Learning best occurs when a learner is placed into an experience that looks both familiar and strange,
So true! We must push out of our comfort zones and experience some degree of stress in order for substantial growth to occur. These are the experiences that shape who we become.
my intent was to provide students with substantive tools for the interrogation of concerns—tools they could use right then and there but also carry into their present and future lives
Situations like this is where the most authentic learning can take place. Students can view the problem as something tangible since they have a personal experience or vested interest. A dialogue that explores possible solutions or compromises often creates positive takeaways for adolescents. This helps build confidence for when they encounter similar problems late in life.
“The median wealth of White households is 13 times that of Black households and 18 times that of Hispanic households.” And then I ask, “How did this ‘gap’ happen?”
As a teacher in the inner city I try to expand my students' view about how housing and wealth are directly tied to Civil Rights. My students are well aware that their educational resources are not equitable to the Philadelphia suburban districts, but they may not be well versed in the history of housing segregation in America. As Christensen points out, it is important to look at our history in order to develop solutions.
Those of us who are here today need go back only one, two, or at most three generations, to find a time when the household was practically the center in which were carried on, or about which were clustered, all the typical forms of industrial occupation.
We don't have to travel very far back in time to where the household was similar to the one room school house. In the early, 1900s the parents instructed their children while learning from the grandparents. Meanwhile, the children learned while teaching each other the essential tasks of the house. Today, families are often divided. Both parents must work to make ends meet, while the children are occupied by technology that is most likely foreign to the family "elders." This family model that I described is now considered the norm.
One of the most difficult tasks a teacher has is "hooking" students that are not interested in education to find a purpose in the classroom- playing off their interests is a great way to align their goals with yours