I believe it’s extremely difficult to get somewhere without knowing where you’re going. Achieving success in this manner requires a lot of hard work, and luck. I find it’s much easier to determine your goal or outcome, consider the steps necessary to get there, then work on achieving them. As such, teachers should have an aim, be it to educate the student to the best of their ability, or just to get to the end of the year. I’m not saying that every aim is as noble as it should be, only that they exist.
I believe the goal of education should be to instruct students on the why’s of a subject, rather than instilling rote facts into them. Most people who hate math will tell you it’s the word problems that stump them. They can follow the formulas when they’re given to them, memorize them with practice, but can’t translate them into those darned word problems. It’s their lack of conceptual understanding that shows, not their lack of procedural knowledge. Conceptual understanding comes from engaged learning through active involvement, not passive memorization. A
Chinese proverb perfectly explains my belief:
“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
I also believe that students need to grow as a whole person in order to find success. It’s difficult to focus on a reading assignment if they’re stressed over a social situation they don’t’ know how to deal with. Morality and other ‘sensitive’ issues are important to address. Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t help students work through such issues, only damages the teacher-student relationship by telling the student that you don’t care enough about them to help them with their personal issues.
However, when teaching these sensitive issues, teachers need to be aware of their bias, and strive to remain impartial. They need to present all sides of the issue without placing ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ on the content to allow students the right to form their own opinions.
Chinese proverb perfectly explains my belief:
“Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand.”
I also believe that students need to grow as a whole person in order to find success. It’s difficult to focus on a reading assignment if they’re stressed over a social situation they don’t’ know how to deal with. Morality and other ‘sensitive’ issues are important to address. Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t help students work through such issues, only damages the teacher-student relationship by telling the student that you don’t care enough about them to help them with their personal issues.
However, when teaching these sensitive issues, teachers need to be aware of their bias, and strive to remain impartial. They need to present all sides of the issue without placing ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ on the content to allow students the right to form their own opinions.