Week+5



Teaching Models What sort of Teacher do you want to be?

By Bec 30th March 2009

Today's lecture was centred around teaching models and what sort of teacher do we want to be? We explored so many models and ways of teaching. We learnt how learning has evolved, how technology has shaped learning and how relationship building has erupted. I could sit here and go through each and every model and dissect the points i agree with and the sections i don't.However, my overall theory on these models is that teaching is a collaborative approach where you pick parts from each model and apply them as you see the need. Following the lecture, in the workshop we particpated in a teaching model, where we as the students, thought about what teaching model we think is relevant to the 21st century. We had individual thinking time, we then discussed with a partner from our WIKI group and then with one other partner. We then compiled our reponses and provided feedback on our thought. Amy and I agreed on the same model where teachers guide the learning but allow for feedback and discussion from the children. Again we believe in a collaboration of models to form, what we believe to be, the most effective teaching practice

Brent 26/04/2009

Good stuff Bec. Sorry for the late reply here, funny how two weeks holiday working on lesson plans and a wiki contribution gets pushed out of your mind! Anyway, onto the lecture for week 5. Once again the idea that it is our belief systems that ultimately decide what kind of teachers we will be is relevant to this weeks discussion. The rules we expect our students to behave by are a direct reflection of our own morals and values. So it is out of our belief system that we choose the kind of Teaching and Learning models that we want our classroom to be governed by.

Without a doubt the overall majority of our peers believe the social model is the way to go, and I would tend to agree with this. I am however very interested in the Bottom Up model whereby the students are really the ones that guide their education. I think this could be a very interesting model of teaching, as well as very challenging. I think it could be very successful, however I think for the model work you would need relatively small class sizes to guide each individual student’s educational curriculum within a framework decided by them, as each student is different, has different interests and abilities and would unlikely choose to centre their learning around the same or similar subjects. So, as interesting as it would be for both student and teacher, time restraints really don’t allow for this model. Realistically I think the social model is the one most of us should strive for.

As Bec mentioned above, a range of different aspects taken from a number of teaching models provides the structure for a desirable teaching pedagogy. Different students respond better to different strategies and so we must be prepared to deviate from what may be our preferred methods to teach various subject matter or students. It is possible that different methods may be used on a same student, as the student may excel in one area of study and not another. This is directly related to Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. An individual may use a multitude of these intelligences when studying different subject matter. Gardner identified the intelligences as verbal/linguistic, visual-spatial, musical, inter-personal, intra–personal, bodily-kinaesthetic and logical/mathematical. Although an individual may use a visual/spatial intelligence for the learning of mathematics, for English they may use verbal/linguistic intelligence. So we need to be aware that teaching methods may vary for a single individual as well as between individuals.

Jake 27/04/09

Great work by both Brent and Bec, I agree that the lecture was very interesting and thought provoking in terms of deciding what sort teaching styles we are wanting to adopt. I find myself exploring the possibility of combining some of the criteria from the different models to my own teaching style, as I feel most of the styles have at least one good point to offer. I agree with what Bec said in terms of this providing greater flexibility in the classroom as different students respond to different strategies. That’s why we must be able to adapt and looking at these styles and the differing points in them, there is that flexibility provided.

I myself found my main preference leaning towards the social model. I like that fact that it allows for an integrated curriculum and negotiation between the students and teacher. This will allow the teacher to focus on learning activities that will ultimately keep the students engaged and allow them to have some influence of how they are learning. I also favour the inquiry learning process as it allows the students to conduct their own research and set about exploring and investigating tasks in their own way. This allows to the teacher to cater to the different learning styles that Brent has mentioned and have effective and enjoyable learning.

Amy

As mentioned by all, there are so many different models of teaching and learning that we can use to help us decide what sort of teacher we want to be. We will all have an idea of how we want to be and how we may get there, but ultimatley we may have to be willing to change our methods depending on the type of learners that we have in our classroom. As Brent pointed out, different students learn in different ways, so we need to prepare ourselves with the information that we have learnt about different teaching methods and how to best apply them. The social model of teaching was my preference also, as I liked that it allowed for teacher-student negotiation. Without repeating too much of what has already been said, I do think that it is important that students have some influence on their personal learning and the environment in which they are learning is supportive and productive.

I found what Greg said about the 3 steps of 21st Century teaching to be quite interesting: 1. Make learning environment creative 2. Introduce student's to the 3 C's - competition, co-operation and collaboration 3. Introduce students to global peers and get them to collaborate together If we all adopted these 'rules' in the classroom surely we would be catering to most of the needs of our students.

ONLINE RESOURCES
[|The Art of Teaching - Pedagogy] [|Stages of Learning]

Statement of Authorship
We each certify that our own contribution in the attached material is original work and that we have no knowledge of an act of plagiarism committed by any member of this group. We declare that no other person's work has been used without due acknowledgement. Except where we have clearly stated that we have used some of this material elsewhere, it has not been presented by us for examination in any other course or unit at this or any other institution. We have read the Academic Misconduct Policy, Statute 16 and Regulation 16.2 relating to Student Discipline and Academic Misconduct, which are available on the University's web site and understand that we are bound by such Policy, Statute and Regulation and that we may be subject to student discipline processes in the event of an act of plagiarism by us. We understand the nature of plagiarism to include the reproduction of someone else's words, ideas or findings and presenting them as our own without proper acknowledgement. Further, we understand that there are many forms of plagiarism which include direct copying or paraphrasing from someone else's published work (either electronic or hard copy) without acknowledging the source; using facts, information and ideas derived from a source without acknowledgement; producing assignments (required to be independent) in collaboration with and/or using the work of other people; and assisting another person to commit an act of plagiarism. We understand that the work submitted may be reproduced and/or communicated by the University or a third party authorised by the University for the purpose of detecting plagiarism.

Names: Brent Plowright Rebecca Beed Amy Mclean Jake Gordon