I’m studying English education. I had no idea what education is and how it should be until recently. Nowadays I had some chances to read and study a few books about general education, especially about modern pedagogical paradigm. There was a principle “learner centered” which totally got my attention in one of these book I’ve read. Learner centered refers to curriculum which literally moving its focus to students from teachers whose role has been traditionally a leader of classrooms. So, in that curriculum, teachers are just facilitator of the classrooms and students have more control of what they learn, how they learn, etc. At first, I thought that was a really good idea. So I decided to apply it to my student who is 5th grade in elementary school to motivate him. I started it by going to a book store with him to choose his textbook. We took a look at many books and discussed a lot and finally bought a book. During the course of study I kept asking him how he wanted to be taught and I really reflected his idea on the course to make it more interesting to him. He seemed to enjoy it and followed what he chose to do. By that way, we finished a book and still everything seemed to be ok, at least to me.
A month ago, I found out his listening skill wasn’t as good as his friends’. So I thought I had to train him with English dictation which requires high concentration of students. I knew that’s a really old method, but it could be the best way unless he goes abroad to study. It was so hard to make him understand that he needed to do that. And because of that fucking learner centered education I administered before, now he is always looking for something fun and keeps complaining. Now, I realized that I made a profound mistake which was allowing a leaf of freedom to a 12-year-old kid. Maybe, it was me who applied the learner centered method in the wrong way, so sue me!
I disagree that it was a mistake for two reasons. The first is that teaching is all about trying new things. Is something doesn't work, you still learn a lot from the experience. The second reason is that I think your ideas about student centered learning are totally refined yet. For one thing, it works a lot better in a class than one-on-one. My classes are somewhat student-centered, so you can see it there.
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I agree with you, partially.
ReplyDeleteYes, of course, there is no 'one-fit-all' method. So I'm not very disappointed:P I'll keep trying.
But, the example you mentioned-your class-is a VERY special one. Because all student are highly motivated. That kind of situation, you can do whatever you want.
Unfortunately, my student is just a normal elementary school student who likes to play more than studying.
Anyway, I won't give up. My ultimate goal is make him see things with English. U know, when u learn something that u didn't know about, your perspective to the world is getting wide.
True enough. I'm lucky in that my classes are generally pretty motivated. I've worked with less motivated classes in the past, however, and gotten it to work as well.
ReplyDeleteOne of the tricks is getting your student to learn through sometime he already wants to do. Find something that he likes, and use that to teach him. Sometimes it's hard to find that thing that he likes, but I guarantee that he has something.
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