I wrote the following when responding to Stacie's blog:
When I think about 1st grade I think about reading in bean bags, math games, going outside after the rain to collect water and seeds and watch them grow, story time to just sit and enjoy someone reading me an adventure (not to later have to disect/defend my love or feelings from the story).
In high school I remember huge books that I could barely carry, lectures, lectures, lectures and notes, notes, notes. Huge scantron tests and a great deal of copy crunch homework I completed right before class to get credit. Not to say that that is how it is today, but those are some of my memories :)
Do any of you have those same memories? When I think about constructivism, I truly think back to my kindergarten and first grade years.
posted by bkitch @ 10:25 AM
1 Comments:
You've made a wonderful point. Perhaps the textbooks and the tests are why so many high school students are exhausted, discouraged, and depressed. Not many of them seem to love learning--at least not when you compare them to first graders and kindergartners.
However, I suspect that it's humanly impossible to maintain a kindergartener's mindset throughout adolescence. Maybe puberty changes the brain and affects a child's eagerness and curiosity. Unfortunately, life itself--not just school--knocks the joy out of us. I don't know if even a life time of constructivist teachers could produce a sixteen-year-old who has the unabashed enthusiasm for the world that a six-year-old demonstrates. Maybe it's part of growing up to confront and be quashed by the troubles of the world. (That's not to say, however, that we should give up. We should struggle mightily to awaken our students' enthusiasm for new learning. Even though the world is challenging and often sad, a healthy person finds joy--despite the drudgery of homework or the heaviness of a backpack!)
Post a Comment
<< Home