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22 Nov 2005 - 00:22
The new trauma is that apparently Ms. Roth gave a practice ELA test to the class, and Christopher & his friend M. hosed it. Fortunately, M.'s mom is radically on the ball; nothing escapes her notice. She called me Saturday morning, majorly ticked off, and said she wanted to know how Christopher did, because ELA is 'Christopher's thing,' which is true. He's the standard to use. Well, of course, I didn't even know Christopher had taken a practice ELA, much less that he had scored 2-slash-3, so now I'm not happy, either. Not that I was brimming with good cheer and satisfaction before that, but still. The fact is, when there's a Cone Of Silence surrounding your child's school, it's impossible to know what's going on. Is Christopher learning what he's supposed to be learning? And what is he suppoed to be learning, anyway? (Which reminds me, time to finally hit 'Purchase' on my Amazon order. E.D. Hirsch's What Your 6th Grader Should Know has been sitting in my cart since summer.) So tonight, Christopher did his KUMON reading sheets, and I was shocked to find that he missed these items:
The newsletter that was available at the stores had advertisements in [it them] (Christopher picked 'them')
The parents enjoyed the school play because _____ children were in it. (Christopher wrote 'her')
I had no idea he could get questions this simple wrong. The first one he really did get wrong; the second one he probably misread, but either way.....he's at a level now where he has to learn to force himself to take in every word, whether he's got visual 'issues' or not. The point is, I have no way of knowing where he is in English language arts, whether he's on track, whether he's off track, what he knows, what he doesn't know, etc. With KUMON reading I'll know what's going on.
I desperately need KUMON for expository writing I'm starting to get some ideas on how to do it..... And I'm thinking KUMON reading may help.
update
I sprang for a copy of this book on Saturday:
Which I see has now dropped to 39 cents. sigh UPDATE 11-7-2006: ended up never using it; sold it back to somebody else on Amazon Marketplace this fall
formative assessment
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Please consider registering as a regular user.
Look here for syntax help.
Speaking of bad English teaching: Why Professor Johnny can’t spell. -- KDeRosa - 22 Nov 2005
hah! don't get me going on spelling! although I do have a very groovy spelling factoid saved up on my To Post list -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
that's just wretched -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
(why johnny can't spell) -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
were you around when we discovered the spelling research group??? -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
how to spell Spelling Inquiry how to spell, part 2 more spelling — Megawords -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
yeah, I remember this. Notice the trend—kids learn more when taught directly. I haven't seen one exception yet. -- KDeRosa - 22 Nov 2005
I can't spell AT ALL. Back in elementary school when we took those standardized tests at the end of the year, spelling was ALWAYS my lowest. By FAR. I was probably 25 percentiles lower in spelling than in everything else. I still have no idea when to use a or e in -dance / -dence endings of words. Only recently did I discover a rule (discovery spelling at the age of 32!) for deciding if something ended -ce or -se. (If the stem word ends in t, like absent, then it's -ce, like absence. But if it ends in d, then it's -se.) At this point, though, I'm fully aware of what my weaknesses are, and I know which types of words I should look up before using in public. -- RudbeckiaHirta - 22 Nov 2005
RH You should try Megawords. I'd love to hear how (or if) the program works with adults. Another book I love, which I gave away to Christian (our 'res-hab' guy) is.....let me find it. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Vocabulary from Classical Roots I swear, I'm going to buy that book (again) and learn the classical roots. It takes doing, though, because the book doesn't have enough drill built in, and I am so not up for creating more worksheets. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
I have a theory, on which I would bet a modest sum of money, that improved spelling causes improved reading (which isn't to say that your reading needs improving! I assume all skills can be improved, in every person.) I'm also curious whether an adult like you, who has created her own work-around, would gain from systematic information about English spelling. You might not. If we all sat down and looked at how much 'made-up' learning we all have, it would probably be amazing. I have quite a lot of made-up learning about math. So far, most of it's fairly accurate, at least in the sense that it works. But it's often inefficient and doesn't lead to further knowledge. Basically, I've figured out a lot of 'tricks' on my own. Until I started formally re-learning math, I had no idea what my tricks were based on. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Carolyn and I are both 'savant'-type spellers. I'm positive it's from our autism genes. Andrew's spelling is amazing. He's a completely nonverbal kid, who probably spells better than any child at Main Street School. Back when we were in the thick of 9/11, he was spelling out 'Interpol Warning' in alphabet blocks all over the house. (He'd seen this on his Barney tapes.) Christopher started laughing when he saw it, and Ed said, 'Don't laugh. Andrew spells better than you.' -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
