Last weekend, I went to the Cincinnati Montessori Society Conference. The keynote speaker was Alfie Kohn. His ideas on Education for life were provocative and maybe revolutionary for many people. But, I loved every single one. For instance, he spoke about how grades do not motivate students to learn and how praising creates children wo always expect something back from others. I'll expand on the topic of grades.
According to Kohn, students have to learn facts that are imposed to them. They usually don't have any participation on the decision of what they want to learn or what is meaningful to them (their culture, background, professional interests...). Therefore, students usually memorize the information they need to get good grades but they forget what was studied after the test or they cannot make connections between what was learned and life. If students are not motivated or interested in what they are learning, chances are they will not retain the information. More importantly, they do not learn to think critically. They cannot questions theories and apply old concets to new situations. There's much more to be said about education. A good book to reflect on is "What does it mean to be well educated? by Alfie Kohn.
As an educator, I believe it is important to question my teaching and relationship with my students. How do I chose my curriculum? Do my children have any participation in the units to be studied over the year? Do I encourage and motivate them to learn? Or how do I avoid the reward and punishment system?
Food for thought...
I heard Kohn speak too, and I found it very interesting. I don't think there are easy answers to the questions that you raise.
ReplyDeleteOn the question of how much children should participate in the study units I have an observation. I have heard many teachers and administrators talk about "following the child," meaning plan your lessons around the interests and needs of the child. While this is a great idea, I'm not sure how well that works out with all the other requirements a teacher might have. I know I'm not comfortable going into a month without a plan in mind, but if you were truly going to follow the child, isn't that what you'd be doing? Depending on the environment you work in, there may be federal, state or local mandates that you have to meet, and the process of meeting them limits your freedom to allow children active roles in developing curriculum.
How then, does one develop personal motivation and a desire to learn in the child, especially when he has no opportunity to chose what he wants to learn? (All of the questions, none of the answers.)