What is my teaching philosophy? – Buddy

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact upon the teacher you aspire to be?

I was fortunate that my first dreadful experience in education came later in life when I enrolled in a state university in Egypt. I grew up in an international setting and settled into private education where I was accustomed to direct communication with my teachers. However, it was evident that time with lecturers was going to be limited. The number of pupils exceeded one hundred per class and in the laboratories, there were just over half that number. According to Harris (2014), either the teacher creates an appropriate environment for learning, or it will be appropriated for them by other factors, in my case, class size. This change was detrimental to my learning and I was quickly aware of what I needed, a suitable learning environment.

Bates (2019) argues, it is not the teacher’s responsibility to only create a suitable learning environment for their pupils, but it is essential to view that environment from their perspective. My experiences teaching scuba diving have had a pivotal role in why I am choosing to focus on the learning environment. How does it affect pupil learning? And how, with minor tweaks to the way we teach, can we provide every pupil with a more fulfilling place in the classroom. My teaching philosophy is creating an optimal environment for pupils to be engaged and motivated to learn.

The first time I entered the classroom, I tried to include as many best practices as I could into my lessons. These practices were ones picked up from lesson observations, discussions with peers, and through my own experiences of instructing. However, when trying to ‘cram’ too much into one lesson it was evident that the focus was on the teaching rather than on the learning and as Goodwin and Hubbell (2013) explain, without a clear method of bringing all the best practices together they all resemble a “pile of junk”. Reflecting on my touchstones I needed to create a tailored classroom environment, one that adjusted to my own style of teaching. Once that was in place, something ‘clicked’ and pupils were learning effectively.

However, only focussing on the environment cannot be the only contributing factor to pupil learning. It is important that pupils go through the rigours of trying and failing to achieve their goals. In scuba-diving, courses are not built as a pass or fail, rather, as a base set of skills that once achieved the learner is granted a completion certificate. This doesn’t mean that pupils aren’t failing to complete skills but they are encouraged to try until they have mastered the task. Our role as a teacher is to create a safe space and promote learning from mistakes. Harris (2014) argues, if pupils were not experiencing failure, they would not have a resilient mindset which helps them get through difficult situations. That is why it is important that we do not remove all challenges from the path to success but promote a positive attitude to perseverance in the face of adversity.

I believe that my educational touchstones impact positively on my teaching philosophy. Reflecting on my experiences and using them to promote good teaching practices gives me confidence that what I am doing in the classroom is what makes me a better learner and in turn a better teacher.

Bibliography

Harris, B. 2014. Creating a Classroom Culture That Supports the Common Core, Taylor and Francis, London and New York, Available at: https://0-www-taylorfrancis-com.pugwash.lib.warwick.ac.uk/books/9781315849232 [Accessed 31/10/20]

Bates, A.W. (2019), Teaching in a Digital Age, BCcampus Open Textbooks. [Accessed on 29 October 2020]

Goodwin, B. & Hubbell, E.R., 2013. The 12 Touchstones of Good Teaching: A Checklist for Staying Focused Every Day, Association for Supervision & Curriculum Development. Available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=lgpRBAAAQBAJ [Accessed on 29/10/20].

Abigail Ball : 05 May 2021 09:13 |  Tags: Buddy Tolba Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is your teaching philosophy? – Tim

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact upon the teacher you aspire to be?

My teaching philosophy is centred around the idea that “learners will not learn unless they want to learn” (Morgan and Saxton 2006, p.15). The evidence backs this up too as students who want to learn will display better behaviour in class and achieve better outcomes (Park and Peterson 2009). My method of applying this in the classroom is heavily influenced by the ‘positive psychology’ of Lotta Uusitalo and Kaisa Vuorinen (2019), which argues that teachers must ‘see the good’, by constantly noticing when children are acting well and identifying which positive character strengths they are using (e.g. self-regulation, honesty, kindness), which creates an environment where their self-worth and self-efficacy is strong.

The way that I try to achieve this in my classroom has been by always being explicit about the character strengths I am looking for during a task, by encouraging my students to notice the strengths others are showing, and by linking English learning to character strengths wherever possible.