btw, spelling is no longer taught logically & systematically. Spelling is taught, when it's taught at all, thematically. On Monday the child is given a list of vocabulary words that fit in with the theme of that week's readings in English. On Friday, he is expected to be able to spell them. It's pure, rote memorization (and I do mean 'rote' in this case). These kids are called 'Friday spellers.' -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
If you really want to improve your vocabulary and grammar, I recommend taking up Latin. Translating Latin also practices the analytical skills, and you can never get too much practice there. Plus you learn some cool phrases like: Constructivism delenda est. -- KDeRosa - 22 Nov 2005
I'm pretty sure my teachers tried to teach me spelling in a systematic way -- I remember having a spelling book each year in elementary school and having to do... something in it during the class time devoted to spelling. But I've never liked being told what to do and I didn't enjoy spelling (because it was STUPID and BORING), so I'd just race through the spelling book without really thinking about what I was doing and then be able to spend the rest of the time taking apart pens (my favorite grade-school passtime). At this point I see no need to devote time to improving my spelling. I can spell most words in my common written vocabulary and can quickly look up any that I'm unsure of (I don't use spell-check; I tend to look up isolated words in google). The only time that my inability to spell really gets me is in Scrabble. But I'd rather spend my time learning Scrabble-words (systematic lists designed to quickly improve one's high scoring play) than learning how to spell. -- RudbeckiaHirta - 22 Nov 2005
People swear by Latin. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
We have this legendary Latin teacher at the high school, and parents attribute our high verbal SATs to her. (Apparently the key to a high verbal score is vocabulary.) -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Constructivism must be destroyed? -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
We need a constructivism delenda est banner for ktm. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
RN Leave spelling 'til you're middle-aged! I'm working on the hypothesis that Learning New Things in mid-life is a good idea, but then a whole new study just came out connecting Alzheimer's to using your brain too much. I love it. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Hey! I know! WE'LL BAND TOGETHER AND GET DOUG TO CREATE WORKSHEETS IN LATIN! -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Howdy, Doug -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
My latin is pretty much limited to Weni, Widi, Wiki (phonetic spelling). I could do a worksheet in Roman and Italic, though. 8-) -- DougSundseth - 22 Nov 2005
+1 vote for Latin from this veteran of four years of it in high school. Add to that four years (grades 7-10) of Warriner's English Grammar, including diagramming sentences, and you've got yourself a reader/writer. -- KtmGuest - 22 Nov 2005
I could do a worksheet in Roman and Italic, though. That will do nicely. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
+1 vote for Latin from this veteran of four years of it in high school. Add to that four years (grades 7-10) of Warriner's English Grammar, including diagramming sentences, and you've got yourself a reader/writer. Wow! What is Warriner's English Grammar? I'll have to look that up. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
KUMON and formative assessment
The new trauma is that apparently Ms. Roth gave a practice ELA test to the class, and Christopher & his friend M. hosed it. Fortunately, M.'s mom is radically on the ball; nothing escapes her notice. She called me Saturday morning, majorly ticked off, and said she wanted to know how Christopher did, because ELA is 'Christopher's thing,' which is true. He's the standard to use. Well, of course, I didn't even know Christopher had taken a practice ELA, much less that he had scored 2-slash-3, so now I'm not happy, either. Not that I was brimming with good cheer and satisfaction before that, but still. The fact is, when there's a Cone Of Silence surrounding your child's school, it's impossible to know what's going on. Is Christopher learning what he's supposed to be learning? And what is he suppoed to be learning, anyway? (Which reminds me, time to finally hit 'Purchase' on my Amazon order. E.D. Hirsch's What Your 6th Grader Should Know has been sitting in my cart since summer.) So tonight, Christopher did his KUMON reading sheets, and I was shocked to find that he missed these items:
The newsletter that was available at the stores had advertisements in [it them] (Christopher picked 'them')
The parents enjoyed the school play because _____ children were in it. (Christopher wrote 'her')
I had no idea he could get questions this simple wrong. The first one he really did get wrong; the second one he probably misread, but either way.....he's at a level now where he has to learn to force himself to take in every word, whether he's got visual 'issues' or not. The point is, I have no way of knowing where he is in English language arts, whether he's on track, whether he's off track, what he knows, what he doesn't know, etc. With KUMON reading I'll know what's going on.
I desperately need KUMON for expository writing I'm starting to get some ideas on how to do it..... And I'm thinking KUMON reading may help.
update
I sprang for a copy of this book on Saturday:
Which I see has now dropped to 39 cents. sigh UPDATE 11-7-2006: ended up never using it; sold it back to somebody else on Amazon Marketplace this fall
formative assessment
Back to main page.
Comments
After entering a comment, users can login anonymously as KtmGuest (password: guest) when prompted.Please consider registering as a regular user.
Look here for syntax help.
