Who is the author (John Dewey?), what is the exact quote, and in which
work does the following quote in the field of Education appear?  It
goes something like this 'learning (teaching) occurs when the teacher
recognizes where the student is and then takes them a half step beyond
this'.

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Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 08 Nov 2002 18:37 PST

I have found a quote very similar to the one you want.  However, it is
from a recent source, and I have the sense that you're looking for an
older quote.  Is my sense correct, or would you be satisfied with the
quote I have found?

Several web pages claim that John Dewey said, "Start where the learner
is."  I have the feeling that this is a paraphrase of his ideas.  I
cannot prove this, but I find it suspicious that the quotation is not
attributed to a particular source.  Still, because Dewey wrote so
much, it is always possible that he said this or something very close
to this.

So, if you do want an older quote and/or you think that Dewey might
have written something close to the quote you want, then perhaps
someone will be able to find it for you.  If they do not find it, I
would be happy to give you the recent quote (and ones like it) as an
answer.

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Clarification of Question by dkaplanpa-ga on 08 Nov 2002 19:22 PST

Thank you very much for your response justaskscott.  That you have
found web pages showing that that Dewey said "start where the learner
is" leads me to believe that he is the source of a quote like the one
about which I am seeking more detail.  Becuase of this, I would like
to let the quest to determine whether he did actually make a remark
like I posted run a while longer.

If after a couple of days no closer results are actually found, then I
will work something out with you for what you have found.  It is
attributed to Dewey as I had hoped and it contains the first part of
the quote.  So, if what I actually wanted is not found, I would
compensate you for having found "start where the learner is" and for
reveling the source(s) in which Dewey said this.

I don't know what the convention is for 'not exactly as requested'
Google answers -- whether the full amount posted is compensated or
not.  Let me know.

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Clarification of Question by dkaplanpa-ga on 09 Nov 2002 16:18 PST

Dear Tutuzdad-ga,

Thank you very much for getting so close to the source and exact
phrasing of this quote from John Dewey.  I am going to accept it as an
answer, because you have done a good amount of work, but I am also
going to repost the question to try to get confirmation that the line
appears in "How We Think", what page, etc.

Dkaplan-pa

This is  the most similar quotation I was able to find:

Good teaching occurs when the teacher/instructor is wise enough to
recognize "when it is best for the child to explore and when it is
best to tell what I know" (Bill Barowy).
http://it.coe.uga.edu/itforum/extra10/ex10-37.html

--Bobbie7-ga

This is a good quote Bobbie7-ga that I'll want to keep handy.  I still
need to know if there really is one that's like the posted question,
though.

Dear dkaplanpa-ga;

I am posting this as a comment because I have not read his book in
it’s entirety, and was not able to confirm a direct source for the
statement that you attributed to John Dewey (1859 - 1952), Professor
of Philosophy, Columbia University. I did, however, find a paraphrased
reference to his remark in a thread on the University of Iowa Homepage
in which Dewey, in his 1933 work, “How We Think” *, said something
like:

The job of the teacher is to meet the child where he or she is at in
understanding and encourage that child to take the next step.

If this suffices as an answer to your question, please advise me and I
will report it as answer.

Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to research your question.
It has been both educational and rewarding.

Best regards;
Tutuzdad-ga


The University of Iowa Homepage
“Motivation and the question ‘Why?’ ”
http://www.uiowa.edu/~idt/courses/7W120/forums/topic3/messages/17.htm

“Excerpts from Works of John Dewey: How we Think , 1910”
http://www.erzwiss.uni-hamburg.de/sonstiges/dewey/DewThink.pdf

“How We Think”, by John Dewey
http://www.webincunabula.com/html/de/dewey.htm



SEARCH STRATEGY

Search Engine Used: Google ://www.google.com

Search Terms:
“John Dewey”, quote
"John Dewey", teacher, "next step"
“John Dewey”, learning, teaching
“John Dewey”, education
“John Dewey”, role, teacher
"John Dewey", "How We Think"



BIBLIOGRAPHY

* John Dewey. “How We Think”. Heath, Boston, 1910. Republished 1991 by
Prometheus Books. Amherst, NY. See also: John Dewey. “How We Think”,
“Second revised edition”. Heath, Lexington, MA, 1933.