My teaching philosophy is rooted in my experience in the classroom as a student, and in the experiences of my siblings, who dropped out of school during A-Levels. When I reflect on my own experience, I think of it as surviving, not thriving. The environment was one where learning was highly valued, but there was no culture of teamwork and collaboration. While the quality of my education was quite high, in that I developed strong reading, writing and critical thinking skills, I think that the lack of focus on character strengths and ‘seeing the good’ resulted in my low self-esteem and unhappiness. I was only motivated to achieve high grades by the example my parents set and in order to escape from the system I was in. I think I was lucky to have good role-models and a couple of excellent teachers, which enabled me to overcome some of this, but I believe many children in this system were left behind.

Based on this experience, I believe that by fostering positive character strengths, we can go a long way to improving the school experience for students, and that this will improve their self-esteem and soft skills, so that they can thrive.

The other half of my teaching philosophy is to embrace the Thai’s cultural sense of sanuk, or fun, in my classroom. In Thailand, it is important not to be overly ‘serious’ in approach (Baker 2008) – and in fact, to many Thai’s, if something isn’t sanuk, it’s not worth doing. In my fairly unusual position of being integrated with a team of Thai teachers (rather than other foreign ones) I have been able to observe how this concept is deployed.

By embracing this sense of fun, along with what I am learning on the PGCEi course, I have been able to build rapport with students and to manage behaviour effectively. It also fits perfectly with the first half of my philosophy – focussing on positive character strengths. By bringing together positive reinforcement and a sense of fun, I believe I can fulfil my philosophy that students will learn if they want to learn, and I hope they continue to want to learn with me.

References

Baker, Will. (2008). A Critical Examination of ELT in Thailand: The Role of Cultural Awareness. Relc Journal. 39, pp.131-146.

Morgan, N., & Saxton, J. (2006). Asking Better Questions. 2nd ed. Ontario: Pembroke Publishers.

Park, N., & Peterson, C. (2009). Strengths of character in schools. In R. Gilman, E. S. Huebner, & M. J. Furlong (Eds.), Handbook of positive psychology in schools. New York: Routledge, pp. 65–76.

Uusitalo, L., & Vuorinen, K. (2019). See the Good! How to guide children and adolescents to find their character strengths. Helsinki: Positive Learning Ltd.

Abigail Ball : 26 Apr 2021 10:00 |  Tags: Philosophy Teaching Tim Tabor |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is your teaching philosophy? – Clare

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact upon the teacher you aspire to be?

The best teachers are those who show you where to look, but don’t tell you what to see (Trenfor, n.k.). I saved this quote long before deciding to become a teacher. On reflection, I believe this will help shape my approach to teaching. Sparking curiosity in children is something that drives their natural interest and wonder with the world. Additionally, providing children the opportunity to discover the answers and satisfy their own curiosity, will help develop their problem-solving skills and become critical inquirers.

Having spent the last 15 years in the corporate world, my philosophy doesn’t yet come from classroom experience. However, being in a senior role, I observed the best performing team members were the ones who were highly agile. Furthermore, at industry conferences, I witnessed a recurring theme of the importance to learn, unlearn and relearn and even a sense of panic for the speed things are changing. Therefore, a key part of my teaching philosophy in helping best prepare children for the future, will be setting high expectations, that help to motivate and challenge, while at the same time helping to instil a growth mindset. “The best gift we can give children is to teach them to love challenges, be intrigued by mistakes, enjoy effort, and keep on learning” (Dweck, 2012. p270).

