national handwriting day

[FRITZ JUENGLING]

I teach high school German (and sometimes English and Latin).  I am very
skeptical of the 'standardised testing' (ST)explanation.  I just don't
see it.  Even with the ST, there is still plenty of room to teach and
require cursive or have kids learn to tell time.
Although nothing surprises me anymore, please don't tell me what else
people (notice I didn't say 'kids' or 'students') don't know--my world
is falling apart and I can handle only so much on one day :)
Seriously, Jan, where are you?  Some of us teachers had thought for a
while that the cursive thing might be only a Salem-Keizer phenomenon,
but it appears not to be.  It seems to be generational.
Fritz
>>> write at SCN.ORG 1/12/2007 9:34 AM >>>
Fritz, do you teach in K-12?  I teach 8th grade, and I also have
students
who cannot read cursive and students who cannot tell time on a
traditional
clock.  I also have students who don't know the months of the year in
order.  They would not know, for example, that March is the third
month.
A staff member suggested that the emphasis on standardized testing has
pushed elementary schools to teach only what will be on the test.

Maybe, but I learned how to tell time and the months before I started
school.
Jan


On Fri, 12 Jan 2007, FRITZ JUENGLING wrote:

> >>> spiderrmonkey at HOTMAIL.COM 1/12/2007 8:02 AM >>>
> Although I understand your pain, I (someone who once learned
cursive)
> find
> cursive to be unnecessary. Printing works just as well, it just
isn't
> as
> "fancy" or "pretty." But that's just my controversial take on the
> matter.
>
> Scot
>
> I guess I put this in the same category with teenagers not knowing
how
> to tie their shoes or tell time on a traditional clock.  These
things
> just seem like common knowledge to me, but they're not.  I had a
girl
> only a few weeks ago when we were learning time just sit and look at
me
> when I asked her the time.  She couldn't say anything.  She's bright
and
> I had done a good job of teaching the concept. Finally, she just
blurted
> out that she couldn't tell time on a traditional clock.  Since she
> couldn't do it in English, she wasn't able to do it in German.  I
really
> wonder what these kids think about and how they deal with the world
> around them.  I guess they just ignore a lot of things.
> Fritz
> >
> >

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org