Author Archives: Nelli Kalashnik

Though, the workshop model seems to be simple at first sight, is has its strict rules that we should follow. No knowledge transmitting. The teacher has no right to provide any information until students feel the necessity of it, it forces the teacher to think of building up situations for them to feel the lack of knowledge and the lack of information they need. This point causes teachers’ irony; most of them don’t believe that our students would ever feel hungry for knowledge. But only this way we can hope to hear “I want to know how, why and so on.” Furthermore, if the students don’t undergo emotional experience of the gap between the old and new knowledge, it is considered that the workshop hasn’t come off. The gap is to be planned by the teacher by giving controversial ideas. That’s the thing we aren’t used to. Organizing the gap seems to be the main difficulty. During the workshop students should cooperate and evaluate their own opinions by comparing and analyzing them with others’. Cooperation and creation are the means of achieving the goals. No marks. The students are astonished and puzzled first, they even demand marks for the work, but when they accept the freedom of creative process, the mark is no longer their goal. Reflective thinking leads to self correction and self evaluation. It takes the tension off the studying process and results in personal development. The workshop model is simple and powerful. Children learn by doing.  In fact they don’t need telling about the subject; they need more time to do learning. Teachers learn to take on new roles; we are the authors of the process of learning which is rewarding.

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