Posted on 01/18/2014 5:18:11 PM PST by BruceDeitrickPrice
[SUMMARY: Constructivism says teachers must teach less.] It was the first premise of all schools throughout history: students would be educated by people who were themselves already educated. A biology teacher had to be an expert in biology; a history teacher must know history to teach history. Who would question the wisdom of these statements?
This countrys Education Establishment now preaches a contrary view. Students must not be told that 2+3 = 5; this is not authentic learning. Essentially, teachers should stop teaching. The theory, generally called Constructivism or Discovery, requires that students (typically working in groups) construct knowledge for themselves.
This approach gained traction in the 1980s and is now one of the central dogmas of progressive or modern education. Classrooms, we are told, should not be teacher-centered but student-centered.
Traditionally, students were entitled to sages. But now the official slogan is: We dont need sages on stages. We want guides at their sides.
In practice, teachers dont lead the class. Rather they become part of the class and wander among the students, nodding encouragement. As this philosophy has hardened, teachers have been rebranded as facilitators. Increasingly, they are told to move to the back of the class and stay out of the way.
There are obvious problems. First, the person in the room who knows the most is forced to remain silent. Second, Constructivism, if it happens at all, will obviously be a slow process.
There are many simple facts (Paris is the capital of France) that can be taught directly in seconds. There are many complex phenomena (the origins of the French Revolution) that need to be explained at length. Facilitators can neither teach directly nor explain at length.
The general idea is that students will go to the Internet or other sources and figure out everything for themselves...
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I used put up with this crap. Today, I’m retired and smiling.
What you write is absolutely true. They grill teachers on their expertise during the hiring process, but then they are reduced to “facilitators” with this nonsensical new way of teaching.
pulbik skoolz just want to turn out obedient tax-paying drones.
more idiotic leftist theories
This ‘could’ be a use of the Socratic method- but it’s not.
It’s more of a ‘Lord of the Flies’ thing...
How do you construct knowledge, if you do not have the experience to know if you are correct?
Yep...common core...it’s child abuse
Then why do we need teachers or schools; this sounds like home school to me and yet the people that promote these methods would burn me at the stake for promoting the ultimate expression of their method.
Exactly! Especially with most of the students coming in with very deficient reading skills.
Sounds like someone decided we need more service-industry workers.
In the "bad old days" we had to pass the comprehensive NTE exam specifically in our subject field after we earned a BA to even be considered for a teaching position.
The NTE has been done away with, I think because it was difficult and fewer college grads were able to pass it.
Too bad -- I thought this supremely stupid "Sage on the Stage" went the way of other failed programs.
As for me, I'm DI all the way -- and that's what I demanded for my own children as well.
We teachers are told constantly to work on "higher order thinking skills" as in Bloom's Taxonomy -- to NOT work students on the "lowest levels" but on the creative, analyzing, evaluating level of whatever task is at hand.
Well, how is THAT supposed to happen when the kid hasn't mastered the lowest levels (remembering, understanding)??
OR he lacks vocabulary and reading skills in the 11th grade?
>> It was the first premise of all schools throughout history: students would be educated by people who were themselves already educated. A biology teacher had to be an expert in biology; a history teacher must know history to teach history. Who would question the wisdom of these statements?
People with Education degrees question that. They think that expertise in a field of study is not important, but that the study of the “science” of educating is more important.
That’s where you get the idea of students educating students, Common Core, and Pearson self-teaching textbooks.
Constructivism is a cover story for the use of school to destroy learning itself.
It is a vicious war against the minds of American children, by monsters from hell.
I teach high school also. I am also frustrated by the endless exhortations by administration to ask “higher order questions”. In many cases, you are simply met by blank stares. They don’t even understand what you are asking, let alone possess the ability to formulate an answer. Without stimulation by parents at home at the earliest age to read, to write, to analyze, to formulate answers, I do not think that the work at school suffices to develop those skills. After all, most teachers only have a student for about 45 minutes a day.
The students should wear pajamas, drink hot chocolate and talk about getting knowledge.
The ruling class wants to cultivate an underclass of no-nothings who will tolerate their corruption and be dependent on government. And if they can’t produce enough in the schools they’ll bring in illegal aliens to fill the void.
Do you know a book called Why Don’t Students Like School? I imagine they like it even less these days. One of the major themes is that people must learn facts before they can become experts and think abstractly.
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