This principle is basically asking instructors to treat adults like adults. This principle reinforces the idea that a lack of knowledge does not equate to a lack of intelligence.
An example of a bad experience with this principle occurred with a young teacher (22 years old) in the ESL school in which I taught in Japan. She was teaching a more advance English class, and the context, but not the lesson, was a scientific subject dealing with cells. Because she was biology major, she resorted to explaining the parts of the cell, instead of addressing the grammar issue. In her class was a medical doctor. Because he is Japanese, he did not express his frustration, but I could only imagine. It wasn’t a vocabulary lesson as most scientific names are universal. My advice to her was that next time, she could invite the doctor to explain the parts of the cell as a way to practice English, specifically the grammar point of the lesson.
A way to execute against this principle is a technique used in business presentations, and that is to ask overtly what people know about the subject and what they want to learn. This is often a good introduction. It makes people feel heard and acknowledged, as well as allows the speaker to adjust the content appropriately to make it more meaningful.
Another technique is peer teaching, in which students work with other students to develop parts of the lesson or provide feedback on a lesson point. Personally, as a learner, this type of activity is a little frustrating for me, perhaps because it takes me some alone time to think something through, but as a teacher, this type of activity is usually gold.
Because I want to relate all my posts to applied creativity and innovation, I thought about how this principle may be related to brainstorming techniques. Some interpret brainstorming techniques to mean dismissing what you know, often called assumptions or orthodoxies, in favor of clean slate thinking. Perhaps it is not as much about abandoning these restrictions, as it is about providing opportunities to combine things you know in ways not tried before. Or combining things you know that seem unrelated into new solutions. Thus there is a tremendous respect for adults with previous knowledge in brainstorming. In fact, it is suggested, for successful brainstorming groups, to bring together people with deep knowledge about unrelated topics in order to achieve new ideas and new ways of thinking.
3 comments:
Marianne,
Thank you for this thoughtful post. Your example very distinctly illustrates this principle. I wonder if, often, if an instructor engages in that practice -- of resorting to what he or she knows best and sort of talking down to learners -- that they may be struggling themselves with unknown territory. In my earlier days of teaching, I have made that mistake, where I would teach what I knew and was comfortable with instead of letting the lesson unfold more organically. I wonder if that is what you peer was struggling with.
Your suggestion to simply ask learners what they know and what they want to know is insightful. To play devil's advocate (as I said to Grant, I love doing this!), how do we as instructors balance that line between being open to what they WANT to learn and what we are charged with teaching? Have you ever struggled with finding that balance?
I had to laugh at your observation about peer teaching. Kudos to you for suggesting something that may be outside of your comfort zone! I'm curious, though, if you as a learner don't love such an activity, can you explain more why you think it's "gold" for an instructor? Say more about that, if you could.
Thanks for your thoughtful post this week.
Allison
Marianne
It's interesting that you spoke about peer-teaching, because I was thinking about this today actually.I love this idea, but worry it might backfire in certain types of learning environments where specific things NEED to be learned correctly (i.e., safety protocols, math class, insurance billing). I think it is a really cool idea, but I kind of worry about what might actually happen along the same lines as what Allison has said. Maybe it's my own worries as an instructor, but I wonder if maybe you could talk a bit to how to keep misinformation from being spread among the students. Maybe it is better for some subjects than others. Or maybe pairing up some students who seem to know something well with students who are struggling is a way to do it. This may be a goofy question, but how involved do you recommend the isntructor to be during this kind of thing.
Cameron
Peer teaching is more of an activity in my experience then a technique for an entire lesson. My point of view comes from my limited training in ESL teaching in which anything that gets students talking to each other in the target language, is a benefit. The teacher is expected to check in on the pairs or small groups to provide guidance. I think our experience in class last week with the small groups is an example of peer teaching.
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