The Right Wing Smug Fest always seems to manifest itself when dealing with education. They know everything, you see! They don't even need to consult experts! Bless you Miss Norton - you knew about developing the whole child. From a fellow Std-2-in-1956er!
What a lovely story, Bryan 😍. Tears came to my eyes.... Yes, miss Norton was quite a teacher to leave such a legacy!! The thing is, what's new? Smug fest again 🙄 this lot never refer to what's already in place in the way of assessment. It's a LOT. PAT tests (vocabulary, reading, writing, maths, listening) regular reading tests to establish reading ages, maths tests (we gave children pre and post tests). How much testing?????? And who is going to administer these tests, mark, process?!!!!! A friend of mine has lost her highly regarded Reading Recovery job. So under the 'new' regime, who is going to teach the children who are not coping? Support systems will be wiped off the pay roll 😕. My son was lucky enough to be supported by this wonderful scheme. It was his lifeline 😍. He had ADHD and is now a very active, highly achieving project manager, bless him. I have lots to say. But can anyone tell me, since when have governments stuck their beaks into areas they know nothing about? Leave it to the experts I say 😉
I am concerned about this latest move if testing 5 year olds, seems rather draconian. These little ones need time to settle in before tests, which can be very off putting.
I think it made me scared to ask the teacher for anything I remember going home after messing in my underpants too scared to ask to go to the toilet. I did recover from that thank goodness 😁
OMG - I went to St Albans Primary School, most likely in 1959, when aged 5. We lived in St Albans St near Papanui Rd. I walked to school with Elizabeth Fielding my same aged neighbour who lived down the street a bit, the walk probably 2km. That was the norm cf now mums and dads taking their kids to school in SUVs, no expectations of their kids walking and all the SUVs now creating traffic congestion around the city, morning and afternoon. Your article brought back to me fond memories of those times!
I think the other important question..so they are going to test the children, what are they suggesting if there is failure..the parents of those children will still not have the time nor resources to get extra help! Not one suggestion of extra help/teaching for those children. So do the children who pass move on?? Smug fest is such a good title Alison!
Standardized testing is based on a 200-year-old system of education, where students are taught in batches according to age to an industrialized revolutionary approach to time, whistles and bells. It ignores how children learn and that this is not a one size fits all analogy. It does fit a process of control, and the socialization of students to a neoliberal context needing to be educated to get a job and be a productive member of society. This narrow view excludes neurodiversity, culture, and any barriers that students face to even get to class.
Age old saying 'weighing the pig doesn't make it fatter' .... and testing the child does not make them clever. In fact in my opinion it wastes time and can harm their self worth. Good teachers can assess their students without testing.
Yip my sister who grew a garden with her classes, kept chickens and even a bee hive all at the school would run free weekly lunches. She would do beach clean ups and the kids would make fabulous sculptures out of the plastic rubbish ….. but the new principal shut it down because “ it wasn’t in the curriculum and they couldn’t test the kids on what they learned “🤦♀️ FFS. So she retired and now is in hot demand from
True leadership and inspiration and an absolute asset…. I forgot to add her school had the highest literacy and math rates in the region … the kids were inspired. I wonder if Nationals Charter schools would fund this type of philosophy 🙄
Great story about real teaching and education! At my little convent primary school in the 1950s, we had gardens at the school at the back of the netball court. Every day we had some time to go and work in them. I have also always had a garden from when I was very young - gardens are profoundly educational places.
What a wonderful tribute to a wonderful teacher! I can just picture Ms Stafford measuring the length of the carrots, then asking a child to spell it, and not bothering or caring about how that child will cope throughout the rest of his/her life. Of course, spelling and maths are important, but so are so many other 'unmeasurable' skills we acquire through education, and through life itself too!
Just think they learnt how to spell carrots, tomatoes and whatever other vegetable they grew. Just like the learnt how to count the numbers of vegetables they grew. Learning lots when interested and engaged. Works so much better than learning everything by rote
I'm inclined to agree, Julie. However, I have to admit that times tables by rote worked well for me, still does, and I notice the more recently educated, who've never experienced rote tables, take longer to work out 3 times 4, for example.
