Causes of school difficulties. Report on the topic: “preventing and closing gaps in students’ knowledge”



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Appendix to protocol No. 4

Speaker: Vardasheva T.N.

Working to fill gaps in students' knowledge.



One of the main problems that teachers in our schools have to solve is working with low-performing students. Low-achieving students are considered to be those who have weak mental abilities and weak learning skills, a low level of memory, or those who lack effective motives for learning. It is no secret that such students exist in schools. To prevent this category of students from falling into the category of underachievers, systematic work with low-performing students is necessary. I would like to focus on working with lagging students in the Russian language.
In big and important issue In the fight against student failure and improving the quality of knowledge, I see two sides: the problem of preventing failure and the problem of eliminating gaps in students’ knowledge.
The failure of students is generated by numerous and varied reasons, depending both on the teacher himself (his experience, training, his methods) and on the student himself. The efforts of all teachers should be aimed at eliminating the causes that result in student failure. Prevention of underachievement is carried out by organizing classes as a whole.
Working with lagging students requires a mandatory individual approach to students, as well as individual assignments for individual students. These assignments should be considered additional to those given to the whole class.
A student who is behind has to do more work than a student who is doing well. Therefore, these tasks should be small. For example, a small card from didactic material.
In every class, as we know, there are students who have serious gaps in knowledge and skills. These students experience great difficulties in working on educational material and need constant attention from the teacher both in class and outside of class. Only under this condition can such students close knowledge gaps and rise to the level of the entire class.
The first thing individual work begins with is studying students, gaps in their knowledge and the reasons for these gaps, psychological characteristics, etc.
Carefully studying my students, I see that some have unstable attention, it is difficult for them to concentrate on the educational material, others strive for mechanical memorization of rules and conclusions, and others are slow in their work.
Some students have more developed visual memory, others - auditory memory, and still others - motor memory. In any class there are students who do not master the discipline of mental work. This manifests itself both during the presentation or repetition of material and also in to a greater extent in progress independent work. The teacher's task is to study individual characteristics students and provide them with timely assistance, facilitate their work on educational material. When organizing individual work with students, it is important to arouse their interest in classes and the desire to close gaps in knowledge, and for this it is necessary to instill in them confidence in their abilities. It is necessary to reveal to students the reasons for their lagging behind and indicate ways to eliminate the gaps; it is necessary to closely monitor students, help them in class and with homework, and mark them the slightest success. The desire to learn is formed in the process successful work over the material, so it is important to organize individual assistance in such a way that the student constantly feels that he is moving forward. As experience shows, often even minor progress inspires students, excites them to work more intensively and increases interest in classes, and this ensures their successful mastery of the material. Some people believe that individual assistance to students only means working with them outside of class. This, of course, is not true. Individual work with students means, first of all, constant attention to each of them during the lesson: during questioning of students, in the process of presenting and consolidating the material, as well as when explaining homework.
Group additional classes are organized only in the most exceptional cases.
Such groups should be small in terms of the number of students involved. These are mainly those students who missed classes for some reason or those who do not understand something.
How do I organize individual work with students?
First of all, I try to identify weak and strengths For each student, I keep track of which students are lagging behind in what areas, and which rules make mistakes.
When doing written exercises and checking homework, I pay special attention to those who are lagging behind: I give them individual assignments, and work with each student on their mistakes. When analyzing errors, I pay the main attention to typical mistakes, which are encountered by many students in control dictations. We look at these mistakes in class.
The main thing is individual work with each lagging behind. To take into account mistakes in the Russian language, I keep a special notebook in which a page is allocated where the topic of the lesson is recorded (which is difficult for children and is put + or – next to each surname). Having established what mistakes this or that student makes, I give an assignment according to the textbook or card on this rule. After each control dictation, words on those rules that the students have already mastered are crossed out on his card, and new words, in the spelling of which errors were made in the dictation, are added to the card. The valuable thing about this form of organizing individual homework for students in the Russian language is that it does not require cumbersome accounting. Preparing for this work is also not labor-intensive for the teacher. In my work I also use individual cards. Individual additional work of students has a great effect. But it requires the hard work of the student and the teacher, since the student needs to do additional work, and the teacher needs to check.
