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Teaching by example
By Linda Reavill
One of the most unique courses I ever took was an Educational Philosophy course. It was a requirement for anyone who was getting a Masters in Education. By the time you are working on a Masters in Education you have a certain expectation on how to pass classes -- you get a syllabus, dates of tests, lists of reading requirements, and the number of papers you need to write. On the first day of class the professor walked in and sat down. He didn't offer any information to us. People started asking questions. "Are we going to have any tests?" "We could have tests if you'd like to have tests." Of course, no one replied to that! "Do we have to write any papers?" "We could write some papers if you'd like" The same silence followed. "Well, how do we get graded?" "You can give yourself your own grade. The administration doesn't appreciate it if everyone gets A's, so maybe some of you wouldn't mind a B." Now we were all waiting for the catch. "What are we going to learn?" Now, here came the hardest answer of all: "What do you want to learn?" In reality, it is really hard to know what you want to learn if you don't know about the topic. You expect the professor to guide you because they know something of the topic -- but knowing what you want to learn puts you in control of your learning. The professor did give us some really interesting activities to do that made you think. But, most of the students were really nervous during the entire class because they couldn't believe that he would really let us grade ourselves, and they were worried about getting a bad grade. The last day of class came and the professor passed out a sheet of paper and told us to put down our names and what grade we wanted to get. I didn't put down the A because I really didn't deserve it, so I gave myself an A- (the lowest grade that I received that term). And those were really the grades we received. This class taught me so much about the nature of education because the professor really made people confront the status quo and think about what it means to teach a class and to be a learner in that class. I don't remember his name, but will always remember this class. |
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I taught philosophy, (ethics). two terms at Pasco Hernando Community College. I can identify with the instructor quite easily. Good description of the kind of odd character a philosophy teacher can have.
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February, 2012
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