Teacher as Arbiter Between Theory and Practice
A few years ago… maybe more than a few… I received a B+ for my chalkboard work from a professor who was evaluating my teaching of a physics class. His marking scheme, if there was one, has long dissolved into the sands of time.
The professor claimed I was too liberal with my use of colour on my free-body diagrams. Those little bubbles that we now refer to as “call-outs” were unconventional and should never be used, he said. The title and date should always be double-wavy underlined, not single.
From my perspective, it was a fantastic lesson! I had meticulously planned the call-outs, the colours, even the positioning of my notes and diagrams on the board. The students were engaged, challenged and thoroughly enjoyed what they were learning. It was no Cy Twombly masterpiece, but I deserved an A.
My insight into the students’ actual learning experience should have been essential to the evaluation of any particular pedagogy or teaching tool (in this case, a piece of chalk and a chalkboard). I believe that the mark I received that day reflected outdated teaching theory, rather then the evolved learning taking place in my classroom.
I think back to that experience whenever I learn about what Crescent’s faculty are doing to improve and evolve their practice and ultimately the learning experience for the boys. We are in a time of rapid growth in our knowledge about learning and brain theory. This influences us as we strive to design the optimum learning environment, integrate the latest technology into the classroom, consider the impact of social media on the young brain, develop boys’ entrepreneurship skills, and promote wellbeing, empathy and resilience. Teachers – who I now regard as educational architects, engineers and project managers – are becoming even more skilled at the increasingly complex tasks required of them.
Clearly, the highly nuanced, relational process of teaching and learning will continue to rely on world-class researchers like the cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham, PhD, author of “The Reading Mind”, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Learning and the Brain conference in Boston in November. But learning also relies on our teachers, who will continue to be the arbiters, able to separate the wheat from the chaff of educational theory, research and innovation.
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From my perspective, it was a fantastic lesson! I had meticulously planned the call-outs, the colours, even the positioning of my notes and diagrams on the board. The students were engaged, challenged and thoroughly enjoyed what they were learning. It was no Cy Twombly masterpiece, but I deserved an A.
My insight into the students’ actual learning experience should have been essential to the evaluation of any particular pedagogy or teaching tool (in this case, a piece of chalk and a chalkboard). I believe that the mark I received that day reflected outdated teaching theory, rather then the evolved learning taking place in my classroom.
I think back to that experience whenever I learn about what Crescent’s faculty are doing to improve and evolve their practice and ultimately the learning experience for the boys. We are in a time of rapid growth in our knowledge about learning and brain theory. This influences us as we strive to design the optimum learning environment, integrate the latest technology into the classroom, consider the impact of social media on the young brain, develop boys’ entrepreneurship skills, and promote wellbeing, empathy and resilience. Teachers – who I now regard as educational architects, engineers and project managers – are becoming even more skilled at the increasingly complex tasks required of them.
Clearly, the highly nuanced, relational process of teaching and learning will continue to rely on world-class researchers like the cognitive scientist Daniel T. Willingham, PhD, author of “The Reading Mind”, whom I had the pleasure of meeting at the Learning and the Brain conference in Boston in November. But learning also relies on our teachers, who will continue to be the arbiters, able to separate the wheat from the chaff of educational theory, research and innovation.
Read more Teaching & Learning blog posts
