Procedure in the Driver’s Seat





Class: [Crickets]




Christopher Danielson said it so beautifully yesterday:











  1. This hits home. I have been looking over my daughter’s algebra homework with her (trying to help). She just wants to plug numbers into equations, and insists the answers are correct even if they make no sense in the context of the problem. I think more along the lines of tables, and/or making trial and error attempts, and then backing into an equation, but that’s not how they roll at school.

  2. Since you have asked for perspective, let me offer some from language arts. What you have described is a symptomatic across the language arts discipline as well. Like math, it is important to build a procedural foundation, but all too often it ends there. In language arts, students are more concerned with the right way to write (because that is what the teacher teaches– spelling, grammar, punctuation, organization…and that is what is easy to correct…but there is no life in the writing). Students need to be able to experiment and play with language without the tyranny of the red pen. Sometimes a fragment is bad; sometimes it is good; there is no “Never begin a sentence with ‘and’, ‘but’, ‘it’ or ‘because rule”, and it is ok to take liberties with language to create a meaningful message. The obligation is to teach the effectiveness of language in communicating an idea. Years from now, students will not remember the difference between a dependent and an independent clause. So? Can they write clearly, concisely and coherently? If so, then they have probably developed the courage to put ideas to paper.

    PS: Any errors in the comments above are subordinate to the ideas.

  3. Pingback: dy/dan » Blog Archive » Teach Students Correct But Useless Steps

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