Sunday, September 28, 2008

Things you may have never realized you were taught

Being a teacher is enhancing my understanding that there were many things I was taught without realizing I was ever taught them. Here is a list of things I have noticed focusing in particular on my students most recent writing assignment- "what is the greatest invention ever"

1. Time and clocks are two different things. Time has always existed, and so far as I know, we don't control it. Clocks just gave us a way to measure the time.
2. There was a time in history (and still is) when civilizations didn't interact with each other. The Chinese for example had years of history that existed with very little interaction with any other civilization, and in that time created a great number of inventions while other inventions of a similar nature were being created elsewhere. *
3. There is a difference between a necessity and a convenience. Yes, I believe a convenience can be the greatest invention ever, but trying to convince me the world would starve without a microwave will take a lot of convincing.
4. It's nowadays rather than now and days (and other idiom-like phrases.) This is where tests being culturally relevant for students really plays a part in test scores. (ACT has a section devoted just to idioms.)
5. Just because you haven't met someone that meets a certain identity doesn't mean they don't exist. Similarly, your experience isn't the same as everyone's experience.


*I blame history teachers for this one and the way that world history often gets taught one civilization at one time while moving forward through time. (ex. Egypt then Greece and Rome, then England)

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