This leads nicely onto character education. Whilst parents are the primary educators of their children’s character, empirical research tells us that parents want all adults who have contact with their children to contribute to such education, especially their children’s teachers (The Jubilee Centre for Character & Virtues, 2017). Elementary teaching is more than teaching subject knowledge and should contribute to growing the character of the child. Aligned with this ethos, my placement school is a Virtues Project School which strongly resonates with me. The ethos, values and principles are based on the Five Cores Principles of Lasallian Schools. As a practising teacher in the school, I am helping to define the school experience for the children I teach, instilling these virtues, whilst creating an environment where the children grow and develop in a safe and nurturing community,

As part of my teaching journey, I have begun working at a forest school, which resonates with my beliefs for how children learn and grow. It focuses on the wellbeing of the child, combining holistic development and the great outdoors, resulting in creative, independent and resilient life-long learners. This ethos aligns with my outlined philosophy, such as inquiry focused learning, problem solving development, as well as taking place in nature, which supports the development of a relationship with the child and the natural world. Although these principles cannot be translated directly into a traditional classroom environment, I believe many elements will carry with me. I will aim to make my classroom an interactive learning environment, with simulating, well planned lessons that encourage child-led thinking, group work and inquiry-based learning.

The huge privileges teachers hold that impact on children's learning and character shouldn’t be taken lightly. As a teacher at the beginning of my journey, I am certain my teaching philosophy will change and that’s a good thing. It will show how I have learnt and progressed in my teaching practice.

References

Dweck, C. (2012) Mindset: How you can fulfil your potential. London: Robinson.

Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues(2017). A Framework for Character Education in Schools[online]. Available from: https://www.jubileecentre.ac.uk/527/character-education/framework. Accessed 29 October 2020). Trenfor, K . (n.k.) [no bio]

Abigail Ball : 19 Apr 2021 09:34 |  Tags: Clare Simms Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Diversity by Design: 3 ways to increase diversity in your teaching

Diversity by Design: 3 ways to increase diversity in your teaching by Harveen Chugh and Tamara Friedrich

We have just co-led the first run of a new Core Module for approximately 600 Warwick Business School undergraduate students called Entrepreneurial Mindset. Looking back over the module, one of the things we feel proud of is how we demonstrated the diversity of entrepreneurs to students. This was certainly no coincidence; it was, in fact, diversity by design. Here we share 3 ways you can also increase and demonstrate diversity in your teaching:

1) The ‘who’ – consider your cast: Think about the opportunities to feature people in your module that represent the breadth of humanity, not just a select few. You can do this through guest speakers, your teaching team, or videos. We made a concerted effort to examine who was appearing on the module, not to tick any particular box, but to ensure a breadth of experiences and perspectives were presented and there was a collective and overall representation. It is of course the easier option to call on the first few names or cases that come to mind, but this could naturally skew towards our own unconscious biases. Taking time to think about the overall composition of your module’s cast (e.g., gender, race, age) will help to counteract this.

2) The ‘what’ – consider your content: In addition to the people who appear on the module, diversity runs through all the materials such as the books you assign, research you reference, podcasts you link to, or examples you give. Everywhere a name is mentioned (individual or organisation) is also an aspect where you can think about diversity. You can make a list of all the elements in your module where you will be mentioning names and increase diversity across all these dimensions. It may also be an opportunity to consider the values represented by those you cite or discuss. For instance, there may be scholars or organizations you discuss who have expressed harmful views that you could be inadvertently promoting.

3) The ‘why’ – consider your mission: Ask or remind yourself why increasing and demonstrating diversity through your teaching is important. We have a globally diverse student body and are conscious of the power and privilege we hold in deciding what students see as possible, now and for their future. Increasing and demonstrating diversity will be just one way we can all help to get them there. We are two female co-module leaders and could easily think we have this covered, but this alone is not enough. It is also easy to fall into the trap of using well-known examples with a wealth of information available on them. For us in entrepreneurship, it may be tempting to discuss Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, but if we truly want a learning experience that all of our students connect with and see themselves in, we should also be talking about entrepreneurs like Whitney Wolfe Herd, the CEO of dating app Bumble and the youngest woman to take a company public, or Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, a pioneer in the field of biopharmaceuticals and EY World Entrepreneur of the Year.

We hope these practices will inspire you to increase diversity in your teaching too.

Abigail Ball : 12 Apr 2021 10:28 |  Tags: Diversity Harveen Chugh Tamara Friedrich Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is my teaching philosophy? – Adeola

What is my teaching philosophy? How has this originated, and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact on the teacher you aspire to be?

