Robert Dodd Portfolio
Standard 1
Teachers know how students learn and how to teach them effectively
Teachers know the importance of prior knowledge and language for learning, and the impact of discussion, group interaction and reflection in the learning process
My reflections:
As a teacher in an international language school for 3 years, I endeavoured to improve my teaching strategies. With the range of students of differing prior knowledge, this was important to ascertain from the beginning in order to teach effectively. I tested each new student for their prior knowledge by means of an assessment. This included both written and verbal testing. A student was tested as to their ability from prior knowledge and experience. This included their conversational and written skills. With teaching the English language, they were placed in classes with students having the same or similar skills. Examples of these groups included beginner, pre-intermediate, intermediate, and advanced.
As a pre-service
teacher at
The teaching
mentor at
- Knowledge and engagement of student's interests and needs
- Recognition of the importance of prior knowledge and language for learning
- Use of diverse and appropriate teaching approaches to provide meaningful learning opportunities
- Creation of an environment that engages and challenges students
- Understanding of the role of discussion, group interaction and reflection in the learning process
The mentor teacher marked my teaching performance as good on this assessment.
My future professional learning goals:
Regarding the importance of prior knowledge and language for learning, I concur with the information which I have researched in the following article.
Chamot, A.U. & O'Malley, J. M. (1994). The CALLA Handbook: How to Implement the Cognitive
Academic Language Learning Approach.
This states in part that "The first phase is Preparation, in which the teacher provides an overview of the lesson's tasks and elicits students' relevant prior knowledge about the topic, language needed, and useful learning strategies. New content, language, and learning strategies are then presented in the Presentation phase. This is followed by the Practice phase, which gives students many opportunities to practice new information and skills in a variety of ways. In the Evaluation phase, students are asked to assess what they have learned through activities such as learning logs and journals. Finally, in the Expansion phase, students make applications of what they have been learning in the language classroom to other areas of their lives. This phase provides opportunities for students to draw parallels between their own cultural background and that of the culture(s) represented by the target language and often involves projects which take students out of the classroom to explore local and global communities."
One of my future goals is to continue to consider and apply this information to improve my abilities as a teacher.
Regarding the aspect of a teacher's role in developing interaction, I would put into practice the information and apply the principles of the methods outlined by Educational Media International where the following article stated:
"New technologies provide the opportunity for teachers to make learning interactive and collaborative by using a social constructivist approach to teaching and learning. This involves creating a student-centred approach where the teacher takes the role of the facilitator and the students engage in peer learning. The 'four hats' metaphor of pedagogical, social, managerial and technical actions was used as a framework to discuss the activities of the instructor and to examine the extent to which she was able to establish and maintain a community of learners. This framework also served as a tool to analyse the pedagogies used by the instructor to promote peer-learning and reflective thinking."
Educational Media International : (Dorit Maor); Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group; Issue: Volume 40, Numbers 1-2 / March-June 2003; Pages: 127 - 138
Teachers know how to engage students in active learning;
My reflections:
As a teacher at an international language school for 3 years, I endeavoured to engage students in an active learning process. Having taken hundreds of classes of students, I always endeavoured to engage and motivate the students through active learning. This is something which did not happen overnight, but was a gradual process of self-evaluation, planning and action. With time and experience, I could see the benefits of engaging students in different types of learning activities. The active learning included group activities, outdoor activities, games, and student driven discussions.
I put into practice activities to engage students on a regular basis. Several of these were taken from the following book:
The activities helped students to practise various aspects of language, and helped the students and teacher to communicate with each other, and students to get to know each other better.
As a pre-service
teacher at
The teaching
mentor at
- Knowledge and engagement of student's interests and needs
- Use of diverse and appropriate teaching approaches to provide meaningful learning opportunities
- Creation of an environment that engages and challenges students
- Understanding of the role of discussion, group interaction and reflection in the learning process
The mentor teacher marked my teaching performance as good on this assessment and made the statement that Robert 'improved at reading the mood of the class, and gauging when the class were tired of listening and needed to be doing something. He understood that student's background knowledge varied, so he made use of models (pulleys, weights, strings) to demonstrate the concept of forces. As the students got to know Robert better, and vice-versa, the interaction between Robert and the students increased, "
My future professional learning goals:
I have researched this field and it is my goal to put into practice various aspects of engaging students. An article by NBPTS summarises my belief in continuing to look for and apply in teaching, new and existing ways of successfully engaging students.
"
Proficient teachers also know that motivating students is not always equivalent to making learning fun, for learning can be difficult work. Developing an acute sense of one's body in dance, for example, requires intense intellectual and physical concentration. Writing a short story requires drafting and redrafting, editing and re-editing, occasionally submitting oneself to the critiques of peers and teachers. To practice effectively, teachers need to know how to encourage students even in the face of temporary failure and the inevitable doubts that students meet as they push themselves to new affective, intellectual and physical planes. With such learning comes the real joy in education, the satisfaction of accomplishment."
AYA/MATH ¥ 2006; Published by National Board for Professional teaching Standards<http://www.nbpts.org/resources>
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ARTIFACTS # 1
Robert Dodd Portfolio