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One morning as
I was walking my kids up to school, the sidewalk ended
and we fell into the Sevenths dimension
and I actually believed the
following:
All my child will ever need to know about sevenths is that they are a
little bit
bigger than eighths, and a little bit smaller than sixths.
It is not my job to teach my child.
It is my job to support
my child's learning.
My child should never be bored in
class.
My child isn't just wandering around his classroom
chatting with
classmates, he's a kinesthetic learner with high verbal intelligence.
Children don't mindlessly copy from each other in small groups; they
richly create meaning in conversation with their peers.
My child will discover efficient mathematical algorithms on his own in
a way that
makes sense to him.
Learning by rote is bad.
If my child hasn't memorized his basic addition facts in first grade,
he'll have another chance in second grade.
If
my child hasn't memorized his basic addition facts in second grade,
he'll have another chance
in third grade.
I should drill my child on his basic addition
facts at home in order
to support the conceptual learning that takes place at school.
If my child hasn't memorized his multiplication facts in third
grade,
he'll have another chance in fourth grade.
If my child hasn't memorized his multiplication facts in fourth grade,
he'll have
another chance in fifth grade.
I should drill my child
on his multiplication facts at home in order
to support the conceptual learning that takes
place at school.
I should be more active in the PTA.
I should buy more gift wrap.
I should go to a school board meeting and see real decisions being made.
I should feel guilty questioning the curriculum even if I have a
college degree in the field of interest.
A 25
year-old teacher is a licensed professional who is fully
qualified to teach my child.
Children should write about math a lot.
Teachers will lovingly read everything my child writes because, as
teachers, they look forward to creating an authentic portfolio that
assesses my
child's true mathematical learnings across thematic units.
My child's teacher will be so proud of him when he graduates from high
school that we should
planning on buying her a ticket for the
commencement ceremony so she can sit with us.
I finally woke up in a cold sweat from this nightmare and
asked
myself, does anyone actually believe those things? The answer is a
resounding yes. Every parent of every kindergartner I have ever met,
myself included.
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