My personal teaching philosophy

My personal philosophy for education is that I believe that every student has a right to learn, no matter what social, cultural and economic background they are from. While it is natural to hope that every classroom is an epiphany of perfection, this is absolutely not possible. Neither is it possible for students to be perfect. In a class of at least thirty students, the moment they walk into the classroom, they are bringing with them different baggages representing their different backgrounds, personal or otherwise. As Brofenbrenner’s Bioecological Model of Development explains, a student, situated at the centre, is ‘influenced by a complex set of systems in the environment, including family, peers, social institutions’ (Eggen, 2013, p. 67), and by knowing this, teachers can understand that no two students are the same and that they are affected by different influences, both inside and outside the classroom. Teachers themselves also enter the classroom with a set of personal issues. The classroom then becomes an environment where all these issues meet and collide, and if not managed effectively, it can give rise to tension. Therefore, my responsibility is to make sure that the learning environment is safe, secure and responsible. Using Maslow’s Needs Hierarchy, meeting the students’ basic needs for safety of self is one of the prerequisite for progressing to higher levels of learning (Tan, 2011). It has to be an environment where discussions and the sharing of ideas can happen in a conducive and respectable manner so that the students’ learning can be maximised.

As a teacher, I believe that every student has a basic need to feel a sense of self-determination, love, acceptance and the desire to self-govern, especially during the teenage years (Edwards, 2008). I also believe that every student is an individual and it is important that they are respected as such. By modelling this, I can demonstrate to the class the importance of showing respect and listening to each other’s opinions. It is also crucial to recognise that each student has her own individual learning strength,  based on Howard Gardner’s concept of Multiple Intelligences (Gardner, 2011). Whether it is visual intelligence, kinesthetic intelligence or language intelligence, lessons and activities need to be catered towards these students’ basic learning needs; they need to be fun, interesting and unique in order to engage them in the learning process. Students need to be engaged visually and aurally using out-of-the-box ideas, so that learning becomes meaningful. Together with mutual respect, rapport and trust can be built. Sometimes, it may be challenging to engage with the students, and disappointment may surface. However, persistence is the key and if I continue to do what I preach, that is, to show the students respect, to treat them as individuals and to continually come up with interesting teaching ideas, I will be able to find the ‘switch’ to ‘click’ with them.

While I believe that each student is an individual with her own views, I also believe that the role of a teacher is that of an advisor and guide. As such, students should not be given complete autonomy, and it is crucial for the teacher to step in at times to exert a certain level of control in order to guide or manage the students. In this respect, I would consider my teaching and classroom management style to be authoritative (Hawley, 1997), where I would encourage a student’s independence, but would place limits and controls within the class where necessary. I prefer to encourage and nurture, in order to motivate the students to learn. Should there be any disruption in class, I prefer to take a patient yet firm stance, reprimanding the student while explaining the reasons behind it. This is so that the student will understand the reason why the particular disruption is not acceptable.

References

Edwards, C. H. (2008). Classroom Discipline & Management (5th ed.). NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Eggen, P., & Kauchak, D. (2013). Educational Psychology Windows on Classrooms. United States of America: Pearson.

Gardner, H. (2011). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (Third ed.). New York: Basic Books.

Hawley, C. (1997). What is your classroom management profile?   , from http://protectiveschools.org/drugstats/tt/v1i2/what.html

Tan, O.S., Parsons, R. D., Hinson, S. L., & Sardo-Brown, D. (2011). Educational Psychology A Practioner-Researcher Approach. Singapore: Cengage Learning.

Reflection: Teaching literature

As a Literature teacher, I believe that I am not just teaching about the texts, but about the world that the texts are talking about. So if the texts I am teaching is about the old days when Shakespeare lived, or is set in the rice fields of Thailand, I need to be able to transport the students to those worlds and experience them, within the confines of the classroom. It is a challenge to be able to do so, made tougher by the tests and examinations which require students to critically read the texts and analyse the characters, theme and so on. The latter undoubtedly adds stress to students, and is why they often feel that Literature is a difficult subject. However, therein lies the advantage of Literature in the Singapore classroom; it is designed to train students to think critically, an important aspect in today’s world. This is yet another challenge for today’s Liteature teacher.


I believe that in order for students to critically appreciate any text, they need to enjoy the text first. If from the onset, they feel negative about the text, then they have already lost half the battle, and the rest of the journey will be a tough one for them. Hence, my job is to try and introduce the texts to students in enjoyable ways, and also to highlight to them that many themes are still relevant to us today. For example, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is essentially about a boy and a girl who met at a party, but are not allowed to start a relationship. As a teacher, if I can bring the story to the students’ level, then I have passed a huge hurdle. Of course, to ensure that the students are continually interested and engaged, I need to make sure that lessons are fun and filled with thought provoking activities.

Reflections: Teaching and Managing Students

Having examined my personal educational philosophy and the various possible discipline approaches, based on Edwards' Model, the discipline models that most meet my expectations are Logical Consequences and Discipline with Dignity. The assumptions of both approaches meet the criteria in my personal philosophy for education, and a synthesis of their components makes up my personal approach to discipline.


