Teaching philosophy

Concept/beliefs central to my teaching philosophy

My teaching philosophy is based around providing a safe environment where participants are able to make mistakes, share, build productive relationships and learn from each other.  I believe in the importance of building mutual respect, creating an environment of support and providing the students with challenges that instill passion and a positive attitude, whilst encouraging and empowering them to pursue further learning opportunities into the future.

One concept/belief that supports learner centred learning

One of the main beliefs that underpins my philosophy is the concept of teaching and learning and that you cannot do one without the other.  See my earlier post Ako and teaching philosophy.  This philosophy is supported by Weimer (2002) who states  'In order for teaching to more effectively promote learning, instructional practice needs to change in five areas.'  One of the five areas that she focuses on is '(t)he responsibility for learning' and states that in order for us to effectively promote learning there needs to be 'activities to create constructive classroom climates and let there be logical consequences.' Effectively saying that the teacher/learner roles become blurred and the learners become more 'autonomous' as their confidence grows.  The teacher must learn to hand over more responsibility to the learner.

Relevance/application

Examples of this in my own teaching practice are outlined in an earlier post regarding learning sequences Learning sequences and the importance of arranging a session plan in a logical progression, building on activities throughout the session and slowly ensuring the complexity increases as the 'picture' is created. This also fits well with Vygotsky's (1978) constructivism approach Constructivism where the learners take an 'active' part in the process or class structure.
I believe in finding out peoples strengths and using these during group activities where students are co-ordinating a session or activity.   In this way I am learning from my learners, my role becomes three-fold in as much as I am;

• Teaching the learner to become more autonomous
• Learning from the learner
• Helping the student learn to teach/instruct

Weimer (2002) highlights this as another of her 'changes to practice' and argues that 'content should be used to build a knowledge base and to develop learning skills and learner self-awareness.' 

Alton-Lee (2003) states that "it (ako) recognises the knowledge that both teachers and learners bring to learning interactions, and it acknowledges the way that new knowledge and understandings can grow out of shared learning experiences".  This fits very well with the constructivism approach that believes learners come with their own thoughts, ideas,understanding and knowledge and have much to contribute in the learning process and this should be reciprocated.

The principle of Ako also 'affirms the value of pair and group learning approaches in which students interact with their peers, teachers, tasks and resources.' (Alton-Lee,2003).  This is where focusing on the context, in particular room set up and how and where the students sit helps to determine how well they interact and share in their learning.  Drawing on their own life experiences and stories can help build connections, trust and a sense of belonging.  See earlier post on Learning in context.  This style of interaction suits Maori and pacific Island learners by using a holistic approach in their encounters.

Another technique I use to apply my teaching philosophy is that of understanding the importance of providing 'real life' experiences for the students to make their learning connections.  Whether it is role plays, field trips or work experience.  Previous adult learning theory research that I have explored has indicated the importance of creating experiences that take into consideration all the different learning styles that my students have, variety is the key! Other Adult Learning Theory thoughts.  This approach ensures that the visual, auditory, kinesthetic learners all have an opportunity to progress and learn during a session.

The concept of Ako also relies on deliberate acts of teaching where interactions are set up and during these sessions the teacher reflects on the process and uses this to improve future  encounters. Reflection and reflective practice .

My focus on Ako as a concept of my teaching philosophy has shown that new knowledge and understanding can grow out of shared learning experiences.  I endeavour to constantly challenge myself and my students by providing a caring and inclusive teaching environment where they feel safe to take risks.  An environment where I am not only improving my teaching techniques by providing constant quality and up to date resources, but I am learning from my immediate environment and reflecting on that to ensure improvements are always made.  

