ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
The best teacher I ever had …?
CONNECTEDNESS …
• “Good teachers join self and subject and
students in the fabric of life.
• Good teachers possess a capacity for
connectedness.
• The methods used by them vary widely.
• The connections made by good teachers are
held not in their methods but in their hearts.
•
Teaching cannot be reduced to technique.”
JESUS THE TEACHER
JESUS THE TEACHER
• Jesus’ teaching was rooted in everyday life
• Jesus’ teaching was apt
• Jesus’ teaching provoked thought
• Jesus’ teaching was memorable
• Jesus’ teaching was motivated by love
REFLECTION …
Think about …
… how you felt in first session,
… what you observed,
… what you learned,
… why you learned it well (or badly).
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
1. Teaching and learning are both relational activities.
2. Teaching and learning are about the whole person.
3. Agape is central to teaching and learning.
4. People have different teaching and learning styles.
5. Adult learners are different (but how different?).
6. Teaching and learning happen in a cultural context.
1. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE BOTH
RELATIONAL ACTIVITIES.
1.1 We relate to God.
1.2 We relate to one another.
1.3 We relate to that which we are studying.
WE RELATE TO ONE ANOTHER
WE RELATE TO ONE ANOTHER
1. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE BOTH
RELATIONAL ACTIVITIES.
1.1 We relate to God.
1.2 We relate to one another.
1.3 We relate to that which we are studying.
WE RELATE TO THAT WHICH WE ARE STUDYING
• “The grace of great things”
(Parker J Palmer)
“THE GRACE OF GREAT THINGS”
• “Watch a good teacher sitting on the floor with a group of fiveyear-olds, reading a story about an elephant. Viewed through
the eyes of those children, it is almost possible to see that
elephant in the middle of the circle!” (The Courage to Teach, p.
118)
“THE GRACE OF GREAT THINGS”
• ““By great things, I mean the subjects
around which the circle of seekers has
gathered – not the disciplines that study
these subjects, not the texts that talk
about them, not the theories that explain
them, but the things themselves.” (The
Courage to Teach, p. 107)
“THE GRACE OF GREAT THINGS”
To see a world in a grain of sand
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand
And eternity in an hour.
(William Blake)
THE TRADITIONAL MODEL OF LEARNING
PALMER’S ‘COMMUNITY OF TRUTH’ MODEL
TEACHER-STUDENT WITH STUDENTSTEACHERS (PAULO FREIRE)
• “Through dialogue, the teacher-ofthe-students and the students-ofthe-teacher cease to exist and a
new term emerges: teacherstudent with students-teachers.
The teacher is no longer merely the
one-who-teaches, but one who is
himself taught in dialogue with the
students, who in turn while being
taught also teach.” (Paulo Freire:
Pedagogy of the Oppressed)
REVISED ‘COMMUNITY OF TRUTH’ MODEL
StudentTeacher -------StudentTeacher --------
------ StudentTeacher
TeacherStudent -------
------ StudentTeacher
StudentTeacher -------StudentTeacher --------
------ StudentTeacher
WE RELATE TO THAT WHICH WE ARE STUDYING
• “Our knowledge of the world comes from
gathering around great things in a
complex and interactive community of
truth.”
•
“Good teaching is always and
essentially communal.”
• “Community, or connectedness, is the
principle behind good teaching.”
(The Courage to Teach, p. 115)
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
1. Teaching and learning are both relational activities.
2. Teaching and learning are about the whole person.
3. Agape is central to teaching and learning.
4. People have different teaching and learning styles.
5. Adult learners are different (but how different?).
6. Teaching and learning happen in a cultural context.
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE ABOUT THE
WHOLE PERSON
• God made us as whole persons in his
image
• We are “wonderfully made” (Psalm
139:14)
• “heart … soul … mind … strength”
(Mark 12:30)
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE ABOUT THE
WHOLE PERSON
2.1 We are whole persons, not mere
brains-on-legs!
X
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE ABOUT THE
WHOLE PERSON
2.2 We are whole persons, not mere
bundles of conditioned responses!
X
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE ABOUT THE
WHOLE PERSON
2.3 We are whole persons, not mere
embodied souls!
