What Not to Teach

I have really enjoyed this module on fashion and the idea of good vs. bad teaching...or should I say dull instruction vs. compelling instruction. Just like What Not to Wear, we as teachers need to put ourselves in a 360 degree mirrored room. It is so important to continually assess our own instruction. I work with much, much older teachers and they are VERY set in their ways. They are giving out the same worksheets that they gave to their students in 1970. Really.

So as a new teacher, who bopped into their school with new ideas and a different style of teaching... I didn't make a lot of friends. It's really crazy. I have been pressured countless times to teach the way everyone else teaches (worksheets, workbooks, rote memorization, etc.). My first teaching job was at a Paideia School. Anyone familiar? Here's the framework for instruction:

Paideia teachers use three instructional techniques:

1. didactic instruction for increasing students’ factual recall (20%)
   
2. intellectual coaching for developing students’ literacy skills (40%)
3. seminar dialogue to strengthen students’ conceptual understanding (40%)

You can find out more at www.paideia.org

It focuses on teaching the whole child and prepares them to be productive citizens of the community by allowing them to learn through conversation and therefore teaching the child to think creatively and critically. This is NOT the philosophy of the school I teach at now. If only ALL teachers were humble enough to view their practice from ALL angles and be willing to change !