References;


Retrieved June 19 from; Learner-Centered Teaching: Five Key Changes to Practice available online: www.josseybass.com Maryellen Weimer (2003)

Retrieved June 20 from; http://tereomaori.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-guidelines/Teaching-and-learning-te-reo-Maori/Aspects-of-planning/The-concept-of-ako

Module Six - Adult Learning Theories - Principles and Practices

I have explored adult learning theories in previous papers for the GCTLT, so I thought I would look at  Vygotsky and his constructivism approach as this view fits well with what I do and what I believe.
My understanding of this is that the learner comes with their own thoughts, ideas, understanding and knowledge, with their own unique and diverse background, up-bringing and culture.  If all this can influence the impact on their learning, then it is vitally important that we get to know our learners as quickly as possible.
The quality of the learning experience and how well they are constructed relies heavily on how well we know the learner, so that they in turn can assess and compare this with previous life experiences. (Knowing what to do). (Literacy and numeracy, 2010)
I do try to build in a reflection process into my teaching style, this takes on a variety of forms e.g. individual questionnaires, group feedback, self and peer reflection.  These help me make informed decisions for improvement.

Vygotsky's (1978) social development theory 'promotes learning contexts in which students play an active role in learning. Roles of the teacher and student are therefore shifted, as a teacher should collaborate with his or her students in order to help facilitate meaning construction in students. Learning therefore becomes a reciprocal experience for the students and teacher.' (Haufather, 1996).
That concept of Ako comes through very strongly with this constructivism theory.


References;

Retrieved June 17 from http://www.learning-theories.com/vygotskys-social-learning-theory.html

Hausfather, Samuel J., (1996) Vygotsky and Schooling: Creating a Social Contest for learning.
Action in Teacher Education.(18) 1-10.
Retrieved June 15 from https://www.literacyandnumeracyforadults.com/resources/356269

Module Five - Teaching philosophy

While I was exploring this module, and thinking about the words that best describe my teaching philosophy, I kept coming back to the concept of teaching and learning, how the two are intertwined and how you can be both the teacher and the learner at the same time. Pere (1991) in Te Wheke describes four dimensions that contribute to a person's health and well-being, Ako is one of these dimensions;
'The concept of Ako, which relates to the traditional Māori thinking about the transfer and absorption of skills, knowledge, wisdom, experience, much of which has traditionally occurred in the course of everyday activities. It implies learn and instruct at the same time.'
I feel it is at the heart of my values and beliefs, and see myself ;

• Teaching and learning from my students
• Learning in teaching as I teach
• Learning from other teachers through observation and communication

I considered the four key areas for developing my own teaching philosophy as developed by Heather Day;

• Focus - Ako Tuakana/Teina
• Reflection - Learning from others
• Action - Creating relationships
• Rationale - intrinsic belief in reciprocating the flow of knowledge from one individual to another

'Tuakana/teina refers to the relationship between an older (tuakana) person and a younger (teina) person and is specific to teaching and learning in the Māori context. Within teaching and learning contexts, this can take a variety of forms:

• Peer to peer – teina teaches teina, tuakana teaches tuakana.
• Younger to older – the teina has some skills in an area that the tuakana does not and is able to teach the tuakana.
• Older to younger – the tuakana has the knowledge and content to pass on to the teina.
• Able to less able – the learner may not be as able in an area, and someone more skilled can teach what is required.' (Turuki,2013)

These thoughts will form the basis of my teaching philosophy assessment as I ponder in depth my beliefs and values around how, what and why I teach.

References;

Retrieved 27 May from; http://wikieducator.org/Matauranga_Maori

Retrieved June 6 from ; http://wikieducator.org/Learner_Centred_Learning/LCL_Teaching_Philosophy_Module
Heather Day, Educational Development Centre , Otago Polytechnic

Retrieved 6 June from; http://www.turuki.org.nz/tuakana_teina/index.htm

Critical review of teaching practice

The Context;

The teaching session that I planned my learner centred learning around was a three hour block focusing on an introduction to the Human Rights Act.  This was a class-room based session requiring the students to re-search the Human Rights (HR) website for information. The group are level three Travel and Tourism certificate students, the mix consists of 18 females and two males, age range 17-30 years old.

