play the piece she'd played perfectly two weeks ago. Mistakes kept cropping up. Panic ensued.
She refused to play at the concert but mum wouldn't let her give up, nor stew in her frustration either. She knew that her daughter needed a way to tackle her trouble. Mum asked the music teacher if, when the other kids had gone home after the concert she might go over the trouble spots with her daughter. The teacher applauded the idea.
Enter the helping team:over and over student and teacher worked out the difficulties while grandma and grandpa,parents,sisters,and dogs all sat attentively giving their support.
Back home, days before the exam, older sister continued to help with practice and difficulty over note reading
Mum supervised scales.
Middle sister explained intervals, humming them and kindly going over them together with her. Dad was an appreciative audience. All this because she'd decided she wanted to do this thing. And she did this thing and whether or not she passes with flying colours or fails miserably she's learned that she can count on her family to help her reach her goals.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Dream Big
M told me she wants to be a famous actor. I said 'one step at a time'- you have to work towards your goals. She said if you don't have a dream, and if you don't actively keep envisioning it than it can not come true. I realize that she is right. I don't dream enough. I have been afraid to dream- to 'dare to dream.'
Elder's Meditation of the Day - Wednesday, June 24, 2009,
"Believing people can soar beyond
ordinary life."
--Fools Crow, LAKOTA
We are created by God to be vision people.
First we set the goal and then we see. If we create within
ourselves a picture or vision and we hold that picture or
vision in our mind, whatever we picture will show up in our
reality. If we can see ourselves being educated, then schools
and teachers will show up in our lives. If we picture in our
mind a positive, spiritual person to be in our lives, we will
attract this type of person in our relationships. How big can
our dreams be?
Great Spirit, let my visions today be Your vision. Put within me a vision of the being you would have me be. Then help
me to keep the vision in my mind.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Open it up!
Okay, so I am on a John Taylor Gatto roll. You will be seeing, listening and reading more of Gatto on this blog because what he has to say is of greater urgency than ever before. Our physical world is threatened by our stupidity, yet we keep educating (read 'schooling') our kids based on the same principles we've been upholding since state education became compulsory 150 years ago.
In this really long video you will listen to Gatto talk about a strategy of learning called Open Source Learning. Inspired by Linus Tovalds's Open System (in contrast to Microsoft's hoarding approach) Open source learning is another name for unschooling, interest based, learner directed education.
Open source learning "allows everything under the sun as a possible starting point on the road to self mastery,"says Gatto.
"Nobody can give you and education. Education must be taken by those who want one. The will and dogged persistence of the seeker are the only essential tools needed to become educated. Teachers, text, money play only minor roles and papers, pencils, tests play no role at all."
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Homeschooling in the UK-under threat
Don't ever take the right to home educate for granted. As we are witnessing in some European countries such as Sweden, homeschooling is about to be banned. It's always been verboten in Germany. In the Netherlands you can apply for permission to home educate on very narrow grounds,usually religious. Once permission is granted, you have to re-apply every year.
In the UK, Graham Badman was commissioned by the government to look into if home education is safe for the children being homeschooled and if they are getting a suitable education. The report can be read at
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/ete/independentreviewofhomeeducation/irhomeeducation/
He raises the question of a possible link between home education (HE) and child abuse. Amongst the recommendations of the Badman report are:
- Compulsory registration for all home educators
- The right of entry into HE homes without suspicion of wrong-doing
- The right to interview HE children without adult support - again without suspicion of abuse or risk to them
- Requirement for a 12 month plan, against which 'progress' will be measured.
The review seems to be especially against unschooling/autonomous education (as it is known in the UK) and described it as 'little better than child-minding'.
Alison Sauer who home educates in the UK and trains local authorities in home ed and the law reports on one unschooling list that I'm on that, "As far as the Badman report is concerned, so far it is all just recommendation. Most of the more serious proposals would take major primary legislation change - and those changes would not just affect EHE (electively home educating) parents but all parents as it changes the relationship of the state to the parent and child. This will take years."
Following the report the government has put parts of 2 of Mr Badman's recommendations to consultation, as they are bound by law to do before attempting to bring them into law through parliament.
The consultation can be seen here
http://www.dcsf.
Sauer points out the really worrying proposal:
"Local authorities tell us that they need greater powers to ensure that home educated children are safe, well, and receiving a suitable education. The current arrangements allow parents to submit evidence that a `suitable education' is being provided, which could be mainly written evidence. Local authorities have no powers to interview home educated children to establish that sample material provided is representative of their work, nor to establish that they are safe and well."
"We believe that local authorities should interview children within 4 weeks of home education starting, after 6 months has elapsed, and thereafter at least annually to assess the quality of education provided and ensure that children are safe and well. The local authority should visit the premises where education is conducted, and question the child about the education provided, although at least 2 weeks notice should be given before the visit is conducted. The local authority should have the right to carry out the interview without a parent being present, if this is judged appropriate, or alternatively if the child is vulnerable or has particular communication needs, in the company of a trusted person who is not the home educator or parent/carer.
Sauer's response is that,"The second proposed change will affect both the legal responsibilities of Local Authorities (i.e. they will make LAs responsible for the welfare of home educated children as opposed to the current position where they have a responsibility to act where concerns are raised) and the human rights of the parents and children (an issue of both national and international law)."
To keep abreast of this disturbing development check out the following blogs:
http://sometimesitspeaceful.blogspot.com/
Also http://www.renegadeparent.net/
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