Prensky Chapter 2: Moving to the Partnering Pedagogy

Teachers and students can do many things to facilitate or assist in partnering. The term partnering or partner often refers to a pair if group of people collaborating together for reach an overall goal. I agree with Prenskey that in order to have a successful partnership in the classroom, most teachers needs to see their student in a different light. Also, that as the teacher it is your responsibility to present material in a meaningful and challenging way to our students. I feel that this idea that in a partnering atmosphere teachers will be “leaving the stage” is not the case. Yes, the teacher will now be sharing the stage but it is still the sole responsibility of the teacher to facilitate and guide the instruction. The teacher must be the center or leader of this partnership. The teacher must work to help their students learn by their own means. I love the idea of setting up your classroom in order to ensure the best possible outcome for each lesson. I feel this will help keep the students engaged because they will not get bored in the ever changing classroom. If a lesson calls for students to be actively engaged with one another, physical set up the classroom for this will help to motivate students to share with one another. Obviously, when using partnering in your classroom it is important to change the type and level of partnering for different lessons and units of instruction. The partnering verbs or the ability to take what has been learned and apply it to the “real world” is what teaching is all about for me. This is a huge part of my teaching philosophy. As a physical and health education teacher, I plan my units and lessons so that students learn real life skills that they can use within their own lives.