Do you think that too many teachers instruct by rote methods?

[Anonymous]

And do you wish that students would instead be taught to better understand the concepts and reason things out?

[Anonymous]

I don't know about every teacher everywhere, but the teachers my kids in MCPS have had do not instruct by rote methods, and do instead teach children to understand the concepts and reason things out.

Do you always ask questions in a "When did you stop beating your wife?" format?

[Anonymous]

I used both rote and thinking skills when I taught. You need both. You cannot reason without knowing facts--and facts do you no good if you cannot reason.

[Anonymous]

They don't seem to do it at all (MCPS) which I think it stupid. I agree with 17:00 100%.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don't seem to do it at all (MCPS) which I think it stupid. I agree with 17:00 100%.

"is stupid" not "it stupid."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:They don't seem to do it at all (MCPS) which I think it stupid. I agree with 17:00 100%.

+1.

When I was teaching in college, I wished they were taught more rote learning. At least then they would know how to solve one equation with one unknown.

[Anonymous]

In MCPS they think they can get by on "creative" teaching of concepts, instead of memorization and practice of basic facts.

Bad, bad, mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In MCPS they think they can get by on "creative" teaching of concepts, instead of memorization and practice of basic facts.

Bad, bad, mistake.

To be fair, this is not unique to MCPS by any means. It seems to have taken over every school of education.

[Anonymous]

OP is one of the types of people that likes to throw gas on Mommy war fires.

[Anonymous]

I'm thrilled my daughter's 3rd grade math teacher is insisting on multiplication drill. It's not the only things she does, of course, but she makes sure those kids learn their times tables.

[Anonymous]

I honestly think a little more rote memorization could be useful. I used to tutor a ten year old girl. Her mom wanted me to work with her on advanced math but she did not have her multiplication tables memorized. There is no way you can multiply fractions or do basic algebra if you don't memorize your basic multiplication facts

[Anonymous]

I'm hoping that we can have a bit more nuance in this discussion

[Anonymous]

More rote! More rote!

[Anonymous]

Yes - I think many teachers and much of the materials they use teach to the bottom of Bloom's Taxonomy. (remembering, understanding and some applying) There seems to be little evaluating and analysis.

[Anonymous]

My kids are in high school and I am so darn tired. NOTHING they learn is rote. What that means is that EVERYTHING is so darn hard.
High school for them is ten times more difficult than when I went to high school.

A kid can read a chapter in a textbook, memorize everything provided in lectures and power points, and still fail every test because they cannot make connections and inferences.

It makes high school completely exhausting and so frustrating.

I'd kill for some rote.