Subj : Re: Teaching
To   : JOE MACKEY
From : George Pope
Date : Sun Nov 21 2021 13:37:22

 >   When I was growing up there were always books in the house, then I found
 > the school library, then the public library.  Books can open up a whole new
 > world to people.

Amen! I had a slew of books suited to my changing reading level/age, but also a
huge shelf of more adulty books (not "adult", 'though I did find one my dad
left out when I was 9 & added to my knowledge & wonder of the adult world)

 >   Unfortunately many parents just plop their young ones in front of the
 > one-eyed babysitter and never instill a love of reading into the kids,
 > probably because the parent was never taught that.

Yup. My tv, until I was 12, was limited to watching with my parents whatever
they were watching, plus Saturday morning cartoons(before they all got
political-only); at 12, I got a 12" B&W of my own & could watch my own
programming, on the understanding that I'd know better than to watch what I'd
know was inappropriate. (& I really did!)

Because I was, thank God, raised properly, I did know right from wrong.

First saw & rode a city bus at age 19.  Naturally, I sat in the first seats I
found empty, so I could see where I was going & not walk any more than
required.  When older folk, especially witgh canes, entewred the bus, I was up
like a shot &6 moving back, as I could see into the future alternative history
& feel my dad beside me, as I kept sitting, & felt a cuff upside the head & a
very stern, no-nonsense, "You do NOT take a seat from a senior."

This derives from my having to crosdsd the street every snow day & shovel a
wide pat5h from door to road for a senior neighbour, wide enough for her & her
cane, & completely free of snow or ice (our own walkway just had to be
reasonably cleared)

Knowledge from example -- no better way!

Personally I think this goes with the loss of religion being a part of modern
society/culture.

I know there was right & wrong, & I didn't think of myself as operating in a
vacuum. My actions were observed/known, & I certainly had the option to choose
differently.

This went back to the examples my dad demonstrated, of knowing what I did
wrong, sometimes before I even did it! ("Don't even think about [...]")

 > > I read adult scifi

 >   I am a non-fiction reader, mostly history, science, biographies, etc.

I read this, too, now. . . :) Usually have one or two of each going at any
given time.

I was surprised to find a couple of biographies I've really loved: Ruth
Ginsburg's, Steve Jobs', & some by practicing(not just teaching) PhD
scientists, giving me new knowkedge & inside peeks. . .

 > > Heinlein- then reread as ab adult to discover another world in his
 > > writings)

 >   I am like that with news.
 >   I read/listen to both sides and make my own decisions.  Of course I agree
 > more with the writer who shares my opinion on things.  :)

Funny that; me, too! *LOL*

I like watching pro poker, & I've read dozens of the best books written by
successful career players(who else to consult?) & I'm lovingf how I sees
asituatoin & maker a mwental decision of how I'd plkay it & then they do the
same, & the commentator explains why it's the best play (I didn't know why - it
just seemed right by instinct.)

You give me a good stake, & I'll be a successful career player soon enough!

That's not happening by you or anyone else, so I keep playing online &
learning, & putting all my 'extra' money into the family/household, & maybe one
day, when this job of raising kids is done, I can explore a new hobby that
might provide a nice nut for retirement.

Some thing else the young don't have: the concept of delayed gratification
equaling greater returns all over.

 > > Sure, it was lurid, but it put it all in a perspective

 >   Perception is very important on any subject.

Too bad they remove context from everything now, even in schools.

I had a few deelightful teachers who loved at least one subject & it showed.
Math was taught with real-life exanmples ofwhy a new concept is useful.  Scence
was taugfht with flair & no unwilingness to answer any questions I had (some
not during classtime, of course)

Creative Writing, too, was simply encouraged & my first efforts were judged
realistically & without unnecessary pandering nor negativity, encouraging me to
try harder, to polish up the rough edges (as that's all they are, from a 9-10yo
beginner)

I loved writing for years, but some of life got in there & broke my momentum,
but I hope/want to get back into it, but more non-fiction now, I'm thinking. .
..

I still write bits & pieces here & there -- usually letters that I intend to
encourage specific actions (fundraising, lobbying, & such)

 > > schools don't teach "history" they force the memorisation of names(people
 > > & places) & numbers, usually out of contect of the nmotivations involved.

 >   It is very important to not only know dates of events (your example of
 > The Great War, Arch Duke Ferdinand, etc).  But it is also very important to
 > know the background of why it happened.
 >    Sure he was shot in 1914, Germany, England, France, Russia went to war
 > but what were some of the underlying reasons aren't taught or skimmed over.
 >    The British Empire is seldom mentioned seeing Germany as a competitor in
 > colonies (mostly in Africa), Germany building a navy to compete with
 > England, the Austro-Hungarian Empire about to collapse from inside making
 > room for
 > Germany, which had only been a 
 >   Then add in the reason for colonies and empires, which was mostly based
 > on trade, not just conquering some country because they were weaker, etc.
 >    To often there is little context taught.
 >    History doesn't happen in a vacuum.

