I had the pleasure of observing Mrs. Smith 11tth and 12th grade AP Biology course at St. Paul School for girls. During my observation, I noticed that Mrs. Smith displayed a strong interaction between her and her students. There were no challenges that hindered her ability to effectively communicate and interact with her students. She had a great communication with her students because she listened to their concerns and problems and guided them through numerous strategies that helped strengthen their problem solving skills. For example, a student was working with a microscope and had a difficult time cell staining a certain cell component. Mrs. Smith encouraged her to repeat her process and listened to her while she verbally explained the procedure …show more content…
Smith learning environment coincide with a few theorist and their ideas. The environment that she created for her students definitely reflects Jerome Burner theory. She increased students interest by encouraging them to discover and create what is interesting to them. Students also engaged in project-based learning and used modern day technology to facilitate their learning. Her technique is similar to Burner’s idea because he believed that teachers should educate their students with hands-on learning activities that encourage them to increase their curiosity and invest in their learning. Mrs. Smith teaching strategies also reflects on Maria Montessori’s idea about fostering the development of the whole child by meeting his or hers academic, social and emotional skills. Mrs. Smith class displays this because she encourages her students to take control of their academics by promoting independent learning. She also helps students with their social and emotional skills because her student her accustomed to working with different people and are not afraid to engage in a new activity even with the possibility of failing. Overall, students in her class demonstrates an interest in STEM related topics because of the responsibility of conducting their own learning
I visited Mrs. Cable’s kindergarten classroom at Conewago elementary school one afternoon and observed a math lesson. Mrs. Cable had an attention-grabbing lesson and did many great things in the thirty minutes I observed her. I have my own personal preferences, just like every teacher, and I do have a few things I would do differently. There are also many ways this observation can be related to the material discussed in First Year Seminar.
This course and as in Honors Biology, we were taught in a more oneself teaching rather than a lecture. I like the idea of not having a lecture, but when the teacher took a day to do a quick overview of each chapter, I learned the material and understood the material the best. I wish that we had that in each unit because I truly do like biology and when I understand a new concept fully it made me feel 10 times more comfortable on the test and the
Any school curriculum should aim at enabling children to be able to think in broader terms, motivate them to want to be more knowledgeable and above all, allow them to come up with new approaches to problem solving. However, more too often teachers tend to limit the students to only the known facts in text books, something which prompts them to remain in their comfort zones. Additionally, the purpose of any formal education is not only to gain formal knowledge but also to gain social knowledge. Different teachers will have different approaches to achieve this. Despite the approach used, in the end of the day, they are expected to have involved and impacted positively on the different characters of children in their classrooms that is, the shy,
After reading the book “Perspectives on Learning” I have gained an enormous amount of knowledge on not only how to become a teacher, but what it takes in order to become a successful teacher. The biggest message I gained from the reading is that there is more than just one type of learning style. This book has taught me many theories, strategies, and skills that are useful in the teaching field. The book gave multiple perspectives on learning and encouraged different types of facilitated learning. Every student learns a different way and there is not one way that works best for everyone. I feel prepared when it comes to understanding students mindsets and the different styles of learning kids may
As one of the first college science courses I have taken, Dr. Raut’s Introductory Biology I class set a standard for my expectation of science courses at UAB. Her classes are rigorous and challenging, but she made the effort to make that course accessible and feasible. One way she makes the class accessible was by making sure she knows everyone’s name. Being a freshman in a class of over 200 people, it is easy to be lost in a sea of people and feel like the professor will never connect to their students. Dr. Raut, however, made the effort to know everyone’s name and face. This ability of hers is not something one would particularly experience in other large science courses. For me, this displays her devotion to her students and a willingness to engage with them. When she sees one of her students
His movement extended its reach beyond counseling and psychotherapy into general education and was called the person-centered approach. According to Ewen (1998), Rogers considered the educational system to be widely influenced by a coercive and authoritarian philosophy. Highly directive and power-hungry teachers reinforced students’ passivity and submissive attitudes. Exams and tests promoted parrot-like behaviors of learning. He found generalized lack of trust in teachers’ constant monitoring of student progress. He denounced the recourse to tricky questions and unfair grading styles as widespread practices among teachers everywhere. He highlighted the total prominence placed on thinking skills with the consequent obliteration of the emotional dimension of experience portrayed as meaningless and not scholarly (Rogers, 1969; Goleman, 1995). The best students gave up on education and learning because they did not find it pleasant, meaningful, or relevant enough. Rogers (1977) said that school systems were “primarily institutions for incarcerating or taking care of the young, to keep them out of the adult world” (p. 256). He described the basic elements of nondirective teaching: the creation of a permissive climate, which fostered the students’ capacity to think and learn for themselves. Rogers believed that empathy, unconditional positive regard, and
I believe that teaching and learning is both a science and an art, which requires the implementation of already determined rules. I see learning as the result of internal forces within the person student. I know that children differ in the way they learn and grow but I also know that all children can learn. Students’ increased understanding of their own experience is a legitimate form of knowledge. I will present my students with opportunities to develop the ability to meet personal knowledge.
