Teaching
Professional Development through Thoughtful and Philosophical Teaching
(997 words)
There are always areas of any profession people are in to which they feel may need change and/or improvement. Teaching is no exception. Any teacher needs to be enthused to bring light to new areas of interest in their line of work. Having read many articles on professional teacher development I came across a document that inspired me with some core beliefs. It made me read more, delve deeper, and look at a specific area of the teaching profession that I hope empowers me. The document is ‘Teaching: the Reflective Profession’. It was published by ‘The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI)’ to show competence for reflection and discussion. It was written to address the issues and recognise the complexities of teaching. In this appraisal, I will address how this document gave me an insight into an area I feel may be missed by teachers in their daily toil.
To begin with, one true fact is that children need to develop not just as ‘rounded individuals able to prosper in the world but, as importantly, to live together in a culture characterised by tolerance and respect for diversity’. These words speak volumes when I consider the position and the factors I face every day with my school. From observations of various teachers in my school, I feel, they do not, in reality, recognise their students’ true needs for the outside world they will be entering. The teacher is usually sat at a desk. A microphone is always used because the students are so loud. The students are there solely as listeners in nearly every subject. The situation reminds me of Charles Dickens ‘Hard Times’ where the students were learned facts and imagination were not on the syllabus. There seems to be no thought process involved. I see students turning off, then, just copying other people’s work to get a mark. I feel it is a culture of, ‘It’s there if you want it’ mentality. The brighter kids are at the front and the ones that really need help are at the back where there left behind. This cannot help them to survive in the real world. The students are only worried about final marks not what went into getting that mark, be it copying or cheating.
The feeling I get is that every teacher has to have an ethical basis and moral purpose to their teaching work. This means involving all the students with challenging material and getting them interested in learning. In many ways, they need to learn about how to learn. The documents state teachers should be ‘prepared to experiment with the unfamiliar and learn from their experiences’. Varying the strategies in teaching highlights the adaptability of teaching and the students’ abilities. It is true that each student’s learning and abilities differ. I also feel that the teacher’s integrity relies on the fact that variation not only makes the classroom an interesting place to be, but also the students feel a sense of worth and power their learning. This, in turn, develops the power of knowledge and creative minds. To be a true teacher your moral conscious should ask you, am I just doing a mundane job or am I creating a learning experience that not only interests you but also the students?
Moreover, Christopher Day in A Passion for Teaching reminds us that ‘Teachers, now, are potentially the single most important asset in the achievement of a democratically just learning society.’ He goes on to confirm that a central part of our mission is to develop and sustain within our pupils a sense of self-worth and to create for them an understanding as to present and future possibilities. The General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland (GTCNI) emphasises the integrity of a teacher valuing each student’s needs and value of education that pushes and challenges them. This enlightens me to my teaching not only as an educator but also a moral agent. A teacher as a moral agent opened my thinking because I have put so much work and study into my teaching. At the same time, I feel I have not given much of that time to recognise the moral and social purpose I hold within the school and community at large. I realise you have to be a responsible educator who wants to help shape young minds and impart moral values. My integrity, as a teacher, must also rely on the fact that I see an educational potential and development in every student. The Charter for Education states ‘education is the path to self-realisation, personal fulfillment, civic well being and economic prosperity’. This statement goes beyond what a teacher I think could be constrained with, within a curriculum. A teacher’s moral commitment allows him or her to see any student as a person who is growing up in the world. This person needs to be taught to, not only learn and value learning but also him/herself as a person. They need to see school not just as a place they are sent by their parents. The teacher as an educator has to apply a code that realises all aspects of life. This will get the students ready for the world far beyond life in school. The GTCNI’s document proposes ‘creative and innovative approaches’. They want pupils to ‘think creatively’. I strongly feel that a teacher as a moral agent must realise this purpose in education. This allows the students to feel as they are worth their place in the school and class and the world they live in.
In the appraisal, I feel I have shown how a deeper understanding is needed to push the teacher forward with moral purpose. This, I think, gives the teacher a greater role as an educator not just as a teacher. There is a reason students come to school and that is to better themselves. This means the whole person and it is the (teacher) educator who as the wiser must adhere to the highest principles.
