Learners Characters and styles

Understanding the learners characteristics and styles

 We can understand that all the students are not same in their level of understanding as well as the level of family back grounds. Some students are gifted, multiple intelligence and very talented. But others are not like that, they are slow learners and they need extra care and help from the teachers and their parents.

There are many researches which explains the ways of abilities which make the students intelligence. The students which are gifted and talented will learn the lessons very easily and they don’t need much help from the teachers. They use their prior knowledge and connect with the real life situations to understand the concept. But the researches show that these students are talented and gifted for one or two areas.

When we talk about the intelligence the most famous theory is Harvard Gardner’s Theory of multiple intelligence. This theory divides the intelligence into nine different intelligences.

So, by the help of these theories we the teachers should plan the lessons to accommodate all the students’ needs. Else the class room environment will not be a learning environment. But it will create many different problems which led the behaviour problems.

Positive Learning

Creating Positive Learning Environment

If we have created the positive learning environment in the class room will allow students to learn comfortably and relaxed. (anonymous, 2012) In positive learning environment will provide the opportunities to learn self-motivated. This should be a primary goal for all teachers, since lack of motivation is often the root of disciplinary issues.

If the class room is a positive learning environment, then the students will be aware of the class room tasks and they will be awake for the due dates and the upcoming events. A number of factors contribute to a positive learning environment for your students. Three of the most important ones are core ideals, ambience and expectations. (anonymous, 2012)

Core Ideals: Each teacher will have different standards and values in the classroom, but the only universally important element is that these remain consistent so that students know what to expect and what is expected of them.(anonymous, 2012)

Ambience: This is an extremely important – and fun – part of creating a positive learning environment. Your classroom should be a dynamic and engaging place to be for your students. What would you think if you walked into an elementary classroom with nothing on the walls? Weird… If you have to move from room to room, have a portable poster for each group you teach, and this will establish a similar sense of belonging. Keep their past projects so that they know that their work is valued.(anonymous, 2012)

Expectations: If you establish your expectations for student behaviour early and keep them consistent, you may be able to avoid many classroom management issues. Laying down the ground rules early in your relationship with a class is quintessential to your success as a teacher. Involve your students in this to be sure that they are aware of the rules and the consequences. This is another great way to add to the ambience of your classroom – post the ground rules and always lean towards positive, rather than negative, re-enforcement of them. (anonymous, 2012)

References

anonymous. (2012). Create a positive learning environment. Retrieved from footprint recruiting: http://www.footprintsrecruiting.com/for-teachers/teachers-playground/tips-for-teachers/564-create-a-positive-learning-environment

Assessments Types

Different types of assessments.

Assessment is a term that used to describe the tasks that takes place to collect the information about the students in different ways.

Assessment of learners is the process of gathering information about how learners are progressing in their learning. It gathers information about what learners know and can demonstrate as a result of their learning processes.

Evaluation of learners is the process of making a judgment about the quality of a learner’s performance using the information gathered during an assessment.
Action is what you do as the result of your assessment of learners and evaluation of their assessment information.

Types of assessments

1- Diagnostic ( before teaching/ learning)  

Techniques which are useful for diagnostic evaluation are:

 Use of a standardised test, or pre-test, to determine the level a student is at before beginning instruction

 Observing student performance over a period of time.

Formative 

2- Formative ( after teaching / learning )   

Techniques which are useful for summative evaluation include:

 Marking work exercises, assignments and files

 Collecting samples of work

 Teacher-made tests: short answer, multiple choice, true / false, matching, completion items, and essay questions

 Interviews and demonstrations

 Learning portfolios.

Assessment requires a mix of summative assessment of learning to determine what the student have achieved. Formative assessment to inform the next stage of learning that will occur. Both summative and formative will need to include authentic assessments.

My Teaching Philosophy

My Teaching Philosophy

I see teaching as involving a reciprocal relationship between teachers and students. I believe that teachers have duties to their students and that students have duties to their teachers. So this is the duty of the every teacher to make a good citizen. So I  always plan my teaching lessons to promote their religious beliefs as well as make them to develop the love towards the nation.

In Oxford dictionary Philosophy means " The study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline" In my teaching philosophy the teacher should try to bring lots of energy to the class room and the teacher should be very excited about the teaching subject. If not the students will also not be attentive and enjoy learning. It is the responsibility of the teacher to creates the positive teaching environment. To create the positive learning environment, teachers should be aware of each and every student's level and their back ground. Then only the teacher could cater the different level students needs. By assessing the level of my learners I can provide the scaffolding they needed to build the connection between what they know and the new knowledge what they are going to get.