‘Who we are, what we believe, and what assumptions we hold about students, the material, and the world significantly affect what we do in the classroom, no matter the course content or teaching style’ (Ramsey and Fitzgibbons (2005) cited in Beatty, Leigh and Lund Dean, 2020).

The essence of my journey into the classroom has been succinctly captured by Ramsey and Fitzgibbons (2005). I am a strong believer in the concept that the brain is elastic and can grow (Berliner and Eyre, 2018) if it is tended and nurtured.

I set up a school called BlossomHall School with a motto that says, Explore, Evolve, Excel and a symbolic allusion to growth and the concept of blossoming and this captures my teaching philosophy. To blossom is to become more attractive, successful, or confident. Children, like flowers, blossom under the right conditions provided by teachers, parents and other caregivers.

According to Dweck C. (2012) “Prodigies or not, we all have interests that can blossom into abilities” pg. 97.

A personal experience of growing my brain from underachieving to high performing after discovering my areas of strength and the right combinations for thriving, further enacts my conviction that everyone has the ability to thrive and succeed at something.

I believe that by applying effort and working hard, every child will discover where his strength lies. While we all celebrate and promote hard work and effort, not every young person is motivated to work hard or go the extra mile. In teaching, I want to nurture high performers who excel because they try and who try because they enjoy putting in effort. I celebrate effort. (Evidence 2) Within and around the class, I always aim to create an ambience and environment that supports hard work because hard work will always pay off. (Willingham D.T 2009)

I had a Mathematics teacher in secondary school, whose strategy was to make us work through every problem in the textbook from cover to cover. Although initially it was tasking, it was enough healthy competition and motivation to keep practicing. Constant practice opens up the memory and increase its capacity to take in more information and attainment (Dweck 2012).

Each time I am in a classroom, my objective is to leave no child behind in learning. However, I have encountered a few underachieving children who leave me wondering if I achieved my objective. I have been challenged by my mentor to improve on my application of differentiation and to seek more clarity on understanding the individual needs of my pupils (TS5). This is an improvement area for me as I want to be known as that teacher giving hope and a chance to succeed to children where others have given up, creatively adapting the teaching to meet their needs and to ensure that my class provides an welcoming at sphere where they are motivated to learn without much persuasion (TS7). If my philosophy is to see children excel and blossom, giving hope to such children is the only way that I will able to say I have succeeded as a teacher.

I want to help children to realize their potentials if they can consistently ‘grow’ their brains. Every child can learn and excel at something. No child should be left behind.

References

Beatty, J., Leigh, J. and Lund Dean, K. (2020) "Republication Of: Philosophy Rediscovered: Exploring The Connections Between Teaching Philosophies, Educational Philosophies, And Philosophy". Journal Of Management Education 44 (5), 543-559

Berliner, W. and Eyre, D. (2018) Great Minds And How To Grow Them. 1st edn. OX: Routledge

Dweck, C. (2012) Mindset. London: Robinson

Willingham, D. (2009) "Why Don't Students Like School?: A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How The Mind Works And What It Means For Your Classroom". Choice Reviews Online 47 (01), 47-0421-47-0421

Abigail Ball : 29 Mar 2021 12:20 |  Tags: Adeola Remi-John Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is your teaching philosophy? – Kate

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact upon the teacher you aspire to be?

As a student of literature, I am well-schooled in theory. In asking questions critically and knowing that definitive answers are rarely possible. That it is the enquiry, the ideas, and the wondering which lead to understanding. I am an aspiring teacher librarian and a central theme within my educational touchstones is critical literacy. My teaching philosophy is one that is centred around the power of language, representation and identity. ‘I would like to talk to children about books and help them to discover their favourites as the media that become their favourites will not only shape who they become but their understanding of the world.’ (London, 2020)

‘In children’s literature theory the imaginary child is often alluded to but it is rare to carry out research with actual children and how they are engaging with books.’ (London, 2020) I am studying the PGCEi as I would like to add practice to theory and explore my teaching philosophy with students. Our class has been learning poetry and I have been discussing how we make meaning from a text. We have been looking at where poets get their ideas. We have been discussing the poem “Eletelephony” which uses made up words to express confusion. We are discussing that poets can manipulate language and that how they use language is as relevant to the emotion of the poem as the central theme or idea. Luke and Freebody (1990) created a literacy model for teachers which incorporates critical literacy. The first step is ‘breaking the code’ which is concerned with ‘recognising and using the fundamental features and architecture of written texts’ (State Government of Victoria, 2019) and this first step towards using critical thinking is what I was attempting with this lesson.

