Subject: Role of a Teacher

Posted by John Gunkler on 11/26/2004
In Reply To:Role of a Teacher Posted by Richard Turnock on 11/26/2004

Message:

Richard Turnock has surfaced an interesting and, I believe, important issue about the change required in teacher (and student) role.

I have no research to cite here, but I worked for many years with a training firm. We applied principles of adult learning to the development and delivery of our "programs" (lesson plans.) All of the principles Richard mentions were included.

I see no reason why these principles cannot and should not be applied in the K-12 years. In fact, I would strongly suggest (from my own experience tutoring young people, as well as working for 30+ years with adults) that teachers apply ALL adult learning principles in their K-12 classrooms. These include such things as respect for the learner (which requires of a teacher that we discover what a learner has already learned and what they're now prepared to learn -- including the idea of discovering what "mental Velcro" exists that new concepts can be "stuck to"), appreciation for (which leads to efforts to minimize) the embarrassment of appearing stupid in front of peers, understanding of (which requires building) motivation to learn (which leads to "must-know-now" scheduling of learning, even if you must create an immediate application of new knowledge and skills in order to create a must-know-now situation; and which also leads to the creation of applications that engage students' native interests and, not incidentally, require the use of new competencies), etc., etc.

The only difference I have found between K-12 and adult learners is that adult learners are quicker to stand up for themselves if a teacher violates such learning principles, while K-12 students often do not feel empowered to "complain" about how they are being taught. Just because they don't complain, however, it doesn't mean they deserve any less consideration. The goal, after all, is to maximize the experience of learning and the outcomes.

Follow Ups:

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