Engaging students in the learning process
How do you engage students in the learning process? One way is to follow the recommendation of Caleb Gattegno, the founder of the Silent Way. He proposed that the purpose of teaching is “to serve the learning process and not to dominate it.” Using this guiding principle, the teacher does not dominate the classroom in the traditional sense by simply giving students information. Instead, the teacher uses techniques and strategies that create real learning situations – those that leave students with the time and space to actually understand and retain the material being presented. In these classrooms, students are engaged in activities that encourage creative thinking as well as interaction with each other and the teacher. We find that in such an environment, there is less “teacher talk” and more “student talk” – and more learning on the part of the student.
