Discourse Analysis

Dr Ishtiaq Hussain, Dr Hafiz Inamullah, Dr Naseer u Din. “An Analysis of Teaching Behaviors That are Ineffective in Teaching Learning Process.” articlebase.com. 25 Feb. 2011 web. 5 Sept. 2007

Gardner, Howard. The unschooled mind: how children think and how schools should teach. BasicBooks: New York, NY. , 1991. Print.

Clough, Mike. “Modeling Effective Teaching Techniques.” Youtube.com, 26 Feb. 2011, web. 25 Aug. 2009.

Dounay, Jennifer: “Ensuring Rigor in the High School Curriculum: What States are Doing” Pg.6 Feb. 4, 2004. Education commission of the states, web. Feb. 11, 2011

Is traditional teaching a help, or a hinder to children? For my purposes I will define “traditional teaching”, as information given to students, then requested back in the form of quizzes, tests, and papers. In recognition of the obvious, and countless intricacies of teaching, this assessment might sound rudimentary and bleak. The intent of this research is not to tear down the efforts given by educators, but to explore paths leading to a brighter path for our young students.

            Which “paths” should be followed to give students the best possible learning environment? Mike Clough, in a series of YouTube videos, states that we need to begin with the teachers who will be doing the teaching in the future. He facilitates classrooms with students, where the focus is effective teaching.  Clough’s emphasis is engagement in the classroom; he encourages his students that in teaching you need to pull answers from your students. There should be constant interaction, discussion, and participation. Clough uses this pedagogy in an attempt to increase the effectiveness of the students he teaches. “Teacher is a Prophet, teacher is an artist, teacher is a friend, teacher is a citizen, teacher is an interpreter, teacher is a builder and teacher is a believer” (Hussain). This was a central point in an article published by Dr. Ishtiaq Hussain. These individuals both point to the fact that in order to make teaching more effective, the teacher is the factor that needs to be changed. One emphasizes that teaching needs to be more effective within a given curriculum, while the other classifies a teacher as an exceptional individual. Hussain paints a picture of teachers who are centers for not only educational excellence but also “priest of man spiritual heritage” (Hussain). While the differences in ideology between these individuals are largely cultural, it is interesting recognizing they both seem to feel that the teacher, not the curriculum is the center for more effective learning.

Jennifer Dounay – in an article outlining the importance of rigor in the classroom – feels the emphasis should be placed on more challenging and accountable course material. "While truth-in-labeling practices in the food industry ensure that orange drink cannot be labeled orange juice without legal ramifications, schools have no such safeguards in place. Algebra I can be placed on any child’s transcript without any guarantee about the content taught or learned.” (Jean Rutherford). This is a quote Dounay uses as a center for her research. Her research highlites specific instances where the more challenging the rigor in schooling, the better results are received when student’s knowledge is tested. When overcoming aggressive challenges whether they be mind, or body, people learn and grow the most. Proof of this is never more evident than when a human being is first developing. “It is humbling to realize that language learning in early life has operated exquisitely over the millennia, yet linguists are still unable to describe the grammar of any naturally occurring language in a completely satisfactory way” (Gardner). Howard Gardner agrees with Douay, to the extent that he emphasis that the curriculum itself is the part of teaching that needs reform. Gardner argues that in early development, young children have a passion and aptitude for learning, which seems to decline once introduced to the early stages in schooling. He contends that even in conditions where ‘rigor’ in schooling, produces the desired results i.e. (grades, testing, quizzing) there still is evidence that students have no genuine understanding. Gardner gives specific examples where students, who are doing well in their classes, cannot give satisfactory feedback about the material they have learned. He speaks of tests administered with small changes given to the wording, which yields poor test results, because students are not comfortable with the material. Physics is an area he focuses on, as it seems most evident that students are not obtaining genuine understanding of the material. He gives another example of college students who have taken a mechanics class and asks them about the forces acting upon a coin when tossed into the air. He states, “Yet 70 percent of college students who had completed a course in mechanics gave the same naïve answer as untrained students” (Gardner).

While researching I attempted to find articles that would give me insight into the traditional style of teaching. I believe we have all been victim of this style of teaching, just being thrown facts and expected to regurgitate that information in the form of testing. There are no articles, because this method of teaching does not give the desired results. I have researched these specific examples where individuals contend in differences of each teacher, the rigor of schooling and the given curriculum. While all of the experts I have researched have different feelings toward what needs to change I feel there is an obvious theme, that change is needed. Coming to a conclusion I will borrow a quote. “Perhaps this uneasiness contributes to the feeling that they – or even the entire educational system – are in some sense fraudulent” (Gardner).

Comparing the differences in opinions about teaching and learning, I asked myself why there was a gap in understanding? I began to think how much of my world I did not understand, but how comfortable I am manipulating all of these things. I can give you a very sad explanation of how a computer works, as well as take a shot at how cell phones can wirelessly speak to one another. There are countless pieces of technology that I use daily, which I cannot give anything less than a childish guess at how they work. So is it perhaps technology, its capacity, and innumerable diversity, which leave us with a feeling that we don’t need genuine understanding to be participants in this modern world?