1. That good manners/behavior could be taught by modeling them alone.
2. That private school parents would be uber-involved in their child's education.
3. Centers were awesome.
4. That pencil & paper work was over-rated.
5. That all cooperative groups should be mixed as far as levels - to "track" students is unfair and unwise.
Now that I am in my 6th year of full-time teaching, I believe.
1. Good manners/behavior must be explicitly taught. Yes, modeling should occur but kids just aren't perspective enough to pick up on your saying "yes ma'am" and "thank you" means they should - you must tell them.
2. I have some WONDERFULLY involved parents at my private school and I have some that aren't. Parents are parents, regardless of where their children attend school.
3. Centers can be awesome, but they take a lot of accountability - kids will "play" and not follow center directions if allowed.
4. Pencil & paper work are not over-rated. Now, pencil and paper still isn't my go-to teaching technique, but sometimes they just need to practice and that's perfectly acceptable.
5. I had bought into the untruth that all cooperative learning groups should be mixed level; believing that students wouldn't be able to discern academic level that way, that students would be able to help each other, etc... Yes some cooperative learning groups should be multi-level. But honestly kids know who can and who can't so don't do multi-level grouping on that basis. Second, yes students can help each other, but higher level students will easily either become arrogant or annoyed if they are always called upon to assist others. I try to do several different grouping techniques - multi-level and homogeneous levels to best benefit the students.
Wonder what I'll learn by 2020?
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