During a tutorial with my tutor she recounted a story from a school where she had previously worked. There was a travelling librarian who came to collate the classroom collections and this librarian would take away the books that were more than ten years old. I was upset by this story because books hold our history, our community, our former selves and allow us to deconstruct the past so that we can better understand our present and future. Peterson and Mosley Wetzel suggest ‘the need to reconceptualize teaching as a political act with the set goal of empowering learners with the ability to recognize and deconstruct oppressive ideological stances.’ (2015, p.58) This particular librarian was denying the students the opportunity to deconstruct, challenge and celebrate the voices of picturebooks past. It is practices such as this which inform my philosophy as I hope to work against them within the library.

I am not so ideological as to consider my future career as a teacher librarian closely connected to political activism. I do consider it to be one of enquiry. To encourage students to ‘have the skills and dispositions to question, challenge, and think deeply about all kinds of texts.’ (Winograd, 2014, p. 1) I hope that teaching students to recognise the power of language and voice will empower them to see that there is strength within their own voices. ‘A book holds words. Words hold things. They bear meanings. A novel is a medicine bundle, holding things in a particular, powerful relation to one another and to us.’ (Le Guin, 1989)

References

Freebody, P & Luke, A (1990) 'Literacies Programs: Debates and Demands in Cultural Context'. Prospect: an Australian journal of TESOL, 5(3), pp. 7-16.

Le Guin, U. (1989) Dancing at the Edge of the World: Thoughts on Words, Women, Places. London: Golancz.

London, K. (2020) ‘Kate London Teaching Touchstones’. PGCEi 20/21: The University of Warwick. Unpublished Work.

Peterson K., Mosley Wetzel M. (2015) “It’s Our Writing, We Decide It”: Voice, Tensions, and Power in a Critical Literacy Workshop. In: Yoon B., Sharif R. (eds) Critical Literacy Practice. Singapore: Springer, pp.57-75.

Richards, L. E. (2018) Poets.org: Eletelephony [Online] URL; https://poets.org/poem/eletelephony) (Accessed 24th October 2020).

Victoria State Government: Education and Training (2019) The Four Resources Model for Reading and Viewing. [Online] URL; https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/fourres.aspx#decoder(Accessed 3rd November 2020).

Winograd, K., (2015) 'Critical Literacy, Common Core Standards and Young Learners: Imagining a Synthesis of Educational Approaches'. In: Winograd, K. (ed) Critical Literacies and Young Learners: Connecting Classroom Practice to the Common core. New York: Routledge, pp.1-11.

Abigail Ball : 22 Mar 2021 11:06 |  Tags: Kate London Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is your teaching philosophy? – Elvira

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact upon the teacher you aspire to be?

Growing up in a Malaysian state school background, I never knew of anything other than a teacher-centred, performativity culture in the classroom. However, I was fortunate to have positive experiences in university, having been taught by lecturers who were passionate about teaching and their subject. It is those life events, knowing that I do not want students to go through the same experience I had in a state school, along with my own teaching experience that shaped my teaching philosophy today.

Fundamentally, my teaching philosophy is based on the desire to nurture students into the best possible version of themselves by providing them with a positive learning experience and preparing them with the skills and knowledge necessary for their academic life.

One of the methods I focus on to achieve this is by building a rapport with each student. I believe that when there is a good student-teacher relationship centred on care and mutual respect, a lot of learning takes place. Teacher-student relationship is the foundation to cultivating learning behaviours and preventing disruptive behaviours in the classroom. As stated by the Teaching Agency (2012), “Trainees should understand that good relationships are at the heart of good behaviour management. They should be able to form positive, appropriate, professional relationships with their pupils”. I recall how professors who knew my name and showed that they cared made me feel - I was more engaged in their classes. As a result, I always make an effort to learn each student’s name at the start of a new school year. During my Year 8 lessons recently, I noticed that it was after addressing students by their names, and getting to know them, that they started to be more engaged in discussions, and classroom activities. Apart from engagement, good student-teacher relationship has been found to improve achievement outcomes (Hattie, 2009).

