Personal Connection:
This book raises some great points about education in the past and education today. Some of the comments and concerns that resonated with me helped me to reflect on my teaching as well as learning and here is why. I remember as a middle school student being handed worksheet and a textbook in history class. We were to read the chapter, and answer the end of chapter questions that followed. We were not allowed to help each other and when we were done, we moved on to the worksheet. If we did not finish the worksheet or questions in class, it became homework. I thought that is what students should be doing. After moving schools at the end of the eighth grade, I found the same teaching methods from that history teacher. I remember after a couple of weeks, my teacher calling me up in front of the entire class (where I knew nobody) and told me my grade out loud for everyone to hear. He said that I wasn't passing his class because I have not done any "current events". I remember being embarrassed and completely shut down inside. He had never even told me what "current events" were. I remember watching students get up in the beginning of class and talk about things that they found in the newspaper, but I was under the assumption that these students did this on their own, as not many students did it. Turns out, since I came at the end of the school year (two months left), most students had already reached their required number. What was being taught here? What was I learning? What did I walk away with from these experiences? The answer to all of these questions is "nothing". What a waste of time. I entered high school hating history. That could have been a time for learning how to read a text instead of just going through the motions of attempting to read something that was too difficult and then skipping most of it. Those skills of learning how to analyze and break down that text could have helped me for years to come. When was I taught how to learn?
I think about last year and how I was coached as a teacher to educate my students on how to read a science textbook. I couldn't imagine just giving them a science textbook and letting them go. I really appreciated the ideas mentioned in this text on how to create learners.
This book raises some great points about education in the past and education today. Some of the comments and concerns that resonated with me helped me to reflect on my teaching as well as learning and here is why. I remember as a middle school student being handed worksheet and a textbook in history class. We were to read the chapter, and answer the end of chapter questions that followed. We were not allowed to help each other and when we were done, we moved on to the worksheet. If we did not finish the worksheet or questions in class, it became homework. I thought that is what students should be doing. After moving schools at the end of the eighth grade, I found the same teaching methods from that history teacher. I remember after a couple of weeks, my teacher calling me up in front of the entire class (where I knew nobody) and told me my grade out loud for everyone to hear. He said that I wasn't passing his class because I have not done any "current events". I remember being embarrassed and completely shut down inside. He had never even told me what "current events" were. I remember watching students get up in the beginning of class and talk about things that they found in the newspaper, but I was under the assumption that these students did this on their own, as not many students did it. Turns out, since I came at the end of the school year (two months left), most students had already reached their required number. What was being taught here? What was I learning? What did I walk away with from these experiences? The answer to all of these questions is "nothing". What a waste of time. I entered high school hating history. That could have been a time for learning how to read a text instead of just going through the motions of attempting to read something that was too difficult and then skipping most of it. Those skills of learning how to analyze and break down that text could have helped me for years to come. When was I taught how to learn?
I think about last year and how I was coached as a teacher to educate my students on how to read a science textbook. I couldn't imagine just giving them a science textbook and letting them go. I really appreciated the ideas mentioned in this text on how to create learners.
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