Return-Path: <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id h76DUY714609; Wed, 6 Aug 2003 09:30:34 -0400 (EDT) Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2003 09:30:34 -0400 (EDT) Message-Id: <7F4F1D87.01724665.0A349A3F@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: AWilder106@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-aalpd@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-AALPD:559] RE: Who needs to know? X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 X-Mailer: Atlas Mailer 2.0 Status: O Content-Length: 1258 Lines: 13 One (only one) of the problems is with the word "theory." "Theory' is a proposed explanation for the way things are the way they are. Good "theory" builds from evidence. The "theory" is tested out, continually, to see if it holds up. It should not be "applied" it should be "tested out." Teachers I have talked with see a gulf between what they do in the classroom and "theory." Often they see "theory" as separate from the classroom. It is not, good "theory" builds from practical work. "Theory" can be modified or tossed out when new, divergent evidence is examined. This has happened to educational "theories." "Theory" should not be believed but analyzed. "Belief" leads to "discipleship," and educational"theory" has had rather too much of that--my opinion, but look at the evidence of discarded learning "theories." So partly it's a conceptual/vocabulary problem. But if I were doing professional development, I would take that word "theory" when it comes up, talk about it, give an example of discarded theory and an example of still useful theory, describe how it was arrived at, describe its potential use in the classroom, describe how it might be tested out. Teachers would have ideas about all of this, I bet. Andrea
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