Originally Posted by
Patty Hann
Many people, in fact, the majority of people that I know, think that if a person is very, very good at something, a master at it (a sport, math, writing, playing an instrument cooking, woodworking, jewelry making etc) the person is able to teach someone how to do it, play it , write it, make it, etc. That is almost never the case.
Most people cannot teach something "from square one", no matter how well they know the subject or how skilled they are at an activity.
If the student already knows something of the subject, or has some skill at an activity (sport, playing an instrument) then the teacher will probably have some success.
But most are unable to teach someone who is starting out with a "blank slate".
They invariably assume the student knows things that he in fact doesn't know, and so skip steps, or give overly general instructions or explanations.
The student gets frustrated because he knows he is smart enough to learn the material. The teacher gets frustrated because the student isn't learning.
The teacher thinks the student is stupid and gives up.
The fault lies with the teacher, not with the student. The teacher does not know how to meet the student where he is.
In college I started as a math major, honors program, top 1%. I was on a work-study program, helping professors in the math department.
My sophomore year, as I was sitting in a cubicle sorting punch. cards I questioned if this is what I wanted to do for a living.
I was boarding at my sister’s and brother-in-law’s house to save money, helping out by babysitting their two boys. I really enjoyed that.
Next quarter I switched major to elementary education.
I sat down with my advisor and mapped out my curriculum.
I balked when I saw “eledmath 101 Addition and Subtraction of Cardinal Numbers “
“I’ve already covered integrals, differentials, polar geometry, Boolean logic, discrete math, topology…. You want me to do adding and subtracting?!”
”Knowing math and teaching math are two different things.”
He was right. I was two years behind the curve wrt to child psychology, child cognitive development, error analysis and stuff.
My math background helped a lot in error analysis, but it took a while to put everything all together to effectively teach stuff to kids.
Comments made here are my own and, according to my children, do not reflect the opinions of any other person... anywhere, anytime.