“...I suspect it’s literally the memory of this feeling that sticks with people in education. And I think they just want to share what they have so enjoyed. So, it comes from a generous place, I think. But it ends up denying children the very delight they’ve enjoyed because if you don’t have enough background knowledge, you can’t elaborate and then inquire.”
This could as well describe much of what I’ve seen at the undergraduate literature/humanities level in the U.S.
Something like that. I guess (with reference to that quote) I was thinking about how I see graduate students go from the theory seminar to the undergraduate classroom, and have weird field-specific ethical hangups about not wanting to teach anything they don't "believe" in or that's been "discredited" (I mean here stuff like earlier eras' approaches to the canon, to analysis, even methods of composition and classical rhetoric -- especially prevalent in composition) and what it seems to rob students of is any kind of opportunity to engage with texts that aren't suddenly mediated by the instructor's additional 4-8 years' more of hyper-specific education, or in the case of composition classroom, a sort of gleeful iconoclastic sweeping-away of any pretense that writing itself should in fact be taught...
When Collaborative Learning came in in the late 1990s I was in a primary school setting. At the time, I thought it was fabulous but more suited to adolescents who were already at the stage of seeking relationship with others and who had developed social skills to work with each other. This resonates with Elena’s comments about memories of school where senior students work toward a common end. We have often been drawn into the belief that students are short adults and can work together in the same way. We forget the training they need in process, and the time they need to build knowledge.
Bravo, Rebecca and Elena. A wonderfully thoughtful and nuanced discussion. I particularly welcome the acknowledgement of the role of inquiry. Those who appreciate the value of teaching/facilitating inquiry don't necessarily 'resist explicit instruction'. Both are important, and getting the order right is critical. Let's bin the binary! 😊
“...I suspect it’s literally the memory of this feeling that sticks with people in education. And I think they just want to share what they have so enjoyed. So, it comes from a generous place, I think. But it ends up denying children the very delight they’ve enjoyed because if you don’t have enough background knowledge, you can’t elaborate and then inquire.”
This could as well describe much of what I’ve seen at the undergraduate literature/humanities level in the U.S.
Interesting. So the undergrads are not as ready to learn independently as we think they are?
Something like that. I guess (with reference to that quote) I was thinking about how I see graduate students go from the theory seminar to the undergraduate classroom, and have weird field-specific ethical hangups about not wanting to teach anything they don't "believe" in or that's been "discredited" (I mean here stuff like earlier eras' approaches to the canon, to analysis, even methods of composition and classical rhetoric -- especially prevalent in composition) and what it seems to rob students of is any kind of opportunity to engage with texts that aren't suddenly mediated by the instructor's additional 4-8 years' more of hyper-specific education, or in the case of composition classroom, a sort of gleeful iconoclastic sweeping-away of any pretense that writing itself should in fact be taught...
When Collaborative Learning came in in the late 1990s I was in a primary school setting. At the time, I thought it was fabulous but more suited to adolescents who were already at the stage of seeking relationship with others and who had developed social skills to work with each other. This resonates with Elena’s comments about memories of school where senior students work toward a common end. We have often been drawn into the belief that students are short adults and can work together in the same way. We forget the training they need in process, and the time they need to build knowledge.
Bravo, Rebecca and Elena. A wonderfully thoughtful and nuanced discussion. I particularly welcome the acknowledgement of the role of inquiry. Those who appreciate the value of teaching/facilitating inquiry don't necessarily 'resist explicit instruction'. Both are important, and getting the order right is critical. Let's bin the binary! 😊