In contrast, Bowman argues that basic skills have to be taught in the context of activities that are meaningful to children and engage their interest. Children are encouraged to write stories even before they can read or spell, for example, so that they learn what letters and words are used for. But even the most ardent believers in progressive techniques concede that not all teachers, principals and schools may be up to the challenge. In terms of what gives you the biggest bang, if you can get kids engaged, if you can get a hook into them and make them take an active part in the learning process, that takes them farther than anything else I've seen. But I have a sense of how hard it is to make that stuff work.
People feel it is a protection from sloppy teaching.
But I don't think you protect children through scripted responses but rather through challenging interactions. But he, too, says that creating excellence and rigor require more time for teachers to think, talk with colleagues and plan. And even when that time has been made available, as it has at Washington Irving School, it takes time for the faculty to change. Maraldi says that 90 percent of Irving's teachers now teach as though they were coaches instead of lecturers and drill masters, but that it took seven years to get to that point. Diane Cooper, a mentor teacher at Von Humboldt School, was among the whole language pioneers in the city, and she argues passionately for the concept.