Learner-Centered Teaching Essay

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Discovering the Hidden Treasures of Learner-centered Teaching As I write this essay, I have discovered that having access to education is like having dug a treasure chest out of a deep pit, although no material treasures could compare to the learning we could gain from school, extra-curricular activities, and real-life experiences. The education that we are lucky to have access to, is like a story, a stage, or a movie: it has a main character. Before, it was the teacher, for it was said that information flows from him or her down to our minds. This kind of approach is known to us as teacher-centered. For some teachers who embraced this approach, handing the responsibility over to students is not an easy task. They have been used to an approach which has a learning content to be followed, mostly having prototype activities and answers to questions which can be found in books and other reference materials. That could have made the teacher a sage, an actor, and a fountain of knowledge in the past. But now, the process has to change. Paradigm shifting from traditional to modern is often described as a spotlight shifting from the teacher to the learner. Now the learner becomes the main character in a story, a movie, a stage play—called educative process. The focus of the teacher then swings from the learning content to the learners themselves—what they learn, how they learn, what their learning conditions are, if the current learning prepare them for future learning, and whether they retain and apply their learning. Their needs and interests are met and their abilities and individual differences are considered. This is learner-centered approach. Teachers using this approach are free to practice their principles, ideals, and beliefs in the class. They set a philosophical view which they apply to the classroom and to their
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