Teacher As Facilitator

In my CLAD (Cross-cultural Linguistic Academic Development) credential classes, we were told all you said in your recent answer to a query from Arkansas (teacher as "guide on the side, not sage on the stage"). We were also told that a facilitator should be seen as a "coach." We were not to impart knowledge or teach facts. We were to observe and act as a facilitator — to think in terms of someone at a meeting whose job it is to see to it that order is maintained, but not to interject their own ideas, knowledge, etc. We were also told that testing was no longer to be used to determine students' grades or readiness to progress. Instead, we were to "assess." Since I teach math, this made no sense to me at all. Since then I have "taught" classes where the exam rules were:

1. if you try at all, you will get half credit, and

2. if you do anything that looks germane, you will get even more credit.

Since 60% (or at some schools 55%) is a D-, and any D is considered a passing grade, it doesn't take much to "pass" these classes. In other words, if a student can convince the teacher that he has but an acquaintance with 5% to 10% of the material in addition to "trying," he may be passed along to the next math class. He may even graduate with no more knowledge than this. On the good side, I'm semi-retired and don't have to do this very much — only on a few long-term assignments. Yes, I am thinking of a specific class at a specific school when I write this. The school was awarded a "Blue Ribbon School" award that year; it is one of the highest awards in California. Be assured, though, that not all classes are like this. Here, the students were TOLD that if they participated (tried) they were guaranteed a passing grade. "Try" seems to mean that they write SOMEthing on their tests, and do SOME of their homework. This was a class designed to bolster confidence; they were told this too.

Now we all know how "fuzzy-feel-good" math works in the classroom. By the way, all classroom work was done in "groups." When the annual "inspection" was made, I made sure that appropriate activity was in progress: the students were flipping coins. We were doing a "probability" section. The officials were, as far as I can tell, delighted.

Hope I haven't ruined your day!

Susan

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