References
Christopher Day, A Passion for Teaching, published by RoutledgeFalmer (www.routledgefalmer.com).
General Teaching Council for Northern Ireland
Teaching – The Reflective profession
Available from http://www.gtcni.org.uk/uploads/docs/GTCNI_Comp_Bmrk%20%20Aug%2007.pdf
Hard Times- For These Times. is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published in 1854
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Inclusive Learning with Multiple Intelligences: we are all unique in our own way
(1567 Words)
‘Every child matter’ was the bold statement that put out a strong message for all teachers: a fact that subsequently continue to reverberate through inclusive learning and differentiation in the classroom in the modern day classroom. The child-focused initiative launched by the then British Labour Government in a green paper to be followed by the Children’s Act 2004 highlights that the classroom is full of individuals all with their learning abilities, methods, and idiosyncrasies. Improving and progressing, the all-inclusive learning experience for students developed further with the ‘Developing and Embedding Inclusive Policy and Practice of Higher Education’ which was launched in 2007. One example of this 2007 policy’s holistic outlook focuses on the courses that are being studied, and that the approach by teachers could be obstructing the learning of the students that do not include all individuals. Thus, teachers adapting the classes to all complements each student. This would demonstrate that inclusive learning and differentiation are paramount and are a dominant force for change that tries to give empowering success in every student. This brings forth, and the focus of this piece of writing, the ideas of the American psychologist Howard Gardner and his theory of Multiple Intelligences, from his book Frames of Mind (1983): looking after the needs of all students and their unique learning and performing methods in the classroom. Basically stated one student could work better by using their practical knowledge while another by their theoretical knowledge; recognising the fact that these two students are learning the same subject matter. I will further discuss the attributes of Multiple Intelligences highlighting first that individuals have cognitive nuances and hidden abilities, moving onto an example of a kinesthetic model that has the students actively working on the subject matter. I will then talk about creating interest for the students through their understanding of the lesson and also onto the actual students’ intelligence and the teacher underestimating them. I will finally discuss going beyond the norm for teachers and them not taking classes or the individual students for granted.
Having studied beforehand about functional skills and the embedding process in the class, at that time I was drawn to Howard Gardener‘s ideas which subsequently to this writing led me to a closer inquiry into Gardner’s theory and how different formats for the students would help with inclusive learning and differentiation. In this respect, I have increasingly become encouraged by cognitive-contextual theories. This theory deals with the way that cognitive processes operate in various environmental contexts. Thus, to explain Gardner’s theories in further detail, if we presume that each student has different learning abilities and each can acquire a subject constituent but in different ways, we can say that intelligence comprises multiple abilities. Each individual has his or her way of studying. We can break down these abilities/intelligences into categories that as a teacher can be manipulated into lesson plans as helping to achieve more from the individual students, recognising their differences. Gardener’s ideas are far reaching but from the perspective of the classroom for my classes, I feel that teachers should nurture the talents that each student holds; thus helping to produce better knowledge and understanding of the subject matter in question. This key point was highlighted also by Carol A. Tomlinson when she mentioned ‘teachers in healthy classrooms work continually to ‘tame’ their students: to see who they really are, what makes them unique in this world’ (p31. 1999). Overall, it is a focus to exploit these (in a certain way, ‘hidden’) talents that will hopefully use the concepts of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, incorporated onto inclusive learning, to come to the surface. This, of course, means using differing structures in the teacher’s class that will in time show the teacher how their students are developing as a group and individuals.
Moreover, a ‘multiple intelligence (MI)’ example is bodily / kinesthetic. This is the theory that can be used to encourage students to prepare role-plays, dramatic plays, or practical tasks. It gets them off their seats interpersonally and emotionally mixing with other students. Some students will excel with this format. These kinesthetic types of people are strong in acting, using tools, and athletics. They like to move around, touch and talk. This, when used in class, gives the students social interaction. This is especially good for students who love getting up and doing. It gives them a chance to present material to their peers while appreciating the use of this language. The students can take the key subject matter and use the essence of it to translate the ideas into movement.