Facilitation approach and style;

I have taught this session only once in the past, so knew that there was alot of important information to get across to the students.  I did not want this to be a pour and store or passive session for the students so set about designing a session plan that focused on them exploring the topic. The session plan is attached, click on the link below;

http://www.scribd.com/doc/140529147/Timetable-HRC-16-April-2013

I considered the learning sequence (Link to learning sequences ) of the session and thought about how I wanted to build on each of the informational sections so that by the end of the class they had an idea of the bigger picture.  I had considered what the learning outcomes of this session would be and worked backwards with my session plan creating a mind map quiz with all the areas that I wanted to be covered in the lesson. (Human Rights mindmap activity)  They were given this near the end of the class to fill out so that it could assist them in answering their assessment questions.
The session began by being facilitator driven, I posed a series of questions and directed them to the HRA website.  The power point outlined the main provisions of the Act to save time and help them focus on the main points.
The series of activities that were given to the students were designed to promote discussion, help familiarise them around the website and help grow their confidence in speaking to the whole class.

Activity one; In pairs review two examples of Human Rights complaints and discuss your common sense answers, present these to the class.
This was designed to promote discussion and expose the students to the type of human rights issues that have arisen in employment and pre-employment environments in New Zealand.

Activity two; After reviewing examples of student handbooks and paragraphs on harassment in your groups, construct a paragraph that highlights employees expected code of conduct.
This was designed to promote research into the definition of different types of harassment, discussion on how to construct an informative paragraph, using the examples as a guide.

Activity three; In groups read through the Human Rights case studies, using the website list the procedure for making a complaint and give a possible solution.  Present your findings to the class.
The intention was twofold here, to look at Human Rights cases that made a difference and to explore how to make a complaint finding out what possible solutions there were.

Rationale for using LCL approach;
I have learnt the importance of getting to know the learner and their learning style through adult learning theories in earlier posts, see link,
Link to Adult Learning theory in flexible learning
I value and understand the importance of variety in preparing for a teaching session as Robert Gagne (1985) states;

• Different instruction is required for different learning outcomes (e.g. Facilitator instruction, questioning, directing, visual powerpoint, research, activities in pairs, groups, individuals)
• Events of learning operate on the learner in ways that constitute the conditions of learning(class environment, structure of content, exploring small pieces then fitting it all together) )
• The specific operations that constitute instructional events are different for each different type of learning outcome (variety of content, activities e.g. mind maps, written instruction and research) 
• Learning hierarchies define what intellectual skills are to be learned and a sequence of instruction. (See an earlier post linking the formulating of ideas or facts - making connections - and applying it (I.C.E.).  This follows the learning patterns and behaviours of adults which, in theory should have a process of growth and deeper learning. I.C.E. model)

The type and delivery of instruction would have an effect on whether the learning was deep or surface. Ramsden (1988) sees deep learning as one that 'relates theoretical ideas to everyday experience' and surface learning as 'facts and concepts (that) are associated unreflectively'.  Based on these theories I structured my class accordingly see above (in bold).

Changes to my approach;
The main change I would make for next time would be the in the seating position of the students.  The room layout is very challenging with round tables and fixed computers and a long narrow structure.  Less students than usual were at this session and spread themselves through the whole room.  This made the activities challenging when the student was required to speak.  There is opportunity to close off one half of the room, but these decisions are based on hindsight and how many students are there for the class.
The group activity did not engage all the students and the obstruction of the computers created barriers which limited their interaction with each other.  In future I may plan the activity so that they move their chairs in a circle and give them cut up sentences of code of conduct's and encourage them to produce a paragraph.  This way there are no barriers and they each contribute a card to the activity.

Observers feedback;
Link to Observation feedback.  I found the experience of having my teaching observed a very positive process, not only in terms of having constructive feedback given but also in the level of forward planning involved, thinking more deeply about all aspects of the classroom experience.
The feedback given was very detailed and gave me opportunity to reflect on the areas where the student engagement did wonder.  During the session I did find myself 'reflecting in action' e.g. How can I ensure that all these students are engaged in this activity?
Also 'on action' e.g. How can I look at ways to change the student group dynamic to help all of them engage?
These are the main points I have taken from the feedback;

• Break up the activities giving less scenarios
• Build on the key points by giving each group a key question and feeding onto the WB to build up the complete picture
• Give a brief summary before the break

This process has helped me to focus on some of the straight forward areas that get forgotten in the drive to get the information across, e.g. room set up, outline and summary.  Most importantly how to create meaningful ways to engage the learner so that they can formulate the facts, make connections and apply them.

