Taking an Andragogical Approach

Teacher educators have  been criticized by some of their  teacher candidates as "not practicing what they preach".  Student teachers  want their educators to adopt a more constructivist and collaborative approach  to teacher preparation  and model strategies  that they  are expected to implement/employ during  their Practical Teaching  exercise. While some educators concur,  they argue that courses are dense and teachers must demonstrate a certain degree of competence in the subject matter before they can  "teach". Although I agree with this view, we fail, however, to  ponder on the possible "truths" emanating from the litanies of disenchanted student teachers who have "come and  left teacher education classrooms".  What sense does it make to  produce teacher trainees with impeccable content knowledge but who  lack self direction and the appropriate pedagogy to facilitate learning in K-12 classrooms?     The issue that I wish  to give primacy to here is not one of "pedagogy" (how to teach children)  but one that  teacher educators need to consider when teaching these adult learners - student teachers.

Influenced by the principles of constructivism ,  a New Literacies Perspective, and the work of Malcolm Knowles (1968) I believe that educators need to step up and adopt  a different approach, that of Andragogy  in training future teachers (View video below for more information on Andragogy). We need to realize that good teaching and effective teacher preparation  not only require educators to deliver instruction in ways that allow teacher candidates to take greater ownership of their learning,  but  also to incorporate activities that will  foster self directed  and collaborative learning,  facilitate both immediate and future application of strategies taught.

Taking this andragogical  stance in  a  summer course   that I taught this year (Reading and Writing Across the Curriculum), helped to crystallize my  assumptions regarding this school of thought and enabled me to  truly put into practice one of my professional development goals. Students were provided with electronic articles related to each unit,  actively engaged in reading  articles in groups according to their areas of specialization, designed appropriate activities and presented their insightful ideas to the rest of the class.  For the first time in three (3) years,  my colleague and I  decided to allow students to apply the strategies in a more authentic environment - the "real classroom".  A departure from the usual superficial Micro teaching  exercise  did pose some challenges but this was indubitably the best thing we could have done for our students. For some, this was the very first time they worked and interacted with  learners. Furthermore, they were provided with another opportunity to extend their classroom learning  in online threaded discussions, one way of fortifying their new literacies. Take a look. I capitalized  on students' reservoir of knowledge and experiences as well as their multiliteracies in  creating a  stimulating and interactive environment.   Indeed, this was a rewarding experience - one worthy of replication.