I do agree, but I will also say that rote learning only worked when it came to learning your times table. Like you its still the way I use to recall an answer:)
Governments are always mucking around with the education system when surely it should be the educators & the people who know what their doing. Nowadays there seems to be a lot more children affected by alcohol syndrome & drugs that parents have taken needing more & more specialised help I think probably the classes have been way too big for too long for teachers to give the students the attention that they need & none of the government's have given education enough funding when you would think it would be of the highest priority.
This is such a cool story Bryan. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Alas these "standardized" regimes coming into education will remove space for teacher creativity. All students learn differently.
I remember at primary school I really struggled with the concepts of 1s, 10s, 100s & 1000s. I could not grasps the difference in magnatude between them. We were giving different size wooden blocks. One was a tiny little cube(representing 1). The other was rectangular cub(representing 10) with 10 notches going evenly down the length. The other one was a flat square plate(representing 100) with a grid pattern of 10 x 10. Then there was a big cube(representing 1000) with the 10 x 10 grid on all sides.
Seeing the visual difference in size of these blocks & corresponding the numerical value with them helped me understand numbers & magnitudes of numbers way better than just simply writing in my exercise book.
I remember that fondly & only fully appreciated that experience as I got older & reflected how impactful it was to my learning. I feel for these children going to school these days.
I had some great teachers, and no bad ones, but those who were exceptional taught in a way that would not favour standardised testing. Today more than ever, teaching how to learn, investigate, work collaboratively seems more important than ever. What is the point of a standardised test when the world these kids live in is rapidly dynamically changing?
The Right Wing Smug Fest always seems to manifest itself when dealing with education. They know everything, you see! They don't even need to consult experts! Bless you Miss Norton - you knew about developing the whole child. From a fellow Std-2-in-1956er!
What a lovely story, Bryan 😍. Tears came to my eyes.... Yes, miss Norton was quite a teacher to leave such a legacy!! The thing is, what's new? Smug fest again 🙄 this lot never refer to what's already in place in the way of assessment. It's a LOT. PAT tests (vocabulary, reading, writing, maths, listening) regular reading tests to establish reading ages, maths tests (we gave children pre and post tests). How much testing?????? And who is going to administer these tests, mark, process?!!!!! A friend of mine has lost her highly regarded Reading Recovery job. So under the 'new' regime, who is going to teach the children who are not coping? Support systems will be wiped off the pay roll 😕. My son was lucky enough to be supported by this wonderful scheme. It was his lifeline 😍. He had ADHD and is now a very active, highly achieving project manager, bless him. I have lots to say. But can anyone tell me, since when have governments stuck their beaks into areas they know nothing about? Leave it to the experts I say 😉
I am concerned about this latest move if testing 5 year olds, seems rather draconian. These little ones need time to settle in before tests, which can be very off putting.
I remember my first day at school it was 1960 Murray's Bay school got smacked with a ruler for talking I think was probably over excited 😆😆😆
Gosh! How did you cope?
A grumpy old Ma McGregor new entrants halted my learning until a kind teacher came along, & I excelled.
I think it made me scared to ask the teacher for anything I remember going home after messing in my underpants too scared to ask to go to the toilet. I did recover from that thank goodness 😁
That you were distressed is totally understandable. 😢❤️
The good ole days eh 😜🤣😂 it didn't keep me quiet for long I have to say I was a quite out spoken young person at times
I am not sure that I would call them good ole days .. 🙂
OMG - I went to St Albans Primary School, most likely in 1959, when aged 5. We lived in St Albans St near Papanui Rd. I walked to school with Elizabeth Fielding my same aged neighbour who lived down the street a bit, the walk probably 2km. That was the norm cf now mums and dads taking their kids to school in SUVs, no expectations of their kids walking and all the SUVs now creating traffic congestion around the city, morning and afternoon. Your article brought back to me fond memories of those times!
