Reply to tell me about middle school at GDS?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We are interested in the GDS middle school. My kid isn't reserved and doesn't need a lot of support, but also isn't one to be the first to shout out answers. My kid has expressed frustration in the past about disruptive kids in classrooms. The "disruptions" are distractions that hold the class back. Is it fair to say the  "disruptions/chaos" spoken of in this thread are confident kids speaking up/out loud first and not kids who are disengaged/bored and making scenes that hold the class back?[/quote]
Judging from the responses we heard over zoom for two years and once welcomed back into class, the shout outs are mere guesses as there was little instruction ever until the end. So students have to be smart enough not to remember the incorrect guesses, but how they eventually hopefully led to the correct answer in science or math. It really was led like a British college tutorial class, very student led, for better or worse. It was not efficient, that’s for sure. And easy to get confused. Then once confused, you’re done for for that lesson. [/quote]

I don't think the goal of good education is efficiency. The goal (at least gds's) goal is to learn how to think, engage, and discuss, rather than memorize a teacher-provided answer.[/quote]

Efficiency is not the opposite of nor is it inconsistent with learning to think, engage and discuss. [/quote]

They are certainly in conflict with each other. Let's say that a particular lesson is on the causes of WW1. The most efficient way for students to learn is for the teacher to explicitly tell them. The least efficient would be to give students a bunch of primary documents and direct them to figure it out themselves with no guidance. The best balance between efficiency and independent thought (that is, how much guidance and direction the teacher gives) depends on the age/abilities of the students and the pedagogical philosophy of the school/teacher.[/quote]

And the silliest and least efficient way would be to take 1-2 months and reenact the beginning of WWI discussions and troop movements amongst themselves whilst incorporating only high level info. Teacher sits at desk and does whatever.  [/quote]

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