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BMS has slowly been imple-menting concepts from PEAK teaching methodology. PEAK stands for Performance Excellence for All Kids, and it is a research-based approach first started by Spence Rogers in Colorado.
Meh...
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In the PEAK way of teaching, an objective is taught "28 times in different ways over three weeks," the principal said. "That means teachers have to find different ways to cover material so our kids understand it."
Dear cows! I thought some of my classes were boring already, but imagine learning the same thing over and over again that many times and for that long!
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Rather than let students pass or fail a subject like in the past, teachers cover a subject and then hand out a practice test to see what pupils understand. "That provides feedback to the teacher," Kamrath said. "O.K., most kids are understanding this, but some aren't. So we need to change what we're doing a bit, Kamrath said.
That actually makes sense, as long as it's different than the test it's a pretest for.
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Grading of each objective is now an'A' (excellent, you nailed it), a 'B' (no question in my mind that you understand this), or 'N" (for "not yet" meaning a student needs more study). "If a child gets all A's or B's, then they can move on," Kamrath said.
Good for elementary, bad everywhere else. Besides, this means a C grade is failing. If the student takes notice of that, their self-esteem surely won't be raised.
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For students who have some N scores (not yet understanding some items), they can do more study, and retake parts of the test.
Doesn't sound bad, until the other information gathered from this topic is thrown in. The same test? Multiple retakes? Ha, ha, ha...no.
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Many teachers offer additional help after school hours for students with difficulties and there are special learning labs, Kamrath said.
That's pretty much already being done, and it does help those who don't understand the material. Though, many of the low grade scorers are just slackers, and wouldn't bother.
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Most middle school teachers are "really gung-ho" about this new way of teaching, he noted.
I'm a student and I think this idea is more dung than Borovan will ever want.
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And some of these new teaching techniques are being explored in the Elementary School.
It'll only work there, but only up until 3rd or 4th grade. otherwise the students will get a nasty shock when they hit middle school and recieve Cs and Ds (assuming they don't let it into the middle school...*shudders*).
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Yes, I'm still alive...still alive...