So I finally did it. After taking a break for 4 years while finding my teaching legs, I got myself back into classes. I am currently enrolled in the first course of what I hope to make my masters, CEP 810: Teaching for Understanding w/ Technology. My first assignment: an essay! Hey, we gotta start somewhere, and here I begin by discussing my understanding of… learning and understanding, aided by reading the first 3 chapters of Bransford, Brown & Cocking’s (2000)How People Learn. If you are interested, you can find my essay here. My writing skills might be a little rusty, but I hope I made clear that learning is the pathway to acquiring understanding and skills, usable in the real world. Then I mention what that means for teaching. Let me know what you think!
Hi Elena. Great work with your essay. I agree with you when you mentioned “Learning must be how students become prepared for adulthood, how they piece together various understandings to interpret and deal with their world.” Sometimes people lose sight of this. We forget why students go to school in the first place, especially those who choose what and how we have to teach. Yes, maybe they can solve the equations in the textbook, but will that help them succeed outside of the classroom? Like you say later on in the essay, it must be authentic and transferable. Thank you for your insight, I am right there with you!
Erika