Animals in the Learning Environment

In classrooms all across the country there are little plastic cages with hamsters and gerbils trotting away on their wheels. Turtles or frogs or fish sit in aquariums minding their own business while young eager eyes peer in at them and high-pitched voices argue over whose turn it is to sprinkle a pinch of food into the water. Or, as was the case with my private school in Vermont, a few dogs and cats traipse the halls looking to be pet and played with by someone who isn’t stuck sitting in a desk at the time. In some schools, the animals are sent home with students to be taken care of—a tool meant to teach responsibility. In other schools, the pet in question is kept in the classroom as a sort of companion for the students. I have never seen any evidence, however, that keeping animals in class improves learning in any way.

I’m wondering if any of you think there are benefits to keeping pets in the classroom? What are they?

Response to Emily Burke: The Value of Work

Emily wrote in her blog: We don't pay people based on how valuable their job is, because we give the most money to athletes and movie stars instead of firefighters and teachers. So, why do we pay some workers more than others?

The answer to this question is obvious to me. People who bring more money in get paid more money. People buy tickets to go see athletes and movie stars perform. Their names sell merchandise like shirts and figurines. That’s also why people in those careers who are not as well known don’t make the same exorbitant amount of money as more popular and recognizable stars. Teachers and firefighters provide a greater service, yes, but those services don’t result in any sum of money being made. Unfortunately, it is all a business and based off of profits.

Question in response: What are some ways you can think of to get more recognition for those in occupations such as teaching and fire fighting that don’t receive as much money for their admirable work?

Block Scheduling

In my high school in Texas, we did not use block scheduling. We signed up for eight classes at the beginning of the year, and every single day we attended all eight classes, from September through May. We took midterms for all eight in December before winter break, and took finals for them at the end of the year. When I moved to Vermont, however, it was completely different. I hadn’t even HEARD of block scheduling before, and it took me ages to get used to it. Instead of taking eight classes throughout the year, we took three every day for one semester and a different three every day during the second semester. We had midterms for our fall classes in October and the finals in December. Then when we came back from break in January we start a whole new set of classes that had midterms in March and finals at the end of the year. This is, of course, not unlike the system here at MCLA. The strange thing, though, was that we also had two classes that we attended every other day throughout the entire school year that had midterms before winter break and finals before school let out for the summer.

On the one hand, I liked block scheduling because if I was taking a class I didn’t like, it only lasted one semester and I didn’t have to keep sitting through it all year. On the other hand, when I took a class I really liked I hated that it ended so soon.

Did your school have block scheduling? Do you think block scheduling is a better or worse idea than the tradition system?

Response to Mary Marcil: The American Dream

Mary posed the question, Who is happier? The person who goes to school for a long time and then goes into the workforce, or the person who learns from life?

In my opinion, if a person went to school and got their degree in, for instance, psychology and then ended up not making a successful career out of it and instead was only making enough to live off of or—worse—had to get a job outside their field in order to support themselves, they would not be as happy as someone who forewent school in favor of starting a life and exploring different experiences. That is to say, if you are going to be stuck in a less-than-glamorous job anyway and working just to make ends meet, I think you would be happier having skipped all that time spent in school instead of out in the world.

On the other hand, say you are one of the people who goes to school, gets his degree, and is highly successful in his field and makes a good amount of money and gets recognized as being influential and whatnot. I think that person would be happier than someone who forewent school in order to start living their life and seeking out new experiences and ended up a part of the average working class. The problem is, when we enter college we don’t know which one we will end up being; the one who gets a degree and makes it big, or the one who gets a degree and ends up a part of the working class anyway.

Question in response: Do you think it takes a great teacher or a great student to achieve greatness? That is, do you think a great teacher could make a successful student out of someone who is not interested in learning?

Trimesters vs. Semesters

The average American public school works on a semester system; you go to school for four months, have a few weeks off in the winter, then go to school for another four months, then have a few months off for summer. However, some schools use a trimester system instead, wherein students go to school for three months, have a month off, then go for three more months, followed by another month break, another three months in school, and another month break before the year school year starts. It is thought that by having the curriculum more spaced out and eliminating a lengthy break in between scholastic years that students will learn more effectively and better remember the information that they learn. I have never personally attended a school with a trimester system, but the thought intrigues me. I feel like it would be easier to deal with the workload if I have month-long breaks every three weeks instead of week-long breaks scattered throughout the school year. I also agree that students would forget information less easily if there wasn’t such a long summer break.

My question is this: Why do you think the semester system is more popular in schools than the trimester system?

Response to Mike Leja: Tough Yet Effective Teachers

Mike asked after a rather lengthy blog: Do you remember more from stricter, hard-grading, coercive teachers? Cool, enticing teachers? Any other type of teachers? Have you felt your attitude about certain teachers/teaching styles has shifted since beginning college?

When I think about these questions, the best way for me to answer them is by looking at the science teachers I’ve had over the years. Science is definitely the subject I’ve struggled with all of my academic career, and I’ve experienced many different teaching styles throughout it. In middle school, I was taught Earth Science by a man named Scott who was off the walls and joking around all the time, but had a strict grading policy and hard tests. This was ok, though, because he always found a cool way to help us relate to the information. The same went for my ninth grade Biology teacher. Although the material in both classes was difficult for me, I did well because of the teachers’ styles. When I took chemistry in tenth grade, my teacher had hard tests and graded harshly, but she wasn’t nearly as engaging and just regurgitated information for us. I struggled a great deal in that class. In eleventh and twelfth grade I had the same teacher—Ms. Spring—for courses in environmental studies and geology. Ms. Spring’s grading was very easy, and she was nice and passionate, but not particularly engaging. I did very well in her classes throughout the years. Looking back on it all now, I definitely remember information best from the two teachers that were crazy and engaging but tough graders. If the work was easy, I would have just done what I needed to get an A and then forgotten about it. Instead, I really learned what they taught me.

Question: Should students be allowed to switch out of a class just because they don’t like the teacher, even if there hasn’t been any real problems between the student and teacher?

More Hours, Less Homework?

In the last ten years, several schools across the country have been implementing “no homework policies.” After reading up some on the reasons for doing this, it seemed to come down to one of two things. Some schools eliminate homework and instead increase the length of the school day, believing that students do not learn effectively from homework and would benefit more from spending that time in the classroom instead. Other schools, however, have eliminated homework in favor of promoting more time spent outside playing and with family. I personally think the latter is perfectly reasonable and that no homework policies are a great idea. However, many people argue that doing homework cements concepts learned during the day in students’ brains. I suppose this does sort of make sense, since it gives students a chance to practice the material and discover any questions they might still have. Question: What do you think? Does homework help, or should no homework policies be put in place? Should school hours increase if they are?