My teaching philosophy.
A new way of teaching
Teachers have the professionalism, talent, intellect and passion to establish with every student a habitat for positive learning The Incubator: Innovative Teaching I teach using a 21st Century approach to teaching. I believe… The best way to learn about learning is to study it in situ … in the classroom, with the students who are ‘doing’ the learning. Teachers will not only teach, but they work as ‘educational researchers and faciltators’. This on-going, imbedded research is designed to not only generate better teaching but also to nourish my own learning, which fuels my desire for professional growth. Teachers need to be involved in research around their own practice and the learning of students, on the ground, in action, as part of daily practice and reflection. Teachers not only articulate the essential framework for learning but they explain why it is important to learn and generate a love of life long learning. Teachers generate an emotional connection to the learning experience that taps into what it is to be human. In this way, they ignite the spark that enhances the learning experience and learning outcomes for the student. Teachers not only teach students to meet academic benchmarks, but they inspire students. Students will perform to their academic best with best teachers, but they will also develop into fully actualised people. How will teaching be practiced? Pragmatically, my pedagogy is informed by the ‘visible learning’ teaching practices of John Hattie and the Project Zero ‘visible thinking’ tools of Ron Ritchhart. This helps students to be equipped to deal with the dynamism that is the C21st. The pedagogical culture is experiential and embedded in community in a way that enables students to put ideas into action. This transforms learning from being theoretical to being tangible. Teaching is a partnership. Defined by a shared conversation and shared learning, education is a dance between 2 partners .… if teachers create a dynamic learning environment and students are inspired to learn, then the results will look after themselves. School pedagogy is shaped by ‘problem based learning’, whereby students and teachers bring knowledge and skills into the classroom and work as co-educators. Teachers work with the students as a mentor and coach in the learning process. Ultimately, teaching and learning is about enabling, not instructing. This is founded on the premise that education is about growing people. My pedagogy is focused on enabling students to engage with the world (critically and emotionally), to step outside their comfort zone, to take risks, to learn from failure, to be curious and to challenge conventional wisdom. It is geared towards unsettling the students just enough to get them out of their haze and then provide the learning space for them to find meaning in a way that re-settles them. It teaches students about taking risks and learning from failure. It challenges them, by making the classroom a place of questioning and making the learning culture irresistible! What it is to be a teacher? Showers (1985) talks about ‘building communities of teachers’, who foster professional learning through the development of a shared language and set of common understandings necessary for the collegial study of new knowledge and skills. Effective schools need to provide a structure for the follow-up to training that is essential for acquiring new knowledge and skills. Lieberman and Miller (1999) agree with this position, arguing that when teachers work together they grow to trust and support each other to achieve the best possible student outcomes. Through shared responsibility, collaborative problem solving and collegial capacity building, teaching practice is enhanced and the learning experience is heightened. ‘Deep understanding arises from practice… teachers are the best teachers of other teachers’ (Lieberman & Wood, 2002). In this sense, mentorship and team teaching powerfully foster a learning community and a common goal to strive. Students say that what matters about their time in class with the teacher is not learning content. It is about personal growth and engagement with the big questions of the world they live in. They appreciate the learning of content but what they value is the way they learn it – through shared conversations and through a valued relationship with their teacher. It is this relationship that brings ‘half dead’ students to life … because it is about them living, not just being passive consumers or observers. I believe that the ‘craft’ of teaching is best learned through a longitudinal mentorship and modelling framework. My educational paradigm is one that melds teaching and learning: as students, teachers and training teachers; into the one space. None of these components can fully achieve their potential on their own as each one is inextricably linked to and grows from the other in the ecology of the educational space. Therefore, education is a partnership, a shared journey of travellers: students, teachers and training teachers. Pedagogy Education is a partnership, whereby if teachers create a dynamic learning environment and students are inspired to learn, then the results will look after themselves. This is consistent with the philosophy that schools build community, the teaching and learning should be experiential and embedded in community, via genuinely integrated relationships with industry and not-for-profit organisations. It fosters an inquiry based and negotiated curriculum which invites student participation in the process, facilitating students as drivers of learning and teachers as mentors in the learning process. |
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