Klarinet Archive - Posting 001056.txt from 2004/03

From: Karl Krelove <karlkrelove@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] re: no one left behind
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 2004 22:51:20 -0500

Nancy,

(Chiming in on a subject I haven't really been following - apologies if
I'm re-hashing paths that have already been explored)

The problem isn't really that the kid with a 90 IQ is going, on his own,
to keep the 140 IQ from learning as fast. And it isn't that teachers (at
least some of them) don't know how to teach all of these children. The
problem is that in a class of any size, the more needy kids demand (not
by intention, but by the nature of their needs) a greater amount of the
teacher's attention. The 90 IQ and the 140 IQ may or may not (but more
likely not) be able learn through the same teaching strategies, just as
two 90 IQs or two 140 IQs may or may not. But the further likelihood is
that, if they respond to the any concurrent strategies the teacher uses,
the 140 IQ will learn more quickly and will need different content at
any given point from the content needed by the 90 IQ. The point tends to
come fairly quickly at which the teacher cannot, without escaping some
of the laws of physics that govern the organization of time and matter,
reasonably or coherently attend to the needs of both content and
learning style of every individual child in the class. Given the greater
needs/demands presented by 90 IQ, the teacher's attention must skew
toward him/her. The 140 IQ is left in many cases either a) teaching
him/herself or b) learning from other children. Either way, the teacher
has been removed from the process to an extent, and learning outcomes
are less predictable.

There will always be a level of pluralism within any class of children.
The result of too great a variability among children's abilities in a
single learning environment almost invariably leads either to a
teacher's ignoring some part(s) of the normal curve or to a chaotic lack
of focus in which learning becomes an unpredictable accident for everyone.

Karl Krelove

>--------------------------------------------------------
>Not necessarily so. The kid with the 90 IQ benefits greatly from
>associating with the kid with the 140 IQ. And the kid with the 140 IQ
>will
>learn just as fast in the presence of the one with the 90 IQ, AND
>learn a
>little about compassion for those not as fortunate as him/herself.
>And
>what do you suggest we do with the kid with the 140 IQ with learning
>disabilities, who can read as well as the kid with the 90 IQ? I
>suggest
>that we train teachers to teach all the children and we will all live
>in a
>more well-rounded society.
>
>Nancy
>
>Nancy Buckman
>Principal Clarinet / Orchestra AACC
>eefer@-----.net
>
>-----------------------------------------------------------
>
>
>

---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is a service of Woodwind.Org, Inc. http://www.woodwind.org