References;

Retrieved May 16 2013 from; http://www.instructionaldesign.org/theories/conditions-learning.html

 Gagne, R. (1985). The Conditions of Learning (4th.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.

Retrieved May 16 2013 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/deepsurf.htm

Module Four - Reflection and reflective practice

I think reflection is something that we all do within our professional practice, whether it is a conscious or sub-conscious process. We are constantly tweaking and re-tweaking methods, dynamics, activities, audience engagement to inform our teaching and make those necessary improvements for next time.

I considered my learner profiles and the vast amount of information we find out about our learners, alot of which we learn without realising. I considered how this is used to form the basis of my teaching context, the language I use and how I pitch the content to engage the learner so that I give help them give relevance to their context.  These can all be considered advantages of reflective practice.

Disadvantages would be the temptation to over analyse a particularly difficult session and we are often our own harshest critics, or to move on too quickly, not taking the time to consider 'what I did', 'how I did it' or 'why I did it' and how can it be improved next time.

I find reflection is a very useful tool to help me create a greater self awareness of my teaching practice and is a very good self assessment activity.  I find it helps me to improve my study and work strategies, my time managment and session structure and generally makes me better informed for next time.
Some questions I often ask myself and others?

• Why did this happen?
• What could be improved?
• How could it have gone better or differently
• How can I engage all the learners?

Conversations with other colleagues helps a huge amount.

Other tools and methods that I use with my students for their own reflective practice are reflective journals,
"Gillian Bouras (1999), 'a contemporary Australian writer who keeps a journal to record

and explore the complexity of her personal experiences, reminds us that the words 

‘journal’ and ‘journey’ have the same Latin derivative, coming to the English language 

from the Old French. She mentions the rich history of journal writing and lists famous 

and infamous people who have used journals for personal and professional insight.' 

(as cited in Francis, 2006 p.1) .  Thinking critically and using this reflection time to pro-actively make improvements can certainly be seen as a journey of growth. 

The way I encourage my students to do this is through writing in their blog and gaining feedback in the form of questions from me.  I use my session plans to record how well a session ran and what improvements are needed, this helps me review the session for future reference.  Atherton,(2005) agrees that the process of reflection needs a mentor to ask the appropriate questions to ensure the connection process goes somewhere.

Marigold Francis's (2006)  research demonstrates students use of journals as a way of exploring their connections between theory and practice.

"It is common also for social work and law students to keep journals as a way of exploring 

their connections between theory and practice. "(as cited in Francis, 2006 p.2) During my GCTLT study I have found myself reflecting on those connections too.

This process helps me better prepare a course so that it identifies the needs of the individual learners, the context of the environment and the support systems in place.

Marigold Francis,(2006) The journey of a thousand words-taking the first steps towards professional self-reflection.  Retrieved from http://ehlt.flinders.edu.au/education/reflectivepractice/reflect/Journey.pdf

Atherton, J. S. (2005). Learning and teaching: Reflection and Reflective Practice.  Retrieved on 09 May 2013 from http://www.learningandteaching.info/learning/reflection.htm

Module Three - Learning in Context

What does learning in context mean?

"The circumstances that form the setting for an event, statement, or idea, and in terms of which it can be fully understood"(oxford dictionary,2013).
To me context means the many pieces that make up the environment in order to give meaning and purpose to the learning, these pieces are the 'circumstances' that help to facilitate the moment when the light bulb comes on!  As a facilitator it is our job to provide the necessary pieces of context in order for our learners to get the whole picture.