Very good welcome working on errors is, in my opinion, such a method. I write down errors from 2 - 3 control dictations with their explanation. After the children have meaningfully mastered the rule and studied the words in which they made mistakes, they are given an independent task: write a creative dictation or essay using words and sentences with errors.
Test work based on your mistakes is very useful. The forms and methods of individual work in Russian language lessons are varied. When preparing for a lesson, I plan which of the students to give more time for preparation during the survey, and which less, who to ask at the table, at the board, who to give a card.
When interviewing 1 student, I focus on the practical part of the material, on the ability to apply the rule, from another I demand an explanation of the meaning of the rule, from 3 - to achieve a clear, consistent retelling according to plan. As additional material: 1 – analysis of the composition, 2 – explanation of the spelling of words, 3 – declension or conjugation of words.
Individual work with students when explaining the material plays a big role. It can take a variety of forms: I address some students with questions, offer others examples, and still others involve them in analyzing illustrations. It activates educational process, involves all students in the work and helps those who are lagging behind to learn the material. I also decide the question of which student should be given what task, taking into account their individual characteristics.
If a student is characterized by instability of attention, i.e. inattentive, I turn to him with questions, involve him in the analysis of examples, suggest repeating the relevant provisions, for students who memorize the material mechanically, I suggest choosing their own examples, explaining spellings or punctuation marks, retelling the rule in your own words.
As didactic material during presentation, I use examples in which students made mistakes in written work.
Mastering spelling is a complex process. There are many different ways to master spelling. They arise not only from the specifics educational material, but also from the psychological characteristics of children. The teacher must take into account these features and, above all, all types of student memory.
In practice, this means that in the process of explanation, the teacher must combine the word with clarity, the story with elements of conversation, the analysis of examples written on the board with the analysis of examples selected by the students, since children have different memories: visual, auditory, motor. Consolidating spelling material is one of the most important stages of the lesson.
One of the common shortcomings in teaching the Russian language is the underestimation of auditory tasks, especially during consolidation. When doing class or homework, students usually perceive the spelling visually, reinforcing its visual image only with motor perception. The sound image, as a rule, does not participate in this process. It is not surprising, therefore, that even successful students make mistakes in auditory dictations to this rule. This is explained simply: in the process of working on the material, students were focused on visual and motor perception of spellings, and during dictation - on auditory, that is, on that type of memory that was not involved in working on the material. From this it is clear: when working on a spelling grammar, the teacher must combine tasks in such a way that all types of students’ memory participate in its assimilation. To this end, I practice pre-talking individual words(words with unpronounceable consonants, unchecked vowels, etc.) I conduct warning and explanatory dictations.
I also provide an individual approach to students when preparing for test work. I begin preparing for the dictation a few days before it takes place. Before the dictation, I inform you what needs to be specifically repeated. I give words for memorization that are difficult and can be found in dictation, I conduct training in punctuation marks, and we analyze words according to their composition. When the dictations are written, students check them. The inspection is carried out purposefully, under my leadership. For example, I suggest they first find and check the spelling of all nouns, then find adjectives and verbs. After such a check, they read the text again and hand in their notebooks. Sometimes, when the work is submitted, I ask what seemed most difficult. Then I write down difficult spellings on the board. On fresh tracks correct spellings are better retained in the students' memory.
I begin individual work with students from the very beginning of the school year. And I conduct classes after school only when the student missed a lot or did not understand the material. If a student is not conscientious about completing a task, I demand that he do it again, and sometimes I leave him behind after class. In other cases, I work individually with each lagging student. I practice keeping notebooks for additional work. Depending on the nature of the mistakes, I put a task card in the student’s notebook. You should not give several cards at once - so as not to burden students with work. Students willingly work on their mistakes with the help of task cards. Each independent work on correcting errors is checked by the teacher and grades are given in the journal on a par with grades for test papers.

