Most educators agree that teaching for comprehension is the highest
priority. The student should have mastered the subject matter by
developing an understanding of the material. This should enable
the student to apply the facts and principles in apporpriate
situations. However, that kind of teaching requires a great deal
of effort and skill. Under pressure to "cover" an exessive list
of topics, it is much easier to simulate "higher level thinking" with
rote techniques. Too often, to get a good evaluation, the teacher
does not want to know how much the students really understand.
But to produce a plausable record to justify awarding high grades.
Here are some examples you may find in the text books, with
which you can demonstrate to students that, "It says so in the book",
is not proof that it is true. Unfortunately, if they have been
learned as true in a previous class, unlearning can be extremely
difficult.
It is no longer necessary to use
contrived situations,
or old data. The Internet provides access to the raw data from
which
professional researchers work. Much of these data are in "real
time",
or "near real time". Of course this means that the "right"
answers
won't be in the teacher's manual. They can be used in examples,
assignments,
and activities which are both more interesting and more meaningful than
the stale examples from the book.
Lesson plans need to adapted to the particular teaching situation.
Resources available to teachers will vary. Teaching styles
vary greatly, none is best for every teacher all the time.
Learning styles of students vary even within a "homogeneously
grouped" class. The background for, and contexts whithin which a
particular topic is presented also vary. It is expected that the
teacher will revise, edit, and otherwise refine suggested lesson plans
to obtain the greatest advantage for each student.
