To advance to the next screen, click the left mouse button. To pause or go forward or back or to a specific slide, click the right

mouse button, then click Go, and then Slide Navigator.

CURRICULUM TRAINING

MODULE #2Mark Feder

DirectorCurriculum and Training

Learning/Teaching Theory Curriculum Classroom Practice

(abstract) (concrete)

#2Training Module #2

Curriculum might be thought of as the link between pedagogical theory and classroom practice – the thing that connects abstract concepts to concrete teaching strategies.

Learning

Teaching

Curriculum

Instructional Quality

#3Training Module #2

A curriculum is predicated upon what is to be taught and our beliefs about how best to teach it. Our understanding of how learning takes place drives how we think we ought to teach, which in turn drives what the curriculum looks like, which impacts the instruction that takes place in class.

ww

w.sandralam

arche.com/ m

ore_subjects.htm

#4Training Module #2

Let’s consider a common teaching/learning experience that occurs outside of the classroom -- riding a bicycle.

What is the role of the parent/teacher in the bicycle experience?

What is the role of the child/learner in the bicycle experience?

Is there anything about the bicycle learning experience that applies to learning in general, to learning in an academic environment, and to language learning?

#5Training Module #2

Let’s try to think about what is involved in the process of learning to ride a bicycle

provide a bicycle;find a good place to practice;encourage the child and give assurances of success;give tips and advice;suggest ways to correct problems;make the child feel safe and secure; try to catch the child and prevent spills;congratulate the child for attempts and successes.

ww

w.city.toronto.on.ca/ health/pr_index.htm

#6Training Module #2

A parent might assert, “I taught my child to ride a bike,” but the statement, “My child learned to ride a bike.” might be more accurate. What, actually, can a parent do to “teach” a child to ride? A parent can:

ww

w.sentex.net/~ahughes/ yesterday115.htm

l

#7Training Module #2

As they say, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink.”

But the actual learning is done by the child. Through the child’s effort, the jump is made from not being able to ride to being able to ride. Without the child’s effort and active participation in the learning process, nothing that a teacher did would be sufficient. Perhaps, the most helpful things the parent can do is encourage the child to put effort into the task and remove as many obstacles as possible to the child’s commitment to the task.

According to Carl Rogers, “all human beings have a natural propensity to learn and the role of the teacher is to facilitate such learning.”

#8Training Module #2

So the parent/teacher can facilitate learning, but not actually “teach” a skill.

Or, is facilitating the same thing as teaching?

If so, is all teaching facilitating?

Is learning algebra or English the same as learning to ride a bicycle and is the teacher’s role to be a facilitator or a dispenser of knowledge?

Affective Domain

Cognitive Domain

BODY - DOING:BalanceStrength

Coordination

PSYCHE - FEELING:ConfidenceMotivation

Anxiety

MIND - KNOWING:Parts of bicycle

How to pedal, stopSafety rules

Psycho-Motor Domain

#9Training Module #2

Let’s consider what skills are involved in riding and learning to ride a bicycle.

Affective Domain

Cognitive Domain

BODY - DOING:Producing sounds

Receiving verbal signals

PSYCHE - FEELING:ConfidenceMotivation

Anxiety

MIND - KNOWING:Vocabulary

Syntax

Psycho-Motor Domain

#10Training Module #2

Now, let’s compare them to the skills involved in learning and speaking a foreign language.

Cognitive

ww

w.adm

it.ucsb.edu/vcen/Slideshow

/ non-javascript/3.htm

l

#11Training Module #2

Traditionally, the dispensing of information, knowledge, and skills has been considered the main role of the teacher. The transfer of information from teacher to student is not only the oldest pedagogical model, but still the most prevalent one. In the field of language teaching, the central position of the cognitive domain is apparent in the venerable Grammar-Translation Method.

Psycho-Motor

mem

bers.aon.at/steinwender/

indexrow1col2.htm

l

#12Training Module #2

Behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner viewed learning as stimulus-response conditioning. Instructional methodologies based on the Skinnerian view focus on the psycho-motor domain, utilizing repetition (reinforcement), rewards and programmed instruction rather than understanding and cognition. In language teaching, this approach is reflected in the Audio-Lingual Method.

Affective

ww

w.tom

snyder.com/classroom

#13Training Module #2

Affective elements have, perhaps, always been a part of pedagogy in an incidental kind of way, and throughout history, teachers have encouraged, coaxed and cajoled their students to learn. But the elevation of Affect as the primary focus of the teacher is relatively recent. In the field of language teaching, Community Language Learning, Suggestopedia, the Silent Way, and the Natural Approach all define the teacher as facilitator rather than dispenser of information.

The bicycle must be provided – but providing a bicycle is not teaching. The teaching consists of helping the child to ride the bicycle.

#14Training Module #2

While all 3 domains are undeniably important, indeed, indispensable to the learning process, the question is whether they are equally important for teaching. In the bicycle experience, it seems pretty clear that the role of the parent/teacher is to deal primarily with affective matters.

The teacher provides support, assistance, advice, encouragement, and a safe environment to allow the child to take risks and develop skills.

ww

w.kodak.com

/.../dlc/techniques/ archive/action.jhtml

#15Training Module #2

A sense of balance and coordination are absolutely imperative for the rider, but those are not things the teacher can impart. The rider herself has to develop those abilities. What the teacher can do is provide support, assistance, advice, encouragement, and a safe environment to allow the child to take the risk and develop those skills. In other words, the teacher’s role is almost entirely occupied with the affective domain.

==

#16Training Module #2

For language learning to take place, information and language sources must be provided just as the bicycle must be provided. The student must also develop the ability to perceive and produce the sounds of the target language (phonemes) just as the bicycle rider must develop a sense of balance and coordination. The teacher can provide assistance, but it is up to the learner to develop these psycho-motor skills.

ww

w.babyhearing.org/.../G

ettingReady/ early-

preparation.asp

ww

w.abc-usa.org/inm

issn/ marapr01/m

arapr01g.htm

ww

w.personnel-prep.org/

“A language cannot be taught. One can only create conditions for learning to take place.”

#17Training Module #2

Where the teacher can really make a difference is in the affective domain – helping the student feel comfortable and overcome obstacles. As the German philosopher Wilhelm von Humboldt said, “A language cannot be taught. One can only create conditions for learning to take place.”

I never teach my pupils; I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn. Albert Einstein

#18Training Module #2

You cannot teach a man anything. You can only help him discover it within himself. Galileo

It is the teacher's function to contrive conditions under which students learn. B.F. Skinner

keirsey.com/personality/ nt.htm

l w

ww

.curtin.edu

ww

w.davidsonfilm

s.com

Humboldt’s remark about language learning made almost 200 years ago is echoed by the remarks of other scholars about learning in general.

END OF TRAINING MODULE #2