RULES FOR TEACHERS WHEN WORKING WITH “LOWER” STUDENTS


1. Believe in the abilities of the “underperforming” student and try to convey this faith to him.
2. Remember that it takes time for a “low achiever” to understand the material covered. You can't rush him.
3. Each lesson is a continuation of the previous one. Repeating basic material multiple times is one of the techniques for working with “low-performing” students.
4. Instilling hope in children that they will remember and understand the material, give them the same type of tasks more often (with the teacher, with the class, on their own).
5. Working with “low-performing” children requires a lot of work and patience. Gradual development memory, logic, thinking, interest in learning.
6. Don't chase after a large number new information. Choose the main thing from the material you are studying, repeat it many times and consolidate it.
7. Know how to win such children over. Communication is the main component of any technique. Only then will you receive the result of your training.
8. Learn how to manage your classroom. Lessons should be varied, then students' attention will be focused on the material being studied.
9. Having started to work purposefully with “low-performing” children, remember: after some time, their group will again be divided into capable, average and... “low-performing” children.
10. Learn to involve stronger children in teaching “underachieving” children. We presented the material, interviewed the strong ones - put them with the “weak” ones, and let the studies continue.

1. When surveying, “low-performing” students must be given an answer algorithm; allow the use of the plan drawn up when preparing homework; give more time to prepare for the answer at the board; allow making preliminary notes and using visual aids.
2. If possible, ask students guiding questions that will help them present the material consistently.
3. Systematically check the mastery of the material on the topics of lessons in which the student was absent for one reason or another.
4. Create an atmosphere of goodwill during the survey and when analyzing its results.
5. In the process of studying new material, the attention of “low-performing” students is drawn to the most complex sections of the topic being studied. It is necessary to turn to them more often with questions that clarify their understanding of the educational material, to encourage students to ask questions if they have difficulties in mastering new material.
6. During independent work in class, low-performing students are recommended to be given exercises aimed at eliminating mistakes they make during oral answers or in written work.
7. It is necessary to note positive aspects in their work, difficulties and indicate ways to eliminate them, provide assistance while simultaneously developing independence in learning.


Why do children have difficulty at school?

The number of students with learning difficulties is increasing every year. From the very first days of school, a group of students is identified who have difficulty mastering the curriculum in basic subjects.

You should pay attention to the very first manifestations of school difficulties, because this is when the child begins to seriously lag behind in his studies, losing interest in it and losing faith in his abilities. If at the same time he is punished by both the teacher and the parents (with reprimand or more drastic measures), then the desire to learn disappears for a long time, and sometimes forever. The child begins to consider himself helpless, incapable, and all his efforts as useless. Psychologists are convinced that learning outcomes depend not only on whether a person is able or not to solve a problem, but also on how confident he is that he can solve this problem. If failures follow one after another, then naturally there comes a moment when the child says to himself: “No, I will never succeed.” If “never”, then there is no need to try! Abandoned by mom or dad by the way: “Well, how stupid you are!” - aggravate the child’s insecurity. Not only a word, but also just an attitude that you demonstrate (even unintentionally) with a reproachful look, intonation, gesture, sometimes speaks louder words to the child. Sometimes parents make excuses: “I’m not scolding him for his grade, but can he sit quietly in class?!” The fact is that for a child it is not so important what you are dissatisfied with, what you scold for, what you reproach for - for bad grades or for bad behavior, for fidgeting in class, or for not understanding the teaching assignment. There is only one meaning: they scold me - it means I’m bad, I’m not good for anything.

1. Weak level of development of abilities

Each child has his own level of development of memory, thinking, attention and his own limits of capabilities. Some people easily study with straight A's, while others need to make a huge effort to get a solid C'. If you suspect that your child is not a good student for this very reason, your assumption can be confirmed or refuted by child psychologist. He will conduct a series of psychodiagnostic studies and tell you whether the child’s intellectual capabilities allow him to successfully master the school curriculum.

2. Gaps in knowledge in academic subjects

Basically, this problem occurs in children who are often absent from school, or in children with a slow pace of assimilation of information (they do not have enough educational time to understand and learn the topic, and the class is already moving on). school curriculum). Gradually increasing, such gaps in knowledge on the subject lead to the fact that the child needs to make more and more efforts to understand new material.

3. Excessive requirements for academic performance

Many parents want to be proud of their child’s successes and dream that he gets only good grades at school. But what efforts should the child himself make for this? Can he always meet your expectations?

High demands, especially in combination with various punishments for non-fulfillment, often create in the child the feeling that his parents love and accept him only when he is successful and has something to be proud of. And then, if the child is able to fulfill the demands of his parents, he studies well at any cost. Including at the cost of lack of sleep, refusal to communicate with friends, hobbies, etc. This can lead to overwork, nervous breakdowns, depression, fear of making a mistake and other negative consequences.

It is even sadder if the child is not able to fulfill the demands of his parents, for various reasons: lack of abilities, not enough willpower to sit for hours on textbooks, etc. Then, when faced with failure (low grades), the child experiences it acutely. Parents often aggravate the situation with their criticism and dissatisfaction. All this is repeated time after time, the child feels helpless and gradually ceases to believe in his own abilities, resulting in: loss of interest in learning, refusal to do homework, truancy, keeping double diaries (for parents and for school), etc. .

4. Inability to subordinate your behavior to rules and requirements

It is important to note here that there are children who cannot and children who physically cannot control their behavior (children with hyperactivity and attention disorders, neurological diseases, etc.)

