QUOTE:
"We must ensure that students are not merely physically present, coasting from class to class in an unspoken agreement with adults to behave as long as the challenge remains low." p. 382
REFELECTION
Get rid of the “zombie syndrome”. Our jobs as teachers in a perfect world should be easy and stress free, however this is not the case. We do not live in a perfect world and as a result, we are faced with a myriad of personalities and can never use the same approach to teach. Students should be able to respond, react and interact with the material presented to them. They should not however be subject to robotic treatment which is monotonous and a bore. We as teachers should actively engage students in tasks which will encourage them to challenge and not just accept the concepts and information presented to them. It appears that the students have been trained in an authoritarian system where all teachers assume the role of dictator. With this attitude we as teachers are not forced to work and therefore the students are not forced to learn or even think critically.
Your reflection reemphasizes that there is no 'one size fits all' method or curriculum and that teachers should use a variety of methods and activities to cater to the different learning styles and diverse needs of contemporary students. I totally agree with the need to develop students' critical thinking skills by allowing them to challenge and question the information presented to them. As a secondary school student I have very little recollection of occasions when teachers provided us with such opportunities. I learned to challenge texts and question authors at the tertiary level.
ReplyDeleteBased on your reflection Des, how different do you see your role in your approach to teaching?
I cannot agree with you more.I think that since many of us were not allowed to think critically or question the information we received, we do not encourage this in our students.
ReplyDeleteMany of us fear that our students will not respect us or may question whether we really know what we are teaching if we allow them such opportunities. It is high time that we Caribbean teachers foster critical thinking in our students like the Americans do.
We often wonder what our youth fall prey to many ills and make bad decisions.If we think hard enough, we teachers will realise that our failure to encourage them to view things from various stance and question things transfers to the real world when they faced with problems.Since they were not taught such skills they are liable to make mistakes and accept things as they are presented.
The statement that the inquiry spproach is based on is perfect for this reflection. 'Tell me and I will forget, show me and I might remember, involve me and I will understand'. Students are not as the behaviorists believe 'blank slates'. They come into our classrooms with experience and prior knowledge. So why should they not be involved in their learning, using what they know to better understand concepts? While some students are perfectly fine with being told what they should know, but not all students have this same learning style. Students neetd to be involved, create things, for learning to be more interesting and easy for them.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Eveta. School experiences should provide us with skills to operate in the real world. A teacher talking down to students with all the authority like they alone are knowledgable does not provide a skill to a student. Interaction with text, materials, and being able to draw on prior knowledge helps students build some skills that can be used beyond the classroom.