Should students at primary level be taught more maths, science, technical,speaking and practical skills?

Honestly, I think they should be given more ways to absorb the information. We cannot expect an 8yo to learn like a 12 yo; they just do not think the same way.

Younger kids are being pushed very early toward math and language arts skills that they may not be ready for; some kindergarteners are required to be able to tell time. They don’t even get the concept of time yet, most of the time – how are they supposed to understand how to read a clock? If that skill waits till 2nd grade or so, the kids pick it up really quickly.

Likewise, expecting a 2nd grader to care enough to learn about several parts of speech is unrealistic. They want to write stories about purple birds and blue flowers – why do they care what a noun or adjective is? Why do they need to be able to fill out worksheet after worksheet determining parts of speech? If this is taught at 4th or 5th grade however, the kids pick it up really easily.

Many primary teachers are having to give up activities that they were allowed to do for years so that they can teach to NCLB and benchmark tests; I understand the need for assessment, but when it affects the way that teachers are allowed to teach, that’s going overboard. My parents are ps teachers, and they have had to change a lot of what they can do since NCLB came out. I homeschool my son for various reasons, and my parents have actually given me really good curriculum that they no longer have time to use in their classrooms because they have to spend so much time prepping their students for testing.

So honestly, that’s what I think the problem is – teachers just aren’t allowed to teach like they should be. I would bet good money that the majority of them would love to be able to integrate more games, science experiments, thematic units, computer skills, etc…but can’t, because their hand are tied by district and government regulations.

Anyway, that’s just my 2 cents 🙂 However, I’ve noticed that the kids that I teach at church have started becoming less and less interested in school since their lives became ruled by testing. The kids in my area have to take benchmark tests every 6-8 weeks in addition to the yearly testing…and their grades depend more on their performance on these tests than on their actual coursework.

If teachers were allowed to actually teach – and schools were able to fire the few teachers that really should not be teaching – I think that we would see a remarkable turnaround in school performance.

sure, I consider you. in reaction to what you stated approximately your define no longer requiring a calculator to sparkling up, maximum surely. thinking they are in a position to apply a calculator to establish a be conscious subject, that shows a diverse detrimental trend. additionally you stated you’re an instructor in a properly prevalent college, so it makes a man or woman ask your self why 0.5 of the scholars on your algebra type are based on their calculators. whilst i became in trigonometry at the instant, I heard an analogous grievance from the different pupils. They wanted to offer an approximate answer, and that they actually sniveled approximately having to place it in appropriate values. One man or woman interior the class became an older guy who became already working in an electric powered interest. He informed all human beings that no person makes use of the appropriate values in genuine existence artwork, and he and the instructor have been given into arguments approximately making use of the calculator for all solutions. the instructor wanted him to understand the academic fee of appropriate values, and that guy merely felt he knew extra effective than the instructor. I questioned why he did no longer merely go away the class if he felt like he knew all of it as long as he used a calculator.

Amen! Thanks Home school mom!

-Public school teacher of 14 years.

I strive to make school fun every day! I want my kids to look forward to the next day. I cover every one of the state standards, blah, blah, blah! But, do not and will not use the state adopted text. I do use projects, self-guided discovery and plenty of real life situations in my teaching. I can prove to the administration that I am covering the standards by documenting them in my plan book and the assessments will speak for themselves. I am lucky to have administrators who support me rather than micromanage how I teach.