Why would someone wish to publish an article on the deficiency of a child's understanding? I believe Erlwanger did this not only to exploit the deficiencies in the Individually Prescribed Instruction (IPI) program itself, but also to stress to the reader the importance of a teacher-student relationship. These two ideas are manifest (1) in the way Erlwanger portrays the unfortunate situation of Benny's tragic misconceptions of decimals and fractions, with the problem partly being due to the fact that the IPI program provided example problems without rules as to why the answers to the examples were such. Benny was forced to concoct rules to solve the problems; and since answers could be represented in different ways, Benny came to believe with confidence that all his answers and rules were correct. (2) Much of Benny's misconceptions could have been avoided if Benny but had one to supervise his progress at a more intimate level. Erlwanger said that "in IPI, teachers are prevented by their role perception from understanding the pupil's conception of what he is doing." The teachers just "go by the key ... what the key says" and don't actually critique the work themselves. If teachers were more involved throughout the course of Benny's past four years of education, they could have had a true perception of Benny's progress.
One main point that is still valid today is the fact that teachers need to be involved with their students' education. For an illustration, I had an algebra class in high school that ran solely on a computer program called Aleks. It allowed students to move at their own pace, be independent, and, similar to Benny's situation, it basically eliminated the role of the teacher. I sympathized with Benny when he said that finding an answer was a chase, a search for patterns. I do not feel I learned as much as I could have if I had had an actual teacher. I appreciated how I could move at my own pace, but when comparing that year to the next (same teacher but in an ordinary class setting), I realize I remember more things from the second year rather than the first. Now, I realize Aleks gave me a more short-term instrumental understanding, while having an actual teacher gave me a more permanent relational understanding.
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Sarah,
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you had a personal example that related to Benny's situation and how you tied it back into one of the main points of Erlwanger's paper. It really helped me connect with your arguments. I personally have never had a situation where I learned math without a teacher in a normal classroom setting so it was helpful for me to hear of your situation in algebra. One thing that could have helped me understand even more from your comments would just be to specifically connect your argument in your second paragraph to examples from the article itself. Thank you for your post!!
I think you're right that Erlwanger wanted to discredit the IPI system. The two ideas you cite--Benny's poor understanding and the poor relationship between Benny and his teacher--are two pieces of evidence that Erlwanger uses to make his argument. However, there are other points that Erlwanger makes in the paper to show just how problematic IPI is.
ReplyDeleteI thought that your paragraph was very readable, and I think you communicated your thinking well. The only difficulty that I had with the paragraph organization was your use of the numbers 1 and 2. You use them to distinguish between the two different points. But the phrase leading up to 1 suggests that the numbers are going to be used to identify two contexts in which both points are made, and not to mark the separate points themselves.
I really like your anecdote explaining your point. It makes it much more personal for the reader. I never knew that programs like Aleks existed. I think your argument could have been stronger if you provided an example of how a teacher could get more involved in the individual student's learning.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed your entry and I think you did an excellent job of fulfilling the requirements for the blog. I especially thought that your use of a personal experience help validity your argument that there still is a problem today with this IPI teaching style. You also helped show that Benny’s case was not singular but also applied to you. You even were able to use a counter example to show that the opposite effect took place in a classroom when the teacher was involved.
ReplyDeleteI think that an argument can be strengthened whenever we make the argument more concise and exact. I saw the point of your argument throughout the paragraph, but I wouldn’t have truly understood what type of involvement was meant in the title paragraph. It would have helped the argument to have a more exact meaning to the topic sentence. But overall, you did a great job.
Sarah, You did a really good job following the instructions of the assignment. The personal insight is a nice addition. I'm having a hard time coming up with some constructive criticism.
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