Problems caused by physiological characteristics brain activity, as a rule, cannot be compensated only by measures of pedagogical and psychological impact, here we also need medical care. In cases where we're talking about about the inability and unwillingness to obey existing requirements, our efforts will be aimed at creating a positive attitude towards the rules, developing learning motivation, actualizing the need to be accepted and, possibly, restructuring the entire system of norms and rules of behavior. This may require a long time and deep joint work by the child himself, his parents and the psychologist.

5. Conflicts at school (with children or teachers)

This problem is quite rare among children studying in primary school; parents of teenagers often face this problem. The fact is that there is very big difference between these two ages. For children of primary school age, academic success is very important, so classmates who study well and do not experience behavior problems evoke the greatest sympathy. For them, the teacher is most often an important and authoritative person.

For teenagers, everything is completely different: for them it is more important how they look in the eyes of their peers, whether they enjoy the authority and respect of their peers, whether their classmates accept them. The importance of the figure of the teacher and school success fade into the background. Therefore, in order to solve the problem of relationships in the classroom, a younger student needs to become successful in his studies, but for a teenager, on the contrary, conflicts in the classroom can provoke a significant drop in academic performance. And only by resolving the relationship issues that concern a teenager at school can he concentrate on his studies.

Conflicts happen in any team, and if a child knows how to deal with them, then there is nothing wrong with it. Danger occurs when the situation gets out of control and becomes unfavorable for the child (affects his status in the team, emotional well-being, right to receive objective grades, etc.).

6. Lack of interest in learning

This reason is rarely found on its own; much more often, reluctance to learn is a consequence of various difficulties that the child faces in connection with school: failures, conflicts, frequent criticism of teachers and parents, a constant feeling that he is worse than others, etc. That is, any of the problems described above can lead to a lack of interest in studying. In this case, it is necessary to understand what the primary problem is and pay special attention to solving it.

Only by understanding what factors led to a decrease in academic performance and reluctance to study can you effectively help your child. After all, different cases require different methods of assistance.

What can parents do if school difficultiesdid they appear?

First – do not consider them as a personal tragedy, do not despair and, most importantly, try not to show your grief and dissatisfaction. Remember: your main task is to help the child. Therefore, accept and love him for who he is, then it will be easier for him at school.

Second – tune in and get ready for the fact that you will have to work together for a long time with your child (he will not be able to cope with his problems alone).

Third – your main help: maintain his confidence in his abilities, try to relieve him of the feeling of tension and guilt for failure. If you are busy with your own affairs and take a moment to ask how you are doing or scold, this is not help, but the basis for new problems to arise.

Fourth – forget the phrase “What did you get today?” Do not immediately ask your child to talk about his school activities, especially if he is upset or upset. Leave him alone, he will tell you everything if he is confident in your support.

Fifth – do not discuss the child’s problems with the teacher in his presence. It's better to do it without him. Never reproach or scold your child if his classmates or friends are nearby. You should not emphasize the successes of other children or admire them.

Sixth – he should be interested in doing homework only when you constantly help him. At working together be patient. After all, the work of overcoming school difficulties is very tiring and requires the ability to restrain yourself, not raise your voice, calmly repeat and explain the same thing several times - without reproaches or irritation. Typical parental complaints: “I have no strength... I’ve exhausted all my nerves...” usually such classes end in tears: “I can’t hold back, I scream, otherwise I’ll crack.” Do you understand what's going on? An adult cannot restrain himself, but the child is to blame. All parents feel sorry for themselves, but very rarely for their children...

For some reason, parents think that if there are difficulties in writing, they need to write more; if he doesn’t read well, read more; If he doesn’t think well, solve more examples. But this tedious, unsatisfying activity kills the joy of the work itself! Therefore, do not overload your child with what he cannot do.

It is very important that nothing interferes with you during classes, so that the child feels that you are with him and for him. Never demand that your child immediately begin completing a task on his own. First, go over everything with him, make sure that everything is clear to him.

It is equally important to decide which adult is best for your child to do homework with. Moms are usually softer - but they often lack patience, and emotions can be over the top... Dads are tougher, but calmer. Try to avoid such situations when one of the adults loses patience and calls the other one to take over and “for punishment.”

A child who has problems at school will only in rare cases fully know what is assigned to him at home. And there is no malicious intent here: the fact is that homework is almost always given at the end of the lesson, when the class is already noisy, and your “lagging” student is tired and can hardly hear the teacher. Therefore, at home he can quite sincerely say, “Nothing was asked.” In this case, ask your classmates about your homework.

