My philosophy of education you say? What day is it? For that matter: What time is it?


If I thought I knew what I knew when I arrived in Mississippi, all I know now is that my philosophies change with the weather. I do know that I have been forced by the circumstances of my students to teach in ways I don't (or didn't) believe are the best. But ultimately what works for any given student is, indeed, best in as far as it enables him or her to know something valuable or use knowledge in a new way.


Raising my own child, and as I imagined my teacher self, I leaned most heavily into the constructivist camp, specifically in the discovery tent.


My students continually remind me that I rarely answer their questions. Instead, I ask them a question that helps them come to the answer themselves. Especially in teaching English, where there are often situations with no one correct answer (exception made, of course for grammar!) students need to be able to make inferences and draw conclusions on their own. The reading guides I construct steer students carefully through the material, gathering information that coalesces into inference.

Every folly must run its round; and so, I suppose, must that of self-learning and self-sufficiency: of rejecting the knowledge acquired in past ages, and starting on the new ground of intuition. When sobered by experience, I hope our successors will turn their attention to the advantages of education. I mean of education on the broad scale.

--Thomas Jefferson to
John Adams, 1814. ME 14:150

My units tend to revolve around problem-solving, simulations, and projects that cross disciplines.


An example is the Everest unit, which compared the perspectives of Edmund Hillary and his guide Tenzing Norgay on the 1953 summiting of Everest. Along with the language arts objectives, students learn about Buddhism, Tibetan culture, geology, and the history of colonial cultural dominance. They create travel itineraries, use trigonometry to compute Everest's elevation, and read primary source documents.


Bruner's theories of discovery learning support my use of peer teaching and small group work. Students are much more engaged and motivated when they're learning from and with their peers. Gauging effectiveness by the level of engagement with material and expression of original thinking, I've seen much more success this year when I've used these discovery-based strategies.


My use of reading packets (as the Everest unit description above) promotes independence, responsibility, and autonomy -- all qualities sorely lacking in the predominant culture of the Delta.


One problem with a constructivist oriented classroom, however, is that it assumes prior knowledge that the learner builds on. Many of the students in my classes have little or no experience with critical thinking or any activity that requires much more than memorizing or copying. For this reason, I've tempered pure constructivism with a generous dollop of elaboration theory.


Elaboration theory, allowing me to gradually introduce basic concepts and slowly build toward a more complex understanding, helps me fill in the knowledge gaps so many critical-needs students have. I believe strongly in working from general to specific,

This sign greets me every day in the hall beside my room. It is the education philosophy of my school.

simple to complex, following the classic pattern of explanation, modeling, guided practice, and independent practice when introducing new concepts. For the more structured, rules-based aspects of English instruction (such as grammar, understanding of text structures, vocabulary) an elaboration sequence is successful. Students experience early success with simple concepts and are able to gradually layer more complex understanding on top of them.


Is there an inherent conflict in teaching from both a cognitivist and constructive framework? There could be. But in order to address the ways different students learn, and to teach each competency in the most appropriate way, multiple philosophies should be employed.


Sources:

  1. •Bruner, J.S. (1967). On knowing: Essays for the left hand. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

  2. •Bruner, J.S. (1977). The Process of Education. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.

  3. •Reigeluth, C. (1987). Lesson blueprints based upon the elaboration theory of instruction. In C. Reigeluth (ed.), Instructional Design Theories in Action. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

  4. •Reigeluth, C. (1992). Elaborating the elaboration theory. Educational Technology Research & Development, 40(3), 80-86.