Ruth Fischer: The Community Service Link

© Copyright 1999 by Ruth Overman Fischer (rfischer@gmu.edu). The right to make additional exact copies, including this notice, for personal and classroom use, is hereby granted. All other forms of distribution and copying require permission of the author.

Section 10: The Principle of Development and Holism
Learning is developmental, a cumulative process involving the whole person, relating past and present, integrating the new with the old, starting from but transcending personal concerns and interests.

That learning is developmental is a basic assumption of my teaching philosophy. My pedagogy is grounded in Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (1962), which states that learning occurs when a student is taken from what s/he currently knows how to do to a more advanced level through tasks of increasing difficulty with the help of knowledgeable peers and/or adults.

Such was our perspective in working with students in their writing. We assigned challenging projects with high expectations but also provided the support that enabled students, when they chose to put in the effort, to meet these expectations. Some students needed more scaffolding than others, and some were more ready for the challenges of university life than others; however, our recognition of the developmental nature of learning undergirded how we interacted with students.

A prime example of this scaffolding (as noted later in the principle on feedback) occurred in the field notes. Students were expected to note their observations as objectively as possible, even to identifying students by sex and ethnicity. I asked for this precision so that when students were asked to reflect on their fieldwork at the end of the term, they had a rich database from which to draw inferences.

Chelsea not only noted the changes she saw in two particular students over time but candidly noted her own development in making conclusions about human behavior:

My first perception of B. [in a combined kindergarten/1st grade class] was that he seemed to be a stubborn, hard-to-work-with child. He continually questioned the teacher's authority by ignoring her instructions and demanding reasons for doing what he was told. Today, this was not my perception of him. I feel that his behavior still suggests that he needs more attention than the other students.

I have developed a special liking for M. His behavior, too, was considerably different from last week. I originally described him as a "withdrawn" child, even an introvert. Although he didn't exhibit the characteristics of a naturally outgoing student, he certainly did not seem withdrawn today, especially when his effort was encouraged or recognized.

Based on the two contradictory observations of M and B, I find that I need to be somewhat cautious about judging characters. I often ignore the fact that students, too, may experience "mood swings" or are getting adjusted to a new environment.

Over the course of several weeks, Tara questioned the efficacy of having students work in Learning Centers in small groups in a combined 2nd/3rd grade class while the teacher worked with other students and even discussed the situation with her mother, who is a teacher in a pre-kindergarten program:

Last week I was concerned because these kids have no structure in the classroom and that second and third graders are in the same room. While the kids are at their [learning] centers they do what they want, not what they are supposed to but the teachers don't know because they are working with other kids at different centers. I feel that this learning style is crazy, but the kids seem to be learning from it. When I listen to the kids working with Mrs. T, they know addition and subtraction like the back of their hand. I talked to my mother about this and she said that schools are trying to get away from sitting at the desk with the teacher in front of the room to teach. They want more hands-on learning for the kids.

Over time, she concludes that perhaps this learning situation has its merits:

Every time I go to Clara Barton, I learn something new. Today I was watching how the kids interact with each other [at the learning centers]. They are more mature than the kids I went to school with. They really didn't need that much help. When I was in school, my teachers walked us through every assignment and never let us figure out anything by working in groups. I think the independent work is great for kids because it gives them a chance to try and not assume they just can't do it.

Next Section: "The Principle of Feedback and Use"

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The Community Service Link: A Response to the Ten Principles of Learning By Ruth Overman Fischer