Getting Started

Most teachers know that preparing for a mandated test is not education. If they felt like they were allowed to do things differently they would, or at least they would be willing to try. How, with high stakes testing and evaluations, can a teacher move toward a constructivist approach? Part of the response is it takes a leap of faith, the other part is it takes a different perspective.

The leap of faith is not as big a leap as it may sound. It is probably more accurately a leap of belief. A belief in the students and their ability to adapt, learn and still pass tests. If you have become so jaded that your ability to believe in your students is gone, please get out of teaching. You are not only doing harm to yourself, but to the students and the profession. The leap is a belief that learners can pass tests, not because they have been drilled and memorized all that is needed to pass, but because they can think and analyze and problem solve. It is a belief that even if the students have not been exposed to everything that may be on a test, what they have been exposed to they know well and can use to help identify answers they may not know off hand.

It is also a belief in yourself and your own experience. Like Morpheus in The Matrix, you have to believe what your intuition is telling you, that there is a better way. When you begin experimenting with constructivist approaches there will be resistance. Resistance will come from students, parents and administrators. It will also come from yourself. When everyone is questioning you, it is easy to start thinking, maybe I am the one that’s wrong. In those moments I remind myself of the Gandhi quote, “Never apologize for being correct, or for being years ahead of your time. If you’re right and you know it, speak your mind. Even if you are a minority of one, the truth is still the truth.” Those times will definitely happen. Believe in yourself!

The move to constructivism takes a different perspective, on almost everything you do in the classroom. Your perspective already started to change if you are thinking about moving to constructivist approaches. You already know that learning is not the focus of modern education. Your perspective needs to focus on learning. Not learning that is easily measured and recorded, but learning that is lasting and deep. That perspective will start to shift your perspective on many other areas.

The first thing that most likely needs to a change of perspective is curriculum. What are kids learning in your class and why? Most curriculums are far too packed with content to ever really learn it all. Just because it was covered doesn’t mean it was learned. Tough decisions are going to have to be made. In my opinion less is always more. Deeper understanding of some topics is better than shallow understanding of a lot of topics. There are many pressures to cover the curriculum, from state mandated tests to other standardized tests like Advanced Placement. Very few students get perfect scores, yet we act like that is the goal. And those that do most likely would score that high no matter who was teaching the class. Your perspective on tests will influence your approach. I always told my AP classes I would rather have every student get a three and leave loving and wanting to discover more about the topic, than every student get a five and leave hating the topic. If you can’t get there yourself, maybe you shouldn’t teach those classes.

The role of the teacher is another perspective that needs serious examination in a constructivist classroom. As Paul Thomas of Fordham University states education has evolved from a system done to students where, “Learning is reduced to a discrete body of knowledge to be imparted by the teacher and deposited in the student”(Thomas, 2013). While this kind of teaching still exists in many places it evolved into a system done for students, where expected outcomes are pre-planned and teachers guide students down a prepared path with measurable steps and predictable outcomes.

In a constructivist classroom the teacher’s role is very different. The teacher in this environment is a guide, not a judge; a developer of experiences, not strictly prescribed plans. The teacher is a learner with more experience to share, not a distributor of facts they have already mastered. Teachers should more often do the assignments they assign students, or sit down with the students and work on a project. The difference in perspective when sitting with the students instead of standing in front of them is enlightening. I often use the analogy of a personal trainer when explaining the role of the teacher. A trainer finds what the client hopes to accomplish and designs a series of exercises and guides the client through the workouts giving advice, suggestions and encouragement. However, if the plan calls for twenty push-ups, the trainer doesn’t drop to the ground and start doing push-ups. It is up to the client to do the work. This is where modern education has become most misguided. The students aren’t expected to do the majority of the work, and often they are expected to do more work than is possible outside of school.

Class time should not be where students come to watch teachers work hard. It should be where they work hard. Time spent in class working is often seen as a waste of time. Students have been trained to believe if the teacher isn’t doing anything to or for them, then class is over. When a person goes to the gym they don’t sit and watch their trainer work out, nor should students sit and watch their teachers. They need to be actively involved. This is going to require some sacrifice of control on the part of the teacher and much more effort on the part of the student.

This is the first place teachers will experience resistance. Students are not used to actually being responsible for doing work. They know how to fill out worksheets and following clearly planned out projects, but not how to do work that requires skills not often required in class such as asking questions and analyzing information. This kind of work pushes them outside of their comfort zone, and students hate not being comfortable. This is where the teacher as motivator and guide comes in. They don’t like being uncomfortable because they are afraid their grades will suffer. This is a situation where you can have your cake and eat it too. By focusing on the process of learning, students will still get good grades, but they will retain more of what they learn and take away skills that they can use in other classes and their lives outside school.

As mentioned earlier, the role of the teacher will change in a constructivist classroom, but so will the relationship between the teacher and the students. Students have to know that you genuinely care about them and their development. It is very difficult to teach in a constructivist manner if your main focus is compliance.