Both, and more

Posted by: Dr Ashley Tan on: April 27, 2017

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What is your response to this tweet?

Is teaching about explaining and telling or crafting a context and letting children invent? Or both? via @ctfosnot #notabookstudy #onted

— Donna Miller Fry (@fryed) April 26, 2017

I have a few. One is that it is impossible to distill all that is teaching in a tweet.

Another is that the question presents a false dichotomy to seed discussion. The “telling” and the “letting” actually represent different ends of a large spectrum.

A more straightforward response, particularly from teachers who have learnt to go beyond telling, is that teaching is both.

I would point out that there is an imbalance. Teaching is still heavy on telling and light on letting. Telling is easier to do than letting, but easier does not mean better or more effective.

“Lecturing is obviously a very comfortable mode of teaching. After all, monologue is much less risky than dialogue” -Chet Meyers #edchat

— Aaron Duff, M.Ed. (@education_geek) April 23, 2017

Just moving from monologue to dialogue is difficult. The talker must listen, analyse, clarify, and meet the learner where they are at. Reaching learners and empathising with them is fundamental to teaching. If we do not, we are just telling and yelling. Then no one is listening and learning.
 

Tags: teaching