How many questions does a student need to answer to master a skill? I used to teach math and there were many times where I assigned homework. Students would all get the same worksheet with usually ten to thirty questions. I have to be honest...no student ever seemed to be excited to get my math homework assignment.
After a while I started to think about it. Why was I giving students the number of questions I was? What if they demonstrated the ability to do the skill in class? Wasn't giving them homework for skills that they already seemed to have mastered really just a waste of their time? These questions started to change my ideas as a teacher.
I decided that I only would give homework if it accomplished the goal of having students learn a specific skill. Of course, this led me to really ponder how much of what I was teaching was actually a skill that they would use and benefit from in life. Like the pythagorean theory. I have never used it but we sure the heck practiced it in school.
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| ah...good old trusty qwerty |
That is why I am a computer teacher. Most of my time is spent teaching students how to type properly. Actually, I spend most of my time trying to undo bad typing techniques that students have already developed. Still, typing is skill that everyone who I have asked about is glad that they have.
Soon I will retire. That is the funny part about being a teacher. By the time you figure out strategies and techniques and are able to really have an influence on student's lives, you are ready for the rocking chair. Oh well, it was a hell of a toboggan ride!
I took my first typing class in junior high, and I was the only boy in the class. It was one of the most foundational skills I ever learned in junior high.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I highly suspect your wife wrote this blog-post for some reason ... my daughter took typing, or a facsimile thereof when she was but a pup, and encouraged me to learn with her. Failing that discipline-minded effort, I still look at the keys and plod along using 2 or 3 fingers fingers envious of those who can type blind-folded.
ReplyDeleteOh it's never too late. Now days, what do they say?
DeleteThere's an App for that!
In the Navy I had to prove I could swim to a lifeboat and that I could type 20 wpm.
ReplyDeleteI have since joined the slow typing movement and only get wet now in the shower.
Thanks for your service, John. I’ll be watching for your memoirs.