Tuesday, February 23, 2021
Trade-grade
Speaking of long-term skill memory, here's an item that popped out this morning after sitting dormant and unremembered for 60 years.
In elementary school the teachers saved their own labor and helped the students gain more skills by trading and grading. After a quantifiable quiz in spelling or arithmetic, we traded papers and checked answers while the teacher read them off. The trading method wasn't constant, presumably to avoid partner collusion. Sometimes each column was a recirculating shift register, sometimes each row recirculated, sometimes the columns moved boustrophedon-style, with the NE student carrying his paper over to the SW corner.
This was good empathy exercise, letting us see how other people got answers wrong or right, and giving us practice in clerical work.
Why didn't I use this trick when I was teaching in the '80s? Did I actively decide against it, or simply didn't think of it? I don't remember the reason for that decision.
Labels: coot-proofing, skill-estate, TMI
¶ 12:44 PM