When preparing homework, the total duration of continuous work should not exceed 20-30 minutes. Pauses after such work are required!

Do not strive at any cost and without wasting time to do everything at once.

Seventh – try to find contact with the teacher, because the child needs help and support from both sides.

Eighth – the most important thing when helping a child is reward for his work, and not only in words. Unfortunately, parents often forget about this. And if this is not done, the child, starting to work, may think: “There is no point in trying, no one will notice my success.” Remuneration is required; it could be a walk together, a trip to the zoo, to the cinema...

Ninth – Children with school problems need a measured and clear daily routine. We must not forget: such children are usually restless and not collected, which means that it is not at all easy for them to adhere to the regime.

If a child has difficulty getting up, do not jerk him, do not rush him, do not push him too much; Better set your alarm clock half an hour earlier.

Perhaps the most difficult time is the evening, when it’s time to go to bed. Parents are trying to get their little student to bed as quickly as possible, but he is stalling for time as best he can. Often this ends in a quarrel, tears, and reproaches. And then the child cannot calm down and fall asleep for a long time... You can give him some freedom (by allowing him to go to bed not exactly at nine, but from nine to half past nine). Complete rest (without any academic tasks) on Sunday and especially during the holidays is very important.

Tenth , and lastly, the timeliness and correctness of the measures taken significantly increases the chances of success. Therefore, if you yourself cannot determine what is preventing your child from succeeding in educational activities and how to help him, or if you are not entirely sure of the correctness of your position in relation to the child, it is best to seek help from specialists (psychologist, teacher, speech therapist, neurologist, child psychiatrist). They will help establish the cause of school difficulties and tell you how to get out of the current situation. And follow all their recommendations!

Everyone has knowledge gaps.
They could appear for a variety of reasons, sometimes completely beyond the control of the children.
Someone got sick and missed school. This is the most common cause of whitespace. After all, some topics are not presented in the best way in textbooks.
And someone’s teacher got sick. And when I went back to work, I was forced to make up time: the teacher did not include school absences in the hourly program.
This year classes were canceled due to the flu epidemic. This means that all teachers will try to make up for lost time.
One of the guys misunderstood something during the lesson. Does a child have the right to misunderstand or misunderstand something?
Believe me, the list of reasons can be continued indefinitely. But it’s better to talk not about the causes, but about the consequences.

1. Gaps in knowledge are a problem, but a fixable problem

Therefore, when faced with a gap in your child’s knowledge, do not be upset, but rejoice. It's very good that you discovered the gap. Why?
Gaps in knowledge are like unhealed wounds. They disturb a person, bring inconvenience, and limit freedom. In school life they can result in unpleasant surprises in the form of bad grades. It turns out that gaps in knowledge are the source constant stress, which exhaust the child, undermine self-confidence and interfere with life. Often, guys cannot determine for themselves what their gaps are. The child knows that he does not know something. That's all. Why is there an error in parsing? Doesn't know why. The child is not able to understand that when he had a sore throat three years ago, they explained at school new material, which is not even in the textbook. This is true about sore throat, just as an example; the reasons, as we have determined, may be different.

2. Helpful Assumption

Be sure to make an assumption: perhaps my child has other knowledge gaps. Believe me, it is rare when such an assumption is not confirmed. Why? Because language is a system, not a random collection of random elements. If a child does not know one element, then he does not know the connections of this element with others. This means that properties, signs, functions, the very nature of entire classes of phenomena are incomprehensible to him.
In order to figure out what a child knows and what he doesn’t know, and if he knows, does he fully understand, on this site there is

  • section Test of strength,
  • headings Test of strength. Final test in each chapter of the theoretical section of Russian grammar. Handbook of theory for grades 5 - 11.

Any child can undergo diagnostics and find out what gaps in knowledge they have.

3. If there are mistakes in your child’s notebooks, treat them thoughtfully

Errors in writing are one thing, but in parsing - another.
Many errors are symptomatic. Often different errors have the same cause. To understand it means to find the right path. Since language is a system, errors can be systemic in nature.
Imagine yourself as a doctor. On the one hand, one disease has different symptoms. On the other hand, individual symptoms of different diseases may coincide. Successful treatment requires correct diagnosis.
The same situation occurs with errors. Mistakes are not the disease itself, but symptoms of trouble. In order to collect such symptoms and understand them, to determine their causes, we suggest taking tests on the site as regularly as trainings.

