''But as we shall see, the irony is that though we all claim as teachers to seek student understanding of the content, we may not adequately understand this goal''
I ask myself, after reading the first pages of this chapter, if do we really ask ourselves what are the goals of our day a day lessons and clasess, that is to say the purpose of teaching what I'm supposedly should be teaching. What I think is the book trying to say is that, we know and are aware of the fact that students need to understand something, the content, but we do not know what is the purpose of that understanding.
thx
ReplyDeletesp
It is certainly a concern the lack of teachers' capability of reflection in / on / and about action. We teachers usually blame students about the poor results. Who's to blame? Reflection is a shared responsibility and habit which has to be learnt and acquired.
ReplyDeleteJust by giving a litle thought when going back to the teacher's lounge after a class makes the difference. That, obviously, has to make a difference in the short and long term. If we understand what understanding means and students are aware of it, students' performance ought to be improved
I think that more than students being aware wheteher they understang or know something, is our mission to teach them to be critical, to think, to discuus ideas, not only to memorize things. Most of the students will not care about the difference of understand and know we are discussing here, they just want to have good marks and forget about the rest, and be honest, we were the same when we were at school some years ago (just few years)
ReplyDeleteIt is of course, one of the teacher's main duties to externalize his inner beliefs and match them with his real teaching practices. It is of extreme importance, more than teaching just for the sake of teaching, teaching how to develop critical thinking, autonomy in learning, the 'know' and the 'know how' to apply or transfer knowledge. And to achieve that, it is mandatory to be clear about aims and objectives as well.
ReplyDeleteReflection, reflection and reflection again. As Loreto said this is the key to help our students to acquire knowledge, since it's a collaborative work where students and teacher are involved. If reflection is present in our classrooms our students will become aware of their teacher's expectations; as well as teachers will become aware of their students' expectations and limitations, too. Therefore, the result will be analysis, awareness and a better communication and understanding between the parts involved in this process.
ReplyDeleteProbably we do not have time enough to “reflect” on such important topics like our students real understanding because teaching is a real hard task to carry out, but I think it is crucial to ask ourselves about issues like this one. Actually, I think if we do not reflect on our daily job, we are not doing our work in the right way, what we are doing in fact is just providing information and not helping people to use that information in the right way.
ReplyDeleteAngelina
Hi Claudia!
ReplyDeleteAsking ourselves about the aim in our classes has to do with the coherence between our final objectives, practices in the classroom to achieve these goals, and the way we evaluate or monitor such progress. The curriculum asks for one thing but the activities proposed to get it do not seem to be in agreement. It's like trying to build something with the wrong tools or materials with the consequent waste of energy, materials and the feeling of never really learning that our students sometimes have. Changes need to be done.
Claudia
ReplyDeleteI really liked the quotation that you chose. Teachers are very concerned about seeking the best theories, methodologies or approaches to improve learning but they do not understand them. Why does it happen? I think the most important problem deals with the education that teachers have in school. It is very difficult to change teachers’ way of thinking when it has been practiced since they were children. How can teachers foster something that they have not experienced? It seems that there is a chain which is endless. However, it is our duty to change this situation. Someone has to take the first step.
My dear Claudia:
ReplyDeleteAs I said in Angie's blog before, this is quite an interesting perspective to reflect on... Society demands, schools demand, parents demand, teachers and even students demand learning, results, transferability!!! But maybe, it's teachers who cannot do it, so how can we expect students to do so? The first part of the article states that teachers do not know the difference between "knowing" and "understanding", perhaps it is more complex than that, perhaps teachers do not know how to transfer. From this viewpoint, we can conclude that teachers are confused, they do not understand, they do not know how to learn, they lack methodologies, they do not how to teach. Therefore, learners receive useless information, they don't learn, they do not acquire strategies to learn, they do not know how to apply, they do not understand, they do not transfer... As a result of this chain, the most economical practice and the fastest way to "learn" is by memorizing...
Very interesting ideas, you have my dear (Yodaic syntax = hyperbaton)
I agree with you when you refer to the idea that our lessons must have a clear purpose and not only the fact of conveying big amount of information that at the end will be forgotten by the students. This happens for the incapacity that we have as teachers to make students transfer what they have already known to new settings or contexts. Undoubtedly the non-used of the information handled, doesn’t help to students to find sense to what they learn in class, guiding them to the failure.
ReplyDeleteClaudia
ReplyDeleteAs Scarlette says, reflection seems to be the key but it is a hard task since we need to unvealed so many things about our beliefs and therefore practices, and as you say teachers have lots of time consumming demands, so the task becomes really difficult. However, we have had the chance to 'wake up' and now we must do something!
I do agree with the idea that we always complain about the poor results of our students, but we never question our teaching practices. Most teachers are more concerned about covering contents rather than accomplishing understanding in students. This is particularly worrying in the TEFL area. Somehow the things we learn in our mother tongue manage to become memorable and meaningful. However, when it comes to foreign language acquisition, little can be expected if teachers are not able to make knowledge meaninful and transferable to other settings or contexts.
ReplyDelete