EDET 677 Mechanical Application
Week 5 Blog
Essential
Question: What is the relationship between teaching and learning?
This week’s
question is terribly difficult to answer for me mainly because I can’t find a
way to explain my experiences of what the relationship is between teaching and
learning. I truly know that each person who spends a considerate amount of
their time and hard work dedicated to education have a different truth on how
teaching and learning are connected. This immediately shows how important it is
to talk about the relationship between teaching and learning so that individual
students can benefit the most from their education. Different views come with
different answers to this question so through the assigned readings I have
tried to formulate my response.
The purpose
of education is for students to learn different skills and content. A lot of
the time students need help or support to learn and that’s where teaching comes
in. Both teaching and learning benefits the learner and the learner should be
the focus, not the teacher. Stager and Martinez explains that teaching can help
learning but learning is not dependent on teaching. Learning is a process and
the goal is to make forward progress (this could be some backward or sideward
steps before forward) in acquiring the desired knowledge or skill. “Wise
teachers know when to dispense the smallest dose of information possible to
ensure forward progress.” (2013) Teachers provide opportunities for learning
and sometimes these opportunities are done through teaching but not always.
Learning can also occur by facilitating learning such as providing the correct
materials for students or guiding them in the direction through questions.
Teaching
and learning are the traditional actions of a teacher and a learner. The
relationship between a teacher and a learner affects how teaching and learning
connect in education. Park studies the discourse between teacher and student and
it was found that the teacher’s discourse consists of mainly legitimizing
identity and project identity and that the student’s discourse consists mainly
of resistant identity and legitimizing identity. (2008) Park made a conclusion
that “though there are constant tensions between the teacher’s and the
students’ discourses, the collision of discourses does not necessarily imply
that the pedagogic goal will fail; rather, it is always the case that the
classroom allows the teacher’s and students’ identities to be negotiated
through alignments and conflicts.” (p.12, 2008) For me this means that the
relational work between student and teacher needs to be done so that learning
can happen. Personally, I have experiences many successful classes that
students and I tested each other in our role as teacher and learner. These
experiences have improved the learning in the classroom.
To identify
the relationship between learning and teaching, it is necessary for a teacher
to reflect on oneself and to grow in ways to support learning through teaching.
Agnes, a teacher in a study done by Bjuland, Cestari, and Borgerson, found that
developing herself as a teacher helped her students learn and learning occurred
more when she provided opportunities for students to reflect and lead their own
learning versus teaching. She focused on the six phases on the Phase Model to support learning. These
phases include exploration and motivation, discussion, conclusion, lecturing,
practice, and evaluation. (2012) Notice that only one phase is thought of the
traditional teaching role: lecturing. Most of the other stages are focused on
the learner how they are learning.
In summary
learning is supported by teaching if necessary. As a teacher, I need to
constantly take opportunities to learn about how to support learning. Also,
learning happens when a worked out relationship has been formed between
students and teachers.
Resources:
Bjuland, R.,
Cestari, M. L., & Borgersen, H. E. (2012). Professional mathematics teacher identity: analysis of reflective
narratives from discourses and activities. J Math Teacher Educ. Retrieved
from https://brage.bibsys.no/xmlui//bitstream/handle/11250/138188/Cestari_2012_Professional.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Martinez, S. L.,
& Stager, G (2013). Invent to Learn:
Making, Tinkering, and Engineering in the Classroom. Torrence, CA:
Construction Modern Knowledge Press.
Park, H.-Y.
(2008). “You are confusing!”: Tensions
between teacher’s and students’ discourses in the classroom. Madison, WI:
Journal of Classroom Interaction, Vol. 43.1: pages 4-13. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ829005.pdf
You make an interesting statement about the role of conflict between teachers and students and how that affects learning. I also agree that it is essential for teachers to reflect on this to make the most difference in a students learning. Well said.
ReplyDelete"Both teaching and learning benefits the learner and the learner should be the focus, not the teacher." This quote is huge to me. I think as teachers it is easy to get caught up in what we are doing and not focus enough on what is best for students. It's tough when you finally get in a groove and want to keep using the same lessons year after year, when that may not be what is best for the students. I think we need to remember that we don't just teach our content, but we teach students.
ReplyDeleteIt can be such a difficult thing for teachers, to be able to help students learn. If the student does not help, then there is a disconnect between teaching and learning. But, it the teacher does not work with the student and adjust for the student, then there is also a disconnect between teaching and learning. Good blog.
ReplyDelete