The emotional, social and spiritual(relation with something greater than yourself) dimensions are often not as strongly emphasized in Singapore, even tough we have some very good programs. It is particularly critical in an environment where both parents are working, and there is little interaction time between parent (or other caregivers) and child. Their maturity in these areas are a little behind. What is pertinent for us to note that some studies in USA have shown that focus on SEL has a direct correlation with improvement in academic grades of between 11 to 17%, based on a study of more than 900 schools. This is significant. Often those with little guidance have a low adversity quotient and tend to manifest their coping mechanisms in very negative behavior. Three foundational principles that our teaching needs to get across are:
1. Everyone experiences adversity
2. Everyone experiences multiple influences
3. Humans have free will - the internal locus of behavior lies with us as we choose our behavior
4. Every choice has a consequence
I particularly like the behavior car metaphor with the analogy of all of us traveling on the road of life and that we are constantly faced with choices. Roads can be rough, there may be inclement weather, there may be engine trouble or flat tires - these situations are opportunities for us to exercise choice. There may also be external influences such as other drivers on the roadnthat impact our choice, back seat drivers that can be an irritation - Good drivers however, wil be able to control their vehicles despite rough conditions - external Influences to these drivers are not limitations, as they act and think in a manner that is in their best interest.
Total behavior concept involves 4 elements: Acting, thinking, feelings and physiology. Acting and thinking are akin to the front wheels of a car that determine the direction we take. We must regulate our emotions by thinking about our feelings so that we act in an appropriate way.
We need to infuse some ofnthese ideas in our CCAs but also weave these in to our academic lessons where possible to teach students' life lessons. In particular the humanities and languages along with ethical issues of science are ideal for several analogies to be shared and explored. We must see the process as just important as the product when teaching. Our school children do need a lot of guidance to manage their raging emotions to help build stability in their lives...we must not take these for granted and avoid labeling children as they come with different influences and will need a safe and nurturing environment to help guide them out of the turmoil they are in.
Teachers need time to plan and teach effectively. They are also being evaluated For several other competencies. Are we e expecting too much of teachers and how then do we reconcile the work to be done such teachers have enough time to think, rest, eat, reflect and enrich the lives of all the stakeholders of school...
Aziz
Saturday, April 9, 2011
What do teachers really need in the 21st century to educate a child?
One thing that has struck a resonant chord with me is that teachers need in-depth knowledge of how to plan lessons. While NIE gives us templates and highlights the need for stirring activities and gives us a sense of progression in our lesson, teachers have never been trained to teach for understanding - the focus and structures shared are always with a content bias. This served us well in the past but will no longer hold credence in a world where we are inundated with information and the need to make sense and meaning of it has become critical - it is now about teaching for understanding. No amount of education in the different pedagogical approaches will sufficiently equip our teachers with the ability to teach for understanding.
One would think it natural for teachers to teach for understanding, but even our CRPP studies have highlighted the high focus on content dissemination. Wiggins and McTighe noted that there was a Worldwide trend among educators who struggled to come up with essential questions that would lead to students attaining enduring understanding. Often educators get caught up in the operations of things and focus on the minutae. We need to spend more time to think through what exactly we want students to learn and why, so that we can design approaches, questions and assessments that will help students achieve a depth of understanding and teachers are able to track their level of progress. Understanding by design is an ideal curriculum design framework that can be paired with all sorts of pedagogies to fulfill our goals for 21st century education! The planning and questions crafted will help teachers be more adept facilitators of information to bring students into a discussion on a variety of issues. In order for thought to be activated in the classroom Wiggins and McTighe advocate 5 ways to do this:
1. Posing problems
2. Share discrepancies and get students to reconcile them
3. Have puzzles for students to solve
4. Ask open ended questions from different perspectives
5. Provide a variety of challenges to students in the classroom such that they need to think of solutions
This would need planning in scaffolding, in ensuring wait time as teachers often are impatient for quick answers. It is noted by many of the speakers in the conference that teaching for understanding is almost the opposite of teaching for acquisition (content).
In the past, schools could focus on drilling and achieve results. This will slowly fade away as exam formats change. The predictability of the questions and the type of answers required will vary from year to year, so the emphasis of mastery of content will be reduced and a greater emphasis on teaching for understanding will be required. We need to take a quick leaflet from Marzano's research on how people learn, and note that while we are good with the stage 1 of acquisition, there is lots of room for improvement in the areas of making meaning and transfer of learning. All 3 elements will make for a comprehensive 21st century approach to T&L.
Therefore the questions we need to ask are:
1. What must NIE do to their present teachers' education programme to prepare us for the 21st century?
2. How can school's have structures that better incentivize desired teaching behavior?
3. What will the roles of the STS,MTS,HODS,SHS and even CPDD officers be in education such that there is an integrated approach, that removes "turf wars" and ensures that maximum learning and benefit is derived for anyone seeking help?
Aziz
One would think it natural for teachers to teach for understanding, but even our CRPP studies have highlighted the high focus on content dissemination. Wiggins and McTighe noted that there was a Worldwide trend among educators who struggled to come up with essential questions that would lead to students attaining enduring understanding. Often educators get caught up in the operations of things and focus on the minutae. We need to spend more time to think through what exactly we want students to learn and why, so that we can design approaches, questions and assessments that will help students achieve a depth of understanding and teachers are able to track their level of progress. Understanding by design is an ideal curriculum design framework that can be paired with all sorts of pedagogies to fulfill our goals for 21st century education! The planning and questions crafted will help teachers be more adept facilitators of information to bring students into a discussion on a variety of issues. In order for thought to be activated in the classroom Wiggins and McTighe advocate 5 ways to do this:
1. Posing problems
2. Share discrepancies and get students to reconcile them
3. Have puzzles for students to solve
4. Ask open ended questions from different perspectives
5. Provide a variety of challenges to students in the classroom such that they need to think of solutions
This would need planning in scaffolding, in ensuring wait time as teachers often are impatient for quick answers. It is noted by many of the speakers in the conference that teaching for understanding is almost the opposite of teaching for acquisition (content).
In the past, schools could focus on drilling and achieve results. This will slowly fade away as exam formats change. The predictability of the questions and the type of answers required will vary from year to year, so the emphasis of mastery of content will be reduced and a greater emphasis on teaching for understanding will be required. We need to take a quick leaflet from Marzano's research on how people learn, and note that while we are good with the stage 1 of acquisition, there is lots of room for improvement in the areas of making meaning and transfer of learning. All 3 elements will make for a comprehensive 21st century approach to T&L.
Therefore the questions we need to ask are:
1. What must NIE do to their present teachers' education programme to prepare us for the 21st century?
2. How can school's have structures that better incentivize desired teaching behavior?
3. What will the roles of the STS,MTS,HODS,SHS and even CPDD officers be in education such that there is an integrated approach, that removes "turf wars" and ensures that maximum learning and benefit is derived for anyone seeking help?
Aziz
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)