I believe that students learn best when the content is relatable and applicable to real life. So, the second aspect of my teaching philosophy is bringing the outside world into the classroom and bringing learning outside of the classroom. James & Pollard (2011) highlight this as one of the principles in the Teaching and Learning Research Programme that improves outcomes of learners. This principle writes about the importance of informal learning and bringing in different external experiences for students to draw on. Every year, I get my sixth form Psychology students to organise a school-wide, mental health awareness programme. Although it is not part of the A-level curriculum, it allows them to gain first-hand experience of real psychologist work, and helps to develop teamwork, organisational skills, creativity and communication skills. Recently, in a Year 8 lesson on diet and nutrition, I had students improve the cafeteria menu based on what they have learned. Following that lesson, I got students to be public health officials and to research in groups how too much or a deficient in a type of nutrient can lead to certain illnesses. Students then had to “create awareness” about the illness by educating small groups of classmates. I believe these are invaluable experiences that textbooks are not able to provide, which ultimately nurture skills and knowledge for students to excel in the future.

References

Hattie J. C. (2009) Visible Learning: A Synthesis of Over 800 Meta-Analyses Relating to Achievement. London and New York: Routledge. Available from: Taylor and Francis E-book. (Accessed: 17 October 2020).

James, M. & Pollard, A. (2011) TLRP’s ten principles for effective pedagogy: rationale, development, evidence, argument and impact. [Online] (https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2011.590007) Research Papers in Education, 26(3). (Accessed: 30 August 2020).

Teaching Agency (2012) Improving Teacher Training for Behaviour. Available online from: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/200406/TA-00079-2012.pdf (Accessed: 18 October 2020)

Abigail Ball : 15 Mar 2021 10:27 |  Tags: Elvira Lee Philosophy Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

What is your teaching philosophy? – Ingrid

What is your teaching philosophy? How has this originated and can you evaluate how your educational touchstones will impact upon the teacher you aspire to be?

The essence of my teaching philosophy is to foster students’ competence beliefs through healthy and personal relationships. I trust that students do well and are more willing to learn when learning is personalised.

Growing up, I questioned everything. However, my curiosity was often met with impatience and hostility as it was seen as disturbance in classes of 40 children. Feeling distant from my teachers and my learning, I became anxious and despised going to school. Studying abroad in England at 15 was certainly challenging, but it broadened my horizons. I felt a closer connection to my teachers and enjoyed a freedom to discuss academic or personal issues. I became more confident in my abilities and performed much better.

At university, I explored the psychological underpinnings of child development and education. One of the greatest takeaways from my Masters programme was the importance of competence beliefs in children — self-perceptions about their own capabilities (Zimmerman & Schunk, 2006). Literature shows that the higher children’s self-perceived ability, the greater their motivation and the better their academic achievement (e.g. Wigfield & Eccles, 2001; Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006; Guay, Marsh, & Bovin, 2003; Freiberger, Steinmayr, & Spinath 2012). In retrospect, I performed better when I viewed myself as more capable because I felt understood and cared for. Positive relationships between teachers and students often lead to better performance (Bernstein-Yamashir & Noam, 2013). Students show higher attendance rates and test scores, and improved engagement and motivation in a personalised, respectful and safe learning environment with strong teacher support (Klem & Connell, 2004).

Teaching back at home, I try my best to show my students that they are listened to despite the large class size. For example, I start my lessons off with Show and Tell or a “Mood Check” where students take turns vocalising their thoughts or sharing something dear to their hearts. This way, the whole class gets to know more about each other and an opportunity to be heard outside of the curriculum. Their participation has been pleasantly encouraging. Each student has also prepared, per my instruction, a notebook of their choice to use as their journal where they pen their thoughts without worrying about being assessed. Some students have told me about their weekend plans, and others have shared more personal concerns about their family and life outside of school. Their sharing, verbal and written, has opened up windows for conversation. The more I know my students, the easier classroom management has become.