I explored my learning environment for this activity, mind- mapped the influences and applied this to the systems approach example from the module. See the illustration below;
Mind map and systems approach

I considered and reflected on my own teaching context to enhance the way I facilitate learning and the many external factors that influence it.  During this process I thought back to the 'dimensions of flexibility' grid (Collis and Moonen, 2004) in an earlier blog post, see link, flexible learning and how there are many fixed and flexible factors when considering learning context.  For example in terms of delivery and logistics these are fairly fixed to work around course content and class space, the context can be flexible and be created by the facilitator and/or the learners.

I create the learning context by use of stories, my own and others in the group, and I realise that I use many different examples to explain or demonstrate a point.  Much of the learning material that we use is based on travel and tourism scenario's, so that even if the learner's have limited experience they start to get a sense of the context that they will be working in.
Story telling can have the added effect of creating images in their minds especially if it is related to their own travel experiences.
After a recent teaching session with an observer in the class I realised that creating the right environment during each session is very important, particularly if the class configuration is a challenge and only 14 of the usual 20 learners show up and spread themselves across a long narrow space.  This creates challenges if the learners are required to speak to the whole class.  Class set-up can sometimes be forgotten as an important way of creating a conducive contextual learning environment.
Having explored my own teaching context using the system approach and mind- map I can see there are always many more ways to enhance the way I facilitate learning, one of the areas that I will be focusing on will be by creating a more stimulating class environment within a challenging class room,one where there is opportunity for learners to work in different groups, pairs and individually.



Retrieved May 1, 2013 from http://oxforddictionaries.com/

Casey, J. & Wilson, P. (2005). A practical guide to providing flexible learning in further and higher education.

Module Two - Learning sequences

For this discussion module I worked through the activity of how to make a good cup of tea.  We have unit standards on this in the Hospitality Industry and it may seem like a simple enough activity but it is surprising what surfaces when this is taught, for example the are many people that have never drunk tea before and so have no prior knowledge.  Some people like tea in varying forms but do not know its origins. (Who)
 So where do you start?
Looking at or preparing learning outcomes become very important , I see the value of working backwards and asking 'what do I want them to be able to do?'

This is what I came up with;

Practical session - demonstration - restaurant - Where
Introduction

•  Background to tea/origins/different types (5mins)
• Likes/dislikes

Demonstration ( 5 mins)

Boil water
Heat pot (why?)
2 tea bags (1 per person, 1 for pot)
Brew time (explain)
Pour hot water over tea bags in pot
Tea cup, saucer, spoon
Extra pot for hot water
Sugar bowl
Milk jug

Practical (10 mins)
In pairs make a pot of tea for each other, using method demonstrated
Evaluation/feedback at the end.

When - 20 minute session, could be morning or afternoon as the session is practical.
Why - Aim to make a good cup of tea
What - Equipment required
How - (Flow) Background, demonstration, practical.

Reflection;
I considered what the learner brought to the session e.g. Prior or little knowledge and this would be tested during the introduction.
I considered the learner, the demands of the session and ensured they knew what to do by demonstrating the session first.

The back ground theory and demonstration would be teacher centred, the practical and evaluation would be student centred.
 I also considered 'what do I want them to be able to do?"
Other factors that I did not take into consideration were; the size of the group, room needed and access to equipment.

Learning outcome;

• What the student will do;  make a cup of tea
• In what context; Observe, then practise
• How well he/she will do it; Taste test, suitable for commercial sale

(Carroll, J. 2001 para 1)

The successful student has reliably demonstrated the ability to;

• Prepare all equipment necessary to make a cup of tea
• Make a good cup of tea

http://www.scribd.com/doc/132715412/Lesson-Plan-Conference-Co-Ordinator-2

I have prepared a lesson plan with learning outcomes for a session I held just recently.  The way this has differed from previous lesson plans is that I have spent more time considering the student and what they will actively do in the class session and what they will come away with.

References;


 Carroll, J. (2001). Writing learning outcomes: some suggestions. Retrieved Feb 20, 2013, from http://www.brookes.ac.uk/services/ocsld/resources/writing_learning_outcomes.html