4. If a child has a lack of knowledge, then the natural question is: where to get it, from what source to draw it?

Pick up your child's textbook. This is also a source of knowledge, or rather, one of the sources.
Read the paragraphs. One by one. Thoughtfully. Spend an hour of your time on this activity. Then evaluate what you have learned. Is this a lot or a little? Remember, the child does not have your experience with information. This means that the amount of material he has learned will be even less, and the amount of time he will spend will be even greater.
Even if you are satisfied with the content of the paragraphs in the school textbook, think about the fact that this source of knowledge is not always at hand. What to do if the topic was studied last year? Two, three years ago? Our school has a long-standing tradition of giving out books to children at the beginning of the school year and taking them away at the end. Not all parents can buy all school textbooks. It's expensive, I assure you. And where to store them? Most of our families live in very cramped conditions. And how do you know which books to buy? Which ones are more needed?
This site is also a source of information. Wander through the study sections for one hour. Compare the effectiveness of the presentation of the material here and in the school textbook.

5. Knowledge comes through understanding, awareness

Never force your child to learn rules from a textbook without understanding. It's not useless - it's harmful. You will achieve nothing but disgust towards the subject.
If you are a supporter of traditional technologies, then first figure it out yourself. Think over the general logic, as well as all the details and little things. Then convey the essence to the child. Explain simply, understandably, like a little one. Then be sure to check how the child understood you.

  • JavaScript,
  • ReactJS
  • Website development
    • Translation

    Yesterday I spoke with a friend who is looking for a developer to fill an open position. He expressed some of the frustration I've been feeling lately:

    I'm having trouble finding a front-end developer, mainly for WP, Foundation, CSS, JS, for a low-level position. I can't figure out what's wrong. None of the candidates have a “basic knowledge” of any of the above. But they can make websites using React or other JS frameworks, or based on WP templates. But if I say that I need to make simple changes in CSS, they look blankly... Or some little thing in pure JS, nothing.
    There is no shortage of boot camps, courses, and resources to learn front-end development. But I've interviewed a bunch of guys at these boot camps and I think they seriously underestimate the importance of CSS and JavaScript fundamentals.

    Of course, there are limits to how much you can learn in 12 weeks of study. But a huge part of the problem is that our industry embraces the new, obsessing over the latest and greatest SPA frameworks, while devaluing CSS and “old” implementations.

    Admiration for the new

    Our industry is excited about new approaches to development. How else can you explain the constant desire to throw away all the work and “redo it from scratch” every time a new, better and more complex framework appears? Every time we claim that this will lead to a cleaner, simpler, perfectly abstracted architecture, and every time we end up reinventing wheels, recreating bugs and rediscovering all the edge cases that lead to the same ugly code again.

    This doesn't mean that nothing is ever worth rewriting, or that new is never better. We just fell victims to the cult of free stuff and the idea of ​​ideal abstraction. Every new architecture is ideal until it encounters the harsh conditions of the real world. Unfortunately, people are quite chaotic creatures, and all our software is created to solve human problems. That's why every real-world program ends up with leaky abstractions, awkward edge cases, and new trade-offs.

    This race to endlessly tinker and focus only on the latest and greatest often leads to abandoning previous solutions to problems that end up resurfacing. It also leads us to use new tools in completely inappropriate areas, simply because they are new.

    Obsession with the latest and greatest SPA frameworks

    As a frontend development mailing list contributor, I see this problem every day during the current SPA boom. I read a lot of articles where the authors write about different technologies, and believe me, almost everyone in the JavaScript world writes about one or another of these frameworks as if it were a completely new and unique innovation. While these are great tools, each one is designed to solve a specific problem. They are based on a similar basis and make different choices depending on the tasks for which they are optimized.

    You can take React as an example because it has been advancing so much in the last few years...

    Don't get me wrong, I love React. This is a phenomenally powerful tool. It not only makes it possible, but also simple creation interfaces that seemed unrealistic when I started web development. However, newbies in the industry come and see all the hype about React and assume that this is the only truth about how to write JavaScript. Make a new web application? Use React! Custom blog template? React! Remake an old website? Switch to React!

    This is a disastrous approach to using technology! And don't listen to me, listen to one of the most prominent developers in the React community, Dan Abramov! When asked by Corey House to comment on React's shortcomings, Dan gave the most detailed description:


    “Its performance is worse than templates if many things are updated extremely quickly at the same time. For example, applications for stock trading"


    “For the sake of the expressive capabilities of language, memory is sacrificed. React applications tend to make more short-term memory allocations under heavy load."


    “It's basically designed around Facebook's needs. So if your applications are very different from what Facebook does, then React may not be suitable for your needs."

