class 8building bridges

C&I 320spring 2003

building bridges• assumptions

– all knowledge begins as local knowledge

– one moves from the known to the unknown

– learning is about making connections– teaching is about helping people

(kids) make connections

what is learned• knowledge• skills• dispositions

– (from Katz & Chard)

• knowing that (knowledge)• knowing how (skills, strategies etc)• knowing to (using knowledge well)

what you can do this semester• practice: take many risks, make

many mistakes• surround yourself with people you

can talk with• read teachers, e.g., Paley• stay alive in your mind as an adult:

develop passions and continue to pursue them

• begin to understand the invisibility of good teaching

• build a strong relationship with your supervisor; direct her to be a better supervisor; look at the classroom together

• take moral responsibility for your education

• don’t ask kids to do what you don’t do, e.g., make a summer reading list

• not only realistic to hope, necessary to hope(ideas from Bill Ayers)

what you can control• your mind and how you see the kids• the immediate environment--”the

environment trumps the lesson” (Ayers).• curriculum—the most worthwhile

knowledge and experiences• instruction—leading from the known to

the unknown• assessment—how the kids and you are

progressing

cultural constraints

(cont)

culture has a double-sided effect• a given culture supports some

kinds of learning, making that learning easier, more accessible. At the same time it makes other learning difficult, even impossible

• what kinds of knowledge, skills, values, etc. are accessible and supported in a given culture

• the powers of mind are both aided and thwarted by culture

• begin to understand what a culture deems essential for good, useful, worthwhile way of life and how individuals adapt to these demands

examples• roman numeral system• asian counting systems• english spelling• japanese kana• opera• western vs japanese saws

Useful to think of culture as a shared but implicit

narrative that describes for a group how the world is

supposed to be.Many such narratives in the

world, and they all tell different stories about how the world is supposed to be.