Chapter 1 Reflection

Chapter one discusses partnering which is basically describing a student centered classroom where teachers are facilitators and partners in learning as opposed to the old view of the one and only source of knowledge.  This chapter describes how there is a huge gap in how classes are run and organized that not only bores students, but stifles their opinions and ignores their preexisting knowledge.  Students enjoy group work, discussions, sharing their ideas, and hearing the ideas of their classmates.  Children are in an instant information age.  If they want to know something, they take out their phone and Google it. They “operate faster than any generation that has come before. (Schrum, 2012).”  With this plethora of knowledge at their fingertips, they can go farther and deeper than any other generation.  These students will be doing jobs that are even created yet, but we are still teaching them like we are preparing them for a factory job. Teachers should not just be helping students understand the concept or idea being taught (because honestly, it’s an internet search away), but we should be teaching them how to self-monitor, self-assess and self-correct. I’m not saying that learning concepts in schools aren’t important, but we must also be teaching students ways to be lifelong learners.

When I read this chapter all I could think about was how this is authentic teaching.  At the K20 Center we focus a lot on authenticity and what that means. Many of the things we focus on Dewey and Newman based, which is what this book also refers to. The book also describes mutual respect, which is what I believe is the cornerstone of teaching.  If you respect students, their opinions, their knowledge, and where they are coming from then I think you’ve won half the battle.  If students know that they are valued, then there is a lot better chance that they will participate and be generally ‘good.’  At the K20 Center the principles of authenticity that we use are construction of knowledge, disciplined inquiry, value beyond school, and implicit view of the student.  Construction of knowledge is exactly what this book refers to, where students are building on their existing knowledge, using their higher order thinking skills to move up Bloom’s.  Disciplined inquiry means that students are exploring and asking their own questions, not being lectured at and informed. Value beyond school is just that.  Proving that what they are working on isn’t busy work and has a value.  Implicit view of the student means that these children are individuals and they have autonomy.  They have ownership of the learning environment, they aren’t being forced to learn one certain way.  And they have ownership of their learning.  They aren’t reading a text book and answering the questions at the end of the chapter.  Students are talking and discussing and are able to do so without being reprimanded.