I give my students meaningful tasks to help their learning.
I liked this statement because it shows that social media can be used for education. I think teachers/professors need to accept the fact we are in a digital era and use it to their advantage. And when using a website not usually used for education, they use it as an educational tool.
But that does not mean that high school grades are good predictors.
In high school, the main priority was to do the work and achieve the best grade by any means possible. Due to this, many people didn’t truly learned the material, but merely memorized in time for the next test; this enhanced the ability to breeze through busy work but allowed no room for creative thinking. Usually those with higher confidence tend to slack, believing they don’t have to try; those with higher confidence also tend to be those with higher socioeconomic statuses. Furthermore, those who are well off can focus their time and effort solely on their studies whereas those who are struggling are forced to acquire a job and split their time.
you go to class, you learn things, you regurgitate them on tests
I agree with this statement very much. At least in middle school and high school. I've had several teachers tell us that they want us to actually learn and remember the material. But it always ends the same way; the information leaves our heads after the test or when we move on to another chapter. I feel like it is different in college. I think it is because we have the opportunity to take classes we are actually interested in.
I make clear the expectation that they address their classmates, not me, even though
I personally understand the need to look at the teacher even if it is a group discussion. I am someone who gets very nervous when having to speak in front of a class. I usually don't look at the teacher though when I have to do that. But I can understand why someone would, it may make them less nervous. They seem less intimidating than peers.
The job of the social historian is to provide a general understanding not at the level of 'society as a whole' but at the level of the individual or the members of particular social groups.
I think this is a better way to study society. By studying society a a whole, many things would be left out. Even if a person does nothing at all, they are still contributing to society. It may not be in a positive way, but they are still affecting it. It is important to look at all the individual relationships and how they intertwine with each other.
The second problem is that the steps states have taken to implement standards, outcomes and associated testing are often incomplete and unfinished.
When reading this line it made me think of a conversation my class had sophomore year of high school. A lot of my classmates agreed that school wasn't about learning, but more about getting the grade. We take shortcuts to do that as well. It was just getting the work done instead of absorbing the material. I probably could not tell someone 90% of what I was suppose to learn in high school.
good teachers require their students to engage with the material
I know every teacher has their own teaching style, but as a student I know personally that I actually remember material that has been covered through dynamic ways other than students being lectured or us just reading it. And also when it gets mentioned again and again. Because a lot of times material is mentioned once then never again. I feel like I'm putting a lot of pressure on the teachers, I feel like my comments apply more to high school where students are much more dependent on teachers.
Because our brains are incapable of performing two conceptual tasks literally simultaneously,
This makes a lot of sense. You cannot put yourself 100% into two things. You think you are, when really, you are breaking the stream of concentration for one task to do the other, or others.