I think the other important question..so they are going to test the children, what are they suggesting if there is failure..the parents of those children will still not have the time nor resources to get extra help! Not one suggestion of extra help/teaching for those children. So do the children who pass move on?? Smug fest is such a good title Alison!
My best learning never involved assessment.
Standardized testing is based on a 200-year-old system of education, where students are taught in batches according to age to an industrialized revolutionary approach to time, whistles and bells. It ignores how children learn and that this is not a one size fits all analogy. It does fit a process of control, and the socialization of students to a neoliberal context needing to be educated to get a job and be a productive member of society. This narrow view excludes neurodiversity, culture, and any barriers that students face to even get to class.
Oh that is an absolutely gorgeous story Bryan
Age old saying 'weighing the pig doesn't make it fatter' .... and testing the child does not make them clever. In fact in my opinion it wastes time and can harm their self worth. Good teachers can assess their students without testing.
Yip my sister who grew a garden with her classes, kept chickens and even a bee hive all at the school would run free weekly lunches. She would do beach clean ups and the kids would make fabulous sculptures out of the plastic rubbish ….. but the new principal shut it down because “ it wasn’t in the curriculum and they couldn’t test the kids on what they learned “🤦♀️ FFS. So she retired and now is in hot demand from
All the other schools
In the area, many now run by her ex pupils !
True leadership and inspiration and an absolute asset…. I forgot to add her school had the highest literacy and math rates in the region … the kids were inspired. I wonder if Nationals Charter schools would fund this type of philosophy 🙄
Great story about real teaching and education! At my little convent primary school in the 1950s, we had gardens at the school at the back of the netball court. Every day we had some time to go and work in them. I have also always had a garden from when I was very young - gardens are profoundly educational places.
What a wonderful tribute to a wonderful teacher! I can just picture Ms Stafford measuring the length of the carrots, then asking a child to spell it, and not bothering or caring about how that child will cope throughout the rest of his/her life. Of course, spelling and maths are important, but so are so many other 'unmeasurable' skills we acquire through education, and through life itself too!
Just think they learnt how to spell carrots, tomatoes and whatever other vegetable they grew. Just like the learnt how to count the numbers of vegetables they grew. Learning lots when interested and engaged. Works so much better than learning everything by rote
I'm inclined to agree, Julie. However, I have to admit that times tables by rote worked well for me, still does, and I notice the more recently educated, who've never experienced rote tables, take longer to work out 3 times 4, for example.
I do agree, but I will also say that rote learning only worked when it came to learning your times table. Like you its still the way I use to recall an answer:)
Governments are always mucking around with the education system when surely it should be the educators & the people who know what their doing. Nowadays there seems to be a lot more children affected by alcohol syndrome & drugs that parents have taken needing more & more specialised help I think probably the classes have been way too big for too long for teachers to give the students the attention that they need & none of the government's have given education enough funding when you would think it would be of the highest priority.
the blessed Earth and those who work with her, your exceptional teacher and her practice
This is such a cool story Bryan. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Alas these "standardized" regimes coming into education will remove space for teacher creativity. All students learn differently.
I remember at primary school I really struggled with the concepts of 1s, 10s, 100s & 1000s. I could not grasps the difference in magnatude between them. We were giving different size wooden blocks. One was a tiny little cube(representing 1). The other was rectangular cub(representing 10) with 10 notches going evenly down the length. The other one was a flat square plate(representing 100) with a grid pattern of 10 x 10. Then there was a big cube(representing 1000) with the 10 x 10 grid on all sides.
Seeing the visual difference in size of these blocks & corresponding the numerical value with them helped me understand numbers & magnitudes of numbers way better than just simply writing in my exercise book.
I remember that fondly & only fully appreciated that experience as I got older & reflected how impactful it was to my learning. I feel for these children going to school these days.
I had some great teachers, and no bad ones, but those who were exceptional taught in a way that would not favour standardised testing. Today more than ever, teaching how to learn, investigate, work collaboratively seems more important than ever. What is the point of a standardised test when the world these kids live in is rapidly dynamically changing?