Sage on the Stage

Teacher Centered

Teacher Talks – Students Listen

Language of the Teacher

Vocabulary of the Teacher

Instructor Chooses Topics

Teacher Filters Material

Teacher Evaluates Student Work

Classroom is Quiet

Knowledge Limited by Teacher’s Knowledge

Students Work Alone

Classroom is Passive

Knowledge is Passed Down

Students Receive Information

Emphasis on Right Answers

Classroom is Competitive

Learning is Individualistic

Assessment and Teaching are Separate

Testing is Primary Assessment

Information is Gathered

Focus on Completing Content

Lecture

Based on Delivery

Guide on the Side

Focus on the Student and the Teacher

Language of the Student

Vocabulary of the Student

Instructors Model Learning

Students Interact With Students

Students Interact with Instructor

Classroom is Noisy

Classroom is Active

Students Evaluate Their Own Work

Students Critique Each Other

Teachers Monitor Evaluation

Instructor Provides Feedback

Students Choose Topics

Knowledge is Unlimited

Instructors Monitor Material

Students Answer Each Others Questions

Teacher Becomes a Resource

Pairs, Trios and Groups Work Together

TEAM takes Effect (Together Each Achieves More)

Emphasis on Process

Assessment is Inter-twined in the Learning

Differentiated assessment is the Norm

Critical Thinking and Problem Solving

Information is Synthesized

Focus on Understanding the Content

Real Life Examples and Utilization of Content

Learning Process is Evaluated

Teacher Becomes a Mentor

Based upon Student Engagement

The Truly Renaissance Man

In the movie Renaissance Man, teacher Bill Rago (Danny DeVito), uses the example of

Leon Battista Alberti to demonstrate the renaissance nature of an individual who values learning and education as a means of making the most of oneself. Rago explains to Private Jackson Leroy (Richard T. Jackson) that despite the resume of Alberti including his work as an author, artist, architect, poet, priest, linguist, philosopher, cryptographer and general Renaissance humanist polymath, the only reason he remembers him is because Alberti could broad jump over a standing man. Leroy who has been burned by his ties to win at all cost athletics which have left him with very little future comes to understand that is is possible to be a "smart jock".  An oxymoron to Leroy who comes to appreciate that he can encourage his son to embrace education as well as any and all talents he may wish to pursue including athletics.

Leon Battista Alberti who left his mark on Renaissance Society through contributions in:

      Alberti’s treatise De Pictura, was the first truly scientific study of art utilizing mathematical perspective.

      Alberti worked with other artists of the Renaissance to create a handbook for the artist.

      Alberti wrote one of the most  influential works on architecture the De Re Aedificatoria.

      Alberti’s comedy in latin, called Philodoxius, was originally credited to be a genuine work of 'Lepidus Comicus'.

      He is credited with being the designer, of the woodcut  illustrations in the fantasy noverl Hypnerotomachia Poliphili.

      Alberti took a great interest in architecture his work can be connected to, restoration of the papal palace and the Roman aqueducts under Pope Nicholas the V, the church of Sant’ Andreream San Franceso and the façade of the Santa Maria Novella,shrine of the Holy Sepulchre. He is also credited with working on the Palazzo Rucellai and the Villa Medici in Fiesole.

      Alberti was an accomplished cryptographer inventing the first polyalphabetic cipher.  The Alberti cipher led to his being referred to as the “Father of Western Cryptography.

      In his autobiography Alberti notes that he was an accomplished musician, poet, painter, cartographer, astrologer and astornomer.

      According to Alberti he was capable of "standing with his feet together, and springing over a man's head."