Speaking of bad English teaching: Why Professor Johnny can’t spell. -- KDeRosa - 22 Nov 2005
hah! don't get me going on spelling! although I do have a very groovy spelling factoid saved up on my To Post list -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
that's just wretched -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
(why johnny can't spell) -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
were you around when we discovered the spelling research group??? -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
how to spell Spelling Inquiry how to spell, part 2 more spelling — Megawords -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
yeah, I remember this. Notice the trend—kids learn more when taught directly. I haven't seen one exception yet. -- KDeRosa - 22 Nov 2005
I can't spell AT ALL. Back in elementary school when we took those standardized tests at the end of the year, spelling was ALWAYS my lowest. By FAR. I was probably 25 percentiles lower in spelling than in everything else. I still have no idea when to use a or e in -dance / -dence endings of words. Only recently did I discover a rule (discovery spelling at the age of 32!) for deciding if something ended -ce or -se. (If the stem word ends in t, like absent, then it's -ce, like absence. But if it ends in d, then it's -se.) At this point, though, I'm fully aware of what my weaknesses are, and I know which types of words I should look up before using in public. -- RudbeckiaHirta - 22 Nov 2005
RH You should try Megawords. I'd love to hear how (or if) the program works with adults. Another book I love, which I gave away to Christian (our 'res-hab' guy) is.....let me find it. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Vocabulary from Classical Roots I swear, I'm going to buy that book (again) and learn the classical roots. It takes doing, though, because the book doesn't have enough drill built in, and I am so not up for creating more worksheets. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
I have a theory, on which I would bet a modest sum of money, that improved spelling causes improved reading (which isn't to say that your reading needs improving! I assume all skills can be improved, in every person.) I'm also curious whether an adult like you, who has created her own work-around, would gain from systematic information about English spelling. You might not. If we all sat down and looked at how much 'made-up' learning we all have, it would probably be amazing. I have quite a lot of made-up learning about math. So far, most of it's fairly accurate, at least in the sense that it works. But it's often inefficient and doesn't lead to further knowledge. Basically, I've figured out a lot of 'tricks' on my own. Until I started formally re-learning math, I had no idea what my tricks were based on. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Carolyn and I are both 'savant'-type spellers. I'm positive it's from our autism genes. Andrew's spelling is amazing. He's a completely nonverbal kid, who probably spells better than any child at Main Street School. Back when we were in the thick of 9/11, he was spelling out 'Interpol Warning' in alphabet blocks all over the house. (He'd seen this on his Barney tapes.) Christopher started laughing when he saw it, and Ed said, 'Don't laugh. Andrew spells better than you.' -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
btw, spelling is no longer taught logically & systematically. Spelling is taught, when it's taught at all, thematically. On Monday the child is given a list of vocabulary words that fit in with the theme of that week's readings in English. On Friday, he is expected to be able to spell them. It's pure, rote memorization (and I do mean 'rote' in this case). These kids are called 'Friday spellers.' -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
If you really want to improve your vocabulary and grammar, I recommend taking up Latin. Translating Latin also practices the analytical skills, and you can never get too much practice there. Plus you learn some cool phrases like: Constructivism delenda est. -- KDeRosa - 22 Nov 2005
I'm pretty sure my teachers tried to teach me spelling in a systematic way -- I remember having a spelling book each year in elementary school and having to do... something in it during the class time devoted to spelling. But I've never liked being told what to do and I didn't enjoy spelling (because it was STUPID and BORING), so I'd just race through the spelling book without really thinking about what I was doing and then be able to spend the rest of the time taking apart pens (my favorite grade-school passtime). At this point I see no need to devote time to improving my spelling. I can spell most words in my common written vocabulary and can quickly look up any that I'm unsure of (I don't use spell-check; I tend to look up isolated words in google). The only time that my inability to spell really gets me is in Scrabble. But I'd rather spend my time learning Scrabble-words (systematic lists designed to quickly improve one's high scoring play) than learning how to spell. -- RudbeckiaHirta - 22 Nov 2005
People swear by Latin. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
We have this legendary Latin teacher at the high school, and parents attribute our high verbal SATs to her. (Apparently the key to a high verbal score is vocabulary.) -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Constructivism must be destroyed? -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
We need a constructivism delenda est banner for ktm. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
RN Leave spelling 'til you're middle-aged! I'm working on the hypothesis that Learning New Things in mid-life is a good idea, but then a whole new study just came out connecting Alzheimer's to using your brain too much. I love it. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Hey! I know! WE'LL BAND TOGETHER AND GET DOUG TO CREATE WORKSHEETS IN LATIN! -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
Howdy, Doug -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
My latin is pretty much limited to Weni, Widi, Wiki (phonetic spelling). I could do a worksheet in Roman and Italic, though. 8-) -- DougSundseth - 22 Nov 2005
+1 vote for Latin from this veteran of four years of it in high school. Add to that four years (grades 7-10) of Warriner's English Grammar, including diagramming sentences, and you've got yourself a reader/writer. -- KtmGuest - 22 Nov 2005
I could do a worksheet in Roman and Italic, though. That will do nicely. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
+1 vote for Latin from this veteran of four years of it in high school. Add to that four years (grades 7-10) of Warriner's English Grammar, including diagramming sentences, and you've got yourself a reader/writer. Wow! What is Warriner's English Grammar? I'll have to look that up. -- CatherineJohnson - 22 Nov 2005
| WebLogForm | |
|---|---|
| Title: | KUMON and formative assessment |
| TopicType: | WebLog |
| SubjectArea: | KumonProgram, LanguageArts |
| LogDate: | 200511211921 |