RE. strategies

[bmartin at utmem1.utmem.edu]

In article <35AE57CC.27DB at ln.nimh.nih.gov>, bjag at ln.nimh.nih.gov wrote:

> Karen Lona Allendoerfer (ka143 at columbia.edu) writes
> 
> > ending with a bio teacher who used to read
> > all our grades aloud and hand back our weekly tests in reverse order of
> > how we did, all the while telling us how grateful we would be when we
> > got to college.

[SNIP]
 
> I think that one thing that's very clear from this discussion is that
> people have very different teaching and learning styles. Undoubtedly
> some of the others with the same experience as me in math class remember
> the suffering and not the learning. How do we reach both kinds of
> learners (students who thrive on encouragement and students who thrive
> on competition), I wonder?

This is an important point.  IMO, any teacher who uses the same style with
every student is not doing a good job.  Each of us must use strategies to
reach students with different strategies for different students. 

The teachers in your's and Karen's examples only reach those students who
can get to ignore the bluster.  Students who can't will likely and not
because they are not capable.  These teachers have failed these students.

B. Martin