I agree with Bill who wrote,
> It is not that mistakes are not being made in our educational system at
all
> levels. It is that, as Phillip noted, the flow of information and
influence
> is top down. Teachers do not generally pay enough attention to helping
> kids learn from their mistakes - but mostly because the educational system
> around them, including administrators, do not give teachers the
opportunity
> to make mistakes either. In Phillip's description of his day, I see
little
> time where he can try something new and fail. The administrative pressure
> is for the teachers to 'get it right'.
>
Studying innovative schools I noticed that there teachers think that their
mistakes are important and necessary to their students' learning -- by
observing how the teachers deal with their mistakes, the students learn how
to deal with uncertainties. In some innovative schools, teachers' mistakes
are even institutionalized -- teachers encourage and support each each other
for challenging innovations. Is it counter-efficiency?:-)
Eugene