Monday, November 30, 2009

Education is Politics: Ira Shor

"If I were a primary-grade teacher, I would devote my time to problems of socialization. The most important thing children learn is not the three R's. It's socialization"

This quote really stuck out for me. While it is obviously important to teach children how to read, write, etc. far too often teachers forget to teach their students how to be a member of the world/how to socialize with others. It is especially important to teach children socialization skills at a young age; you can learn multiplication facts, for example, at any age, but learning how to interact with others is something we must learn early on. It is important that students master the material but if children are unable to go out into the 'real world' once they grow up to interact with others and share their ideas then everything then all they were taught was in vain since they are unable to share it. Too much focus is placed on memorization, we are turning our youth into robots who are great at spitting out facts, but are unable to socialize with others.

"You must arouse children's curiosity and make them think about school. For example, it's very important to begin the school year with a discussion of why we got to school. Why does the government force us to go to school? This would set a questioning tone and show the children that you trust them and that they are intelligent enough, at their own level, to investigate and come up with answers"

I think that all teachers, no matter what grade level, should take this advice. Everything being taught in school should have a purpose and it is the students right to know and understand what that purpose is. So many students get left behind simply because they do not see "the point" in learning things, and this is no fault of their own, it is the teacher's fault who failed to make their students see the importance of learning the material. Very few people feel like putting in hard work when they see no purpose in the long run and are gaining nothing in return, and children are no different. So many teachers tend to loose sight of the 'big picture', they get caught up in the curriculum, what the state tells them they have to teach their students, and forget that what they are teaching will have a vast affect on their student's futures. As the quote says, when students are allowed to have input in the classroom and question what they are learning a sense of trust is formed. In a classroom where students are just expected to sit and listen the students get a sense that the teacher is the only one who knows everything and this it is wrong to question things. They are taught to just accept what they are told as fact and go through school not posing any of their own questions, or sharing their own ideas. We want our students to become productive members of societies, not just observers, so it is important to make sure that this is modeled in the classroom setting by letting students know it is okay to ask questions about what they are learning.

"People begin life as motivated learners, not as passing beings. Children naturally join the world around them. They learn by interacting, by experimenting, and by using play to internalize the meaning of words and experience. Language intrigues children: they have needs they want met; they busy older people in their lives with questions and requests for show me, tell me. But year by year their dynamic learning erodes in passive classrooms not organized around their cultural backgrounds, conditions or interests....it is not the fault of the students if their learning habits wither inside the passive syllabus dominant in education."

As this quote states, we are born inquisitive creatures, young children are constantly asking questions, wanting to know more about the world around us. I think the word "why" is the most used phrase among 2-4 year olds. And yet, once we reach age 5 we are sent off to school where the adults who once answered all of our questions are now expecting us to sit and listen, and we spend 12-13 years being forced to sit at a desk being quiet, the complete opposite way we are are used to learning things, and the opposite way of how we all learn best: by exploring the world around us and asking questions. After being expected to be quiet year after year, and realizing that their questions are no longer welcome students are so apt to sitting and passively learning that they no longer really know how to ask the questions.

Although this article was a bit lengthy and hard to get through at times I really enjoyed it. I think it is important as future teachers to remember how we felt as students wondering "what is the point of doing this assignment?" and to make sure we keep our students from ever wondering why they are doing what they are doing. I personally never want my students to feel that way, everything we teach should have a purpose, and our students should know what that purpose is.

While reading this article I constantly had something that happened to me on my mind. When I was in 7th grade I was having trouble in my Pre-Algebra class. My teacher was explaining the rules of multiplying and dividing my positives and negatives and we were going to be tested on the rules. I could memorize the rules without a problem, a negative times a negative equals a positive, sure, but I could not figure out why and so every time I completed a problem it just looked wrong to me. I had always been shy in school and afraid to raise my hand and class but one day I finally got up the nerve to ask my teacher why. The answer I got in return was: "Because that is the rule." and we moved on. I can remember exactly what I felt like in that moment, I felt stupid, like everyone else got it and I didn't, I felt defeated, and never wanted to raise my hand and ask a question again. Although I learned a lot of facts from my pre-Algebra teacher that year, I never understood why the rules were what they were and it wasn't until last semester in my Math 143 class that I finally learning why a negative x a negative equals a positive.




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2 comments:

  1. i like your third quote and how you finally learned why !

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  2. I love the math forum link you posted at the end!!

    ReplyDelete