Joanne Lipman wrote an article about one of her teachers a long time ago, and how his method of teaching was beneficial and effective. She claims that we need to revive the old methods of teaching. These eight principles that she talks about explain why education should revert back to the strict discipline it once was. The eight principles she mentioned were: 1) A little pain is good for you, 2) Drill baby drill, 3) Failure is an option, 4) Strict is better than nice, 5)Creativity can be learned, 6) Grit trumps talent, 7) Praise makes you weak, and 8)... while stress makes you strong. Throughout these principles, the main focus is on discipline, and how much it can effect a student's life. She refers to William Klemm of Texas A&M University's argument that the U.S. needs to reverse the bias against memorization. She claims that drilling students is necessary for improvement.
After this article, I found several principles that I thought were necessary and some that I did not agree with. For instance, I do think that memorizing times tables may be important; however, learning to think independently and critically is just as important, if not more important. I found that most of the things Joanne was promoting was the complete opposite of what the Common Core Curriculum is starting to develop and incorporate into the classroom. She claims that drilling students is so important and that they learn best when they are stressed. However, I found that a lot of her principles could be effective if and only if there is a balance in the classroom. Too much stress for a student will overwhelm them to the point of quitting; just as, too much memorization will hinder a student's ability to think on their own and use their own reasoning. Finding a balance in your classroom is the key to successful teaching. Each and every class will be different, which is why knowing your students is so important for a teacher.
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