PLUSS-Mathematics

This inquiry explores the educative meaning of interruptions or breaks in teacher’s experiences by looking at their role in reflection and listening. Reflection and listening are not only two vital and distinct aspects of teaching, but are also interrelated and as such can serve to productively inform one another. In this context, I develop the notion of negativity of experience to describe the space that opens up when our experience has been in some way interrupted, the space where we dwell between old and new experiences and where new thoughts and ideas emerge. I demonstrate throughout my discussion that it is in this space that listening and reflection take place. To begin, I analyze the works of John Dewey and Donald Schön to take up a few particular aspects of reflective thinking and its relation to the practice of teaching. In this context, I point out similarities and important learning-theoretical differences between the notion of ‘negativity of experience’ and Schön’s notion of ‘messy situations’. The second section examines the role of negativity of experience in listening. Here, I seek to explore ways to include listening in the contemporary discussion on reflective teaching and practice. The inquiry concludes by considering the meaning of reflection, listening and negativity for the education of professional teachers.

In this groundbreaking book, Andrea English challenges common assumptions by arguing that discontinuous experiences, such as uncertainty and struggle, are essential to the learning process. To make this argument, Dr. English draws from the works of two seminal thinkers in philosophy of education - nineteenth-century German philosopher J. F. Herbart and American Pragmatist John Dewey. English's analysis considers Herbart's influence on Dewey, inverting the accepted interpretation of Dewey's thought as a dramatic break from modern European understandings of education. Three key concepts-- transformational learning, tact in teaching, and perfectibility-- emerge from this analysis to revitalize our understanding of education as a transformational process. Dr. English's comparative approach interweaves European and Anglo-American traditions of educational thought with a contemporary scholarly perspective, contributing to a work that is both intellectually rewarding and applicable to a classroom setting. The result is a book that is essential reading for philosophers and scholars of education, as well as educators.

In this groundbreaking book, Andrea English challenges common assumptions by arguing that discontinuous experiences, such as uncertainty and struggle, are essential to the learning process. To make this argument, Dr English draws from the works of two seminal thinkers in philosophy of education - nineteenth-century German philosopher J. F. Herbart and American pragmatist John Dewey. English's analysis considers Herbart's influence on Dewey, inverting the accepted interpretation of Dewey's thought as a dramatic break from modern European understandings of education. Three key concepts - transformational learning, tact in teaching, and perfectibility - emerge from this analysis to revitalize our understanding of education as a transformational process. Dr English's comparative approach interweaves European and Anglo-American traditions of educational thought with a contemporary scholarly perspective, contributing to a work that is both intellectually rewarding and applicable to a classroom setting. The result is a book that is essential reading for philosophers and scholars of education, as well as educators. http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/psychology/educational-psychology/discontinuity-learning-dewey-herbart-and-education-transformation?format=AR#TArb37pxSfzDrJym.97

This response to Dr. Crystal Kalinec-Craig’s article on “The Rights of the Learner (RotL)” aims to take up and build on the author’s ideas about how the RotL framework can promote equitable mathematics teaching and learning. Specifically, this response examines how listening is implied in the work of teachers who support young mathematicians as they exercise their rights to be confused, claim mistakes, listen, and say and write what makes sense. In doing so, we seek to highlight some of the opportunities and challenges that can emerge for teachers attempting to support all learners to actualize these Rights.