What impact does my teaching practice have on my students?
My teaching practice focuses on the core subjects of reading, maths and writing. All learning is develop through these areas from guided teaching to independent activities. When planning my teaching programme I am focused on the learning gaps and plug these in a variety of ways. These gaps are generally identified through assessment tasks and observations. (i.e. STAR showed poor comprehension of Cloze activities. Model a Cloze activity, topic Cloze activities become an independent activity). Learning is directed by Janene and I and this learning is only curriculum based.
What do I need to change in my practice?
I need to redesign my programme, a programme that focuses on the importance of thinkers rather tan curriculum. My planning needs to reflect this. If I want the chn to be independent how am I teaching that, how am I create opportunities for the chn to explore that?
What is important?
It is important that the children in Karearea 12 are successful learners who can...
- think for themselves
- be responsible for their own learning
- problem solve
- work together
- help, support and celebrate learning
What strategies are mostly likely to help my students?
Student-centred learning Aung Ko Latt (Thityarkauk)
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Student-centered learning, also known as learner-centered education, broadly encompasses methods of teaching that shift the focus of instruction from the teacher to the student. In original usage, student-centered learning aims to develop learner autonomy and independence by putting responsibility for the learning path in the hands of students.Student-centered instruction focuses on skills and practices that enable lifelong learning and independent problem-solving. Student-centered learning theory and practice are based on the constructivist learning theory that emphasizes the learner's critical role in constructing meaning from new information and prior experience.
Student-centered learning puts students' interests first, acknowledging student voice as central to the learning experience. In a student-centered classroom, students choose what they will learn, how they will learn, and how they will assess their own learning.This is in contrast to traditional education, also dubbed "teacher-centered learning", which situates the teacher as the primarily "active" role while students take a more "passive", receptive role. In a teacher-centered classroom, teachers choose what the students will learn, how the students will learn, and how the students will be assessed on their learning. In contrast, student-centered learning requires students to be active, responsible participants
in their own learning and with their own pace of learning.
Usage of the term "student-centered learning" may also simply refer to educational mindsets or instructional methods that recognize individual differences in learners.In this sense, student-centered learning emphasizes each student's interests, abilities, and learning styles, placing the teacher as a facilitator of learning for individuals rather than for the class as a whole.
Student-centered learning means inverting the traditional teacher-centered understanding of the learning process and putting students at the centre of the learning process. In the teacher-centered classroom, teachers are the primary source for knowledge. On the other hand, in student-centered classrooms, active learning is strongly encouraged. Armstrong (2012) claimed that "traditional education ignores or suppresses learner responsibility".
A further distinction from a teacher-centered classroom to that of a student-centered classroom is when the teacher acts as a facilitator, as opposed to instructor. In essence, the teacher’s goal in the learning process is to guide students into making new interpretations of the learning material, thereby 'experiencing' content, reaffirming Rogers' notion that "significant learning is acquired through doing".
Through peer-to-peer interaction, collaborative thinking can lead to an abundance of knowledge. In placing a teacher closer to a peer level, knowledge and learning is enhanced, benefitting the student and classroom overall.
How am I going to showcase my inquiry?
Professional Blog
Praxis:
Planning will focus on one of these concepts... Questioning myself through the process of planning How am I going to provide our chn wth opportunities to explore these concepts and How are the children going to use these concepts?
- think for themselves
- be responsible for their own learning
- problem solve
- work together
- help, support and celebrate learning
Research information and ideas...
NOTES:
Today Tania and I, as the in school teachers for the Whakatane COL, begin the process of developing a more robust Teaching as Inquiry programme within our school.
We talked about why Teaching as Inquiry is beneficial and what we needed to provide our teachers with to support them to intrinsically use this process of thinking rather than requiring them to hours of doing stuff that is not valued. During this stage we talked about the importance of manageability and sustainability. We identified possible barriers towards Teaching as Inquiry (red room thinking).
Tania and I talked about relational practice theory and read articles about the importance of teachers feeling that their passions are recognised, where communication is clear, where their creativity is valued, where their time and organisational skills are important and causing learning through humor and engagement is paramount in their workplace. 
