10/17/10

Is there a Learner in the House?

I was reading about the student vs. the learner in schools. David Warlick has a great chart showing the difference between the two.

Since reading this I have talked to my brother-in-law about this same concept and his take on it is that some teachers still have that need for control in the classroom. If we are going to teach the students how to work cooperatively, be able to work in teams, and to learn, we are going to have to let go of the control and get to the actual learning. Lecturing the students does not help them remember much. They will glean information, but gleaning is not learning.

I have looked at what our team is doing and how much time we spend talking to the students and not having them participate or talk to the class. We are about 60-40. That is so much better than what we used to be. It more like 90-10. I still feel we need to be more like 40-60. As a teacher, I still need to get the information of how I want the students to show me what they have learned and they still need me to give them some information. The reattach thing is that when we have taunt the students to learn the information themselves, they can find most of the information themselves. After we have taught them what to do with the information after they have found it, they can lead a discussion, or learn from others by listening and discussing.

Teachers like control. I can admit it. We like to set the rules and have a quiet class with no one getting out of their seats. We don't want anyone talking with their neighbors because they might cheat. These are the old rules. These are the old attitudes. We need students to become learners. Students want to learn. We just need to show them how and then stand back and be quiet so they can do the talking. So they can do some learning. If we do this, we will become the guides and facilitators of the information we want them to learn

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