Practitioners may be ready to adopt some research-based strategies for improving math instruction, such as using manipulatives, on-line apps, practical applications of math, field trips, group work, and social activities to improve students' understanding and active participation, but students often resist these new teaching and learning strategies.
Practitioners must be prepared to deal with the resistance if they are to succeed in changing their practice. The discussion will focus on recognizing student resistance and looking at strategies for overcoming it, making learners part of the teaching team, and in charge of their learning. It is expected that at the end of the discussion, list subscribers will have new techniques for overcoming the challenges of resistance to new methodologies in the adult education classroom.
Kate Nonesuch has been in the field of adult literacy and numeracy for nearly thirty years, most of that time at Vancouver Island University, Cowichan Campus, Duncan, BC, Canada. For the past few years she has been concentrating on writing and research into teaching practice in adult literacy and numeracy. Her own education (a four-year BA from Carleton University and a teaching certificate earned at the University of Saskatchewan) informs her teaching practice less than her politics of inclusion and the lessons her students have taught her. Learner autonomy has always been a strong focus of her work.
Kate's article appears on page 20 of the Focus on Basics issue at the following link:Nonesuch, K. (2008). Changing Practice, Expanding Minds. Focus on Basics 9(A), 20.
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