Moreover, the active learning and using many different teaching methodology encourage the students and the teacher as well. In these activities it is very important to develop the lessons using the different methods which will develop their three skills. Cooperative problem solving and active learning will help them to have a ground for life long collaborative practice.

In addition, teachers should be very good listeners as well as very goods friends of them. The students should feel free to ask the doubts and clarify the difficulties from the teachers. To do this every teacher should up date the knowledge of the teacher for the recent information. So, I read a lot and participate in many different professional development programmes in school and out of the school as well.

Furthermore, teachers life is much easier than the days I spend in the beginning of my teaching career. Now I used many different technologies to interact the lessons with the teacher and the students. Its very important to give on-line resources to the students to do by sitting in their homes. we have to create a virtual learning environment in the school which we can upload their works and as well as their performance records. If we use the technology wisely will develop the teaching.

To sum up I would like to say that I love teaching a lot. And like to use different methodologies in the class room teaching. Therefore i feel students loves me a lot, It makes me happy and make me work in this profession.

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References:

http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/philosophy?q=Philosophy+

Cognitive Learning Theories

Cognitive Learning Theories

Cognitive learning theories identifies the mental development of the student. It can be identifies as the mental process of the human being. in this process they are actively involved in the learning process. The knowledge they gain will be well managed and organised.

In Piaget's cognitive theory proposed the concept of schema. As children develop, new schemes emerge, and are sometimes integrated with each other into cognitive structures.Cognitive development results from the interactions that children have with their physical and social environments.

Moreover Piaget divide the the developmental stages in to four main stages. They are sensory motor , Pre operational, Concrete Operational and Formal Operational Stage.

In addition, Vygotsky's developmental theory explains that the developmental process go through the social interaction. This process is called internalizations. And it says children can complete the difficult tasks by the help of others. Tasks within the zone of proximal development promote maximum cognitive growth. This is the zone of learning for a child where he can learn something with the assistance of others. This helping process can be said as " Scaffolding".

Blooms Taxonomy

BLOOMS TAXONOMY IN CLASS ROOMS.

Teaching Higher – Level Thinking Skills

Today the teachers are having much interest on teaching higher level of thinking in the class. These operations include comprehension and interpretation of texts, scientific process and mathematical problem solving. But most of the time teachers fail to do this because of the inadequate instructions. Many scholars believed that the best way to develop the student’s high level thinking is using the three domains of Blooms Taxonomy.

Why use Blooms Taxonomy in class room?

 Most of us focused only on the students’ knowledge, how much they can recall from their mind. But if they face a problem in the real life situation it gives them a really hard time. For example:

Father asked a question to his son, “ How much money needed to tile your room? If 1x1 foot tile costs 7.50 Rufiyaa?”  Boy knows how to calculate the area of the given objects in the class. He got all correct in the exam. But he couldn't solve that simple problem. Why? Because he has only the knowledge but other levels are not developed.

Development of three major domains is a must to become a successful person in the future. If the lessons are planned and teach in a way to develop these domains then the students will be more and more intelligence and creative thinkers.

The young people roaming around the roads without doing anything will be reduce because of the development of the internalizing values and organization.  

STRENGHTS OF BLOOMS TAXONOMY

 CMulti-purpose: we can say Blooms Taxonomy is multi-purpose to the people. It can be used to develop the complete human. It can be used not only in the class rooms but can be used in the companies, factories and associations.

C Relatively easy to understand: The stages are not very complicated even an ordinary person can read and understand the stages and can be applying to the situations.

C Widely acceptable: It is widely acceptable all over the world in the educational fields. It is common in all the countries and widely using it.

C Provide common language: Each and every one in the educational field is able to understand the language used in it and it is possible to discuss within the people easily.

WEAKNESSES OF BLOOMS TAXONOMY

 D Difficult to apply: sometimes it is difficult to apply all the stages in one real situation.

D Time consuming: Take more time to prepare a lesson using the stages. Need more thinking to it.

D Moving one stage to another: Students feel difficulty to use the high and complex stages if the lower stages are not used properly.

D Levels are not appropriate: When we think about the lower grade students, levels used in the class may go higher than the students’ thinking level. At knowledge level they are able to recall what they have seen but problem occurs when they restructure the sentences. At comprehension level all students were able to contribute their ideas as whole group activities, but face difficulties to do individually.