It is with this theory that teachers can use the knowledge gained about intelligences to spark all students into getting an understanding of the key concepts they are making in that specific lesson which the student might not get from other mundane methods. This is notwithstanding that each student will start to feel they are contributing and playing a vital role in the class’ progression that encapsulates inclusive learning and differentiation; hopefully removing competition. This will in turn help develop students’ proficiency in learning and progressing through the curriculum. It is a truth that some students can go through a lesson not realising that they are leading somewhere. If the key point is reminded to them in certain processes that encourage their talents to come to the surface, during the class they will hopefully come to realise and figure the lesson out. Hopefully, the additional stages of the lesson will be clearer to the student. It is up to the teacher to be capable of making these methods available for the students and recognising when they comprehend what is put in front of them by the teacher. The teacher is trying to get the students to process all the information they have given for the students to formulate it and understand in his or her own way. The goal is to get the students to acquire that day’s learning objectives inclusively delivered with the theory of multiple intelligences as a powerful support. It is a classic model by which to understand many aspects of human intelligence as the students begin to show their knowledge.
Furthermore, to give an example of a student’s intelligence in use, a student does poorly on the type of correlation question in a test. You could find that a possible conclusion is that the student does not reason well. Some teachers might think that the student is not capable. An equally plausible interpretation, however, is that the student does not understand the words or is unable to read them in the first place. A student seeing the analogy (valiant, faint-hearted, mollify) might be unable to solve it because of a lack of reasoning ability, but a more likely possibility is that the student does not know the meanings of the words. A cognitive analysis enables the interpreter of the test score to determine both the degree to which the poor score is due to low reasoning ability and the degree to which it is a result of not understanding the words. It is important to distinguish between the two interpretations of the low score because they have different implications for understanding the intelligence of the student. A student might be excellent at reasoning but have only a modest vocabulary or vice versa. This example is for all teachers to start research in which they find how the students react to certain classroom techniques incorporated through inclusive learning. Teachers need to see how they can raise understanding through certain tasks. Then, they can see that every student does have a talent and is capable of learning in their own way.
It could be said that the school/college systems for these students often focus on a narrow range of intelligence that involves primarily verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical skills. Most academic knowledge is presented for learning by means of an extremely limited (or limiting) methodology and the acquisition of that knowledge is evaluated by means of rote tests, whereby the best grades are assigned to students who demonstrate the greatest ability for memorization. It is the idea that there is a single intelligence. It is this narrow-mindedness that teacher should come to realise. Multiple Intelligence theory should expand lessons to new places with experimenting. This experimenting with students’ inner intelligences can be multiple. This can include at a minimum of linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal intelligences. The teacher will come to realise that each individual has their own talents that can shine in the classroom and other students will come to respect.
To conclude, it has been shown that recognising that each student has a unique method of comprehending what the teacher has demonstrated/shown the students. Inclusive learning means caring for everyone’s needs and no one is left behind. It has been discussed that this can be helped by a teacher using different methods to create learning environments that can change perceptions of learning not only in the students but also in the teacher. The teacher can hopefully see that potential is there where beforehand using other more methodical methods they and their classes would have failed to create that spark in students. It is also hoped the theory of multiple intelligences emphasises the creation of different methods which highlights inclusive learning and differentiation that encompasses varied skills, attitudes, abilities and potential.
References
Gardner. H, 1983. Frames of Mind – the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Underlining and Notation Edition. Basic Books.
Higher Education Academy. 2010. Developing and embedding inclusive policy. [ONLINE] Available at:
http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/assets/documents/inclusion/DevelopingEmbeddingInclusivePolicyPractice_ReportFinal.pdf. [Accessed 28 November 12].
Tomlinson C. A, 1999. The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners. 1 Edition. Pearson.
Mention the features of Community Language Teaching
The Community Language Teaching (CLT) model has many features. A lot of these features are completely opposite to a traditional school model of learning. It is true that teachers like to stand in front of the class and take control. This is what anyone would think of as a normal approach and what most students expect. This allows the teacher to be the instigator of most topics while the students sit passively at their desks. CLT goes against the traditional grain and tries to make the learning experience more group structured. In this essay, I will show that the learning experience is based more on a type of counseling learning where the use of counseling techniques are used to develop language for all concerned. Everybody has a part to play and a community is born where students can empathize with each other.
