My Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

8

My Philosophy of Teaching and Learning

Amanda Knox

October 28, 2009

Dr. Shaunda Wood

Ed. Psych

Introduction

Many teachers fall into the habit of teaching the way they were taught. As a teacher, I use my experiences in the education system as a source for reflection rather than a guide for teaching. These reflections, combined with the theoretical knowledge gained during my B.Ed. and the practical knowledge gained from classroom experience has helped me develop my philosophy of teaching and learning. I aspire to maintain a calm and effective classroom environment where students take some responsibility for their actions, and to create a welcoming atmosphere for my diverse students. I also seek to teach using a constructivist method to help students create knowledge for themselves while still meeting the needs of all the learners in my class, and to prepare them to thrive in a world of technology.

Classroom management

One of the most important responsibilities of teachers is classroom management. There cannot be effective instruction without management of student behaviour. I choose to teach following a collaborative approach to classroom management, where control of student behaviour is the joint responsibility of the student and the teacher. Levin et al. (2009) propose that when students are involved in the development of classroom rules and understand the rationale for each rule, they are much more likely to choose to follow those rules. Any time spent verbally reprimanding a student is instructional time taken away from the other students. Therefore, students should be given the opportunity to self-regulate, and teachers should adopt as many non-verbal interventions as possible to prevent interrupting the flow of teaching. Some students will always choose to misbehave or to not participate in class, but as long as these behaviours are not affecting the learning of other students, they should be ignored and then dealt with privately, not in front of the whole class.

Classroom rules should be clearly defined along with the consequences for breaking them. When misbehaviour does reach the point where it is disruptive, students should know what the result of this will be. I think that logical consequences are the most effective way to correct poor behaviour. Logical consequences are negative outcomes as a result of the behaviour and are directly linked to that behaviour (Levin et al, 2009). For example, if a student arrives late for class, they are expected to stay an equivalent time after school or at break to make up for time missed. I also believe that rewarding good behaviour can be a good practice if done properly. I do agree with Kohn (1993) that encouraging students to finish their work to get a prize can lead to sloppy work as the students focus solely on the prize. However, when students have never had success before and do not have any intrinsic motivation to do work, I think that offering rewards can help get them started. Once a student does something correctly a few times and has received the reward along with praise from the teacher, they can start to feel pride in themselves and their work, and can be “weaned” off of the reward system.

Differentiation

I have experienced first-hand the need for differentiation in the classroom. I entered the French immersion program in grade four and moved to a new town in grade six where the students were just starting their French immersion. I was thus two years ahead of the other students and became bored very quickly with the material. I approached my teacher and asked her to accommodate for this. She responded by assigning me pages of seat work such as verb conjugations which to me was worse than what I had before. Students who are ahead of the class need to be accommodated for because if left bored, they can lose interest in school altogether and become classroom management problems. However, they cannot just be given more pen and paper work, they need to be given engaging and meaningful work to do. I am a strong proponent of differentiation, although it creates a lot more work for the teacher, it is necessary to access the potential of each student. I’ve seen in my internship observation that there can be a whole range of learners in one classroom, from remedial to advanced. My goal is to reach all of these learners with material that they can do but which still challenges their abilities, and to make this tiering as invisible as possible. I do not want students to feel pegged as one type of learner or to have them ridiculed by their peers, therefore flexible grouping (Dodge, 2005) and choice work will be staples in my classroom.

One aspect of differentiation that I do have a problem with is Gardner’s multiple intelligences. I have to agree with Morgan (2006) who says that the intelligences proposed by Gardner are more like cognitive styles. While it is interesting to note that students have different learning styles, this information is not overwhelmingly useful because I would not want to have children pegged as one style and do all of their work in that fashion. I agree that some students definitely can be more verbal or logical or visual learners so it is important to try to explain new concepts in a few different ways, but I do not see the benefit that, for example, putting a “naturalist” spin on material could have for a student.

