“With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions, it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child for any set of conditions. To prepare him for future life means to give him command of himself; it means so to train him that he will have the full and ready use of all his capacities; that his eye and ear and hand may be able of grasping the conditions under which it has to work, and the executive forces be trained to act economically and efficiently” (Dewey, 1897). Oh my do I love this quote! This is exactly how I feel about educating students and it is over 100 years later. As I have mentioned in other posts before, I have been teaching for 11 years. Eight of those years I spent as a 5th and 6th grade classroom teacher. I believe, and what I think Dewey was saying all those years ago is that we need to educate the whole child and teach them life and social skills, it is not just about academics.
Dewey was an educational philosopher who is known as the founder of the progressive education movement. According to Spartacus Education, “In his books Dewey outlined his views on how education could improve society. The founder of what became known as the progressive education movement, Dewey argued that it was the job of education to encourage individuals to develop their full potential as human beings. He was especially critical of the rote learning of facts in schools and argued that children should learn by experience. In this way students would not just gain knowledge but would also develop skills, habits and attitudes necessary for them to solve a wide variety of problems” (Simkin). As a classroom teacher I spent time teaching my students skills, social and academic, and trained them to generalize these skills so that as my students move through the grades they can use these skills, hone them, change them as assignments or life asks them to. For example, with my fifth grade students I had them write a research paper at the same time I taught 6th grade and I had them write a research paper as well. The skills I had the 6th grade student use built on the skills they learned for the 5th grade research paper. I tried to do this and still try to do this as much as I can with all subjects. Math, reading comprehension and writing are so much about teaching skills, and processes so that students can apply them when they are given unknown content. The other layer to this that Dewey was also getting at is the idea of cooperative leaning. Learning with other students in a way that builds social skills; which of course is a necessity in order to function in society.
According to one of my classmates’ discussion posts last week, “Cooperative learning is a constructivist teaching strategy that helps to foster a sense of collaboration and community participation in the classroom” (Cook, 2013). This is exactly what we want to foster in our students since when we think about releasing students into real life, these are exactly the kinds of skills we want them to know.
References:
Dewey, J. (1897). My Pedagogic Creed. School Journal, 54, 77-80.
Simkin, J. (1997-2013). Spartacus educational: John Dewey. Retrieved from http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAdewey.htm.
Cook, D. (July 25, 2013). Does constructivism promote academic excellence? [Web log post]. Retrieved from https://bbweb-prod.spu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_74199_1%26url%3D
rebeccaaf 