Jarvik Joshi English 1102 Mrs.

Keaton 02/25/2013 Teaching Techniques in Focus Nelson Mandela once said, Education is the most powerful weapon which you use to change the world and this same ideology is shared by many other famous public figures in history and even today. It is safe to assume that since the value of education is significantly higher than before, educational system has come under extreme scrutiny. From researchers like Jean Anyon, who researched the educational system according to classes, to Stanley Kaplan who made career by teaching students about S.A.T tests and also Dr. Montessori to Earl Shorris who had their own institutions for education all scrutinized the educational system. Common factor talked about in their articles was different teaching methods in todays education. Many of the colleges look at SAT scores to assess a student and plays a crucial role on whether he or she is submitted to that college. Stanley Kaplans viewed SAT as a tool that would measure students ability to perform in future thus he focused on preparing students on acing the test. According to his beliefs, SAT measures students on critical thinking and application rather than pure memorization: Learning to ask the hows and whys of information was essential in preparing for the SAT because it tested students on reading comprehension, problem solving, math concepts, and vocabulary skills with questions that required them to comprehend and understand the subject matter. His teaching techniques consisted of repetition of similar material which led his students to be familiar and confident with the testing. Those students performed remarkably well than others which proved that his technique works and eventually led to the creation of Stanley Kaplan industry of test

preparation books. Bob Stenberg argues the idea of standardized testing in one of his talks at Tedx events. His arguments states that standardizes test like SAT were designed a long time ago where majority of test takers were white male who were in middle to upper class and went to good schools(Stenberg). He argues that since then, a lot of things have changed. Test takers have increased and consist of many diverse students which are not only diverse by race but by personality. He claims that standardize testing today fails to measure the true potential of a student. Tests like SAT only measure memory and analytical skills and fail to measure creative, practical, and wisdom based skills which are imperative for a job. He started a project named kaleidoscope where students are taught and tested on not only memory and analytics but also creativity and practicality which provides an overall perspective of the student. Part of the statement made by Bob Stenberg above said that students from middle to upper class went to good school. Classifying education according to socio-economic status of the student wasnt only done by Bob Stenberg but Jean Anyon as well. Her research included examining elementary school of different social statuses which included working class, middle class, affluent professionals, and executive elite class. Her observations differed from class to class suggesting that each class had different teaching methods. In her research for working class schools, she states that teachers teach for the sake of teaching, The teachers rarely explain why the work is being assigned, how it might connect to other assignments, or what the idea is that lies behind the procedure or gives it coherence and perhaps meaning or significance(Anyon). Even if students do the same problem a different way, they are told that their way is wrong even though they are right. Teachers wanted students to follow only what they taught which limited students ability to think on their own. Mr. Freires views are similar to what Mrs. Anyon found in her research. Mr. Freire implies that students are the depositories where teachers are depositors, the teacher issues communiques and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat (Freire). Her research and his quote both suggest that getting

education is pure memorization with no critical thinking. Students are taught enough to pass the exams. This is what Mr. Sternberg would disagree to. Affluent Professional class is where teaching methods takes a 180 degree turn from working class. Here not only teachers come up with different ways of teaching students so that they understand the material well but students are also involved in critical thinking, Work involves individual thought and expressiveness, expansion and illustration of ideas, and choice of appropriate method and material (Anyon). Earl Shorris followed the same ideology in his institution. Taking an example of a History class from his article, he talked about how the students in that class viewed pictures and were taken to actual museum to view the artifacts. Students learned about history through actual artifacts/demonstrations and not the history books. Similar activities were carried out in the affluent professional schools where students were given a chance to reenact the history and make a film which according to Dr. Montessori is very beneficial, Montessori students learn through sensory-motor activities, working with materials that develop their cognitive powers through direct experience: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching, and movement.