Response to Chapter 2

Chapter two discusses the instructional principles in a highly student-centered classroom, where students construct the knowledge and the teacher facilitates their process of construction. However, students in Taiwan need to spend time adjusting to this mode. In the exam-oriented educational environment in Taiwan, students before college usually learn in an efficiency model, which promotes the teacher-centered classroom. In this teaching method, students can learn fast as long as they are willing to follow the teacher’s instruction step by step. Performing well on a test is their motivation and goal of learning. When they enter university, they suddenly are left to think on their own and the teacher evaluates their way of thinking. Most students feel insecure when they have to construct the knowledge by themselves without the authority of the teacher. They also feel uncertain when they raise their opinions in public. This phenomenon reflects that students are not confident to learn by themselves. Therefore, the teacher should try to bridge the gap between the secondary and post-secondary education by teaching critical thinking. For example, in a language classroom, when students are equipped with basic linguistic knowledge, the teacher can start helping them express their opinions. When I went to the TESOL conference in Denver this year, Ms. Ana Wu introduced an interesting way to teach critical thinking in speaking and writing by showing some video clips about animated mime on YouTube in class. After watching the mime, the teacher can prompt students to describe and interpret the scene and the plot in the clip. There is no definite answer as long as students can support their interpretation with evidence in the clip. This will be a good starter for students to express their opinions to less serious topics before they discuss academic subjects, such as literature.

Note. The YouTube video here is an example of the clip for teaching critical thinking.