    This is only part of it, but Dan's openness prompted Corey to answer:
    "I must say I'm amazed that best list reasons Not using React came from you, Dan. Really admire such a frank and detailed answer."

    Obviously Dan has no illusions that React is perfect for everything; he is well aware of the compromises that the developers have made! But such a large part of the community is in a hurry to switch to SPA frameworks for everything and completely ignore the fact that these tools solve specific problem areas. Yes, they are phenomenal tools and great fun to work with... but they are often completely unsuited to solving problems in other areas.

    By elevating frameworks over everything else, we overlook solutions that are much more suitable for these areas.

    Depreciation of CSS

    There has been a tendency in the industry to disparage HTML and CSS as "not real development" and inferior. I think this comes from the emphasis on logic over graphical/spatial thinking... CSS and HTML embody hierarchical, graphical, and spatial relationships, while JavaScript focuses primarily on logic.

    But the great thing about logical languages/expressions is that they can often include other types of relations... which allows spatial relations to be expressed in logical language. However, we in the industry often misinterpret this large breadth of possible expression as meaning that the expression in that language is strictly superior.

    This is wrong!

    In fact, if you look at examples from mathematics and physics, it is often the opposite! In these areas, if you start with a logical model, you are often desperate to find a spatial or graphical model that can be applied there.

    The reason is that these spatial models often reveal much more intuitive or succinct ways of representing problems - and they lead to important insights and conclusions that we then painstakingly try to translate back into logical form.

    CSS provides an incredibly powerful framework for expressing graphical and spatial relationships, sometimes extremely complex ones!

    Maintaining Complexity

    This brings me to my key point about software development - maintaining complexity.

    Every problem being solved has some inherent level of complexity, and that complexity has to be accounted for somewhere.

    This comes up in many cases, but this example deals with the complexity of expressing graphical and spatial relationships. Various elements on the page are spatially interconnected with each other incredible in a complex way on different levels, especially taking into account the manipulation and movement of these elements. This complexity has to be accounted for somewhere, and with CSS the browser does almost all the work for you!

    There is an *incredibly large* amount of JavaScript code written simply because the developer doesn't know CSS well enough.


    "This is true. I worked on a project where 2000 lines of JS did something that was already implemented in position: absolute, simply because the developers didn't understand it."

    What to do?

    I'm not trying to say that we shouldn't use or teach people the latest and greatest the best tools. SPA frameworks like React, Angular, Vue, and Ember allow you to create incredibly powerful experiences on the web that simply weren't possible just a few years ago. These tools have truly changed the landscape of what is possible to do online.

    But I believe that the elitism of SPA should be eradicated and the importance of fundamental knowledge and choosing the right tools should be re-emphasized.

    The creators of these frameworks rarely claim they're good for everything, but we in the industry have elevated them to such an extent that newbies skip learning entirely basic principles and assume that this complex toolkit is the only “correct” way to solve their problems.

    If all new developers look down on CSS, we'll end up with 2000 lines of JavaScript trying to re-implement position: absolute; .

    If all the new developers decide that new code HTML and JavaScript can only be written through SPA, then we will end up with extremely overdesigned, buggy and laggy blogs, marketing sites and everything else that is now well implemented on old technologies.

    We need to have a serious conversation about what skills we expect developers in our industry to have and what we teach them. It's fine to start training a newbie at a boot camp, but there is a serious gap between today's boot camp graduates and what the industry demands. It may be unrealistic to expect to meet these requirements after 8-12 weeks of training, but you should at least get them on the right path.

    To the basics curriculum

    I haven't put together a web development tutorial, but there are a few things I would definitely include. They are listed below with links to free and paid resources for deeper exploration, but what would YOU include on the list? Write in the comments.

    CSS

    1. Basic box model in CSS(box model). This is the number one fundamental that you MUST understand. A free resource I recommend is Shay Howe from his free course Learn to code HTML & CSS. On the paid side, especially if you're more comfortable with audiovisual content, my friend James Stone has a nice video course on the box model in CSS.
    2. CSS Specificity. This is another one important basis, which you need to understand if you are going to get into web development. Without a solid understanding of specificity, you'll continually try to make your CSS code work the way it should. Smashing Magazine has a great review to get you started.
    3. Flexbox. Flexbox specifications have revolutionized layout methods, and you should definitely take advantage of this technology. Best resource on Flexbox I've seen is this reference from CSS Tricks. If you're looking for a video course on Flexbox, check it out.
    I would like to share my experience in closing gaps in students’ knowledge. I believe that in order to work successfully with each student, a teacher needs to know his home conditions for academic work, gaps in knowledge and their reasons, take into account his interest in the subject, relationship with the class team and directly with the teacher.