Our world today is fast-paced and all about technology, sometimes we need to remember our past. Not saying that technology and the future is to be rejected our society can consider the experiences and practices of our ancestors (Smith). More particular the one-room schoolhouse and how it can be applied to the teaching of students today. The one-room schoolhouse is an iconic symbol of schooling as pioneers started settling the west. One-room schooling has a different but specific educational setting than today’s classroom does not have. Not saying go back to the past, it is “better” but see if the setting of the one-room schoolhouse can be applied to the teaching of students today.
Teachers continually learn about ways people learn – the processes of learning and how individuals learn best. They learn about their students and individuals, and learn with as well as from their students when they seek knowledge together. (Principles of effective learning and teaching, 1994). Through continually discovering new and exciting ways to help mould a constructivist classroom, the students will be able to achieve their outcomes with great ease and learn to enjoy education.
Robinsons says that, “In fact, the real challenges for education will only be met by empowering passionate and creative teachers and by firing up the imaginations and motivations of the students.” (247). The reason why he says that is because most often having a teacher not take a lot of interest in what they are teaching or not having the inspiration in wanting to get students excited for learning. What he means by this is
Maria Montessori was born in 1870 in the town of Chiaravalle, Italy. Her dream was to become an engineer but luckily for us she ended up being the first woman to graduate from the University of Rome La Sapienza Medical School, becoming the first female doctor in Italy. Montessori became intrigued with trying to educate the “special needs” or “unhappy little ones” [Michael Olaf’s Essential Montessori: School Edition for ages 3-12+] Dr. Maria Montessori was a great child theorist.
Among many teaching styles and learning theories, there is one that is becoming more popular, the constructivist theory. The constructivist theory focuses on the way a person learns, a constructivist believes that the person will learn better when he/she is actively engaged. The person acts or views objects and events in their environment, in the process, this person then understands and learns from the object or events(P. Johnson, 2004). When we encounter a certain experience in our life, we think back to other things that have occurred in our life and use that to tackle this experience. In a lot of cases, we are creators of our own knowledge. In a classroom, the constructivist theory encourages more hands-on assignments or real-world situations, such as, experiments in science and math real-world problem solving. A constructivist teacher constantly checks up on the student, asking them to reflect what they are learning from this activity. The teacher should be keeping track on how they approached similar situations and help them build on that. The students can actually learning how to learn in a well-planned classroom. Many people look at this learning style as a spiral, the student is constantly learning from each new experience and their ideas become more complex and develop stronger abilities to integrate this information(P. Johnson, 2004). An example of a constructivist classroom would be, the student is in science class and everyone is asking questions, although the teacher knows the answer, instead of just giving it to them, she attempts to get the students to think through their knowledge and try to come up with a logical answer. A problem with this method of learning is that people believe that it is excusing the role of...
“Woolfolk (2013) pg. 509 noted that some studies found that ratings of teachers’ enthusiasm for their subject are correlated with student achievement gains (Keller, Neumann, & Fischer, 2012).” I believe Mrs. Doe’s perspective on learning reflects the concepts in educational psychology.
In this course I experienced an important change in my beliefs about teaching; I came to understand that there are many different theories and methods that can be tailored to suit the teacher and the needs of the student. The readings, especially those from Lyons, G., Ford, M., & Arthur-Kelly, M. (2011), Groundwater-Smith, S., Ewing, R., & Le Cornu, R. (2007), and Whitton, D., Barker, K., Nosworthy, M., Sinclair, C., Nanlohy, P. (2010), have helped me to understand this in particular. In composing my essay about teaching methods and other themes, my learning was solidified, my knowledge deepened by my research and my writing skills honed.
Thought out our lives, we are faced with many different learning experiences. Some of these experiences have made a better impact than others. This can be attributed to everyone’s different multiple intelligences or learning styles. A persons learning style is the method though which they gain information about their environment. As a teacher, it is our responsibility to know these styles, so we can reach each of our students and use all of the necessary methods.