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Comment on Peer teaching for my kids? No thanks by The Quick and the Ed » Quick Hits (5.24.13)

The Quick and the Ed » Quick Hits (5.24.13) — Fri, 24 May 2013 19:52:13 +0000

[…] teaching. Some parents do not like the idea of students acting as teachers. This parent blogger does not believe that all students have the skills to teach their peers and would rather her child […]

Comment on Peer teaching for my kids? No thanks by Grace

Grace — Fri, 24 May 2013 16:54:09 +0000

I think college study groups are usually a good idea, as are tutoring centers. Peer editing for writing assignments can work well, (or sometimes not). These examples are very different from most peer teaching that goes on in K-12.

I agree that teaching is a skill and not a gift, although some teachers do seem to have a special “gift”. But then, to support peer teaching we must believe that most students have learned or been taught the skill of teaching, which I do not believe is true. There are simply many social, skill, and knowledge issues that make peer teaching more harmful than beneficial.

Comment on Peer teaching for my kids? No thanks by zzzzzz

zzzzzz — Thu, 23 May 2013 19:46:40 +0000

Because my experiences with peer teaching have been positive, I encourage my kids to look for opportunities to do so also. I worked as a math tutor in college, and was in study groups for many of my classes (one prof required everyone in his classes to be in study groups).

I believe it takes a deeper level of understanding of a subject to teach it than to do well as a student, so peer teaching benefits the teacher. I don’t believe teaching is a gift; it is a skill at which some are more gifted than others, so peer teaching is also an opportunity to develop that skill.

Students also respond better to some teaching techniques and styles than others, and peer teaching gives them the opportunity to experience more of those that they otherwise would.

Comment on Peer teaching for my kids? No thanks by Grace

Grace — Thu, 23 May 2013 18:51:59 +0000

I agree that a key to Peer Instruction’s success is that it is well structured. It uses clickers that give the teacher immediate feedback, which I would think is critical in the execution of this. Clickers would seem to be a great tool for teachers, but again it depends on how (or if) teachers use that feedback.

Comment on Peer teaching for my kids? No thanks by CSProfMom

CSProfMom — Thu, 23 May 2013 10:07:51 +0000

Having students simply “teach” other students is a recipe for disaster. However, there is a strategy that is becoming more popular in higher education science courses, called Peer Instruction, which seems to work well according to research. I’ve been to workshops and have been adapting it into my classes. The key to this is that it is structured, and it isn’t really about students teaching each other but rather, students working through hard questions together. I often wonder though, if the main reason it works is that it forces students to not fall asleep during class.

http://db.grinnell.edu/sigcse/sigcse2013/Program/viewAcceptedProposal.pdf?sessionType=paper&sessionNumber=176
http://newfaculty.mst.edu/media/campussupport/newfaculty/documents/MazurActiveLearning.pdf

Comment on To eliminate the gender wage gap, don’t let women major in sociology by Introduction | zw08vf

Introduction | zw08vf — Sun, 19 May 2013 22:42:22 +0000

[…] To eliminate the gender wage gap, don’t let women major in sociology (costofcollege.wordpress.com) […]

Comment on High school writing instruction should be less creative and more ‘formulaic’ by Grace

Grace — Sat, 18 May 2013 16:03:15 +0000

“Ack! Someone had to have TAUGHT them to write like that, because that isn’t a natural way to write.”

That language looks familiar. It sounds like a middle school or high school mission statement.

Comment on High school writing instruction should be less creative and more ‘formulaic’ by CSProfMom

CSProfMom — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:33:42 +0000

I just finished grading a bunch of papers from my students on “great computer scientists”. I do that assignment to help them learn that there is an actual discipline, and that computer scientists have big impacts on every day life. Anyway, the exercise of grading the papers is always sad. Besides the horribly garbled papers that make no sense at all, there is another group that also makes me nuts. These papers invariably start with some utterly general platititudes tha have nothing to do with the person who they are writing about: “Computers open the word to so many. We would be nothing without computers. I will now write about Sergey Brin, whose contributions have made a better life for all of us”. Then you get a few paragraphs that have been obviously paraphrased from Wikipedia or company webpages, and then finally a conclusion with some kind of verbiage like this “Sergey Brin shows us that if we only put our minds to it, we can accomplish anything. He is my inspiration for my life”.

Ack! Someone had to have TAUGHT them to write like that, because that isn’t a natural way to write.

Comment on High school writing instruction should be less creative and more ‘formulaic’ by Grace

Grace — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:02:55 +0000

lionaroundwriting – Interesting to hear your perspective on writing instruction in Scotland. I agree that some flexibility should be allowed, and even encouraged. But only after the student has mastered the basics of academic writing.

Comment on High school writing instruction should be less creative and more ‘formulaic’ by Grace

Grace — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:58:59 +0000

CSProfMom – Your son’s writing instruction sounds great. I think highlighting the different components in different colors actually makes sense.

I wonder if this reflects recent changes stemming from the change to Common Core Standards. I don’t remember what you describe from my own kids’ middle school years.