A good teacher is one who has solid moral values and exemplifies them to the students, so that the teacher can be looked upon as a mentor or model.
The good teacher is able to connect with students, the material being taught and their own inner philosophies so that the class is mutual and reciprocative.
A good teacher strives to make every student a success, and wants no less than 100% effort from all students and themselves. Through this, the students should be made willing to come to class fully prepared to live and learn, and leave inspired and full of knowledge through both curriculum and hidden curriculum.
A good teacher leaves a great legacy, tries to find potential in all and plants many seeds for the future.
Learning Theories Week Two T2P 2
Today in class we examined multiple sources of educators in either their teaching environment or through their reviews and observations of different teachers or practices. Through each teacher, we observed as well as reflected what their personal teaching philosophy is. We asked this through reflecting on how they believe people learn, as well as asking how they think competency is developed in the subject area. Through the examples, we witnessed a large spectrum of philosophies which included Robin Williams' character in The Dead Poet Society, who encouraged creativity, risk taking and mutual respect and then later viewed the whole brain teaching concept in the mathematics course, where the teacher valued a dominant role as teacher, repetition, structure and performance.
From these observations, I started to reflect on what philosophy I will develop as a teacher and how should I structure (or not structure) my classroom. What boggled my mind and perhaps others and altered immediate views after the whole brain teaching video, was the fact that that style of 'teaching' may not actually invoke learning, but rather regurgitation for a short termed performance.
This lead to the formation of my if..then..because statement, in which I really needed to focus down on the essentials of the acquired material from class. From the two papers we read for homework and discussed as well as the video clips we viewed together as well as the individual video (science is messy), I needed to invoke my personal philosophy to gather a statement based on what we learned. This lead me to the hypothesis of , 'If a teacher provides an environment that contains enthusiasm and mutual respect (which includes reciprocity), to a relevant/reflective curriculum, then whole person optimal learning can take place in the classroom.' I learned through the evidence in class that enthusiasm is a basic tool that invokes a positive attitude and encourages students to participate. Mutual respect, including reciprocity is a tool that 'humanizes' the teacher, and allows the students to connect on a 'deeper level' which has been found to instill trust and intrinsic motivation. If the teacher is respected and trusted, the student will not only pick up on the regular curriculum, but also recognize the hidden curriculum topics from the value-laden model (the teacher), whom the students will recognize as the mature expert. Of course the teacher must also show trust within the students as part of reciprocity, because the teacher must give back at least as much as he receives to maintain a mutual relationship. What can accentuate this form of reciprocity is pedagogical caring. By this I mean that the teacher should learn to care for the students in an obvious fashion, and the student will react in a positive form by creating a more in-depth relationship with the student. Nel Noddings would agree with this; she finds that teachers who care for students create a better relationship with each other. This will not only bring out the enthusiasm from one another, but create a new sense of intrinsic motivation for both individuals. From this, the teacher will also assume the role as master learner and will grow from each and every minute in the classroom.
Theory to Practice Week 5:
If a teacher or other adult guardian/model in a young (~5-9 years old) child's life allows the child to truly harness what they enjoy doing, then the student will more rapidly develop the skills involved with that task, and thus create a chance for whole person optimal learning to occur. This will occur because at that age, the density of the synaptic web within the brain will consist of a majority of what the student wants to learn, i.e. the enjoyable subject. The brain will then be able to connect the subject through neuron transmission with greater ease, and the amount of synaptic pruning will decrease, because the information being utilized will be in constant use, and unnecessary information will be minimal. The subject of choice will most likely be a hot cognitive process, in which the child will feel extremely positive towards. This will create a large intrinsic motivator within the child, which Patricia Kolencik views to be a necessity when learning at an optimal level.
The idea that the child harnesses this subject means that he or she will sooner be able to achieve the level of mastery within the subject, one of Daniel Pink's main ideas of motivation. Mastery, along with the autonomy to decide the subject being learned, as well as a purpose, which may occur later along the learning path are Pink's main aspects of motivation.
This idea of intrinsic motivation on the top a synaptic foundation is key to a children mastering a subject area. While this may be viewed as negative by some educators, a single area being truly explored and mastered by a child could prove to be a valuable asset to learners. The learners autonomy, mastery and purpose could lead to a child truly developing a mastery that he or she can enjoy and utilize in life.
From these observations, I started to reflect on what philosophy I will develop as a teacher and how should I structure (or not structure) my classroom. What boggled my mind and perhaps others and altered immediate views after the whole brain teaching video, was the fact that that style of 'teaching' may not actually invoke learning, but rather regurgitation for a short termed performance.
Theory to Practice Week 5:
If a teacher or other adult guardian/model in a young (~5-9 years old) child's life allows the child to truly harness what they enjoy doing, then the student will more rapidly develop the skills involved with that task, and thus create a chance for whole person optimal learning to occur. This will occur because at that age, the density of the synaptic web within the brain will consist of a majority of what the student wants to learn, i.e. the enjoyable subject. The brain will then be able to connect the subject through neuron transmission with greater ease, and the amount of synaptic pruning will decrease, because the information being utilized will be in constant use, and unnecessary information will be minimal. The subject of choice will most likely be a hot cognitive process, in which the child will feel extremely positive towards. This will create a large intrinsic motivator within the child, which Patricia Kolencik views to be a necessity when learning at an optimal level.
The idea that the child harnesses this subject means that he or she will sooner be able to achieve the level of mastery within the subject, one of Daniel Pink's main ideas of motivation. Mastery, along with the autonomy to decide the subject being learned, as well as a purpose, which may occur later along the learning path are Pink's main aspects of motivation.
This idea of intrinsic motivation on the top a synaptic foundation is key to a children mastering a subject area. While this may be viewed as negative by some educators, a single area being truly explored and mastered by a child could prove to be a valuable asset to learners. The learners autonomy, mastery and purpose could lead to a child truly developing a mastery that he or she can enjoy and utilize in life.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYou've got a good handle on the connections between neurophysiological development and learning. I encourage you to consider a focus on the implications of the freedom to pursue mastery (or discouragement thereof) on adolescent development writ-large (vs. the little dudes).
Keep pressing!
GNA