Practical Theory blog asks a neat question:

Here's an educational term that is starting to gain a lot traction these days, and I caught myself using it tonight in a conversation with two SLA teachers, and I asked myself what it could mean and why we'd use it, and I decided I'd never use it again:

Deliver Instruction

What does the term mean? And what does it mean that teachers "deliver instruction?" That instruction is something that exists without and outside the teacher? That a teacher merely "delivers" something called instruction?

What does it mean? It means that a teacher can deliver pizza along with instruction. It means that we can objectify teachers' delivery of knowledge--external from themselves--and grade her on her performance. It means that, like a baseball pitcher, we can clock the speed of delivery and that each teacher has her own way of getting the ball over the plate.

Most pernicious of all, it means that the teacher can be replaced by another delivery mechanism, such as an integrated learning system, a learning management system, a system of some sort. But teaching is more than just being a delivery mechanism. It's about adjusting, on the fly, to many variables that can only be intuited, felt in one's heart. I read about this yesterday and I wish I could remember where. It's the concept that the expert craftsman isn't spending his time reading from the manual, but making infinite number of adjustments in his/her work. She cares for the work she's doing, she values it, she improves the process in a million ways, each interacting with who she is, where she's coming from, and where she wants to go. It's connecting with the children where they are, cradling their minds the way you would a babe's and helping them grow beyond.

Posted by Miguel Guhlin at | +Del.icio.us |
Categories: Education, MGuhlin.net