I think the most important point that he is trying to make is that the IPI system is bad because it is not built off of understanding. He has quite a few arguments to support this. Benny uses patterns rather than understanding to find his answers. This means that he uses a lot of memorization instead of actual understanding. Benny has not forgotten anything, but rather he has developed consistent methods for different operations. This means that it is not that he is confused, but that he has entirely learned the wrong things. The IPI system does not require or even encourage the help of teachers in the classroom. Because of this, the students are not even watched to make sure that they are learning the material correctly. The only way students get this help is if they specifically ask the teacher for it. Instead, they learn what the exact answer to each problem is from a test. This does not require knowledge again it is just memorization. This means that they are learning specific rules for every single problem which does not allow for understanding, but rather makes it impossibly difficult to learn all of the answers. As well as not having help from teachers the students don't work with one another. This causes many of the same problems that they have due to not talking with the teacher.
The argument that I would like to focus on is the role of the teacher in the classroom. This is valid today because it helps teachers to better see the impact that they have on students as opposed to tets impact on students. Teachers are a crucial part of the classroom. In the IPI system teachers were intentionally left out of the learning process this was supposed to let the students move at the pace that was best suited for them. However, as can be seen in the case of Benny, this will lead the students to learn the information incorrectly and it will not allow them to understand the underlying concepts.
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Your argument seemed very concise. It was nice. I definitely agree that the teacher needs to play a large role in classrooms today, unlike they did in classrooms using the IPI system. One thing I think could have strengthened the argument is to give a specific example of what teachers could do to better evaluate and aid their students.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree. Teachers are vital to the learning of mathematics. I know i would never be able to completely learn and understand mathematics on my own! I think what you said about not having a teacher leads to not understanding mathematics is true in most cases. I do think however that in some cases students may learn better learning individually.
ReplyDeleteYour topic sentence was perfect, very concise and guided the entire paragraph. I think that teacher classroom role is a valid point of inference from the article and I agree of its importance in classrooms today. I might not have generalized the fact that without teacher influence kids will learn incorrect information. Benny is only one source and is his case it is true, but it probably differs depending on the student.
ReplyDeleteI agree that teachers are essential in the learning process. Your point is a very valid point for today. I could have used more detail about why teachers are important today. I felt that the post really talked about why Benny needed a teacher, but didn’t give reasons why they are needed today.
ReplyDeleteYou did a nice job picking a main point and providing the evidence Erlwanger uses.
ReplyDeleteI would identify who "he" is in the first sentence. Make sure readers know who you are talking about.
I felt transitions from one argument to the next could have been a little smoother and easier to follow.