Throughout the paper, Erlwanger explored the idea of independent study and showed how it is not a successful way of instruction. He investigated independent study through the system IPI, Independent Program Instruction, which consists of reading, practicing problems, taking quizzes and moving onto new material. Erlwanger’s particular test subject is one of IPI’s top students, Benny, whose mathematical schooling has been taught through this system. It is clear that the IPI system emphasizes Benny’s individualism and self-reliance, but IPI simply does not successfully teach Benny math. As Erlwanger talks with Benny, Erlwanger soon realizes that Benny’s perception of math is skewed. Benny over the course of years has formed many incorrect ideas about mathematical rules and procedures that he truly believes to be correct. Although there is a teacher, there is minimal interaction between Benny and his teacher because the teacher’s primary role is to be a grader that enforces the exact answers according to the key. Therefore, it becomes apparent that as a result of independent study, Benny has concluded many misconceptions and has actually suffered from not having a student-teacher relationship.
The idea of having a teacher-student relationship is applicable today. Without a teacher-student relationship, the student misses out on many opportunities for learning. The teacher plays a key role in the classroom by emphasizing certain ideas, directing discussions, preparing tasks, etc. As a result of independent study, the student simply does not have the chance to learn mathematics in a variety of ways that is possible with a teacher’s direction. While talking with other students about their favorite math classes, many accredited the liking to the teacher. Therefore, I am led to believe that the teacher has a very influential role in the classroom, and without a teacher-student relationship, the students’ success in mathematics will suffer such as in Benny’s case.
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I totally agree with the idea of having student-teaching relationships today. That has been most helpful for me in learning. I believe that the teacher plays the most important role in the student's learning and that apart from parents and family, needs to have the closest relationships with the students. I dont really disagree with anything you have written. I believe that your first paragraph was well written for me to understand if I had not read the article. good job!
ReplyDeleteI loved how your paragraphs flowed so well together, it was a perfect segue. And the idea of a student-teacher relationship was great too. I wrote about that as well, but didn't define it quite as well so I liked yours very much. Great job!
ReplyDeleteI thought that you had some very compelling arguments to support the need for a teacher-student relationship. And I agreed with everything you said. The closest thing that I could think of as a critique of your entry was that you may have been able to add another argument to why the relationship is important. I think an argument that goes really well with this paper is that if teachers are monitoring students then they will be able to correct any misconceptions that the students have (like all of benny's misunderstandings). I'm not sure you need this argument though, since you have supported the argument in so many different ways.
ReplyDeleteI would like to agree with what Dave said above, and add my own 2 cents. I think that the idea of a teacher being able to catch and correct misunderstandings is one of the fundamental points that Erlwanger is trying to make, so I would like to see that argument more prominently featured in the first paragraph. One of the best things about this entry is the clarity in which the IPI system is presented - the reader is left in no doubt about what is involved!
ReplyDeleteYou have a very clear topic sentence that summarizes a key point in the article.
ReplyDeleteOnce I give my main point, I wouldn't take so long getting back to it. I feel that the next few sentences could be summarized more concisely, possibly even included in the first sentence.
Once you get back to the main point, you do a good job showing evidence to support it.