Technology In Class

The Failure of Teacher-Centered Teaching in A Serious Man

I saw the new Coen Brothers movie A Serious Man this week.  Loved it.  One of the best of their oeuvre.

This post is not a movie review, but rather I’m going to use it as illustrative of the failure of teacher-centered teaching.  If there are any professors out there, or any teachers teaching at a conference or teacher meeting, this is a great illustration of why teacher-centered teaching crashes and burns every time.

Danny, the 12 year old son of the leading character, is clearly an auditory learner.  In the first scene in which we see him, he’s listening to his portable radio through an earpiece.  His teacher is teaching Hebrew by rote, parsing each part of a verb on the chalkboard.  Danny’s classmates are all in a somnolent slouch over their books.

Later, we see Danny listening to popular cantors on his record player at home.  He is learning the Aliyah for his bar mitzvah.  He simply listens to the record, then stops the record and imitates what he hears.

We see the evidence of effectiveness of his auditory learning when he sings the Aliyah perfectly on the Shabbat after his 13^th birthday, even though he’s under the influence.

All the parsing in the world written on the chalkboard could not have helped Danny perform the Aliyah.  He’s an auditory learner.  He needed those records.  Danny’s dad, by the way, also puts his students to sleep as he fills ginormous chalkboards with math proofs at the local college.

What could Danny’s Hebrew teacher have done?  How could he have taught differently to make his class a student-centered class?  A few things:

1. At the very least the teacher could have played the cantor’s records in class and have the students repeat it, as Danny was doing at home.  Or have different students bring in their favorite records and talk about the subtle differences or interpretations of the cantors.
2. He could have had the students work on a part of the Aliyah with a group and then have each group sing and teach the class.
3. He could have gotten to know his students like Rabbi Marshak.  Rabbi Marshak, though very elderly and retired from pastoral work, is connected with young people.  In fact, he only sees boys after their bar mitzvah to impart some words of wisdom.  The words of wisdom he imparts to Danny are quoted from “Somebody to Love,” the song Danny is listening to at the beginning to the movie.  Danny is shocked and so is the audience.  Other than that the Rabbi simply tells him to be a good boy.
4. The teacher could have had students play a game.  Get them out of their seats and moving around instead of dozing off in their seats.

I don’t think Danny would have been listening to Jefferson Airplane in class if his class were more student-centered.

Language teachers, what do you do to make your classroom student-centered? If you were the head of the department where this teacher is teaching, how would you advise him?
I’d set him up with one of these if he were around today:

Related posts:

1. Records
2. What Does Student-Centered Teaching Mean to You?
3. My Class Was Boring, Very Boring
4. Students’ Best Interest
5. If You’re a Substitute Teacher With a Smartphone…