This CLT method was developed in the early seventies by Charles Curran. It involved recognizing the affective and the emotional factors as paramount in a classroom. It is always hard for a student to feel relaxed in a new class let alone having confidence in speaking let alone a second language. There is a consensus that views community language as learning that can help reduce anxiety. This is, of course, one of the main factors in learning (a language) where the students feel anxious about expressing their feeling in a class full of people that in the main they do not know. There is a move towards the interpersonal contact between student and teacher as well as student and student. The teacher should have the skills that involve counseling and bring the students together through their techniques. If the class can have a good relationship language and confidence should flow better. One way to get the students to be more familiar with each other is to get the learning group into a circle. There is less turning of heads and the shy people can not be stuck in the corner. In all of this, the teacher is more of a facilitator and tends to sit outside the circle. This format is fine if the group is of a smaller size that helps everyone to be seen and heard. A desirable amount of students would be about 10. This gives the students more time to speak, less time to get distracted, the teacher also has more time to cater to all the students.
The process of the CLT pertains to a pervading tone in the classroom where the students can take control and build their skills and language with the help of others. The students become active learners in their own right. It has been said that the teacher should not control the conversation in CLT, but let students talk about whatever they want to talk (Rardin et al., 1988). Firstly the group can sit in a circle and think about what they want to say. If ideas are flying around they can be written on the whiteboard and brainstormed to see which is liked the best. Students are allowed to use their mother tongue and the teacher translates this language and the building process starts. Students are made to feel more comfortable talking in the conversation circle. This allows them to express their feelings. The student can mention something in their own language. This is then put into small phrases by the teacher and then the students can work with the teacher before they open up to the rest of the class. There is not so much error correction.
Even though the layout of the class and the relaxed atmosphere may bring on some anxiety at first, the students through the CLT feel less stress as goes on and begin to work with their peers which is the goal. This highlights the awareness of community which is in a non-competitive atmosphere with a sense of involvement. The students also take responsibility for their learning and make themselves become active learners that are inquisitive of language and each other.
Once the class has finished a reflection session is essential in the CLT approach. Trust between the teacher and learners or among learners is established by sharing their feelings, anxieties, frustrations or demands. By sharing anxiety, learners may build a sense of unity to do one task together (Rardin et al., 1988). The teacher also uses less error correction during the class as not to stop the flow. If any correction is used it should not be intrusive as the method is to let the students express their meaning. The teacher’s job is to try and extract as much information as can be without pressuring the student. There is a focus on meaning over accuracy. After class, the teacher’s job is to write up a report of the students’ language during the lesson as to be a reflection of all that went on and give the students some resources to look back on. This shows all the key structures and vocabulary they used.
To conclude, the CLT method certainly helps promote better communication in the class. The classes will succeed if the students get used to taking part in their learning. It also focuses on the teacher’s ability to promote this working relationship with all involved.
(869 Words)
Classroom based report on language acquisition
Abstract
Learning any second language can be challenging. Lower level students, who are new to learning, are those students that need all the support and understanding for their acquisition of a new language. For this paper, I have produced a research plan for a new class of lower level students. This was devised to create thinking on how students were learning their second language. I wondered how I could facilitate their learning and their classroom experience that would help make English language easier for them to comprehend. My initial thoughts were on using as many different ways to reinforce a language point. My thinking was that if the students get to look at a specific grammar/language point, whilst using it and thinking about it, in different ways, the language will stay in their memory that much easier. I felt that if you used the language in various ways such as activities, methods of teaching and games, their possession of the language could be helped.
I looked at my ideas for lesson plans and checked how I planned to use the time in class to vary my methods. I also looked on the internet for any information that would correspond with my area of interest. I tried reading as much material that honed in on my specific area of interest. This was the material that was related to different methods and activities. It was while I was acquiring my new knowledge that I got to read about an interesting theory where different activities were used regarding multiple intelligences. This I found on a website called ‘developingteachers.com’. The article in question that took my interest was called ‘Starting with multiple intelligences – activities for foreign language teachers’ by Rolf Palmberg. I immediately realised this article was very much linked in with my ideas, that I had proposed. I did a lot of preliminary reading on the subject until I felt that I should put my old and new ideas about how to get the students speaking more into effect. This paper and the theories within is helped by what I found from the initial article by Rolf Palmberg and increasingly by reading about American psychologist Howard Gardner who developed ‘The Theory of Multiple Intelligences’.
