Wiemer declares she is not the first person speaking of midwives philosophy, in 1986 the Harvard Educational Review already published an essay by William Ayers on the same topic.
This is the description of a teacher midwife:
- She has attended many other births, been with many other students as they have gone through the arduous process of learning. It is a joyful, exciting event, but not without pain—sometimes the pain is long and intense, causing the learner to despair and lose hope. But the midwife understands. She knows that sometimes progress is slow. She also knows how much more pain lies ahead and what the learner might try to ease the discomfort and expedite the process. The midwife offers encouragement; her presence is reassuring.
Is our understanding that this approach - or Philosophy - as Maryellen wants to believe, is a teacher centered discourse. As much as interesting it sounds, what we think is that both social media and technology, do not allow these days to compare a teacher to midwife.
After, "They strive to figure out the best way to help, support, guide, and encourage the mother. Birth and learning require both teacher and mother to expend effort. They work together, but they tackle the problem in different ways." The only benefit is received by the student.
This perception neglects the fact that students can also contribute positively to each one of the struggles a mother/teacher might have. And in the other hand, there is the student centered learning, which opposes completely the so mentioned teacher as midwife.
Which is your personal philosophy of teaching? Forget about that one on the education books.
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Milton Ramirez
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