As I move further into the term, I have enjoyed the benefits of assigning tasks that students can relate to. As part of a poetry module, I had my Primary 5s write limericks and cinquains about themselves, their class, or their learning. This task was well received; students showed strong understanding of the taught poetic structures afterwards. For Primary 3, in preparation of their mid-term tests, I asked students to think of one question they thought might come up in their test. I envisioned it to be a short and simple activity, but it turned out to be a practice test paper compiled solely from their input. We went through these review questions together and they were a lot more engaged than usual as they enjoyed the fruits of their labour.

References

Bernstein-Yamashiro, B. and Noam, G.G., 2013. Teacher-student relationships: A growing field of study. New Directions for Youth Development

Guay, F., Marsh, H. W. and Boivin, M., 2003. Academic self-concept and academic achievement: developmental perspectives on their causal ordering. Journal of educational psychology, 95(1), pp.124-136.

Freiberger, V., Steinmayr, R. and Spinath, B., 2012. Competence beliefs and perceived ability evaluations: How do they contribute to intrinsic motivation and achievement?. Learning and Individual Differences, 22(4), pp.518-522.

Klem, A.M. and Connell, J.P., 2004., Relationships matter: Linking teacher support to student engagement and achievement. Journal of school health, 74, pp.262-273.

Urdan, T. and Schoenfelder, E., 2006. Classroom effects on student motivation: Goal structures, social relationships, and competence beliefs. Journal of School Psychology, 44(5), pp.331-349.

Wigfield, A. and Eccles, J. S., 2000. Expectancy–Value Theory of Achievement Motivation. Contemporary educational psychology, 25(1), pp.68-81.

Zimmerman, B.J, and Schunk, D.H., 2006. Competence and control beliefs: Distinguishing the means and ends. Handbook of educational psychology, 2, pp.349-367.

Abigail Ball : 08 Mar 2021 11:36 |  Tags: Ingrid Lam Philosophy Reflections Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

How can assessment encourage and motivate children to succeed both academically and socially?

by Richard

Teachers plan lessons according to the curriculum and to suit the needs of the students; the planning of assessments should be no different. Bartlett states (2015, p.59) that “assessment of each activity should be part of the planning process and needs to be seamless and focused”. Assessments need to be relevant and authentic to serve our students' needs best. Callison (1998, p.1) claims that “Authentic assessment is an evaluation process that involves multiple forms of performance measurement reflecting the student's learning, achievement, motivation, and attitudes on instructional-proceedings. Examples of authentic assessment techniques include performance assessment, portfolios, and self-assessment”. According to Callison, in order to create authentic assessments that encourage student growth, it is first essential that we take the time to get to know our students. If we do not know our students, it will not be easy to measure what is relevant and meaningful.

Creating a positive classroom environment, where students are encouraged and collaborative relationships are formed, is the first step for making significant and appropriate assessments that inform the teacher and the student and allow for maximum growth. School assessments should assess the process, not the final task. If assessments are authentic, students will be motivated learners and take ownership and pride in their learning, thus taking opportunities to develop the 21st-century learning skills that are so important to learn. I believe that, building positive relationships and creating meaningful and authentic assessments is crucial for the success of our students. As educators, we must ensure that we take any opportunities to learn and reflect upon our practice, to do what is best for our students.

Black and Wiliam (2012, p.2) claim "assessment in education must, first and foremost, serve the purpose of supporting learning". In my teaching, I have used many diagnostic assessments in the past in order to support learning. For example, I have used running records, journals, writing prompts, KWL charts, pre-unit tests, among others. However, the best types of assessments that I have encountered have been meaningful projects that were student led. In these instances, students were collaborative and motivated to succeed because they were passionate about what they were learning. Therefore, in the process, they were academically driven. Whenever possible, I aim for formative and summative assessments to either overlap or integrate, providing it is meaningful and relevant to both myself and my students. If formative and summative assessments are integrated, the criticisms surrounding summative assessments disappear as they can be informative and can help instil confidence in students, while also meeting other objectives.