Under Logical Consequences, ‘inappropriate behaviour is motivated by a need to gain attention, exercise power, exact revenge, or display inadequacy’ (Edwards, 2008, p. 95), and in my opinion, this is indeed so. ‘All misbehavior is the result of a child’s mistaken assumption about how to find a place and gain status. Parents and teachers need to be aware of what children do to be recognised and appreciated so that they can more fully accommodate them’ (Edwards, 2008, p. 98). Armed with this knowledge, I can then begin to understand why some students behave the way they do, and hence be able to help them correct their misbehaviour. At the same time, by adopting a democratic teaching style, I can also guide them firmly, while giving them the space to ‘explore, discover, and choose their own way as they increasingly assume personal responsibility’ (Edwards, 2008, p. 105). If more serious misbehaviour occurs, then students can be made aware of the logical consequences of their actions. That is, the disruptive student is given a consequence that is ‘logically related to the misbehavior’ and is ‘devoid of any moral judgments’ (Edwards, 2008, p. 114). For example, if a student disturbs the class, she may be removed from group activities until she is ready to join in.

Similarly, the Discipine with Dignity model aligns with my personal philosophy for education as it advocates a student-centred approach so that their basic needs, as outlined in Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs, are met (Curwin, 2008). This model also addresses the lack of internal motivation, the need to feel connected to the school and the community, the need for success and self-competence, as well as the need to take control, which are some issues that students may face. Should the Discipline with Dignity model be used, it will eventually help students believe they can be successful and that they are an important part of the school community. At the same time, some goals of this model, such as effective communication, preparing students for their future and valuing what students think to promote responsible behaviour (Curwin, 2008) are what I believe in too, and are strategies that I will adopt in my teaching.

References

Curwin, R. L., Mendler, A. N., & Mendler, B. D. (2008). Discipline with dignity: New challenges, new solutions. (3rd ed.). Virginia USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Edwards, C. H. (2008). Classroom Discipline & Management (5th ed.). NJ: John Wiley & Sons.

Reflections: Communication Skills for Teachers

Having had almost 15 years of working experience, this course reinforced what I know about the importance of good communication skills.  The fact that the course has both online and face-to-face elements gives it a nice balance, and enabled me to learn more in my own time.

Particularly, I find the Voice Production and Vocal Health online module extremely insightful as a beginning teacher. Before becoming a teacher, I was aware of the importance of voice to a teacher. This knowledge was made more apparent when I was contract teaching for about four months, with the need to speak in front of a class of thirty eight students. I had to ensure that everyone could hear me, and this was not easy. This module provided valuable tips on how to increase one’s voice volume, without having to strain the vocal cords. The tips on breathing, posture and vocal support, as well as the various voice warm-up exercises will be very useful in my future teaching career.

I found several videos in the Oral Communication module extremely useful, such as the Andrew Bryant’s video lesson on Intentionality. He shared that it is extremely important to make one’s intention clear even before making a presentation, and this is not just through verbal communication. Non-verbal communication such as how one stands and speaks also affects how our audience perceives our intention. Using these tips during my teaching will enable me to present what I want students to learn more effectively.

The videos showing real-life parent-teacher meetings are very practical and useful too. It gives me an idea of the possible types of parents I may meet during my future teaching career, and also the possible tips that I can use in future.

During the Classroom Communication module, I learnt about the different types of questioning techniques and student-teacher interactions. It made me realise that there are different ways of posing questions to students, and that it is important to ask questions ranging from the basic to higher level ones. This kind of scaffolding will help in the students’ learning, while the various types of interactions demonstrate strategies that can be adopted to encourage or praise the students.

In the Written Communication module, I found the section ‘Providing Effective Student Feedback’ most insightful. The tips on ‘important considerations in giving feedback to students’ will definitely come in handy during my teaching, as would the reading on ‘Giving Feedback’. I also find the video on ‘Reporting to Parents’ extremely helpful too.

Reflections: ICT & Cyber Wellness

When infusing ICT into lessons, there are several possible cyber wellness issues that students may encounter. One of them is the violation of copyright. This could happen during the group work should the students decide to search for information and images to use instead of using their own, and involves ‘downloading copyrighted works without permission from the owner’ (Lim, 2010, p. 132). They may become involved in the ‘copying of words, ideas images or creative works without giving authors due credit’ (Lim, 2010, p. 132). Hence, the teacher can stress to the students the importance of citing authors if their creations are being used and provide them with simple instructions on how to cite, or even direct them to an online citation generator. The teacher has to also highlight the seriousness of downloading copyrighted materials, that something on the internet does not mean that it comes free. The teacher can direct and instruct students on websites such as Creative Commons (http://creativecommons.org/) to search for materials that they can use. Another way is to ensure ‘that the school has monitoring systems (technological solutions on who downloads what) set in place’ (Lim, 2010, p. 137).


The second possible cyber wellness issue is that of encountering with inappropriate content such as pornography or violence during their research. One approach is to ensure that the learning activity is conducted within a classroom. While the school may already have ‘appropriate content filters’ (Lim, 2010, p. 137) in place, the teacher should still walk around to ensure that no such content is being accessed. At the same time, teachers can work with parents to ensure that even in a home environment, students are able to use the internet in a safe way. For example, providing tips to parents, or helping parents install content filters on their home computers are possible ways.

