Teaching problems

Don't make these mistakes

I have been asked to help restructure a school’s reading program. They use “sight” word material, alas.

Which background color do you think looks better? The taupe looked good on a different screen…

Am I being too harsh? I found five-star reviews for products that I absolutely loathe with every fiber of my being. These poor kids. That poor, miserable 2nd grader can’t read a word that every 4-year-old in Montessori can read.

My thought was that the taupe background above was more mellow. But now that it is in this screen, it looks rather unappealing. What do you think?

Tips:

1. Never combine work in a worthless manner. Children in Montessori draw to illustrate their written work and title their artwork, but coloring in letters in this way is useless. It is worse than useless for this 2nd grader because his mother does not understand the problem.

2. Avoid useless products.

3. Never use busy work with a child. Instead, encourage them to play hide-and-seek, tag, or use pots and pans for drums. Heck, put on Dora the Explorer. Anything is better than these products.

4. Encourage movement whenever you need to keep a child busy!

5. Avoid technology for reading. More on that later. Hint — the iPad boasts of being arsenic-free.