Exactly.  It's sad that they don't teach it (I don't think this was ever the
schools' job,. but more the parents & grandparents & extended family, to tell
stories from their perspective & experiences)

Like the Little Johnny wartime tale with the moral: "The moral of the story is
you don't {mess} with my grandpa when he's been drinking."

 > > Nobody's learning from history, because nobody's teaching it any more, to
 > > kids, anyway.

 >   Yep.  --sigh--

You have to dig it out of the morass; & they don't teach this kind of
initiative towards learning any more either.  I was last generation for this,
too, I fear.

One fave example from my life is how in grade 5(age 10) the Social Studies
teacher brought up how the next segment of history teaching(provincial
mandatory curriculum was about where we come from, but hat he's not allowed to
look at it from every side, so it was up to us to learn & debate it in class.

We had as cvouple days to research our chosen poisition (pretty much evolution
vs Creation) & prepare a presentastion to the class on why it should be the one
we all accept as the real facts.

Thge summary, on Friday was that the only view with objective favts we can look
up in the encyclopedia & defend, using otherfacts, was Evolution, & we're free
to believe Creation all we want, but school time will be reserved for
evolutionary presupositions.  We were encouraged to ask our parents to take us
to Sunday school if we wanted to l;earn more of the Creation.

I lived in a sort of Bible Belt, so he couldn't just focus on evolution-based
teaching, & keep his job, reputation, & family, I 'spect.

Even now, 40+ years later, I admire this approach taken with ten year olds.
How he walked a difficult & thin line successfully & gave us the tools we could
always use to make decisions about how we feel about our universe.

I spent a bit of time as an athiest, hostile to all religion, then went through
a fundamentalism phase; now I'm more what your founding fathers would call a
Deist. (The universe was created, but I couldn't explain Who or how very
accurately, I'm sure)

I love a lively discussion of the topcs with believers of all types & athiests
of all types.  I find common ground with all.

I guess because my attitude isn't my way is the ojnly waqy, nor is it on
"winning"

To stay within the boundaries here, & I'll just say that I believe exclusionary
approaches to be inherently flawed.  Example: "God must love insects: He made
so many of them."

Glossary, which puts my words into licit use:
God: Without prejudice: however one views such a concept/person
He: the correct English neuter pronoun
made: they're here, aren't they?

Those three can be expanded in one's own understandings as necessary to realize
I'm not making an incendiary statement, nor an exclusi8onary one.

Communication, not friction, is my goal. . .

My ultimate concept of true good religion boils down to this: "to love & to
learn."; I've yet to find a religion(including athiestic ones) that can't be
likened to this phrase.

Like has been said: "I love everybody, & you're next!" (spiritually, people,
settle down!)

 > >  >   Sort of like people believed X because society thought Y.  

 > > Yup, & this is readily accessible now by digesting popular TV, movies, &
 > > books.

 >   Too often movies and tv don't give a subject a lot fact and often is one
 > sided.
 >   If one wants to present some one-sided argument about something, fine,
 > just be honest about not try and pretend its the only side.

Exactly; i'm able to uynderstand modern society's shallowness by digestiung
their more pouplar inputs. (ezxcept I tend to not give much weight to rap, nor
Jerry Springer-esque personalities/shows--I know they exist, & I get some of
why they're popular, &. . . I'm done.)

 > > & other kneejerk isms, like "war solves nothing." (hmm? Slavery, Nazism?)

 >   And notice how suddenly that side wants to change the subject?
 >   Or the "Yeah, but" argument.

I'd never heard "but" with a full stop after, befdore that! :P 

 > > I'd love to terach, 
 >  
 >    I do a lot of training for new parking enforcement officers but I
 > quickly get bored repeating the same thing often either "by the book" or out
 > in the field.
 >    I could never be a teacher repeating the same thing several times a day
 > in a class.
 >    Once every couple of months is about my limit.  :)

Yup, I get this.  My teaching would have to be in the context of doing. I
believe I could teaxch a classof ten to sixteen year olds the same curriculum
every year, but make it new & different each time, so that no two classes would
have the same understanding of the subjects.

My 'trick' would be that my teaching would be reflective & inclusive of my
students each year.

I was Sundasy Dschool teacher once, becausethey needed another, & I listened to
my kids (8-10 year olds) complain about leaerning the same stories from the
same stupid piocture books every year since they were two! So the next week, I
pulled a list of topics out of my butt & presented it to them to choose one.

They chose "Women of the Bible" (I liked that they did, actually, as I felt
quite confident I could make this subject sing & dance for them)

Nothing but accolades & appreciation were communicated to me by parents & other
leaders in the church, so I believe in my methodology not learned in any
loonyversity, textbook, or ready-made curriculum.

I scared the other teachers at first but they came on board as we(my class)
progressed.

I was so freakingly impressed by the kids' insights, even at that tender age!

Lots of fun!

Your friend,

<+]:{)}
Cyberpope, Bishop of ROM
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