- I chose to emphasize the theme of “learning by doing” which Janak mentioned during the reading when discussing strategies for progressive teaching. Janak says that learning by doing includes ideas like cooperative learning and teamwork. I think these ideas are crucial for students to be able to gain social skills when working with their peers and learn that collaborating with others helps them learn exponentially.
- In the assigned reading, John Dewey, an American education reformer, is often brought up as a man who inspired progressive ideas within schools. He was a strong advocate for having students “learn by doing”. I chose to emphasize Dewey’s message that learning by doing is a great progressive strategy that we should implement in our classrooms.
- Part 2 | Self-Reflection
- I can attest to John Dewey’s message that learning by doing leads to students retaining more information. From my own experience, when I do a hands-on activity or collaborate to solve a problem through group work, I always get so much more out of a lesson. For example, this semester in my science class we were learning about Newton’s laws of gravity. We were split into groups and got to design our own rockets, and later we launched them. I learned that this is Newton’s action/reaction law, and also had a fun time working together with my classmates. This activity and the lesson I learned from it is something I will probably always remember. Instead of a lecture that I probably would’ve forgotten, I learned a lot from actually doing it myself .
- Learning by doing is a teaching strategy that, on average, students will retain 75% of the information when doing something rather than being lectured about it.
- This topic matters to me because I think that all learning should be centered around hands-on activities because students are more likely to stay engaged and therefore, retain more information/ get more out of their education.
References:
- https://acrobat.adobe.com/link/review?uri=urn%3Aaaid%3Ascds%3AUS%3A2608b2cc
- https://blog.teachmint.com/learning-by-doing-an-approach-for-enhanced-learning.
- Current Connection Slideshow Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vQeKlWx-MCbGDgajZtKR2orCd-yy2_kn6FdQTsEcWSo/edit#slide=id.g280299293f4_7_3505
Comments on during reading:
“They believed that educating the cognitive, social, and moral aspects of a student is more important than pure academic preparation—that producing good, active citizens is more important than producing intellectuals.”
**I love this paragraph because it explains how progressives stress the importance of being good human beings and citizens, rather than just focusing on the intellectual aspect of education. Of course, education is for nurturing the student’s brain, but it’s also about nurturing the student body and mind; as individuals, and recognizing they are the future generation. Teachers should want to ensure their students become good, active citizens, and prepared for the real world. Progressives view students not as mechanical beings that must rely on rote memorization for everything (like the traditional method did), but rather as finding ways of teaching that fulfill the students’ needs, creativity, interests, and abilities
Response to Emma:
**This is a great interpretation of the reading emma! It is clear to me that progressive students are more likely to succeed in the outside world as they are being better prepared through flexible learning and the encouragement of creativity. Something that stands out to me are the words cooperative learning and team work that Janak uses to describe progressive learning strategies. These strategies will help students to reach higher levels of achievement- building relationships among students, creating a learning environment that values diversity, and providing experiences that develop good learning and social skills- are ways that set students up to be good citizens in the outside world and overall good human beings.
**Something that comes to mind is the negative affects traditional teaching has on students. For example, standardized testing. The cons of these tests outweigh the pros. Standardized tests are a poor way to measure a student’s growth and progress and are centered around funding. It puts kids at a disadvantage and adds so much stress for not only students, but teachers. With the progressive learning in mind, students and teachers don’t have to worry about stressful tests that do more harm than good. They can focus on each student individually, rather than putting them all under the same umbrella for an unfair test to dictate their standing in the classroom. This is why I believe it is so much more beneficial to do enjoyable and effective assessments such as portfolios, low stake testing, exit slips, and parent meetings to make sure the students are on track.
“All progressive teachers have an idea of how to improve this country, if not a clear vision of society as it should be. This vision shapes everything they do in their classroom; progressive teachers recognize that everything in education is political, and they are churning out students to step up and become social activists, regardless of stance or issue.”
**I like that Janak says “regardless of stance or issue” when talking about the political aspect of education. Encouraging your students to be social activists is crucial towards setting them up for success in the real world. This can be done by making it known that everyone has a voice and a right to be heard. As teachers we should want our students to work with those around them to bring about change in society. To be social activists we must advocate for those around us, and support our students to do so, regardless of their stance. I find this really important and can relate it back to my experience in highschool. I found it hard to voice my opinion because I had a very different stance on certain issues than my teachers did. I like that progressive teachers must be open to all opinions and perspectives on issues, not just their own, and not be biased when it comes to supporting their students to advocate for themselves and their concerns in the world.
“True to his political roots, Dewey and the teachers he trained created miniature societies within their classrooms, getting students to realize their power as citizens.”
**John Dewey is very interesting to learn about because his belief was that students should be preparing for the real world and learn about what it means to be good, active citizens. Learning should be focused on group work and social learning, not on just rote memorization. Authentic learning requires learners to be active participants where they focus on problem solving and experimentation. He also stressed the importance of the liberal experience- democratic community of learning based around activities and group discussions. He said that learning is by doing; we learn from reflecting and teachers must not lecture but rather facilitate learning like helping them develop life-long skills they will need in the future.
Current Connection Slideshow Link: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1vQeKlWx-MCbGDgajZtKR2orCd-yy2_kn6FdQTsEcWSo/edit#slide=id.g280299293f4_7_3505
Sophia 
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