    The main reasons for the existing gaps in students’ knowledge, in my opinion, are the following:
    1) ignorance of the cognitive characteristics of students;
    2) inattention in class, failure to fully understand the material presented;
    3) a large number of absences due to illness;
    4) the skill of the teacher - teacher and pedagogue;

    About two latest reasons Enough has been said in the pedagogical literature. Therefore, I will focus only on the first three reasons for student failure.
    Lagging behind peers in mental development. Children with delayed mental development or weak mental development should be included in this category. What to hide, you have to work with such children ordinary class. But these children are excitable, easily wounded, and quickly get tired in the process of mental labor. Therefore, it is necessary to create such a microclimate in the classroom so that both they and their comrades do not feel big difference in your mental development, exclude any humiliation and contempt towards these children.

    I offer several methodological techniques:
    1) The most convenient way testing the knowledge of such students is cards, punched cards, etc. But with this form of questioning, it is necessary to give a number of cards to other students (tasks, naturally, differentiated), so that the class gets the impression that a whole group of children is being tested on the topic.
    2) A good stimulant for working with such students is a collective lesson in alternating pairs.
    3) Cards of mutual control help in working with such students, which can be carried out both on theoretical issues and on the practical part.

    For example, to test skills and abilities to work with ordinary fractions The class is divided into five groups. One group tests the ability to add, another tests the ability to subtract, the third tests multiplication, the fourth tests division, and the fifth tests examples of all operations with fractions. Each student in the group receives from the teacher a card with an assignment and a control card, which indicates the student’s name, his group number and his grade for completing the assignment. For each group, the teacher is consulted on the tasks of the card, and the solutions to the tasks are checked. Then each student is required to check the ability to solve the task of his card from four people - one student from each of the remaining groups (taking into account that the names are not repeated) - and evaluate their knowledge.
    So, each student receives five grades - one from the teacher and four from his peers. Completed test cards are handed in to the teacher, and the results are compiled into a summary sheet for review.

    4) “Chain” development of practical skills when learning new material is effective. Its essence lies in the fact that the solution of new examples is commented on by students in a chain. In this case, only the teacher has the right to correct the decision.

    Inattention in class, failure to fully understand the material presented. One of the proven forms of working with students in this case is preparatory consultations before studying a new topic. The teacher introduces the children to the topic of the next lesson and repeats with them the old material that is needed to study this topic.

    If students have gaps in current issues, then the following forms of working with them can be offered:
    1) Paired dialogues to test theoretical knowledge.
    At the beginning of the lesson, for five to seven minutes, students sitting at the same desk test each other’s knowledge of the theoretical material they have studied. They answer questions posed by a friend, correct each other and evaluate.
    2) Collective test lesson in alternating pairs. Before such a lesson, students prepare cards at home with a task for their friends on this topic. They come up with or select exercises and solve them. In the class, each student solves tasks using the cards of his friends, and they check and evaluate him. In this case, the goal is to “beat” as many classmates as possible.
    3) Work in groups. When practicing practical skills on any topic, mixed (by strength) groups are created. The work is carried out by discussion. If the groups have the same tasks, then at the end of the lesson a general consultation on solving the exercises can be held. If the tasks are different, then the teacher must give a control card for self-test. At the end of the lesson, the group discusses the participation of each student in the work and gives him an appropriate grade.
    4) When checking homework, the children’s mistakes are not only emphasized and corrected by the teacher, but also for each mistake the teacher gives recommendations, additional or individual tasks are assigned, and cards with subtasks are given.
    If you are working on complex topics like “Solving examples with fractions for all operations”, “ Algebraic transformations fractional expressions", students leave wide margins for reviewing errors. If the task fails, the student puts a question mark, and the teacher solves this task directly in the student’s additional notebook. These works are checked daily and for each student.
    Large quantity absences due to illness. In this case, after-hour consultations, additional and subsequent classes are necessary.
    But I definitely use the “control chart” method. After illness, the student works on the topic, attends additional and individual classes, and receives a test card with questions and assignments on the missed topic. One of his comrades will definitely agree to help him answer theoretical questions and solve practical tasks. The control card is hung in the classroom so that all the children can see that the gap in their friend’s knowledge has been eliminated.
    In general, a visual graphic record of students’ knowledge helps combat gaps and childish laziness. And one more thing - the class should be a single working collective, and not a collection of individuals who care only for their personal success.



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