STUDY
GROUP OUTLINE
Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach:
The Power of Dialogue in Educating Adults
by Jane Vella, published by Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers, c 1994.
Part
Three: Becoming an Effective Teacher of Adults
Chapter
15 - Using the Twelve Principles in Your Own Teaching
- Needs
Assessment: The three needs assessment tasks are "ask,
study, and observe." (pg 181) Choose a topic that you
currently include in your curriculum and do a needs assessment
of that topic.
- Safety:
When "laughter, a certain ease and camaraderie, a flow
of questions from the learners, [and] the teacher's invitation
for comments on the process" (pg 181) are present in the
classroom students are expressing their sense of safety. Are
those things present in your classroom . . . sometimes, most
of the time, or always? If not, what can you change to make
them part and parcel of your classroom?
- Sound
Relationships: If "mutual respect between teacher
and learner" (pg 182) is one of the most important motivators
for adult learners, what have you done in the past six months
to build respect between yourself and one specific student?
- Sequence
and Reinforcement: "Participants do this once, review
it, and then do it again, and again, and again. After ten
times, by George, they've got it!" (pg 183) What do
you do when most of your students have "got it!" after "ten" repetitions
... but one or two still are far from understanding the concept?
How do you prevent boredom from setting in?
- Praxis:
Action with Reflection: Praxis reinforces the leaning process
by encouraging
learners immediately to apply new knowledge to something else they
already know or are in the process of learning. (pg 184) Describe a
specific topic you recently taught in which (1) you used praxis effectively,
or (2) you did not use praxis but now realize how you could have used
it to maximize the learning for your students.
- Respect
for Learners: "Do not tell what you can ask. Do
not ask if you know the answer; tell in dialogue." (pg
185) Is your teaching style a telling one, an asking one,
or an interactive one? What one thing could you focus on
in the next three months that would move you towards more
interactive dialogue?
- Ideas,
Feelings, Actions: Cognitive (ideas), affective (feelings/emotions),
and psychomotor (actions/movement) learning are the three aspects of popular
education vital to adult learning. (pgs 185-186) Do your lessons include
all three aspects of a person's learning spectrum ... sometimes, most
of the time, or always? In which area are you strongest? Weakest?
- Immediacy: "Immediate
success encourages the learners to begin to believe they can
learn." (pg 187) What do you do in your classroom on a
regular basis - semester, monthly, weekly, daily, other - to
promote immediate success for your students? What new success-generating
idea would you like to implement in the near future?
- Clear
Roles: Misunderstood roles can cause great confusion
and disappointment in adult learning situations. (pgs 187-188)
When are you a deliberative voice in your classroom and when
are you a consultative voice? Can your students recognize
the change and understand the difference?
- Teamwork
in Small Groups: "A learning task is an open question
put to a small group with the resources they need to respond
to it." (pg 188) How do small group sessions in your
classroom compare to the author's definition of teamwork
in small groups? Do you use open questions as group starters?
Do you use open questions in other ways?
- Engagement: "Efforts
to cover a set curriculum often lead to neglect of this principle
of engagement. Our job in adult education is not to cover a
set of course materials, but to engage adults in effective
and significant learning." (pg 189) If your adult education
program stipulates a set of curriculum materials do you feel
that those materials stimulate or stifle your students? If
you select and/or create your own curriculum and classroom
materials what things (textbook lessons, overheads, audio or
video tapes, discussion, etc) are most engaging to your current
students? Do different groups of students respond differently
to the same materials?
- Accountability:
Adult education teachers are accountable to their students
according to Ms. Vella, (pg 190) but in the real world of politics
and education, adult education programs and their teachers
are accountable to legislators and voters. How do you respond
to this dichotomy between ideal and reality? Are conflicting
standards interfering with your role as an adult education
teacher?
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