OVERHAULING THE TRANSMISSION MODEL 

Students are not receptacles to be filled with knowledge, or clay to be molded. They, like all of us, are active meaning-makers. The implication, as one educator put it, is that teaching is mostly listening, and learning is mostly telling — a dictum that requires us to rethink the use of lectures, worksheets, textbooks, and, for that matter, our preconceptions about what makes a good teacher (particularly at the high school level). This presentation by Alfie Kohn, author of WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A CLASSROOM, explains why the traditional “bunch o’ facts” model of instruction, with its emphasis on memorizing right answers and practicing skills, is virtually guaranteed to fail. Participants are invited to consider how teachers of all ages and all subjects can become more successful at helping students make sense of ideas for themselves — and with each other.

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