T2P Week Two

How do people learn?  Different theories on this question have led to different methodologies, so where is one to begin when constructing your own stance on teaching?

A first step might be to explore how different educators view learning.  Some may believe in a student-centric approach, whereby teachers foster a sense of mutual respect, encourage students to reflect on their thoughts, and engage in a sort of reciprocity that results in deeper understandings for both student and teacher.  Others may be more teacher-centric; the student is a vessel into which a teacher pours information.  This type of teaching may involve less discussion and more structure, lecture, and discipline.  In reality, there are no boxes into which you can place different beliefs in learning processes or teaching  methodologies.  So let me take a first stab at my personal stance on teaching and learning.

Learning is subjective.  When presented with a new idea, each student will construct their own meaning based on past experiences, cognitive abilities, and individual differences in perception.  And let's not forget that teachers are people too!  Any great teacher will see their classroom as a place for them to learn as well.  So, with 20, or 30, or 40 (yikes!) different brains in the room all trying to learn the same concept, how does a teacher keep track of it all?  I think that if learning is indeed subjective, then teachers need to draw out from students the ideas that are particular to them.  Teachers should be inquisitive and flexible if they are to parse through all these ideas.  By facing head-on the challenge of getting to each student's constructed meaning, teachers can assess understanding (or misunderstanding) and reach their overall goals.  

If a teacher employs a wide variety of learning activities throughout the daily lesson, then successful learning is more likely to occur, and assessment of student understanding is more clear, because students have been given the chance to do what is natural (meaning-making) and teachers can see if they are really "getting it".