Theoretically, my plans are very student-centered, so I can therefore say that, maybe, I am partial to the constructivist theories when planning my lessons. However, plans are different from its implementation, and sadly, what looked like a beautiful garden of learning in my head, turned out to be an open land waiting for tilling in its application.
My choice of subject is very hands-on in nature, as TLE or Technology and Livelihood Education is focused on learning life-skills and task accomplishment. Even as this seems to be an easy way to incorporate constructivist ideas, time is the number one enemy of a constructivist teacher, followed by the strict implementation of a standardized education.
Every lesson plan must start from a standard, it cannot be just thought of from imagination, pure theoretical musings and just based on whims and wants of the teacher. There is a government body that dictates what an age group must learn, and these decisions come from a complicated study of what works for brain development and preparation for higher learning. In this case, making a completely constructivist learning program can be illegal, and has absolutely no place in formal education.
Home schooling can have a bit more flexibility, but their tests would still be based on a standardized process, in which case, the constructivist ideals of the teacher can do more harm than good when the student struggles to pass this exam. This method can be likened to parenthood, or the Hippies version of education where life is rolled out the way it’s supposed to be—“stress-free, carefree, and just free.” When all this is said and done, it seems like a utopic world, but we do not live in utopia, our present is in reality, and our children will have no future if we cling to this unrealistic ideals.
How then would we be able to balance this for the benefit of the students? How do we allow them to be free and yet prepare them for these standardized tests? Is the burden upon us teachers then to be able to facilitate activities with the standard goal in mind? Is it even possible to predict what exact learning they may achieve from immersions? Are these activities even a just equivalent to real-life situations with no manipulation from us facilitators? Would learnings and meanings be the same?
The questions are endless.
But the thirst for understanding, growth and development does start here.
And maybe, for now, we can be content with just asking the right questions so that we get to that balance we so long for.
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