Behavioural problems

The reasons for behavioural problems in the school

As the appearance of behavioural disorders is increasing dramatically, schools and families are conscious of the importance of student behaviour on teaching and learning. There are all sorts of reasons why children misbehave in schools. Student misbehaviour is a great problem affecting the schools throughout the nation and around the world. They misbehave not only to disturb their teachers, but also due to the peer pressure, sometime their friends might be dropouts from the school and they may influence others to do it. Many schools and educational bodies all over the world are trying to remediate and reform the problematic behaviour in students. (Giancola, 2006)

However, to develop successful programs it is very important to identify the causes of misbehaviour and what constitute student misbehaviour. Student behaviour might be affected by the influences of individual, familial, social and institutional reasons. Among all the researchers highlighted that the influence of an adolescent’s peers on his or her behaviour was the most important role throughout the school days. Moreover, while many researchers say that, ‘the school size and behaviour also have a linked; if the school size is lager the problems will be higher.’(Giancola, p. 1) 

Motivation

Motivation in teaching and learning

When we think about educational psychology. There are many different theories of motivation. In motivation we focused on learning rather than their behaviour. The main two types of motivations are intrinsic and extrinsic motivations.

Intrinsic motivation comes from within the student or from factors inherent in the task being performed. For example, students who love to read are intrinsically motivated to read - there is something about reading that they enjoy and that makes them want to do it even if there is no "reward" for it.

Extrinsic motivation comes from sources external to the student and the task. It can come through praise, recognition, or a system of rewards. For example, for students who do not enjoy reading, a token economy involving stickers or a class store may prompt them to read more often.

Constructivism

Teaching philosophy based on the concept that learning (cognition) is the result of mental (construction) students construct their own understanding by reflecting on their personal experiences , and by relating the new knowledge with what they already know.

Theorists:

• J.Paiget : Articulated mechanisms by which knowledge is internalized by learners. Through processes of accommodation and assimilation,individuals construct new knowledge from their experiences.

• D.A.Kolb : Experiential learning is the process of making meaning from direct experience, action learning adventure learning and cooperative learning.

• J.Biggs : constructive alignment, outcomes/objective, activities and assessments needs to be aligned.

• B.Bloom : Blooms Taxonomy is a classification of learning objectives into three "domains":  cognitive, Affective and psycho motor.

Reinforcement and punishment

Differences between reinforcement and punishment

When we talk about reinforcement and punishment, most of the teachers confused about this two. Some times they confused about the negative reinforcement and punishment at most. But this two are totally different. So in this article I will try to clarify and give some examples that will help you to identify the differences between this two terms.

when we think about the reinforcement, there are two difference types of the reinforcements. They are positive and negative reinforcements. Both type of reinforcements can be used in different situations. Before using, it is very important to have the correct informations about it. Teachers should update their knowledge about it and school should take the responsibility of providing information through the professional development days.

Lets discuss in short:

Positive reinforcement:  This is giving a thing that is pleasant to the students.

If we give a positive reinforcement means giving them what they want from us. For example; 

• Teachers give starts when they complete the home works. 
• Mother gives a chocolate when they get an 'A' report. 

Students want starts from  teachers and chocolates from mother. So giving it is a positive thing to them. So it is a positive reinforcement.

Negative reinforcement:  This is removing a thing that unpleasant to the students.

If we give a negative reinforcement means removing them what they do not want to keep with them. For example; 

• Teachers do not give a home work if they work hard in class.  Students do not like the home works. If we remove home work , that means removing a thing unpleasant to them. So this is a negative reinforcement.

Punishment:  .Punishment means removing a thing that they want. 

For example:

• Not give a chance to participate in inter house football competition If they not behave well in school. 

students will be very interesting to participate in football competition. but because of their behaviour teachers remove it from them. So it is called a punishment.

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Multiple intelligences

There are six cognitive domains in Blooms Taxonomy; they are knowledge, Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation. The above levels are arranged in a certain order which affects the thinking of the students most. Teachers should plan their lesson in this order to make the students to think high level.

The levels are meant start at the Knowledge level before progressing to the Comprehension level and so on. The levels at the bottom are considered to be the easiest levels. Some may even argue that most teachers teach to the bottom levels, that is recall of information, comprehending information and applying information. (Patsalides, n.d)

Domains of Blooms Taxonomy

Blooms Taxonomy is compile of major three domains and many different sub domains under each major domain. The major three domains are:

Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge)

Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude)

Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)