Teacher's Role

I had the pleasure of working with two student teachers last week. They
took several classes and did an activity to introduce themselves to the
classes. Basically, they organized the students into groups and gave
them packages of personal artifacts. The students were supposed to,
using the artifacts, create a story about the teacher whose package they
had and identify the teacher.

This worked reasonably well for all the classes. However, the second
day one of the classes was working really well. They were discussing
what they had found, trying to explain how the artifacts related to the
owner. The student teachers had little to do except sit back and watch
the students. It occurred to me that this is what is supposed to happen
in the classroom. The teacher sets up an opportunity for learning and
the students do the work.
- posted by Larry @ 8:04 p.m.

 
Professional Learning Communities

The school I am subbing in this week is working toward becoming a “Professional Learning Community” On the bulletin board was a list of questions to be considered:

1. What do we want students to learn?

2. How will we know when each student has learned it?

3. How will we respond when a student experiences difficulty learning?

Although these are good questions, they struck me as being teacher/curriculum centric. Personally, I prefer to view a school as a community of learners. Consequently, I would add the following questions:

1. What does each student want or need to learn?

2. How do we reconcile what we want the student to learn with what the student wants to learn?

3. What learning needs can we meet?

The additional questions move to a student centered model, which is more consistent with Senge’s (Fifth Discipline) view of a learning organization. Further, they imply that the role of the school and teachers is to facilitate learning rather than dictate what must be learned.

I am a proponent of looking at learning from a community perspective. This is outlined in my articles: A Community Perspective on Schooling at http://www.clubwebcanada.ca/l-pphillips/edarticles/perspective.htm and One Child -- Many Communities: Recasting the Purpose of Education at http://www.clubwebcanada.ca/l-pphillips/edarticles/onechild.htm
- posted by Larry @ 8:00 p.m.