This resonates with me as a student and a teacher in that really meaningful work needs to occur across subjects, across instructors. If one element is either missing or not assimilated then it slows down the entire process of incorporating knowledge and putting it to use. Not only must I know how I am doing with the class, I need to understand how the educational experience overall is impacting the students ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding.
Another observation I have made is that the actions of the teacher predicate the comfort level students have as it relates to inquiry and / or clarification. If questions are not answered or the question comes back in a slightly different form then there is a sense of helplessness and students disengage. "It doesn't matter if I don't understand it, she doesn't even know or care that she has lost us". Be honest. If you don't know everything they won't feel that they have to either. Builds self confidence. One of Friere's theories of education is the Theory of Knowledge. As Freire asks all of us to ponder;
"What is knowledge? How is it different from belief? What is a mistake? What is a lie?" (Lyons, 2008).
He strongly believes that knowledge itself is a social construct.This made me think about the immediate feedback a teacher receives from her students. Although not formal there is clearly a message that every student is sending to the teacher. This concept is certainly not a new one but it really hit me that the teacher only has a few minutes to assess, re-direct or change instructional strategy so the learning pathways stay open.
As we are diving into multiple learning theory ideologies and the implementation of these methods, it has re-focused my self reflection. I don't know the author of this quote but it is powerful "You can never conquer your enemy if you don't conquer the enemy inside yourself". It has been a valuable reminder that I have much tolerance for most personalities and there are others with which I am not as comfortable.
These probably all sound like little nuances as I haven't talked much about any individual theorist but I am finding incredible personal and professional value in examining the reason behind the reason. Going Meta on you!
This class felt like an umbrella of "teacher awareness" and the necessity of personal intent and commitment that a teacher needs to possess in order to facilitate knowledge in the best way possible, to the most number of students possible as often as possible.
Finally, I have taken my T2P statement and revised it as follows:
If the teacher models and encourages trust in an inquiry based, knowledge seeking environment then students will have the opportunity to acquire new information in ways that are relevant to them because they have actively participated in the process, and can apply this knowledge in many situations that will increase their self confidence in ways that are personally valued by the student.
Resource
Lyons, J., Issues in Freirean Pedagogy, http://nlu.nl.edu/ace/Resources/Documents/FreireIssues.html, June 20, 1995 Retrieved from New Foundation Gallery, http://newhorizons.com (5/13/2011)
Lori,
ReplyDeleteYour post is superb. When students go meta, I get increased insight as well. Thank you for sharing your deep and critical reflections here.
Your T2P statement is coming along as well. This week's challenge is to add one or two specific examples of how you would model and encourage an "inquiry based, knowledge seeking environment" -- a mighty task--with your own students.
Keep pressing!
GNA