THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, April 19, 1995 TAG: 9504190005
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Short : 48 lines
As an elementary-school teacher in Virginia Beach, I feel obliged to address the rash of letters depicting my fellow workers and me as unprofessional, uncaring and unmotivated to do our best. Let me set the record straight.
Yes, we do want high standards for our students.
Yes, we do want a rigorous curriculum.
Yes, we do expect to be held accountable for what our students should know.
But more than anything else, we sincerely want a curriculum that research has shown to be the best possible way to help our children be successful not only in school but throughout life.
The proposed Standards of Learning in the area of social studies will not succeed in helping our students become successful in life.
These standards will result in our children being able to spout a number of meaningless facts about history because they are inappropriate for that grade level - for instance teaching the Fertile Crescent to 5- and 6-year olds. How can children of this age make sense of this when they can't even begin to understand how far it is to Lynnhaven Mall! These standards are important - but not for 5- or 6-year-olds.
We also need to look closely at the language-arts standards. The standards as stated will result in most, but not all, students being able to use the phonological cueing systems (phonics) when decoding words. In my classes, I teach phonics as part of instruction every day! But students must be taught to use many strategies, including the phonological cueing system, when they are being taught to read - the strategies that you and I use every day when we pick up a book. There is not just one way to teach reading.
Let's develop these standards with an understanding of what is most appropriate for our students. It is really time that we all work together for what is most important in our country - the lives of our children.
In this rush to develop new standards, it seems that understanding of how children learn and what is most appropriate for them to learn has been left out of the equation.
PATRICIA BRANDT
Virginia Beach, April 10, 1995 by CNB