References
Lim, W. Y. (2010). Cybersafety in the Face of 21st Century Learning. In C. S. Chai, & Wang, Q. Y. (Ed.), ICT: For Self-Directed and Collaborative Learning. Singapore: Prentice Hall.

Reflections: Educational Psychology Problem-based Learning

1.  How has the problem-based learning experience changed:

•      the way you learn?

•       the way you solve problems?

•       your understanding of what makes group learning effective?

 During the course of my professional career, I have had experiences similar to the problem-based learning experience, where we looked at problems and attempted to reach suitable solutions, thereby gaining new knowledge of the issue at hand. However, those experiences were steeped in real world context. While I do not think that this experience has changed the way I learn, I think that the experience does help in making the theories of educational psychology more understandable and relevant. It demonstrated how these theories can be applied in the real world context and how they act as a guide to understand and decipher problems one may encounter in the classroom or school. Sadly, this is not a perfect world, and theories remain as just that, theories. With all good intentions, theory-based solutions offer possible, yet unrealistic ways of how problems can be solved. However, in reality, these solutions are not practical, and their executions near to impossible.

While there was much scaffolding on the PBL Google site, the instructions and required tasks were too detailed, and as a result, created confusion as to the requirements and expectations. Templates were helpful as a guide, but the deliverables expected were repetitive, as they required similar information to be presented in different formats. Objectives of the problem-based learning experience were not clear, and continued to be unclear for much of the process.

I think that group learning is effective, but only if every member plays their part to contribute and share. Each member is a part of a bigger whole, and if everyone meets the deliverables, individually and as a group, each person will benefit tremendously from group learning. It is also vital that each member becomes familiar, if not experts, with the topic they are responsible for researching on, so that everyone can benefit from sharing when the group convenes, and learning becomes more effective and meaningful.

2.  How has the Problem-based learning experience nurtured your competencies as a beginning teacher?

This experience makes me aware that as a beginning teacher, I need to be sensitive to a child’s personal, social and cognitive development, and that these are affected by the child’s family and social background and interactions. Every child wants to learn, and if he or she behaves in a certain way that I do not find acceptable, I should not jump to assumptions but instead understand that his behaviour could be a result of his physical and social environments. I also realise that every kind of interaction that a child has has a potential to affect his or her sense of learning, even my words and actions or interactions with the child’s parents.

3. After having engaged with the content of Educational Psychology, what is your present belief about how students learn best?

I find the theories of Educational Psychology very interesting, and find that they can act as guidelines for me to understand my students’ learning and behaviours. However, they remain as just that, guidelines. Every student learns differently and come from different backgrounds with different family, social and physical influences. Students can learn best when a teacher takes into account all these differences and makes attempts to engage them meaningfully and purposefully.

Reflections: Language Teaching Approaches

a) describe a teaching practice/approach/technique you strongly believe in and give reasons why;

b) describe a teaching practice/approach/technique you do not believe in and and give reasons why;
c) the problems /issues / challenges that you observed in a language classroom

a) I would consider the multimodal approach of language teaching as one that I strongly believe in. In today's world, everyone, especially the youth, are faced with a multitude of different forms of communicative genres, be it audio, visual or in print. The Internet especially has become such an entrenched part of the youth's lives that one can almost say they cannot live without it. They are a connected age, bombarded by endless sources of information at the click of their fingertips. Rather than be passive receivers of these information, they need to be able to decipher and analyze the information they see, to make meaning out of it. And learning the structure, form and function of the English language is not enough. I believe that in the language class, students need to be exposed to a variety of materials that require them to elicit their audio, visual, reading and writing capabilities. And through this multimodal approach, and in particular the Language Arts approach where mass media like film is used, we as teachers will be able to link theory and its applications in real life, to make learning meaningful and real for students.

b) I do not believe in the community language learning and natural approaches. Both of these approaches have a focus on group work and participative activities. While I do agree that such activities may be a good way to encourage participation and learning amongst peers, their effects are limited. This is because some students of the class may not have English as their first language, and therefore struggle with it. This in turn may affect their contribution during the activities. Even if the teacher facilitates, the question is how the conversation will evolve once the teacher leaves the group to attend to other groups. Also, I see lacking a multimodal approach that equips the students with the tools to make meaning out of communicative mediums in the real world.

c) The key issue I see is the students' view that there is no need to learn English, as it is something they already know. As the Singapore curriculum takes a functional approach, students find it boring and fail to see the relevance of it to real life. The teacher's role then is to bridge this gap. And very often, especially for students in Secondary 3 and 4, their focus in on scoring, and they end up asking for 'formulas', a template for say situational writing, to help them in their exams. Therein lies another challenge - how to make a language class interesting so they realize what they are learning now are skills they can use in the real world. At the same time they need to realize that unlike subjects like Math, there is no set formula. Only reading and exposing themselves to a multitude of mediums will help them increase their repertoire of language. In this respect, I would be interested to see how the Language Arts approach can be utilized.