I can say with confidence that we (me and my colleagues) all have seen some sort of "limitation" with the constructivist method of teaching. One of these "limitations" is the ability to "let go" as the teacher. I think that our instincts as the teacher is to want to guide the students to the right answer, and the required "letting go", allowing the student to struggle is a challenge. Another "limitation" is the thought of how to assess student work when the assignments will not look like traditional mathematics with computations and answers. Also, just the idea of constructivism which is foreign to most of us is intimidating because we don't know with certainty that we will be able to effectively implement the strategy.
Currently I am thinking of myself in the student's position under a constructivist instructor, which leaves me with the task of finding my own understanding. What I have come up with thus far is that I will be able to complete this task and the only way for me to learn and become confident is through the hands on experience. Once I am in the classroom and begin to truly use constructivism I think everything will come more natural and I will solve my problems ("limitations") as they occur. The key is I will also be a problem solver overcoming challenge just like my students. I can now make the connection that what might be called "limitations" are really just constraints.
Engineering (planning) is a big influence on the level of confidence a teacher can enter the classroom with. A well planned (engineered) lesson can eliminate much of the doubt about constructivism because all of the possible issues or concerns should be addressed before entering the classroom. If a plan is well engineered the likelihood of the teacher encountering something unexpected is very small and the chance of the students gaining understanding is increased. I look forward to implementing constructivism into my classroom and don't see constraints as an overwhelming challenge but a challenge that can increase my potential if correctly addressed.
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3 comments:
I love your 'can do' attitude. It makes me feel a little less like I'm going to drown. But as always I have a question for you-kids are wild cards just like adults, how do you anticipate what they will do? People you've known you're whole life surprise you sometimes.
I understand what you are trying to say. Personally, I think there has to be a better way to teach math. I say this because when I was in middle school we learned by the algorithm method. I could do it but my classmates and I made lots of mistakes and some of my classmates thought "How will I ever use this stuff? and What is the point?".
We are learning a different way to let the student understand the math and the teacher's role is to facilitate the understanding. Letting go will be hard.
Letting go has definitely got to be the hardest part. I sat in a training class one time and the instructor said that a problem with a lot of teachers is that they don't like silence. When teachers ask a question if there is silence after a few seconds the teacher automatically begins to answer the question. Silence does not mean ignorance, but thinking...wheels turning. We need to allow students to think and pick up from where they leave off, not where we leave off.
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