However, there is a way in which we can begin to learn in a new way. A way in which allows teachers and students to construct knowledge togeth er, instead of a teacher just showing students the facts they need to memorize for the test (and then forget 30 min after the test). A way in which involves taking risks, engagement on a deeper level, and allows (if not encourages) the wrong answers. *In which I mean in discovering an incorrect answer, learners are personally driven to discover why that conclusion didn't work and in what way they can change their perspective to achieve a different answer.*
So what could this "revolutionary way" be called? This crazy idea is called "Teaching in the Margins". Now you may be saying to yourself, why would I want to be on the margins of learning? How does it help me to only get the minimalist of knowledge possible? First, look at the terminology differences. Teaching IN the margins is different than teaching ON the margins. When a teacher (and students) enter the margins of learning together, they are entering an environment that is rich in diversity, risk, ideas, and freedom for the learner to discover their own learning.
You may be saying now "Oh, so you mean "the margins" refer to a teachable moment.
Not necessarily (in my opinion). I believe a teachable moment is taking any moment in life, and using it as an opportunity to teach students a certain concept. However, what is born from that teachable moment, is then what is considered "the margins". For example, the students in a science class notice that the classroom turtle is laying eggs. The teacher might stop class to let the students observe the turtles nesting habits. However, one of the students then asks "why do turtles lay eggs in the first place?" NOW, the conversation has entered the margins!
A teacher could then ask the students why they thought the turtle laid eggs. Which could then be followed by a discussion on biology and vertebrate similarities and differences. From here, the conversation could begin to cover the topics of reproduction, adaptations, and evolution. It is up to the students range of imagination and thirst for hunger and the teachers ability to let students learn for themselves. Now that isn't to say that all learning should occur in the margins. If that were the case, nobody would be learning any semblance of the same information. Instead, learning should start in the "center" and when the opportunity or occasion arises, move to the margins.
Students can break to mold of being the same, and show the world that they can be thinkers and problem solvers who see beyond the "box" everyone has been trained to reside in. By allowing students the opportunity to take learning in their own hands, and to explore learning in the margins, they are being provided the tools to be individual thinkers in a world of monotony and sameness.