Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Dewey

John Dewy's ideas made me think about my own experience as a teacher... What I found interesting was the role of the teacher which was to guide students to give birth to new knowledge. Teachers cannot do it for their students, they only can guide them to do so through motvation. When children do, perform, they experience and learn through this experience.
According to Dewey reality is full of confussing information and it's also complex, that's why teachers should simplify it and make students understand how it works and encourage them to put into practice their skills and capacities to co-operate and contribute within the school as well as members of the society.
At school students should learn about cooking, sewing, chemestry (among other things) since they are thought to acquire knowledge by doing and schools should foster students to enlarge these experiences within the school in order to prepare them to carry them out in the society.
Students are not considered to be blank slates. On the contrary, they are seen as active learners who have the ability to do on their own.
I would like to apply these ideas with my students since in my opinion a good teacher makes their students feel confident about their potential.

3 comments:

Chloe Root said...

I also really appreciate this view of students and teachers. I think that the notion of a teacher as a guide can be powerful if you think of all the ways in which you can use the word. A guide can lead a group of adventurers through a thick forest or up a mountain, can model and show someone how to do something specific, or can change the course of a conversation to be more productive, more focused, or more open. Thanks for your post!

Mariana .F said...

I agree with dewey's idaes, specially:that It is important for him that the students participate in concrete activities with practical relevance to their lives.I think is here where we can find the secret of keeping our children motivated.
Hugs!

Joako Ierfino said...

I would like to apply his ideas with my students. I believe they are the most important factor in education. I agree with you. I think a good teacher is that one who guides students and shows them the way in order to make them learn by themselves. In addition, they also learn how to learn.