Monday, November 8, 2010

PLENK2010 PREPARING THE STUDENT

PLENK2010 As you may have noticed, I have worked, even at the university level, with students who were not at the top of the class in high school. For whatever reason, they missed some foundational lessons. That is why I invented my colour-code for teaching grammar, and began writing my own booklets on how to write essays, word problems and such. J Chesney thought that my introduction to how to write a word problem in Grade 4, an examination of the difference between narrative and expository writing would be an interesting introduction to our consideration of Values and Issues in Education.

In talking to students I found that they really had no idea of how to tell the difference between a story and an essay. In a math word problem, they did not see the mathematics as a picture, and had no idea where to start or what to do. Furthermore, whatever they did come up with, they got no more credit for their work than if they had just figured or simplified a formula.

It is not enough to say: In Primary learn to read. In Elementary read to learn. The whole of Elementary and Secondary is about the Conventions of How We Write and How to Read the Writer's Meaning. That is the Obvious that the teacher is the make Apparent.

I tried to upload my jpeg. I wonder if you can see it? It is very tiny to fit the given space, and you can't enlarge it. So if you want to see the original, please let me know and I'll email it to you. Or if you have a better way...please teach me how to work this system.

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