Rewrite a paragraph in a simple way

[shwm]

The following paragraph seems like a little bit obscure, could you please rewrite it in a more simple way?

“Under different circumstances” is a telling phrase because it challenges the contained setting of the classroom. It challenges the comfort zone of those who know telling those who don’t know. It opens to scrutiny the nature of behaviour settings and “construction sites”. The former refers to the conditioned response of human beings to the physical environment in which they find themselves. The latter refers to ways in which intelligence is “constructed” by the places and people whom we congregate with, who either constrain or enhance desire and determination.

(The second paragraph on this webpage, here is the link: http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asse...21st-century-learning_9789264205406-en#page97)

(The author is John MacBeath, a professor emeritus from Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge. I cited the quotation from Chapter 3 "Leading learning in a world of change" of a report titled "Leadership for 21st century learning" published by OECD in 2013.)

Thanks a lot for my teachers here. You are awesome! It seems like I raised too many questions in past hours, sorry for that and thanks very much for your patience, understanding and help!

 

[Eckaslike]

The author is referring to the quote four paragraphs before this one which ends "...teachers need to become ever more skillful in their ability to evaluate teaching situations and develop teaching responses that can be effective under different circumstances".

After discussing this for three paragraphs he then reaches the one you have asked for help with:

“Under different circumstances” is a telling phrase because it challenges the contained setting of the classroom. [i.e. it is challenging for teachers to bring about certain, or different circumstances in a standard classroom setting, to meet both the demanding curriculum expectations and the needs of more diverse learners which he mentions earlier.]

It challenges the comfort zone of those who know telling those who don’t know. [It challenges the teacher's standard methods of teaching.]

It opens to scrutiny the nature of behaviour settings and “construction sites”. The former refers to the conditioned response of human beings to the physical environment in which they find themselves. [i.e. It opens to scrutiny the nature of people being conditioned to behave in certain ways in classroom settings.]

The latter refers to ways in which intelligence is “constructed” by the places and people whom we congregate with, who either constrain or enhance desire and determination. [i.e It opens to scrutiny the ways in which learning is "developed and influenced" by the places in which we live or work and the people we mix with or who teach us. All of these factors can either restrict or enhance our desire and determination to learn.]

Others may be able to summarise it more succinctly, but I am trying to capture the spirit of the original.

 

[shwm]

Thank you so much. Your interpretation really helps a lot!

Just two small questions:

1. About the first sentence: " 'Under different circumstances' is a telling phrase..." [What's the meaning of "a telling phrase"?]

2. About the last sentence: "... , who either constrain or enhance desire and determination." [What does who-clause represent here?]

 

[Eckaslike]

1. "a telling phrase" is a revealing phrase; it may often indicate more than the original speaker intended. The original person has mentioned "under different circumstances" in passing. However, John MacBeath has picked up on this and said, well actually in this context of education there are all the other things and implications that he has mentioned, which are it contained within those three little words, "under different circumstances".

2. The "who" in the last sentence refers to teachers or pupils. Here he means teachers who can either inspire us and help us to learn, or spend time helping us to understand, versus others who don't seem to care or just don't inspire us. Similarly, our peers, or pupils in a classroom can either help our learning by being enthusiastic, asking intelligent questions which stimulate us, or they can be completely disruptive which means we as learners can take in very little.