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Teacher for Learning-Prior Knowledge & Culture Analogy

 

What makes a great pasta dish? The sauce! Every individual (family) has their own way (process) of making their famous sauce. Wether it's canned and doctored sauce or all fresh ingredients, everyone agrees- it's in the sauce! A good sauce fills gaps, blends ingredients, and binds.

Like The Sauce, much of our Prior Knowledge and cultural nuances are nothing more than ingredients that come together to create learning experiences. Ingredients that are dictated by the language used to retrieve them, cultural and sub-cultural norms and personal experiences as well as high-context and low-context and trauma. 

Prior Knowledge is not strictly canned or homemade sauce (an either/or) in on student's learning journey. I see the misconception of Prior Knowledge's 'either/or' application in education as well as culture misconceptions as opportunities to upgrade our thinking as educators. Asking key questions during the lesson planning process, like,"How can my students learn this?", "Why must my students learn this?" and "When will my students use what they learn?" and asking my students to answer similar key questions, such as, "How can they use this?", "Why must they use this?", and "When will they use this?" circumvents false assumptions that students are lacking prior knowledge, but rather builds deep emotional connection for learners that are personal, positive, and profound. (LXD.org) 

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