Professional Development results can come in many ways
A report of the dissemination you have carried out to inform colleagues/teachers (either in your own school, neighbouring school or LEA), or young people, governors, parents. This report will include what they have learned from the process of dissemination (approximately 1,000 words).
I was on a teaching course for two months and tried different ways to promote professional development. I would like in this report to give an account of the benefit of the distribution of my efforts. One major fact involved in these endeavors, I found is that some teachers are inexperienced to teaching/professional development. It meant I had to look deeper to see salient points that highlighted recognition of the work I had been completing. I must say I did this report against some barriers, that being the Asian way of teaching which entails the students just listening to the teacher in a very passive way. The students must believe every word that comes out of the teacher’s mouth as these young minds sit in quiet obedience. It can be hard to change people’s methods in a short time. It is true the students dare not ask leading questions to their teachers which I must admit mildly extended to me but perseverance for professional development is a must.
The initial awareness of my development came through surveying 50 student’s ideas as to what a good teacher should be like. I noticed that there were high scores for most of the questions even though some questions were polar opposites. You either had to think one question was right and the other wrong, not the same. I questioned the answers the students gave and proposed my uncertainty to my colleagues. It certainly made them think about how the students answer surveys and the feeling was that, do they really understand what they are doing when they answer questions? It was noticed that the majority of the students just fill in the form not knowing what they are doing while others copy. It held true with my colleagues because the students were given a questionnaire by our training centre at the end of each term where they had to give a points score for their teacher. My colleagues firmly believed and used my evidence when the manager came to say that the students can not give a true representation of a teacher’s lessons by a score card.
I would like to add that through my survey of 50 students which I had designed the questions; the scores, as mentioned, did not seem to add up. I decided to let the students come up with the questions. I reviewed and edited it completely. This led to better results and a better understanding from the students on how to complete the survey.
I can certainly say that I have changed perceptions of teaching and shown a few teachers how I think a positive thinking teacher should teach. For example, I was asked by one teacher to help her teaching her class strong adjectives. The teacher’s approach was to just give the students pronunciation practice. I did the lesson in a constructive approach leaving time to have the students produce spoken sentences. She mentioned to me that she thought the material I used was great. I took the opportunity to explain that the book had many words that were too much for the students.
I also spoke to her about the students copying. I wondered how they can learn. She said ‘oh, when the test comes they will fail’. Basically, it was the students’ problem, not hers. It was attitudes like this I came up against. This teacher had already mentioned a few times that the students were bad. This led me to think that it was their learning skills, not their ability that was holding them back. It was examples like these that made me even more determined to show these teachers how students should learn in class. This meant creating a learning environment when they have to think for themselves. I did have some feedback from one teacher who said that the students enjoyed learning with me and found my lessons interesting. I had a chance to explain to this teacher that if the lesson is interesting and thought-provoking the students will feel they are part of a learning process.
Moreover, I have been continually giving advice to other teachers. This I found irritating at times. For example, I decided to teach one lesson for a teacher for him to see teaching from a new angle. I used one of my lesson plans that I felt fitted in with a more relaxed approach as this teacher had been told he was putting too much effort into his teaching. I showed him that with the right approach he can get the students doing the work for him and he just has to facilitate them and coax them along during the lesson keeping them on a learning path. I then observed him the next day teaching my lesson. In the feedback session, he did not really give me a great response when I asked him about my lesson and how well his lesson went doing my demonstration class. I wondered why he was evasive, was it he was not used to professional development, was it he was scared to show his failing, or was it he felt I was I intruding? I actually thought at one point that I should slow down on the teaching conversations. I wondered how I could help him with his teaching. The fact was the following days after I felt he began to notice how I worked and the detail I put into teaching. I began to see examples of professional development coming through. I saw his new sheet for his lesson plan. It looked not too dissimilar to my lesson sheet I had done with him and some of my material which he had seen on my desk. I also realized he was asking more questions and enquiring what I thought he should do for this learning process. At least, the advice was slowly getting through.
Overall, you must expect professional development to be a bit alien to some and teachers not enthused over trying new methods. However, the benefits are certainly there.
(1007 Words)
Essay Corner Blog 