With that said (and I know I haven't been able to post lately), I want to continue from where I left off in the last post. I realize that as much as I learn everyday, it is the questions that are raised for me that can be much more beneficial than the facts that I am told. The more educated I become, the more questions I have. So how does testing (brought up previously) tie into this sense of confusion, or struggle, or better yet: growth! Students become disinterested in questions they can raise, and more interested in the questions that the teacher has to raise. It has become this environment where the intelligence of any given student is measured solely by the questions raised by the teacher that they can answer, rather than their ability to think critically and ask questions themselves. How can we teach students to problem solve for themselves if all day we expect them to only answer questions we ask, not ask us questions.
We all benefit from being tested with questions: if we can not answer questions about what we are trying to teach, then we may not completely understand the topic. So how is it not beneficial for students to see this process? Why do we insist on asking questions that we already know the answer to, instead of allowing students to push the lesson in a direction that we may not even feel comfortable with? Granted, as I've insisted in past posts: this is a delicate balance. If the lesson goes so far that no one knows what's going on, the learning opportunity may be lost and even worse, students may be discouraged. Instead of thinking of teaching students as a purely procedural activity, I think that we could gain more understanding, more problem solving abilities, more creativity, more learners instead of students if we begin to think of our career as a flexible, fluid, ever-changing, almost experimental (I hesitate to use that word...I think many people will disagree with me on this. It's scary, but stick with me...) process. Not experimental in the terms of "let's just go in to the class today and see what happens". No, I think that every day there needs to be preparation, there needs to be a purpose, there needs to be a reason for students to be there. However, why can this not change a little throughout the day? What if students ask a question we hadn't thought about? I see too often how these questions will be disregarded or deemed unworthy of attention. What if our perfect lesson we have planned out goes completely in the wrong direction? Why can't we use the years of education that we have to formulate a new way to bring in the content: quickly! If we want students to be problem solvers, to use all of the information they've learned to gain insight, to analyze situations, to evaluate their understanding, to create new things, why don't we model this?
Now I want to make sure that I note that I am nowhere near understanding this completely. This is why I feel weeks behind: my mind is trying to process this information while constantly being bombarded with new information. Everyday is a chance to reflect and analyze these ideas from experiences in and out of the classroom. I would love for this process to never end; we've all heard it before: once we stop learning, we are no longer living. I do not expect for these answers to become clear tomorrow, or next week, or in the next ten years. I think that they may slowly come into focus, but I also believe that too many teachers can become stuck in the idea that they have it figured out, that they are doing everything the right way. Or, in the case of some teachers to be, I think that they believe a more experienced educator can give them the answer and the cycle starts all over: these students are expecting to be able to answer the questions that their professors ask them in regards to these topics instead of raising more questions and experimenting. However cynical this may sound, I also believe that the colleagues that I work with on a daily basis are some of the most intelligent, creative, and thoughtful people I have ever had the pleasure of working with. Without them, I would never be able to talk about these topics and this struggle that we call educating would be an impossible endeavor. For that, I thank all of you around me: thank you for the help, thank you for the support, and thank you for everything you do!
Now that we're all a little happier, and a little more excited to get out there and have students challenge us, ask us questions, let's make sure that when students are bringing these new ideas to the table we are able to help with misconceptions. If we deliver a lesson that is based on information that is not correct, we may have sent students in a bad direction, but if we can help students see why or how information can be skewed, their understanding may be even greater! So what if students insist they are correct? What if you can't figure out how to show them something is a little off? To that, I wish you luck:
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