Teaching as A Social Activity

When researching ideas of how teachers successfully build a learner-centered community, I found this gem on Edutopia. Mr. Chris Optiz speaks about his philosophy and strategies to engage learners in the math class.


I love how he describes learning as a social behavior. It is impossible for one teacher to teach students with a wide range of social or academic abilities. Therefore teaching them how to support each other, offer and accept help is more important.


When I first think about SEL, I googled and saw sets of curricula online. It feels like a subject that requires additional time and effort to work it out in the classroom. Obviously, for me it is impossible because I simply do no have enough time to cover that on top of the materials/textbook I already have to cover. Then, I wonder when and how did education or my own teaching come to this end - how to efficiently transmitting content knowledge to the children.


So here I take a different turn. And thanks to ideas and video clips.


Edutopia- How to teach Math as a social activity
Here Mr. Opitz showcased his ideas in action.


Cooperative Learning Fits into Caculation
Here Mr. Opitz shared his overall plans and step-by-step guide.