· Discuss one question, confusion, or "I wonder...." from reading the Module.
I wonder if it’s possible to overwhelm the students on the first day of school with all the information about class rules, the syllabus, expectations, etc. Is this possible? Is there a way to still present all the information and create the strong learning environment without overwhelming them with everything?
· Reflect on the statement "Teaching with a lot of control is easy. Handing control over to the students, and planning for every possible outcome, adapting instruction where they take it, is extremely difficult, but worth it." Why might this be so? How could you productively hand over some control to your students while still supporting learning?
I can see how teaching with control would be a simple task: you are the superior and you have the power over the students. However, that sort of a learning environment isn’t very good because the students probably won’t feel comfortable (you wouldn’t be creating a good teacher-student relationship) or respected. I think handing over the control to the students can seem like a scary idea; however, if the students are given the proper guidance on what to do, I think it can be effective. I think that you have to have a relationship with the students in which they understand that you have the control and power, but they still respect you and they know that you care about them as students. If this can be achieved, then the students wouldn’t take advantage of the control you’d be giving them. They’d want to prove to you that they can take the control and use it effectively. If something goes wrong while the students have the control, the teacher should know to step back in and reevaluate the situation. If this means sharing the control with the students or offering new suggestions and then giving the students back the control, then so be it. Like I mentioned before, I think the students will need to have a clear indication of what needs to be accomplished so that they don’t become crazy with control or anything. Furthermore, as the book mentions, the classroom setting should have a strong student-student relationship, not just a strong student-teacher relationship. The students will need to demonstrate respect for one another in order to properly share the control and be productive. I think the idea of handing over control can seem scary and potentially unproductive. But as long as the students continue to work towards a final outcome of learning something, I think it could be interesting to see where they take it. That’s what would be totally worth it: seeing the students’ satisfaction in achieving the goal and knowing that they did it entirely on their own!
I see what you mean by it being overwhelming for students on the first day of class having to learn all of the rules and expectations because it is a new classroom environment for them. I don't really believe that it is that overwhelming for children because they have been in school their entire life. Yes, the first day is always a nervous one, but in my experiences class expectations have been almost common knowledge to all students because they are well known rules about code of conduct. A way that could be less overwhelming to promote learning and the classroom rules would be for students to make presentations in small groups so that all of the children can take part in learning and teaching what is to be expected of them in the classroom.
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