A Teacher's Ruminations

In my conversations with teachers, and in no particular order, the following questions keep coming up. Some questions are borne out of a deep frustration with practices that are not working, and with students that don't do school the way teachers think they should.  I offer these questions as food for thought. In future posts, I will attempt to answer them from my current perspective as a middle school ESL teacher.  I welcome comments on any of these questions including new questions that need to be addressed. Whose responsibility is it to make sure students learn?  Is it the responsibility of parents?  Teachers? Students? Or, perhaps a combination of two or more of the above? What should teachers do to prepare students for an upcoming assessment?  Is that even the right question to ask? Is it enough to have students review material before a test?  What does that mean exactly? Should teachers provide study guides? If a teacher provides a stu...