Why do we teach what we teach?
One of the reasons why we use technology in schools is to change the way we do buisness - move classrooms away from the teacher-centered environments that we see too often. One of the things that keeps us from breaking out of the stand-and-deliver mode we are so comfortable with is tradition. It acts like a magnet that holds us in the same patterns day in and day out.
Specifically, a part of tradition that we as teachers seem to want to hold on to is why we teach what we teach. Do teachers ever ask themselves or each other why their students need to learn particular material or skills? I don’t think they do, at least not enough. It’s too easy to do it just because it’s always been done. Why do we want students to read Shakespeare? Why do we want students to have an understanding of the constitution? Why do we want students to be able to factor polynomials? Or why do we need students to be able to write creatively?
As teachers, we take the answers to these questions for granted. Yet if we don’t really understand the reasons why we teach what we teach, how can we expect the kids to? In order to guide them in creating their own understandings, we need to have an answer beyond just, “I teach this because I have to.”
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