Wednesday, May 13, 2009

"Ve have our vays of making you talk..."

A student of mine was balking at a writing assignment.

"Mr. Lesire, you're torturing me!"

"No," I replied.  "I'm teaching you.  The two are slightly different."

It really got me to think, though.  Does my instruction ever elicit "false confessions"?

9 comments:

  1. Interesting.

    Do you ask questions that you already know the answer? Do you ask questions in order to lead the students to the answer you want them to give? Is motivation a code word for "getting students to do what we want them to do?" Does teaching towards objective-based outcomes result in a pedagogical process of getting students to do what we think is best for them? Are we morally obligated to impose certain meanings and responsibilities on them in order to have a functioning civil and democratic society? Does ...

    Neil

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  2. When that line is crossed......time to find another line of work!

    Interesting thought though...how do our kids experience our instruction. For kids to struggle could our best intentions truly be torture for them? Could the simple act of school be considered torture. I think it always is a good idea to consider how kids are experiencing our good intentions.

    Thanks for sharing!
    sue

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