We've all been there. We've all had THAT teacher. Yep, you know the one...well sadly, the many. When you slowly peeked inside your schedule for the coming year ... praying ... you didn't see the one name ... of the teacher ... that your friend had last year because ... she was just too ... DRATS. WHY DO I HAVE HER? Yep, that teacher. Dewey gave me a little more insight as to what makes someone "that" teacher and why they are so unpopular both in student-teacher relations and instruction.
He writes "There is a present tendency in so-called advanced schools of educational thought to say, in effect, let us surround pupils with certain materials, tools, appliances, etc., and let pupils respond to these things according to their own desires. Above all let us not suggest any end or plan to students," (Dewey, 1929). And though he wrote this a little shy of a century ago (scary right? I still think ten years ago was 1995) this tendency is still in practice! In my opinion, it is not as strongly skewed as he suggests - I have never attended a class where the teacher had absolutely no plan - but it definitely still exists. These teachers take on the role of the provider, but not in the sense that would evoke a positive connotation in this context. They are not providing leads, prompts, creative outlets, or critical thinking tactics, but merely tools. It would be like if you hired a plumber to come and fix your toilet, but when he got there he handed you the tools and waited for you to figure it out... and then expected you to hand him a check! Students can not use tools if they don't know how, why, and when to apply them. Moreover, they definitely can not tailor these tools to fit their individual needs if they don't even know how the tool functions for the general population! I am in accord with Dewey and find this method "really stupid" (Dewey, 1929).
In fact, I have always found it stupid. My high school physics teacher, Mr. Rox*, was a big believer in this method. Having succeeded in multiple accelerated math classes and an engineer for a father, I thought I would be a physics-loving, equation-computing student, rollin' through my homework at 9.8 m/s squared ... and I was geeked about it. Sadly, I was wrong...I was so, so wrong. It turned out physics was "not my thing." I did not love it and I definitely did not roll through my homework, even at a slow rate. I came out of class constantly feeling discouraged and angry. No matter how hard I tried, it didn't make sense to me. At that moment, I didn't think the method was stupid, I thought I was.
Reflecting on it now, however, I think I may have had a better shot if someone interested in Dewey had been my teacher. I realize that I was handed the tools and expected to use them without actually being guided through the material. Each wrong answer stung a little bit worse when accompanied by the ever-present condescending "This is easy!" chant, echoing off each of the four walls until it drown out in reality but continued repeating on and on between my ears. Each time I saw "PHYSICS ROX!" at the end of every test, an eye-roll escaped me for I did not think that physics, or Mr. Rox, rocked. I can now look back on this experience with less haste, more understanding, and more self-confidence as I realize why physics "wasn't my thing" and why Mr. Rox qualified as "that" teacher.
Dewey doesn't just shed light on what methods are ineffective. He also leaves me with an idea that I know and believe, but that I think gets let go of too easily between the words competitive, standards, and high-stakes testing. There are three main elements of education: school, society, and children (55). These should be our goals. These should be our focus. These should be our motive. These three elements work as a cohesive unit, each to benefit and better the others. Often, I believe we forget the most simple things. School is important. Society is important. The children are important. They deserve better than "Here are the tools, figure out how to use them." They deserve better than "I think this rocks so you should too." And they definitely deserve better than "This is easy!" This is our responsibility as teachers.
*Name has been changed to protect confidentiality - but the part about it being a verb applies
In response to your post, I think Dewey states that the direction a child will take comes about not by the teacher but from with in the child himself.
ReplyDelete.....;;;Through these demands he is stimulated to act as a member of a unity, to emerge from his original narrowness of action and feeling and to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the welfare of the group to which he belongs. Through the responses which others make to his own activities he comes to know what these mean in social terms (sorry I tried to cut this quote down but it did not make sense).
Inorder for Dewey's theories to work it seems we really need to start with children in pre-school. There would have to be a modification for students in high school who only know the "sage on the stage" approach to teaching.
I think many teachers reflect the way that they were taught and despite wanting to change their teaching method they do not know how. For me I found Dewey's article helpful in understanding how education has evolved and why we have not progressed much further than the 1900's.
I love that you picked out the idea of a teacher viewed as the "provider." That really struck me. I loved that Dewey called the idea stupid. It's so blunt, but so right. There is so much more that a teacher is: guide, encourager, helper. Teachers should provide something like the temporary structure on the outside of a building used by workers while building, repairing, or... you get the idea.
ReplyDeleteYes that teacher... Gah. But don't worries! If you want to love physics, you can sit in my classroom! :D I can agree with you that if my science teachers didn't engage me, I wouldn't be the person who I am today. I was good with mathematics as well but you don't see me loving string theory! With english, I can't say that any of my teachers inspired me to like reading and writing. In fact, I think the forced readings may have started my long drought of reading. Anyway, I can blame whoever but in the end, I didn't take a liking to anything but the sciences. Come visit!
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