Hello Ardith,

On Tue 2011-Sep-06 23:12, Ardith Hinton (1:153/716) wrote to Richard Webb:

AH>           Uh-huh.  Folks in Canada as well as the US also have the
AH> Vietnam war vets to thank for a bit of consciousness-raising about
AH> wheelchair access.  :-) 

YEp, and it gets better.  I still think any architect
designing such spaces should spend some time actually living in one though.


AH>  As a former teacher & as a parent, I expect to work on a
AH>  collegial basis with professionals.  AFAIC the real gems
AH>  actually appreciate that.  :-))

YEp, same with my profession.  The "talent" that gets it
understands that we're partners in presenting them to the
audience.  Funny thing, but they're usually the same as
those who build careers that last more than a year or two.

RW>  THose who really have a grasp of what's going on wish for
RW>  that sort of relationship with all the parents of their
RW>  students 


AH>           Those who really have a grasp of what's going on know how
AH> much there is still to be learned, when any one answer may raise ten
AH> more questions.  :-) 

That's always the way, answers beget more questions, at
least if you're truly thinking.



RW>  YEp, and it's difficult if at the learning stage you
RW>  use recorded books and readers to learn much about
RW>  your written language.


AH>           I imagine it would be!  Even now, I read to our young
AH> adult daughter on occasion.  It helps that (unlike the majority of
AH> other students I've known) she'll ask about words she doesn't
AH> understand.  If she doesn't ask directly, I can tell by her raised
AH> eyebrows or by a slight shift in her body position that she's
AH> puzzled about something.  I know she's paying attention because she
AH> will correct me if I've misread a word or she'll insist I look it up
AH> if she doesn't approve of my explanation.  For a teacher, it can't
AH> get much better than this. For a student, it's important to get
AH> feedback from the opposite direction too. Who else would notice &
AH> chuckle openly in delight, after all these years, when their kid
AH> uses a new word??  AFAIC a recording is no serious competition.  ;-)

EVery teacher I've ever interacted with who really gets it
lives for those moments.


RW>  tHe theory ended up further handicapping a generation
RW>  of blind youth, and that slide down the slippery slope
RW>  continues to this day.


AH>           I'm seeing much the same phenomenon WRT English grammar. 
AH> During the 1960's some influential linguists felt dictionaries
AH> should be descriptive, not prescriptive... and sought to improve on
AH> ye olde parts of speech etc.  The net result seems to be that very
AH> few people can write a coherent sentence nowadays unless they are in
AH> the "fifty-five plus" age category or learning English as a second
AH> language.  Parents thanked me for teaching traditional grammar
AH> during a time when other folks supported the idea that whatever the
AH> majority of kids in grade eight said was okay.  Although hindsight
AH> may be 20/20, there is no going back because the younger generation
AH> of teachers never learned this stuff.  :-( 

It was deemed unimportant.  YEs, I'm sloppy in echomail or
newsgroup posting, but if it's for business, or for long
term public consumption I make an effort.


RW>  WE reject what we don't understand, or try to ignore it
RW>  altogether.  THey started me in that "Sightsaver" thing
RW>  when I first started school, but my mother wasn't going
RW>  to have any of that nonsense.


AH>           And since her brother was blind, she knew whereof she
AH> spoke....  :-) 

Eh?  Missed that one somewhere.


RW>  SUch things have caused me over the years to develop a
RW>  bit of schepticism toward any professional that comes to
RW>  me with an attitude of "trust me, I know what's best for
RW>  you" and won't discuss his/her intended course of action
RW>  in much more detail than that.


AH>           Their preferred learning style is different from yours &
AH> mine.  They like to be told what to do, where you & I thrive on
AH> analyzing individual needs and doing whatever is necessary to
AH> maximize somebody's potential.  Whether the individual in question
AH> is a performer who wants you to make them sound good or a kid who
AH> can't relate to standard teaching methods we're in our element.  :-)


Has to be that way.  ONe size doesn't fit all.  What may
work for you might not work for me.  You have to admit it's
a little harder to do though.  IF you do it by rote, like
you were taught, so you teach others it's easy, just follow
the formula.  But, otoh if you want to try to reach the
student, or accomodate the performer in a different way
you've got to be thinking, you've got to fold in past
experiences and take your cues from what worked well in
similar situations, or ask a colleague who might know.
There are two problems with that, first, you have to do a
bit of cogitating, and then  you have to admit you
don't know everything to a colleague.  That's the tough one
right there.


Regards,
           Richard
---
 * Origin:  (1:116/901)