Martin Haberman posts a provocative essay:
I recently examined the four most widely used texts sold to faculty in schools of education to teach “learning” to future teachers.
As I scanned these texts I asked myself a simple question. If I were a classroom teacher how would the learning theories being presented in these texts help me to deal with the following subgroups in a class of 25 to 35 students:
1. 4-6 students feign helplessness regardless of how much the assignments are watered down and never complete assignments.
2. 6-8 students need for attention prevents them from staying on task and interferes with the work of others.
3. 1-2 students see themselves as having been hurt by teachers and seek revenge regardless of the task or assignment at hand.
….I found little in the texts that explain either why students take on these roles or what a teacher could do to best teach students assuming these roles.
-Guestblogger MG