Re: [school-discuss] Feedback needed from teachers for the

[Doug Loss <drloss@suscom.net>]

Anne-Marie MAHFOUF wrote:

> I think that schools in the USA or Australia obviouly don't need the
> kind of software we aim to produce and even don't find it
> interesting.
>

I'm not at all sure that's true.  There are many schools in those and
other industrialized countries that have minimal or no internet
connections.  Many have no networks at all, any computers in them being
standalone.

>
> I would like to know if this list is only for people from developed
> countries.  In this case, I have nothing to do with it. When I see a
> lengthy thread about gradebooks stuff, I am sorry to say that it
> does not concern the majority of people in the world who don't use
> gradebooks in schools.

Of course this list isn't only for people from developed countries.  A
quick look at the list of member organizations of Schoolforge will show
that.  But if gradebooks don't concern the majority of people in the
world, why is that a reason not to talk about them and develop them?
They _do_ concern enough people on this mailing list to be of interest.
I think it's probably fair to say that _nothing_ beyond having enough
food and shelter for themselves and their families concerns the
_majority_ of people in the world.  We mustn't get caught limiting
ourselves in what we do because of some "lowest common denominator."  As
long as a project is interesting and useful to enough people to work on
it and continue it, it's valid.  Personally, I'd like to hear from more
non-US/Canada/Australia members on the gradebook thread so we can make
whatever develops as broadly useful as possible.  Just because they may
not now use gradebooks in schools doesn't mean that they might not start
doing so if we produce something useful to them.

Having said all that, I think it's important that we not obsess on
gradebooks to the exclusion of other discussions.  Folks, Anne-Marie
asked for feedback on how to improve her program KLearnSpelling.  Mick
Hall responded that it wasn't the type of program he used in his
schools.  It seems that feelings were hurt, probably in both
directions.  Let's calm down and start over.  I think that there _is_ a
place for drill-and-practice programs in the schools, as a reinforcement
mechanism for what's learned by other methods if nothing else.  I'm not
up on all the current educational theories or fads (let's face it, these
things do tend to run as fads--remember the "New Math" from the
60's-70's in the US, where set theory was anointed as the way to
introduce gradeschool children to arithmetic?), but I think having a
diverse range of educational styles and applications to choose from is a
good thing, and one of the strengths that our style of development can
be expected to foster.  So I'm calling on the teachers on this mailing
list who do use drill-and-practice in their teaching in any form to look
at Anne-Marie's program and then calmly suggest how it might be modified
to more closely fit their needs.


--
Doug Loss                 All I want is a warm bed
Data Network Coordinator  and a kind word and
Bloomsburg University     unlimited power.
dloss@bloomu.edu                Ashleigh Brilliant