Self-assessment, in my perspective, is one of the best ways for students to truly take ownership of their learning, and this can also be integrated into formative and summative assessments. With continued effort and understanding, blending formative and summative assessments is something all educators should consider, as it will positively impact both their teaching practice and the students they teach.

We can motivate students to take control of their learning and engage in the reflection process, formative assessments will transform the assessment process from a process that only gives relevant information to teachers, to a process that also gives relevant information to students. Again, all this needs to be done through the development of positive working relationships alongside safe and comfortable learning environments so students can thrive and meet and exceed their potential.

References

Bartlett, J. (2015) Outstanding Assessment for the Classroom. 1st ed. London.

Black, P & Wiliam, D. (2012). Edited by: John Gardner. Assessment and Learning. 2nd Edition. Chapter 2: "Assessment for Learning in the Classroom" Publishing Company: SAGE Publications Ltd City: London.

Callison, D. (1998). Authentic Assessment. School Library Media Activities Monthly 14, no. 5. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/edchoice/SLMQ_AuthenticAssessment_InfoPower.pdf

Abigail Ball : 01 Mar 2021 09:24 |  Tags: Assessment Reflections Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Scholarly blogs: An assessment tool to strengthen students’ personal brand

Scholarly blogs: An assessment tool to strengthen students’ personal brand by developing an online presence

Isabel Fischer, Associate Professor Information Systems and Management, WBS

Graduates require an increased (professional) online presence and a ‘personal brand’ for career advancement. To encourage students to communicate opinions that matter effectively - and to strengthen their confidence both at the time of writing as well as later on when reflecting back on the blogs - I introduced this term scholarly blogs as a written assignment tool. A scholarly blog builds on the transferrable elements of academic writing and transposes these into a publishable blog.

The remainder of this post outlines how the scholarly blog could be introduced in practice as an innovative form of assessment.

To write their blogs, students are asked to draw on theories and concepts covered in the module as well as in their extended reading. Blogs should demonstrate expert knowledge and thought leadership. The generic marking criteria for assessments can apply, e.g. (1) Comprehension, (2) Analysis, (3) Critical Evaluation, (4) Academic Writing, and (5) Reflection. Students are asked to submit their blog as not yet live but ‘ready to post’, including, for example, images, hashtags and approx. time for reading. The blog should be scholarly and contributing to knowledge, i.e. ‘serious’ rather than ‘colloquial’ and reviewing existing knowledge prior to adding to knowledge. It therefore should be underpinned by extensive referencing to academic literature and to professional reports/posts/webpages. In addition, students can, but do not have to hyperlink their references.

The ideas/content that the blog conveys need to be convincing and should demonstrate critical thinking. The blog should therefore be thought-provoking rather than explaining concepts in a textbook-style-writing. The blog should be seen as written by a subject matter expert and driver for change in a specific field whose opinion matters. The language used should be formal, yet appropriate for a blog, i.e. more informal than an academic journal article. Students might want to write the blog using a first-person positioning (e.g. ‘A recent WBS module on Digital Leadership made me consider…’ or ‘I suggest…’), yet most sentences will not include any writing in the first person (e.g. ‘Miller (2021) raised the point of….’ or ‘If X than Y (see Jones (2020) and Smith (2021)’).

I communicate to students that I expect to see a clear structure in their blog which is aligned to academic writing without using the same headings. For example, students might start in larger letters with an executive summary of the blog which is similar to an abstract. They might then introduce the topic (without calling it introduction) and provide a review of existing material (without calling it literature review). Students are encouraged to structure their main body in different sections using content-related titles in bold before having their concluding thoughts. Students could then show their list of references/bibliography under a heading such as ‘Useful articles in the domain of X’ and adding hashtags to relevant areas.

For further questions or comments on introducing scholarly blogs as an assessment tool please email: Isabel.Fischer@wbs.ac.uk

Abigail Ball : 23 Feb 2021 11:36 |  Tags: Assessment Isabel Fischer Teaching |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem