I was saying in a Comment on the Smartest Tractor thread that there are many aspects of DI & formative assessment everyone already knows. They just don't know they know...they probably haven't realized that what they know about DI & formative assessment amounts to an entire alternative educational philosophy, or would if they filled in the gaps.

But this 60-day figure is a statistic people really do not possess.

I had a funny experience with this at a PTSA meeting once. I was running the after-school program (this would be the program in which I hired myself to teach Singapore Math, btw). All of the program chairs were meeting to be filled in about forms, money, procedures, etc.

When the question of kids who couldn't afford the fees for the after-school program arose, the president said that the PTSA picks up the tab. The president said the teachers knew about the policy and would steer these children to us (something like that).

One of the volunteers said the teachers didn't know about it. She'd worked with a teacher the year before who had no idea this option existed. The president looked annoyed, and said, 'We sent them an email at the beginning of the year.'

That was a striking moment, because here we were, highly educated ourselves, devoted to our kids' schooling, and everyone in the room appeared to believe that if you've told someone something once they've learned it.

I think this is a common perception; I often have it myself. I'll think, 'I told him/her/them that already.'

I should know better.

It's true that in job situations—in any situation where you're responsible for hearing what people tell you, writing it down, and remembering and acting on it—people can say something once and expect it to stick.

But that's not the norm, especially when you're talking about one email sent to teachers at the beginning of the school year when they're swamped.

This is a factoid that needs to get out there.

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Comments

Here's another one that our friends from KIPP should have heeded:

"The targets that I've indicated for initial reform are important and manageable. Cleaning up seventh grade math would be a headache because of the discrepancy between the skills assumed by the instructional material and the skills of the kids. This is not to say that we should forget about the seventh grade. It's simply easier to start where the problems start -- in the earliest grades."

If Kipp started in K or first, they wouldn't have to put in such insane hours getting the kids back up to grade level. This was a major mistake on their part.

-- KDeRosa - 10 Dec 2005

Why did they start in 5th?

Do you know?

(As opposed to 1st)

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

having read STeinberg, though, I'm certain part of the long hours business is about being in charge of the culture

people say the school is like a cult; that's what Steinberg would predict

(this is a case where I don't automatically trust that you can dominate black & Hispanic pre-teen culture in just 6 hours a day by setting things up right from the get-go. I know Engelmann argues that, but I can't take that on faith. Not seeing as how I AM LIVING WITH A PRE-TEEN PERSON)

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

Christopher is turning into a Yonkers boy before my very eyes.

All he wants to do is hang out with Christian, who is black and went to school in Yonkers.

We had a hilarious Steinbergian moment one day when Christopher brought home a C on a math test.

Christopher told everyone his grade, and Christian said, 'Oh, that's great!'

I said, 'That's awful!'

We had Dueling Cultures.

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

No I don't know, and I have no idea why they tried.

Engelmann is pretty clear: unless you get them earlier you won't get them at all.

Yeah, I think the long hours counters the culture they never got in k-4 and is required to remediate them back to grade level in what is probably the most difficult years to do it in.

-- KDeRosa - 10 Dec 2005

That was a striking moment, because here we were, highly educated ourselves, devoted to our kids' education, and everyone in the room was assuming that if you've told someone something once they've learned it!

There's a technique, the road map technique, I learned in writing legal briefs for making sure you get your point across:

First you tell them what you about to tell them (you give them the roadmap), then you actually tell them what you wanted to tell them, then you tell them (in summary) what you just told them (the review).

-- KDeRosa - 10 Dec 2005

First you tell them what you about to tell them (you give them the roadmap), then you actually tell them what you wanted to tell them, then you tell them (in summary) what you just told them (the review).

wait!

I know this one!

seriously, I don't quite follow

are these restatements slightly reshaped? is there a difference, or is this a joke?

my autism genes are acting up

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

My road map for Christopher:

we are white

this means we are shocked, repelled, and horrified by a grade of C

regardless of what your school may have been telling you

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

Chrisitan got with the program pretty fast, too

The next day Christopher was having to do lots of extra practice, and Christian said, 'That's what you get for bragging about a C'

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

Of course, now we've moved on to Ds.

When white people see Ds, they talk to lawyers. (We've already done so.)

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

Let me see if I can clarify.

Let's say you want to argue x, y, and z.

First, you tell the reader/audience you are going to tell them about x, y, and z and you lay out the logic of your argument (without specifics). This is the roadmap -- the hooks they will use when you actually make your argument. Now when you make your argument, they start mentally checking off your points so by the end they know you've succeeded in proving your point.

Next, you make your argument about x, y, and z with specifics. This is the meat of the argument -- 90% of the content.

After you've made your argument, then you eview what you've just told them by viewing the initial roadmap you gave them in the beginning. So ..

You tell the audience what you're about to tell them, then you tell them, then you tell them what you just told them.

-- KDeRosa - 10 Dec 2005

ok, so it's a bit different in each iteration.

I've read this before.

If you have any good examples, I'd love to see them.

-- CatherineJohnson - 10 Dec 2005

WSJ has an article on shopping & dopamine.....

-- CatherineJohnson - 21 Dec 2005