If learners spend their time sounding out words, then learners learn how to sound out specific sets of words. If learners spend their time answering questions to specific stories, then learners learn the answers to the specific questions asked. But if learners spend their time learning a process for understanding text and then apply this process to examine other texts, learners gain a valuable skill for interpreting texts. This learning then sparks the beginning of developing a lifelong skill that can become a part of them and be used at any appropriate time.
This scenario strongly suggests that what learners do is what learners learn. Therefore, as teachers (and tutors), we are responsible for creating authentic communities in which learning is shared, supported, and cognitively challenged. In these communities, learners engage in activities that build knowledge, skills, and abilities.
Learners are invited to use creativity, analyses, syntheses, reflection, and argumentative discovery to construct meaning. Participation engrosses their cognitive, emotional, and physical beings. In other words, the learners are doing the "work" - the thinking, the talking, the manipulating of the ideas, both tangible and intangible.
In this learning environment, our role then is as guides. We watch, encourage, and sometimes prod as learners make inquiries. Learners explore, experiment, and even make mistakes. We help them sort out ways to learn from and re-direct their energies. And, we question and challenge learners' decisions and responses while seeking evidence of appropriate reasoning and conviction.
How do you weigh in on this view of learning?
