When I was a kid, silence was the norm in the classroom when we were working, studying etc. We listened to the teachers and we could hear them. They just had to speak clearly, not shout.
For years I've been saying that if I was a kid today, I'd be considered "learning disabled." The experts would diagnose me as suffering from "attention disorders." I didn't suffer from the "disorder" when I was a kid, since the classroom was quiet.
When I was in the Ariel College last week, I saw a student I know. She told me that she's supposed to get special testing conditions, in a quiet room, but it wasn't quiet, and she couldn't concentrate. I'm sure I would have been just like her if I was her age.
So I got a kick reading this NY Times article about how they teach the kids to be quiet and introspective. Today's world is just too noisy and over-stimulating.
When I was the girls gym teacher here, for 13 years hard to believe, I tried to teach my students to sit and be quiet. It was a punishment when they got too wild. The ones with the most difficulties were the ones with head lice. They couldn't keep their hands out of their hair.
2 comments:
I don't think my classroom has ever been quiet....really quiet. Seems like there is always some type of noise including the kid who will always say something just because he/she thinks it is "too quiet" and can't stand it.
I've tried putting quite music on during tests, but my male hs students don't like my taste. They like real noisy stuff, which defeats the purpose, or so I'd think.
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