“Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work”
by Jean Anyon
-Jen
1)"In the middle class school, work is getting the right answer."
1. I agree with this, I also think it is something that high school students do too. Most students do not look at what the purpose is on doing certain activities, they just care about getting the right answer. I feel like if the learning was done like in the second quote on my blog then the students would realize why they are doing certain activities.
2)"While right answers are important in math, they are not "given" by the book or by the teacher but may be challenged by the children. Going over some problems in late September the teacher says, "Raise your hand if you do not agree." A child says, "I don't agree with sixty-four." The teacher responds, "OK, there's a question about sixty-four. [to class] Please check it. Owen, they're disagreeing with you. Kristen, they're checking yours." The teacher emphasized this repeatedly during September and October with statements like "Don't be afraid to say you disagree. In the last [math] class, somebody disagreed, and they were right. Before you disagree, check yours, and if you still think we're wrong, then we'll check it out." By Thanksgiving, the children did not often speak in terms of right and wrong math problems but of whether they agreed with the answer that had been given."
1. I agree with this way of learning. It makes all the children think and figure out if the answer is right or wrong. They also learn how to give their opinion.
2. I feel like this way of learning is better for the students then a teacher giving all the answers to the students and not letting them figuring it out on their own.
3) “As one child said, what you do is "store facts up in your head like cold storage - until you need it later for a test or your job."
1. I liked this quote because it is very true. Almost all students do this. They learn about a topic until they are tested on it, then they don't ever use it again until it the topic comes up in a conversation or during a job. Sometimes a topic is never thought about again after the test.
This reading was easy to read and i do agree with some of the points, like how students just store knowledge away in their brains until it is needed again. Also that most students only care about getting the right answers and don't care about why the activity is being done.
I agree with what you wrote in the second explanation. Learning should be an experience rather than something that is recited to students. Learning should be an exploration for options, not a search for a right or wrong answer.
ReplyDeleteJen,
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned the 3rd quote, because just coming out of high school, that's one of the main things that students, and I, did to pass. If being able to remember facts and spit them back out on a test all that needs to be done, then why do anything more? I think that's the problem with education nowadays. There needs to be more awareness of what kids are learning to be able to use it in the future.
I agree that students keep information in their heads to later out spit it back out on a test then let it go forever. Everyone has done this, but it should not be the way children are taught to learn, because in reality when they are not retaining they are learning nothing. I liked your first two quotes too and the explanations along with them.
ReplyDeletei agree with what you wrote. learning should be an experience rather than something that is just thrown at students. Students also tend to keep information in the back of their heads and it shouldn't be learned that way.
ReplyDelete