The Pedagogy of Blissful Teaching
belongs to the great masses of teachers...though
it begs the question as to the effectiveness of
their teaching. These practitioners carry on day-by-day,
year-after-year, like blissful performers of the
comical, sailing out into rough waters without providing
their passengers without life jacket, hoping that
their students succeed in learning at least a thing
or two on their way to the fields, the factories,
or other occupations of interest. These teachers
need a map to find their own classroom, even after
twenty years in the same room. They are paid at
the twenty-year experience level, but the truth
be told, they do not have twenty years of experience...they
have had the same exact experience twenty times.
These teachers are bird hunters: They use a shotgun
with a multitude of pellets and hope that the darn
birds will accidentally fly into them. Every now
and then, they bag one and have a fine bird dinner.
This shotgun approach to teaching is refreshing
in its ignorance and blissful in its occasional
hits.
The Pedagogy of Teaching How to Learn is the opposite
of the Pedagogy of Blissful
Teaching. Those who practice this pedagogy spend
time on teaching their students to teach themselves.
They might spend a whole week demonstrating and
having their students practice the multitude of
educational techniques, which grease the way to
higher learning. These techniques include: Understanding
the layout of the textbook, how to use the Table
of Contents to create a file drawer in the brain
so that information fits easily and can be recalled
easily, using the various parts of the chapter,
using the index, using the glossary, using the dictionary
to define unknown words, general organizational
skills, cognitive mapping, and other ways which
can assist students in their learning. These teachers
also show the students how to use mnemonic strategies
to "study smarter, not harder," demonstrating
the keyword method, repetition, rehearsal, comical
connections, patterns, logic, and basic research
skills pertinent to the appropriate grade level
of student. These teachers are allowing their students
to become teachers of themselves, providing lifelong
skills, increasing their freedom and broadening
their horizons, and facilitating their learning
without the "grime and sweat." These practitioners
respect their students and recognize their abilities,
make learning fun, and inspire independent learning
by students.
These teachers do not encourage rote learning but
higher cognitive skills and critical thinking. To
play the game, the students do need to know the
rules of the game: The rules of phonics in reading,
the multiplication tables in math, and the rules
of logic in logic. Great coaches make sure that
their players know the rules of the game. A player
cannot play the game, cannot be on the team, if
he doesn't know the rules. If students in sports
realized the mathematics involved in every play,
their efforts at math would greatly improve. It
is amazing to see the star quarterback connect for
six touchdowns but fail a algebra class and have
to attend summer school. Yet his skills in math
far surpass the norm while in a football game.
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