|
|
Re: research points to the value of student based learning
Posted by cam on 7/21/08
Of course the teacher is an essential part of learning, but to
dismiss the students' own abilities to learn from one another is
doing a disservice to the entire learning process, in my opinion. In
a lit circle the teacher acts as a guide. In my experience, I sit in
with each group during discussion meetings, and offer guidance
dependent upon what each group is doing. The expectation is not
that the students are teaching each other anything, rather, they are
sharing points of view, ideas, and hence, learning from each other.
These are very important life skills: to learn from doing, to debate
issues civilly, and to recognize others' points of view as valid,
even if not in line with our own.
I choose the books we use, have read each one myself, and arrange
the groups according to whom I think can best benefit from a
particular storyline.
I disagree with one poster's idea of abandoning lit circles to
instead present "points he (the teacher)thinks others should
appreciate" and "leading the class to points he wants them to see"
because I prefer to let my class be independent thinkers who can
decide what points, literary and otherwise, they deem important and
fascinating. I further expect them to be able to support their
reasoning.
There is plenty of teaching opportunities that require the teacher
to impart facts and information that is not open to speculative
thinking, e.g. 25 x 5 = 125, but I don't believe that literary
analysis is among them.
> Sorry, but I didn't understand a word you said.
>
>
> On 7/21/08, L. Swilley wrote:
>>
>> If students can produce for themselves the important
>> factors in a work of literature, what need have we of
>> teachers?
>>
>> Let the teacher begin with a very short work, a very
>> short story or a poem - one that he himself finds
>> fascinating, with points that he thinks others should
>> appreciate; let him/her read this through with his class,
>> making sure that every word is understood. Let him then
>> begin asking questions of individual students to lead the
>> class to an understanding of the points he wants them to
>> see. (If the story is one to be read the night before by the
>> student, let the teacher give a "cranky" 5-minute quiz -
>> e.g., a matching test with 10 items on one side and 13 on
>> the other - to determine who has read the story carefully
>> and who has not.)
>>
>> There is no other way to approach and teach a work of
>> literature - unless the teacher is Dame Judy Dench or Sir
>> Lawrence Olivier and can make the work dramatically "live".
>>
>> Students do not teach one another in the classroom but by
>> being asked by a teacher (who knows what she wants the class
>> to learn) to respond to an answer given by a student who has
>> just answered a teacher's previous question, both the
>> previous question and the present one directing the class to
>> factors the teacher knows they all should know and
>> appreciate ("If you agree with what Sally has just said,
>> what should we think of ..... in the story? If you don't
>> agree, please tell us what in the story contradicts her
>> remark - then give us an answer to the question I just asked
>> her.")
>>
>> L. Swilley
Posts on this thread, including this one
- Lit. Circles--talk to me..., 7/15/08, by GA/8.
- Re: Lit. Circles--talk to me..., 7/15/08, by in the same boat.
- Re: Lit. Circles--talk to me..., 7/15/08, by Chele/5/SoCal.
- Re: Try these links...more inside, 7/19/08, by cam.
- Re: Try these links...more inside, 7/21/08, by JGS.
- Re: Abandon literary circles , 7/21/08, by L. Swilley .
- Re: Abandon literary circles , 7/21/08, by Confused.
- Re: Confused, 7/21/08, by Really? I thought Swilley was very clear + on target! nfm.
- Re: research points to the value of student based learning, 7/21/08, by cam.
- Re: research points to the value of student based learning, 7/21/08, by JGS.
- Re: Chele--Lit. Circles--talk to me..., 7/21/08, by Wanda.
- Re: Chele--Lit. Circles--talk to me... for Wanda, 7/21/08, by Chele/5/SoCal.
- Re: Implementing Lit. Circles, 7/24/08, by Laura.
- Re: Implementing Lit. Circles - Q for Laura, 7/24/08, by new teacher.
- Re: Implementing Lit. Circles - I'm not Laura, but... :D, 7/24/08, by Chele/5/SoCal.
- Re: Implementing Lit. Circles - Q for Laura, 7/25/08, by JGS.
- Re: Implementing Lit. Circles - Q for Laura, 7/25/08, by Laura.
|
1996 - 2008. All Rights Reserved. Please review our Terms of Use, Mission Statement, and Privacy Policy.
