At what point in one’s educational experience does the responsibility for learning shift from the teacher to the learner? Or does it? You may have seen the following eighth-grade graduation exam taken from an original document on file at the Smoky Valley Genealogical Society and Library in Salina, Kansas, and reprinted by the Salina Journal. Some individuals question whether eighth graders today could pass this test. What do you think?
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An 1895 Eighth Grade Final Exam: Salina, Kansas
Grammar Test: (Student has one hour to complete)
Give nine rules for the use of capital letters.
Name the parts of speech and define those that have no modifications.
Define verse, stanza, and paragraph.
What are the principal parts of a verb? Give principal parts of do, lie, lay,
and run.
Define case. Illustrate each case.
What is punctuation? Give rules for principal marks of punctuation.
7-10. Write a composition of about 150 words and show therein that you understand the practical use the rules of grammar.
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FIRST of all. . . .Allow me to introduce myself. I am not an expert; I am a “generalist,” and I might add, proud of it! Let me explain what I mean. I have advanced degrees and certifications and many, many, many years of experience as an educator (In real life, that’s just another way of saying, “I’m old!”). While many might assume that those qualities should make me an expert in some field, I can assure you I am not. Even with many years of education, I can tell you that I did not truly learn until I actually walked into a seventh grade classroom and had to “figure out” how to teach grammar---the material I had supposedly been “trained” to teach.
Fortunately, I found my gift. I take basic academic skills with which students tend to struggle, and I break those difficult skills into usable pieces that are understandable---or put another way, I make learning make sense. Since I have to understand the why’s, I assume others do as well. As a matter of fact, I’m a “master” at making up definitions and terms just to make a concept understandable. After all, who cares that a prepositional phrase is a group of words that expresses a relationship to another word or element in the clause. I’ve taught over thirty years and that definition still makes little sense to me an English teacher. However, if someone had told me that a prepositional phrase is a “detail”--- words added to a sentence to make it more interesting, now I understand why prepositional phrases are important. That makes sense!
Yes, I am a generalist; I have general knowledge that I can apply; I have an uncanny sense of helping others build strong foundations in math, grammar, writing, and reading because I focus on the whys.
My premise is simple. Foundational skills must be understood before higher levels of learning (and thinking) can occur. I hope you will join me as we explore learning together!
And . . . by the way, it’s nice to meet you!
