EDLD+5364+Week1+Reflections

The highlights this week from the readings and videos included an introduction to Constructivist Theory and Cyborg Theory. The constructivist paradigm contains much that is useful though I'm not completely sold on its wholesale use in the classroom. Part of my hesitance comes from my day to day experience as a band director. In band, we strive for a particular sound and ensemble playing experience that requires massive amounts of repetitive activities over the entire school year. When we first start talking about intonation for example, the students can't hear when their playing is out of tune. It's there to be heard, but the students' brains have not been wired to pick up on the subtleties yet. That change (as we learned in EDLD 5306) can only occur through massive repetition and great concentration. What is literally required is a change of brain. By the end of the year, the kids "hear" what the directors hear. While a band classroom is not the same as a math classroom and to compare the two is apples to oranges, I'm hesitant to throw out the traditional model of teaching completely because there are still some venues in which it is the best way to teach. A constructivist approach wouldn't work in band because the students don't know what the end result is to be nor how to get there.

The Cyborg video of Dr. Warwick was deeply disturbing to me. While I don't dispute that it is not difficult to see a future that contains all those elements, what does concern me is the carelessness of his approach to mere humans in this future world. With such obvious condescension as a backdrop, it is also not difficult to see a world in which mere humans are oppressed by those who are hard-wired to one another and to the machines that are such an integral part of our modern lives. As I wrote on the discussion board, I wouldn't want someone like that in a position of authority over me.