Isn't it amazing that in so many of our readings, the authors give voice to what common sense, teaching experience, instinct, and basic knowlege of the educational process has already told us? While I read, I keep thinking, "Well, of course." But the authors, and often Brian in his podcasts, put into concrete words and bring into focus nebulous ideas that have been floating around in my head for years. I know what I teach, but now I know WHY I teach it the way I do. Some of the ideas in this week's readings sort of lend authority to what we all do by experience and instinct. Scaffolding can be as simple as asking a harder follow-up question leading the student from what he or she knows to what he/she doesn't know, but can know with a little bit of direction.
The idea of Zone of Proximal Development is the idea of starting where they are at and going from there. That is not an easy thing to do especially on the high school level where the students are scattered from pre-operational to formal operations, but is never-the-less extremely important. How can a student start far beyond their own level? In high school, the only result a teacher gets from that is students melting onto their desks followed by deep breathing, drool on desks, and snoring.
Of course, I can't let a blog go by without complaining about the biggest obstacle I have to being a better teacher: class size. How do we cover classes of 40 to 45 students per class? How do we get a Zone of Proximal Development for all our students without spending hours upon hours just getting that one thing? How do we tailor our lessons to what our students need when it is a challenge just to get all their names memorized? It drives me crazy. I don't see an answer to this anywhere from anyone. I hate the fact that I have to aim my lessons toward what I hope is the mid-range of all my students, guessing and hoping that a majority will gain something from what I am teaching. It doesn't help that our administration is telling us that we will have 50 students a class next year. I'm going to have to hang them from the lights just to fit them in the room.
