A good teacher is someone who is not only knowledgeable about their content area, but is someone who is able to break down the content in a variety of instructional methods. A good teacher not only shares content information, but also serves as role model for students through the manner in which they comport themselves in class. Good teachers also allow the students to take control of their learning through student-centered activity. I believe good teachers should be independent, yet open-minded and caring individuals. It is also very important for good teachers to respect all individuals no matter their differences. These are important characteristics for a teacher to possess and hopefully through modeling, some of these characteristics will also be transferred to the students.
If all novice and experienced learners are valued in the classroom, then learning will occur because novice and experienced learners all have important experiences to share. According to Jean Lave the classroom can be viewed as a community. There are novice learners and experienced learners (students and teachers) who are all considered valuable in the communities of practice (classroom) as each person brings in their own experiences to the group to share. In this way, members of the community are able to learn from others experiences. Learning from each other is a critical part of the classroom and this theory embodies that. I believe that it is important that students not only learn from the teacher, but they also learn from their classmates. Peer-peer interaction can provide very meaningful experiences for student learning as a peer's explanation of a topic may make more sense to a student then a teacher's explanation. This can be explained through the theory of zone of proximal development. Students are much closer to each other in their zones of proximal development than the teacher, so their explanations may make more sense to each other. Peer interaction provides a form of scaffolding for learning that is a crucial component in the learning process. As a result, peer-peer interaction encourages students to not only expand their views on content knowledge, but may also help shape student's views on the world around them.
Jill,
ReplyDeleteI'm so thrilled you have gravitated toward Lave's situated learning! If this post were part of your final artifact I would ask you to delve a bit more into defining the ZPD and its role in a community of practice (learning community).
I would also, in an effort to guide you towards unearthing the moral/ethical implications of your T2P, ask you re: "As a result, peer-peer interaction encourages students to not only expand their views on content knowledge, but may also help shape student's views on the world around them." Why is this important? What do you imagine the implications of being in an equitable community of practice are for students in their lives beyond the learning environment?
Keep pressing!
GNA