Relevant Qualifications:
Teaching Philosophy:
A wide range of pedagogies influences my teaching philosophy, so I would identify for being a constructivist. Hence, regardless of the differences found in Piaget and Vygotsky’s theories, I have learned that they have an equal impact on my concepts of how teachers teach and how students learn.
Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) is essential when knowing your students because it tells you what a learner can and cannot do without guidance. I have come to understand why Vygotsky had strong opinions on the importance of direction, as it is vital to know that things such as students’ culture and language influence children’s cognitive development.
However, I still believe that I should allow students to develop individually through the use of schema because, in a way, it prepares students for the future.
These two theories together will be used in implementing my lessons to have various individual and collaborative activities.
Children’s ability to construct their knowledge based on interactions and experiences is one way that people learn because this concept of constructivism focuses on how being introduced to different situations creates a relationship between adapting to and absorbing new information. Thus, for this to be achieved, my role as a teacher will be to create a learning environment that encourages students to build their knowledge — allowing students to be responsible for their learning results in many skills, such as critical thinking and problem-solving, which aligns with contemporary education ideas.
Although schools are still heavily focused on tests and results, I still have to incorporate practices that promote other outcomes within their schooling years. For students to learn skills other than doing good on a test, I will advocate things that make learning fun, interactive and relevant such as collaborative work.
I created the video below to show some simple statements that motivate the unmotivated. As a learner, when I was told such things, I felt very appreciated for and proud of myself.
The idea of determining success by a set of factors such as ranking and students’ performance on standardized tests is alarming yet inevitable.
I believe that other mechanisms measure success and performance, such as observing students engagement in class and desire to excel and last but not least, looking out for students’ contribution to the community.
Critical Reflection on Four issues I Have Experienced in the classroom:
1st Experience – Poor Time Management
I was teaching year 7 English for period 3, and during the lesson planning, I did not realise that the content I prepared needed more time than I had, which was about 45 minutes. As we were having a class discussion on the topic, the school bell rang for students to go to period 4.
This was an issue because it led students to be late for their next period, and another teacher was waiting for us to leave to use the classroom, and I had to cut the lesson short, which made me feel unprofessional and disorganised even though I have seen this happen before, and it seemed that it never vexed teachers.
Usually, from observation, teachers always tell students to pack up a few minutes before the end of the lesson so they are ready to leave the classroom as soon as the bell rings. Thus, those with more experience are less likely to face such issues because they can determine the time required for tasks, organise and implement.
I believe that with time, I will learn to plan my lessons more effectively so that my aims and objectives are all met before the students leave my class, which is crucial as it concerns the education system’s expectation of me to help students achieve academic results within the time allocated for me to do so.
I will fix this issue with the help of The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers:
- 4.3 Demonstrate knowledge of practical approaches to manage challenging behaviour; (“Teacher Standards”, n.d). This will help me plan my lesson accordingly, as I will be aware of specific behaviours that may delay the flow of the lesson
- 6.3 Seek and apply constructive feedback from supervisors and teachers to improve teaching practice; (“Teacher Standards”, n.d). These individuals from school/ head of a department could assist in telling me how to improve my time management
The behaviour of learners could cause such an issue to take place. Thus I will need to know the pace of my students and who needs constant reinforcement to determine the number of tasks I can encompass.
2nd Experience – Unmotivated Student
Before starting my practicum with the year seven students, I was told by my Supervisor Teacher about how there was one particular student in the class who was generally very doubtful about his capabilities of succeeding in school, he had a lack of motivation and assumed all of the tasks were too hard for him. I did not realize how serious this issue was until I had to teach him and his peers.
This was an issue because he needed a lot of one-on-one encouraging talks and push, which was challenging when I wanted to have a balance in my classroom so I would help everyone equally and not make the others feel left out. If I had more time in getting to know the student and having the skills of catering for everyone while supporting those who need me most, the issue would have been fixed.
This issue can be fixed with the help of The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers:
- 1.5 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities. (“Teacher Standards”, n.d)
- 3.5 Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement.t: (“Teacher Standards”, n.d) the knowledge of these strategies could aid in supporting different students
Such student needs constant instructions and attention from the teacher, which, according to Vygotsky, helps cognitive development.
Rita F. Pierson was an educator with a powerfully influential Ted talk for all teachers to listen to; click here to watch. She empathised on the importance of having strong relationships with students. (Pierson, 2013)
Besides telling some of the statements, I mentioned previously in this blog to help motivate students, things like apologising shock students positively, according to Pierson, because it makes them feel equal and not discriminated against for being the children or the people on the other spectrum of the class. Telling students motivational things that makes them feel valuable is crucial to make them feel that they are somebody with potential. (Pierson, 2013)
3rd Experience – Misusing Technology
As I was walking around during an online research activity I designed for year 10 to do; I caught some students using social media on their devices rather than staying on task as told. The students attempt at hiding what they were doing or the sites they were visiting, such as Facebook, do not make the issue any better. The effect of misusing technology in classrooms is very relevant and familiar in contemporary education, as technology is becoming a significant device for carrying out tasks and activities. Such an issue has been occurring since I was still attending secondary school myself, which makes me believe that this is a common issue I will encounter in my years as a teacher.
