‘Here’s what I used to believe about kids and learning and what I now know to be true’ will always be my favorite genre of Substack essay. Too few people are willing to look back at dogma they believed, examine it, critique it, and publicly throw it out and replace it with experience, data, truth and integrity . For me it was Unschooling. The “progressive education” of the homeschooling world. I believed so hard that a child would learn better if they came to the knowledge themselves through some gentle, often invisible, parental curating. Yeah, no. But this isn’t my essay, it’s your comment section. So I’ll save my novel. But keep sharing what you do! I think we’re getting somewhere with education, too slowly in regions like mine who are still fully using three cueing style “balanced literacy” methods in the primary years. But I see the momentum and it’s reaching progressive outposts like my area.
i enjoyed this, and your first-hand experience, as you may know, is backed up with a huge body of evidence now. Contrary to what the well-minded reformers believed, explicit instruction of content-rich curricula is the most effective teaching method, especially for children from less privileged homes. it's a shame that generations of children have been let down by the prevailing orthodoxy, but the tide seems finally to be turning!
Your article hits home with me. I was a math teacher in Connecticut for about five years. I earned my teaching certification in the ed program at Fairfield University in 2005. The unstated implication in all my ed classes was that direct instruction was evil and anyone who engaged in it an oppressor. Only recently looking back on my experience have I realized that this program was about banning teachers and teaching in the public schools. And more, with the anti-instruction mindset that was hammered into us, our unstated purpose was to participate in the complete overthrow of the traditional institutions of learning across the United States.
Thank you for sharing your story. It is so enticing to reach for the learning fad of the moment…and it almost feels wrong if you don’t. Structure, consistency, and targeted high-quality instruction shouldn’t be dismissed as not “student-centered”… they’re literally there for the students’ sake. And proven. Curious if you have ever received pushback from admin while maintaining some of these “traditional” classroom components. Good article.
‘Here’s what I used to believe about kids and learning and what I now know to be true’ will always be my favorite genre of Substack essay. Too few people are willing to look back at dogma they believed, examine it, critique it, and publicly throw it out and replace it with experience, data, truth and integrity . For me it was Unschooling. The “progressive education” of the homeschooling world. I believed so hard that a child would learn better if they came to the knowledge themselves through some gentle, often invisible, parental curating. Yeah, no. But this isn’t my essay, it’s your comment section. So I’ll save my novel. But keep sharing what you do! I think we’re getting somewhere with education, too slowly in regions like mine who are still fully using three cueing style “balanced literacy” methods in the primary years. But I see the momentum and it’s reaching progressive outposts like my area.
i enjoyed this, and your first-hand experience, as you may know, is backed up with a huge body of evidence now. Contrary to what the well-minded reformers believed, explicit instruction of content-rich curricula is the most effective teaching method, especially for children from less privileged homes. it's a shame that generations of children have been let down by the prevailing orthodoxy, but the tide seems finally to be turning!
Your article hits home with me. I was a math teacher in Connecticut for about five years. I earned my teaching certification in the ed program at Fairfield University in 2005. The unstated implication in all my ed classes was that direct instruction was evil and anyone who engaged in it an oppressor. Only recently looking back on my experience have I realized that this program was about banning teachers and teaching in the public schools. And more, with the anti-instruction mindset that was hammered into us, our unstated purpose was to participate in the complete overthrow of the traditional institutions of learning across the United States.
Thank you for sharing your story. It is so enticing to reach for the learning fad of the moment…and it almost feels wrong if you don’t. Structure, consistency, and targeted high-quality instruction shouldn’t be dismissed as not “student-centered”… they’re literally there for the students’ sake. And proven. Curious if you have ever received pushback from admin while maintaining some of these “traditional” classroom components. Good article.
Good for you.
Did you ever have any experience with Kentucky's portfolio assessments?
Those two words still make me cringe!