X
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE ABOUT THE
WHOLE PERSON
2. TEACHING AND LEARNING ARE ABOUT THE
WHOLE PERSON
2.4 The three dimensions of balanced
learning (p. 98)
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
1. Teaching and learning are both relational activities.
2. Teaching and learning are about the whole person.
3. Agape is central to teaching and learning.
4. People have different teaching and learning styles.
5. Adult learners are different (but how different?).
6. Teaching and learning happen in a cultural context.
3. AGAPE IS CENTRAL TO TEACHING AND
LEARNING
• Marshall Gregory: Pedagogy and the Christian Law of Love
3. AGAPE IS CENTRAL TO TEACHING AND
LEARNING
• Marshall Gregory: Pedagogy and the Christian Law of Love
(to his students at Butler University)
“I think my job is to love you.”
3. AGAPE IS CENTRAL TO TEACHING AND
LEARNING
“Love is foundational for all teachers,
who need a version of love that evades
sentimentality and yet respects its
recipients, that challenges students and
yet mediates toughness with charity. …
The proper love between teachers and
students, the love that Jesus commands
us to most fundamentally, is neither eros
nor philia but agape, which underlies all
other loves.”
(Link to article in www.johnshortt.org)
3. AGAPE IS CENTRAL TO TEACHING AND
LEARNING
• This love is more than mere respect.
• This love focuses on the learner and therefore on what she/he is
learning.
• This love makes listening and dialogue very important in
teaching.
• The aim in teaching and learning is not mastery or control but
knowing which is a kind of loving.
“KNOWING AS A FORM OF LOVING” (PALMER)
• “If we dare … to practice knowing as a form of love, we might
abandon our illusion of control and enter a partnership with the
otherness of the world. … This relational way of knowing – in
which love takes away fear and co-creation replaces control –
is a way of knowing that can help us reclaim the capacity for
connectedness on which good teaching depends.”
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
1. Teaching and learning are both relational activities.
2. Teaching and learning are about the whole person.
3. Agape is central to teaching and learning.
4. People have different teaching and learning styles.
5. Adult learners are different (but how different?).
6. Teaching and learning happen in a cultural context.
4. PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT TEACHING AND
LEARNING STYLES
• “We teach the way we have been taught until we stop long
enough to examine how we are teaching and decide to do
otherwise.” (Jane Vella, On Teaching and Learning)
AUDITORY AND/OR VISUAL AND/OR
KINAESTHETIC LEARNING STYLES
• AUDITORY:
• Auditory learners prefer to
learn by listening.
• They learn better using
questions and answers,
lectures, stories, discussion
groups and other auditory
approaches including music.
AUDITORY AND/OR VISUAL AND/OR
KINAESTHETIC LEARNING STYLES
• VISUAL:
• Visual learners learn by
looking.
• They prefer reading, watching
a film clip, looking at pictures
and diagrams. They may not
talk much, dislike listening for
too long and are distracted by
untidiness or movement.
AUDITORY AND/OR VISUAL AND/OR
KINAESTHETIC LEARNING STYLES
• KINAESTHETIC:
• Kinaesthetic or tactile learners
prefer to learn by doing.
• They move around a lot, tap
their pens, shift in their seats,
want lots of breaks, enjoy
games and don’t like reading.
Role plays and simulations are
helpful to them as is note taking
and emotional discussion.
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
1. Teaching and learning are both relational activities.
2. Teaching and learning are about the whole person.
3. Agape is central to teaching and learning.
4. People have different teaching and learning styles.
5. Adult learners are different (but how different?).
6. Teaching and learning happen in a cultural context.
5. ADULT LEARNERS ARE DIFFERENT (BUT HOW
DIFFERENT?)
• “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I
reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of
childhood behind me. “ (I Corinthians 13:11)
5. ADULT LEARNERS ARE DIFFERENT (BUT HOW
DIFFERENT?)
• “I may be nearly eighty but I am still a little girl on the inside.”
TRUE OR FALSE?
• Adults learn best when they feel respected.
• Adults are capable and responsible.
• Adults need to know the reason for learning something.
• Adults are most interested in learning subjects having immediate
relevance to their work and/or personal lives.
