Why am I in the field of education?

Why am I in the field of education?

I am in the field of education as this is where I can make a difference. My forte is middle school and to make a difference at this transitory age where the foundation for the life is placed is deeply satisfying. It is my calling.

My eternal search has been for a way of organizing or designing a classroom experience that allows the native intelligence in the students to bloom. I believe that it is not something that can be pre –determined. Like a gardener, we can create the right ingredients for the learners to grow naturally towards their originality but not force them. “Teachers are like gardeners”, (Robinson, 2010) hence, is my personal philosophy.

This is what brings me to constructivism, “an approach to learning that holds that people actively construct or make their own knowledge and that reality is determined by the experiences of the learner’ (McLeod, 2019).” For it is my work to design a learning environment through judicious use of best practices that enable each learner to construct the meaning of the experience and progress. For this purpose, I have discovered some effective instructional practices and I am discussing 3 of these here.

My Favourite Instructional Strategies

Collaboration

I believe that “…. student learning is not viewed as a simple process of information transfer from a source (teacher, parent, computer), but often involves an active social interaction…”, (Zhou & Brown, 2015, pp.33). In essence this is students working together, asking questions and discussing solutions. It is a safe zone for the students to come together and the introverts find a way to express themselves.

This can be implemented in many ways such as: (1) students sit face to face to work on a task that could be a set of problems, research work, a project or peer assessment; (2) “The Pause Procedure— Pause for two minutes every 12 to 18 minutes, encouraging students to discuss and rework notes in pairs.” (Brame, 2016, pp. 3); (3) a student teaches the class.

I found collaborative learning to be one of the best strategies to be used. Students found a safe zone most of the times and whenever they did not, we had a class discussion on bullying, isolation or ostracizing. At times, I found that they taught each other better that I did! There is always a surprise at the end of a collaborative session, something that one had not anticipated.

The flip side of this strategy is the possibility of noise in the class and behaviour issues. One needs to face them. If the noise is constructive, it is welcome. However, if the issues are beyond management, then it would be best to avoid the strategy till the students are ready. I would give onus to the students and ask them to take responsibility for me using the strategy with them. Since they loved to work with friends, they managed their and peers’ behaviour.

Use of Language

“Vygotsky believed that language makes thought possible and is thus the basis of consciousness”, (Zhou & Brown, 2015, pp.34). Hence it becomes imperative to bring in language based strategies especially in math classroom as math can be very symbolic and its abstraction creates s distance between the subject and the students. language can be integrated in multiple ways in the math class.

“Ask students a question that requires them to reflect on their learning or to engage in critical thinking. Have them write …”. (Brame, 2016, pp. 3). The key is that the question can be from anywhere! It can be, for example, (1) what is the rule of multiplying fractions; (2) what is it that you like about algebra or dislike? (3) what did you learn today; or (4) write your math biography. The chief objective of journal writing is to create a cathartic space for emotions.

Play vocabulary games with the students or students within themselves. Brainstorm for all the words that are a part of the topic(s). vocabulary can also be developed through crossword puzzles. A solid grip on vocabulary helps the clarity of concepts better and that in turn gives the confidence to learn the subject better.

Outdoor Projects

Learning needs to go outside the class and “…students should be exposed to data, primary sources, and the ability to interact with other students so that they can learn from the incorporation of their experiences”, (teachnology.com, 2018). This is done very well through projects.

Some examples: (a) Grade 8 students went around the school to collect data on attitude to girl child versus boy child. They come back, analyse data and present their findings. They were pleasantly surprised to see that most of the staff was neutral about gender of the child. (b) Grade 11, SL students went to meet an insurance agent to understand the use of probability to measure the mortality rate which decides premium for life insurance. They were shocked to see how much math is used by insurance agents. (c) Grade 6 students went to the basketball court to see the math used in constructing it. They worked in their group to analyse the design and replicate it using a scale diagram. They discovered that the group that worked best was the group that had the best presentation. We discussed math as well as leadership skills.

In each case, students had some instructions from me and the rest was navigated through discussions and they came back with something that no one had anticipated. It created an environment of joy in the class when they shared their experiences.

Learning was active, “… commonly defined as activities that students do to construct knowledge and understanding. The activities vary but require students to do higher order thinking.