I love how practical these articles are! And this one bullet points & gives incredibly practical examples of what Professor Wiggins is talking about.
My absolute favorite from the article, and debatably the most poignant, is the history task entitled "The Trouble with Textbooks" (Wiggins, p. 93).
In order to "[a]ssess students' ability to adopt a critical perspective," says Dr. Wiggins, this task asks students to read an excerpt from an "'odd' U.S. history textbook [my italics]" based on the American Revolution. Brilliantly, the set up of the tasks asks student to pose as an attorney. And, of course, they're supposed to be able to argue either side of the case for adopting this supplemental textbook - the progressive teacher or the angry parent. This sort of juxtaposition not only requires the student to look at the two extremes of the debate, but the way the questions and tasks are presented they must also consider a communist's viewpoint, a capitalist viewpoint, a rich man's (the bourgeois) viewpoint, a poor man's viewpoint, a Native American's viewpoint, a woman's viewpoint, a black man's viewpoint and a Chinese person's viewpoint. Wow! That is a lot to grapple with, dear learners.
Wiggins points out, as he does with previous points, that it is not enough for the student to "know" something. In this case, "[i]s the student aware of different ways of knowing?" The student must go beyond knowing and understand "other ways of making meaning."
These methods of questioning provided me with quite an awakening as an honors student many years ago. And while they are undoubtedly painful for young students (and their parents, unfortunately), they really require the student to learn about their own thoughts.
As Socrates meta-analytically pointed out, "The life unexamined is not worth living."
The foundation of learning!
Bravo again, and thanks for the reminder. Sometimes I really miss teaching, and you're not making it any easier, my Friend.
No comments:
Post a Comment