Commenters on the AJC Get Schooled blog debated a new study that found traditional math instruction — what many folks call “drill and kill” — is more effective in helping young children struggling in math than group work, peer tutoring or hands-on activities. Here is a sampling of comments:
Mathtchr: Wow, I'm shocked! You mean there's still a place for traditional teaching?
Md3: This is what happens when teachers see their autonomy taken away from them. These days, if an administrator walks in and sees students doing worksheets, there's a pretty good chance the teacher is headed for an unpleasant experience. Teachers know what works, but scripted programs and fads thrust upon them by those looking for a profit (and administrators without a clue) are preventing them from doing their job properly. Of course, any time a teacher speaks out, they are accused of being "union shills" or barriers to progress.
Dmoble: Administrators continue to mandate teachers to teach using a reading and math script and get upset when teachers attempt to use strategies that are traditional. This is written in evaluations, and teachers are made to look as though they are not following a script.
Cere: Drills. Flash cards. Memorizing games. Nuns have taught this way for hundreds of years. It works. It builds the basis in the early grades from which to build more complicated thought. What people (at least in DeKalb) don't realize and are shocked when I tell them is, your child is not learning math facts at school. Not at all. You are responsible to get out the flash cards and do the drilling. However, no teacher will tell you that, so that is why I inform everyone I know.
Ask: We all know that worksheets work. It is common sense that kids need focused practice. I can't help but wonder if those in charge know that, too, but realize that life is easier if nobody "fails" the interdisciplinary, team-based, touchy-feely rain forest unit, because no one ever does. Worksheets show who knows their stuff and who doesn't, and that means somebody might earn below an A.
Teachermom: Well, "engagement" is more important than learning, isn't it? How can a child possibly learn if it isn't fun? Sarcasm, obviously. But it cannot be stated enough that teachers, by and large, use ineffective practices because they have been told to. If they don't, their evaluations are poor due to using activities with "low student engagement." I'm sure that coaches of high-performing sports teams bend over backwards to make practice fun, so that running wind sprints doesn't feel like work. Right?
ATeacher: I'm a special education teacher, and this has been my soapbox for years. My students are mostly learning-disabled, so that means they have normal to above-normal intelligence, but they aren't performing academically. Every year, I give the same assessment, and without fail, they fall off at the second-grade level of the test. Do you want to know what that entails? Subtracting with regrouping! They consistently cannot subtract with regrouping. My solution is to pull them for 10 minutes in the morning and make them do worksheets. I give the same test at the end, and this year, I saw two of them move up.
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