This leads me into Vygotsky’s views of learning and development. Vygotsky (1978) states that cognitive development follows learning; the tasks that children can accomplish on their own are skills which they have already learned, and to get them to move forward, we must get them to work in their zone of proximal development (ZDP). A child’s ZDP is the work that they are able to do with the help of an adult or a more knowledgeable peer. Relating back to differentiation, this means that we can provide scaffolding or support to learners to allow them to do more advanced work than they would be able to accomplish on their own, and that this work will help them develop cognitively. Each child will vary in the level or type of scaffolding that they require, so I think the key to keeping up with their needs is frequent assessment to see where they are and where they are heading in their learning.

Constructivism

Piaget’s constructivist theory of learning states that intelligence is an organized system which interacts with its surroundings and that knowledge is produced from the actions of the learner (American Psychological Association, 2001). This translates into the modern constructivist theory which favours construction of knowledge rather than transmission of knowledge (Applefield, 2001). As a teacher, I plan to use constructivism (active learning) to help my students gain and retain new knowledge. I strongly believe that students learn better by doing and discovering things for themselves than by having information given to them. This style of teaching lends itself to application in the science classroom since many principles, theories and formulas can be set up to be “discovered” by the students through activities and experiments. My experience in the classroom so far indicates that this can be difficult to do because it requires that the students keep themselves on task and that they are engaged in what they are learning, but I think with practice, the students and I will get better at this. One aspect of constructivism that is already used in my classroom is the open discussion of concepts with students, and their encouragement to ask difficult questions about science and to find the answers or at least form an opinion after some research.

Diversity

Classrooms today are very diverse, both culturally and sexually. As teachers, I think we need to be aware of the diversity that exists in our classrooms and be sensitive to it. It has been shown that staying in touch with their native culture can have a positive impact on students’ learning, and that teachers play an important role as cultural accommodators and mediators (Nieto, 1999). I grew up in a small predominantly white community so I do not know exactly what a culturally diverse classroom is like, but I think that in these situations, it is important that students not become assimilated into a homogenous group, but that they maintain their culture and share their cultural background with the class. Sexual diversity can be an issue of peer acceptance, so in this case it is the responsibility of the teacher to promote a sense of community in the classroom and to watch for any signs that bullying or exclusion might be occurring.

Technology

Today’s students are growing up in a world that depends on technology. Many of our students will already be very proficient in using a computer to communicate and search the internet for information. I think it is the responsibility of teachers to keep up with new developments in technology and to teach our students how to use it safely and effectively. Our students are going to struggle in the work place and in university if they are not taught essential computer skills, and it is my opinion that the best way to do that is not with a designated technology class, but through integration of technology into other classes. This is especially true in science, where students will benefit from seeing the direct application and use of technology in context. According to Frank and Barzilai (2006), project-based learning (PBL) is a great way of getting students engaged in their learning and can promote technological literacy. I agree that active learning is the best way to teach technology, it is not something that can be easily learned through demonstrations or lecture.

Conclusion

My philosophy of teaching and learning is without a doubt a work in progress, and I hope it remains that way for as long as I am teaching. I never want get too settled in my ways, I want to stay current with new research and teaching methods. I am sure that some of the ideals which I aspire to reach in my current teaching philosophy will not work out, but I am prepared to adjust my methods in whatever way works best for my students. I am also sure that the biggest impact on my philosophy of teaching will happen in my first year of teaching my own class as I see what works and does not work for me.

References

American Psychological Association. (2001). (5th Ed.). The publication Manual of the American

Psychological Association. (pp. 265-303)

Applefield, J., Huber, R., & Moallem, M. (2001). Constructivism in theory and practice : Toward

a better understanding. The High School Journal, (Dec.-Jan.) 35-53.

Dodge, J. (2005). Differentiation in action. New York, NY: Scholastic Inc.

Frank, M., & Barzilai, A. (2006). Project-based technology: Instructional strategy for developing

technological literacy. Journal of Technology Education, 18(1)39-53.

Kohn, A. (1993). Punished by Rewards. New York, NY. Houghton Mifflin Company, (pp. 49-

67).

Levin, J., Nolan, J., Kerr, J., & Elliott, A. (2009). Principles of classroom management. Toronto,

Ont. Pearson Education Inc., (pp. 95-97).

Morgan, H. (1996). An analysis of Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence. Roper Review,

18(4)264-269.

Nieto, S. (1999). The light in their eyes. Creating multicultural learning communities.

Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.

Cambridge, Mass. Harvard University Press., (pp. 79-90)