• Adult learning is problem-centred rather than content-oriented.
• Adults respond better to internal rather than external motivators.
5. ADULT LEARNERS ARE DIFFERENT (BUT HOW
DIFFERENT?)
• Malcolm S Knowles
PEDAGOGY
• The Art and Science of Teaching Children
• Assigns the teacher full responsibility for making all decisions
about:
• What will be learned
• How it will be learned
• When it will be learned
• If it has been learned
• Teacher-directed and Teacher-centric
Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., & Swanson, R.A. The Adult Learner, 6th Ed. 2005. Elsevier, New York.
PEDAGOGY
The Need to Know
The Learner’s
Self-Concept
The Role of Experience
Readiness to Learn
Orientation to Learning
Motivation
• What is taught if they want to pass and get promoted to next
level
• Dependent on teacher
• Teacher’s experience outweighs Learner’s experience
• Determined by need to pass and get promoted to the next
level
• Subject-centered orientation to learning
• External motivators (grades, teacher’s approval/disapproval,
parental pressures, etc.)
Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., & Swanson, R.A. The Adult Learner, 6th Ed. 2005. Elsevier, New York.
ANDRAGOGY
• The Art And Science Of Helping Adults Learn
• Responsibility for decision-making shifts to learner
• Learner-directed and Learner-centric
Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., & Swanson, R.A. The Adult Learner, 6th Ed. 2005. Elsevier, New York.
ANDRAGOGY
The Need to Know
The Learner’s
Self-Concept
The Role of Experience
Readiness to Learn
Orientation to Learning
Motivation
• Why do I have to learn this?
• Responsible for their own decisions, actions and lives
• Large quantity and quality of experience
• What they need to know and be able to do in order to cope in
real-life situations
• Life-centered, task-centered, or problem-centered
• Internal pressures are most potent motivators
Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., & Swanson, R.A. The Adult Learner, 6th Ed. 2005. Elsevier, New York.
PEDAGOGY VS. ANDRAGOGY
Andragogy
Pedagogy
• What is taught if they want to pass and get
promoted to next level
• Dependent on teacher
• Teacher’s experience outweighs Learner’s
experience
• Determined by need to pass and get
promoted to the next level
• Subject-centered orientation to learning
• External motivators (grades, teacher’s
approval/disapproval, parental pressures, etc.)
The Need to Know
The Learner’s
Self-Concept
The Role of Experience
Readiness to Learn
Orientation to Learning
Motivation
Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., & Swanson, R.A. The Adult Learner, 6th Ed. 2005. Elsevier, New York.
• Why do I have to learn this?
• Responsible for their own decisions, actions and
lives
• Large quantity and quality of experience
• What they need to know and be able to do in
order to cope in real-life situations
• Life-centered, task-centered, or problem-centered
• Internal pressures are most potent motivators
NATURAL MATURATION TOWARD SELFDIRECTION
Degree of Dependency
High
Low
Andragogy
practiced
appropriately
Pedagogy practiced
inappropriately;
andragogy would be
appropriate
Pedagogy practiced
appropriately
1 2 3 4
5 6
7 8
9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Infancy
Adolescence
Natural rate of growth
Knowles, M.S., Holton, E.F., & Swanson, R.A. The Adult Learner, 6th Ed. 2005. Elsevier, New York.
Adulthood
Culturally permitted rate of growth
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
1. Teaching and learning are both relational activities.
2. Teaching and learning are about the whole person.
3. Agape is central to teaching and learning.
4. People have different teaching and learning styles.
5. Adult learners are different (but how different?).
6. Teaching and learning happen in a cultural context.
6. TEACHING AND LEARNING HAPPEN IN A
CULTURAL CONTEXT
• Beware the tendency to isolate
knowledge from the rest of life and
human experience.
• Beware the tendency to make
learning solely dependent on the
written word.
• Beware the dominance of mothertongue English speakers and their
cultural values.
ADULT TEACHING AND LEARNING
“AN ANSWER WITHOUT A QUESTION …”
• “In the process of thinking, an
answer without a question is
devoid of life. It may enter the
mind; it will not penetrate the soul.
It may become part of one’s
knowledge; it will not come forth
as a creative force.”
(Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel)