About a week ago, I interviewed two of my high schools most well renowned teachers on what goes on in their classroom and what it means to them. Besides both teaching in the language department, I view these teachers as teaching very similarly stylistically, but very different strategically. I thought it would be interesting to get both of their opinions on the matter of the education us students are receiving. The questions they were asked were based off their personal teaching styles, what they believe benefits students, and the main question of all my research, their opinions on what is the most beneficiary style of learning, experience or audited.
Mrs. Motyl-Szary Spanish teacher
Q: What are your personal ways of teaching that make sure the information sticks with the students?
A: An important skill with teaching to make sure it is lasting, is called scaffolding. This means bringing up the material multiple times in various ways. This might mean that material might come up in the next unit to refresh what we did in the previous unit just to make sure it didn't just get purged for the test. It also means practicing things in different ways, whether it's through art, writing, speaking, listening, or reading, just so that way the information sticks in different parts of our brain.
Q:Do you think “generational teaching”, for example kahoots and quizlet and more technology based teaching, genuinely benefits students?
A: I do think it can benefit students, but I it can't be the only thing that happens. Competitive games that include technology get a certain amount of buy-in that maybe traditional pencil and paper doesn't get from students today.
Q: What is your opinion on “by the book” versus situational based learning, such as outside of school as well.
A: I think that learning things as you need them are the most effective things to learn, but unfortunately can't be duplicated all the time in our department where we don't use a textbook, we try to make our curriculum as authentic as possible through authentic sources meaning things that are written for Spanish speakers by Spanish speakers and allowing students to grapple with that and gather vocab which mimics a more real life situation
Q: Do you think common things we learn through life can be taught in school through curriculum?
A: I think they can be and probably should be more than they are now. I specifically remember taking cooking in high school and learning some basic things regarding cooking that I honestly use to survive on the daily. I think it’s possible with the right kind of practice.
Concluding this interview, I learned that this teacher did have a support for, and was aware of the need for experiential learning. However she also knows it is unfortunately not as easy as it seems to be replicated in a school setting. This is where the cry for reform stems from. Teachers are given a certain set of topics and lessons that they have to lecture to kids who are expected to retain it all, just in 180 days each year. This has been our system for hundreds of years, hence making it very difficult to change. But with one step at a time, I believe schools all around the world can adapt to teaching kids what they need to know, when they need to know, for what they want to do, and all it takes is one teacher to start.