Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that it matters much, but when I was in school decades ago (42 now), I don't recall being taught any of this. When I got to college I was in awe of one individual in particular that I felt knew how to take notes and study. At the time, at least, I felt I was smarter but a worse student. I coasted through ES/MS/HS and went to W&M. But when I got to college, I was ill-prepared. That individual went to private school, and for a long time, I was enamored with the idea of sending my children to private school because of it. I have gotten over that, but it was a striking difference to me.

FWIW I went through the PWC school system.

I could be you! I also went to PWC schools, and had the same experience at W&M.

I also went to W&M. What class were you? I went through FCPS and felt pretty prepared.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that it matters much, but when I was in school decades ago (42 now), I don't recall being taught any of this. When I got to college I was in awe of one individual in particular that I felt knew how to take notes and study. At the time, at least, I felt I was smarter but a worse student. I coasted through ES/MS/HS and went to W&M. But when I got to college, I was ill-prepared. That individual went to private school, and for a long time, I was enamored with the idea of sending my children to private school because of it. I have gotten over that, but it was a striking difference to me.

FWIW I went through the PWC school system.

I could be you! I also went to PWC schools, and had the same experience at W&M.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach middle school math. I give kids outlined notes to fill in. Headers, blank graphs, etc where they have to fill in the remainder. It's purely a logistical thing--if i gave them blank paper I'd waste so much time waiting for them to draw coordinate planes or copy down problems that it's not worth it.

+1, MS math teacher. We would waste half the year doing this and likely half the curriculum.

I teach in a college and stopped having kids write things down a long time ago. I don't see the point when I can just give them all the notes online, and if they are focused on writing down everything I say then they aren't even comprehending the meaning of most of it.

They aren't comprehending your prefilled notes either, Prof.

How do you know their students aren't comprehending the notes? You don't. Some kids do better being given the notes and other kids have to write their own. As a parent I help my kids find what works best for them.... we all learn, organize, and study differently.

I know because when I first started teaching I would ask a question or try to engage students in some way and I realized that no one had any idea what I'd just said because they were too busy transcribing every word into their notebooks. Or if I drew something on the board to help them understand, they still didn't understand because they were focused on redrawing it. Taking notes like that is not the kind of writing stuff down that helps you, like when you study. It's just transcribing, and if you've ever had a job transcribing (I have) you know that you don't even process the meaning of the words you are putting down, because the point is just to get them down as fast as possible.

I disagree. Taking good notes is important. You have to listen to what is being said and decide what to write down and what to leave out. Unless the students have learning disabilities, they should be able to listen and write at the same time.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach middle school math. I give kids outlined notes to fill in. Headers, blank graphs, etc where they have to fill in the remainder. It's purely a logistical thing--if i gave them blank paper I'd waste so much time waiting for them to draw coordinate planes or copy down problems that it's not worth it.

+1, MS math teacher. We would waste half the year doing this and likely half the curriculum.

I teach in a college and stopped having kids write things down a long time ago. I don't see the point when I can just give them all the notes online, and if they are focused on writing down everything I say then they aren't even comprehending the meaning of most of it.

They aren't comprehending your prefilled notes either, Prof.

How do you know their students aren't comprehending the notes? You don't. Some kids do better being given the notes and other kids have to write their own. As a parent I help my kids find what works best for them.... we all learn, organize, and study differently.

I know because when I first started teaching I would ask a question or try to engage students in some way and I realized that no one had any idea what I'd just said because they were too busy transcribing every word into their notebooks. Or if I drew something on the board to help them understand, they still didn't understand because they were focused on redrawing it. Taking notes like that is not the kind of writing stuff down that helps you, like when you study. It's just transcribing, and if you've ever had a job transcribing (I have) you know that you don't even process the meaning of the words you are putting down, because the point is just to get them down as fast as possible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not that it matters much, but when I was in school decades ago (42 now), I don't recall being taught any of this. When I got to college I was in awe of one individual in particular that I felt knew how to take notes and study. At the time, at least, I felt I was smarter but a worse student. I coasted through ES/MS/HS and went to W&M. But when I got to college, I was ill-prepared. That individual went to private school, and for a long time, I was enamored with the idea of sending my children to private school because of it. I have gotten over that, but it was a striking difference to me.

FWIW I went through the PWC school system.

I could be you! I also went to PWC schools, and had the same experience at W&M.

Anonymous wrote:Not that it matters much, but when I was in school decades ago (42 now), I don't recall being taught any of this. When I got to college I was in awe of one individual in particular that I felt knew how to take notes and study. At the time, at least, I felt I was smarter but a worse student. I coasted through ES/MS/HS and went to W&M. But when I got to college, I was ill-prepared. That individual went to private school, and for a long time, I was enamored with the idea of sending my children to private school because of it. I have gotten over that, but it was a striking difference to me.

FWIW I went through the PWC school system.

Anonymous wrote:I've been really impressed by how MS classes are taught at Robinson. In US history they read primary documents, do research and analysis as they go through the different periods. In science they have long on-going labs such as measuring water quality on multiple dimensions and the impact of different factors on it. They use professional level software (Adobe Creative Suite) in digital arts classes. Creative writing is given a lot of feedback. In English they are working through narrative concepts and doing a lot of writing, starting out with short stories to learn then moving into longer texts. Math is math, but seems to be taught at a good pace, graded with feedback quickly, and kid is understanding.
My kid is happy, engaged and talks about what they learned every day. Gets homework done during their RAISE period and usually just has 1/2 hour at home. Eats lunch outside most days. Fantastic after-school programming supported by teachers.

Happily surprised given all the vitriol about the schools!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach middle school math. I give kids outlined notes to fill in. Headers, blank graphs, etc where they have to fill in the remainder. It's purely a logistical thing--if i gave them blank paper I'd waste so much time waiting for them to draw coordinate planes or copy down problems that it's not worth it.

+1, MS math teacher. We would waste half the year doing this and likely half the curriculum.

I teach in a college and stopped having kids write things down a long time ago. I don't see the point when I can just give them all the notes online, and if they are focused on writing down everything I say then they aren't even comprehending the meaning of most of it.

They aren't comprehending your prefilled notes either, Prof.

How do you know their students aren't comprehending the notes? You don't. Some kids do better being given the notes and other kids have to write their own. As a parent I help my kids find what works best for them.... we all learn, organize, and study differently.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I teach middle school math. I give kids outlined notes to fill in. Headers, blank graphs, etc where they have to fill in the remainder. It's purely a logistical thing--if i gave them blank paper I'd waste so much time waiting for them to draw coordinate planes or copy down problems that it's not worth it.

+1, MS math teacher. We would waste half the year doing this and likely half the curriculum.

I teach in a college and stopped having kids write things down a long time ago. I don't see the point when I can just give them all the notes online, and if they are focused on writing down everything I say then they aren't even comprehending the meaning of most of it.

They aren't comprehending your prefilled notes either, Prof.