It can be handled for the school to provide devices for students with the next-generation firewall (NGFW) implemented in either hardware or software to detect students’ attempts to access blocked applications instead of bringing their own devices from home. NGFW provides simple security solutions for organizations to help reduce infringements, and in this case, distractions. Thus, its security policy prevents intrusion, viruses and provides identity protection. The high-performance security protection, NGFW, could easily be implemented by the IT staff, which can work together to prevent or reduce the negatives of using tech devices/ laptops in classrooms. You can read more about next-generation firewall (NGFW) on Network Intelligence at; “a well-established provider of information security services and products”
The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers schools can consider when fixing this issue:
- 2.6 Implement teaching strategies for using ICT to expand curriculum learning opportunities for students: (“Teacher Standards”, n.d) thinking about ways to prevent this issue requires teamwork from the school to continue using technology in modern classes appropriately
- 3.4 Demonstrate knowledge of a range of resources, including ICT, that engage students in their learning: (“Teacher Standards”, n.d) being a modern teacher, I need to understand that students have an interest in tech and will try a variety of strategies/ activities to incorporate it in my lesson.
In Teaching: Making a Difference, Nicola F Johnson mentions a pedagogical framework that concerns teachers implementing activities using technology. (Johnson, N. F,2015) She says that the framework called pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) highlights “that teachers not only know the content but know how to teach the content”. This educational approach indicates the significance of teachers knowing their ICT and how to use the technicalities before instructing students to do so.
- 4.5 Demonstrate an understanding of the relevant issues and the strategies available to support the safe, responsible and ethical use of ICT in learning and teaching: (“Teacher Standards”, n.d) as I am creating this blog, I realize that to ensure students work is safe and protected, I will need to work collaboratively with school staff to ensure desired outcomes
4th Experience Learner Diversity
Few people would assume that most, if not, all students would have fluent English in their last stages of junior years; this was a mistake I made myself when I thought such thing just because the school was a private school; most of its students come from the middle-high socioeconomic status background.
However, there was a student in year ten who proved me wrong. He was an indigenous Australian student whose family were not necessarily struggling, but his language skills created a barrier between him, the other teachers and myself. I was intimidated into supporting his literacy skills because he had extreme opinions against the language, English, due to the historical events.
As a practicum teacher, I did not have the chance to reach out to the student and the parents to break down the language barrier and make him know that there is no need to be unwilling in a safe environment.
The issue is relevant because Australian teachers are known to be in such situations, which is a sensitive thing to face as it involves race and human rights and democratic principles. (Moss, J, 2015, p. 163)
According to Julianne Moss, schools and parents need to work together to improve the children’s situations, ensure a positive learning environment is catered for them, state expectations of both parties, and create enjoyment of learning. (Moss, J, 2015) Schools and parents need to invest in time for meetings to prove that there is effort employed for the children to have healthy relations with the adults, as often, strong teacher-student relationships result in high performance.
- Teachers dealing with indigenous students must illuminate low expectations because it will hinder their learning and willingness, as mentioned by Luke, Weir and Woods in their review of syllabus documents for school subjects in Queensland (2008, P. 75)
Teachers would look at the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers to recognize their responsibilities and receive ideas for more ways to fix the issue:
• 1.2 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of research into how students learn and the implications for teaching.
• 1.3 Demonstrate knowledge of teaching strategies that are responsive to the learning strengths and needs of students from diverse linguistic, cultural, religious and socioeconomic backgrounds.
• 1.4 Demonstrate broad knowledge and understanding of the impact of culture, cultural identity and linguistic background on the education of students from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.
• 1.5 Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of strategies for differentiating teaching to meet the specific learning needs of students across the full range of abilities.
• 3.5 Demonstrate a range of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies to support student engagement.
• 4.3 Demonstrate knowledge of practical approaches to manage challenging behaviour.
Reference list
Burden, P. (2010). Classroom management: Creating a successful K-12 learning community (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishers.
Churchill, S., Godinho, S., Johnson, N. F.; Keddie, A., Letts, W.; Lowe, K.; Mackay, J.; McGill, M.; Moss, J.; Nagel, M.; Shaw, K.; Vick, M. (2015). Teaching: Making a difference (3rd ed.). Milton, Australia: John Wiley & Sons.
Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2011). Teaching: Challenges and dilemmas (4th ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Thomson Social Science Press.
https://www.niiconsulting.com/solutions/next-generation-firewalls.html
Luke, A., Weir, K. &Woods, A. (2008). Development of a set of principles to guide a P-12 syllabus framework: A report delivered to the Queensland Studies Authority. Queensland, Australia: The Queensland Studies Authority.1
Parker, J. (2010). Teaching tech-savvy kids: Bringing digital media into the classroom, grades 5 – 12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Teacher Standards. Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards
Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, M., Sinclair, C., & Nanlohy, P. (2010). Learning for teaching: Teaching for learning (2nd ed.). South Melbourne, Vic: Cengage Learning Australia.
Featured image: https://unsplash.com/photos/s9CC2SKySJM
Ashureena Dankha 