Final Exam ED 1120
Exam Questions
QUESTION 1
List and evaluate in order of importance, the qualities you would like to have as a teacher. In your answer, make reference to:
Personal characteristics;
Use of teaching and learning theory;
Relationships with students and colleagues;
A critical reflective orientation.
EXPERT TEACHERS
1) Know subject
2) Experts at learning through guiding classroom interactions
3) Monitoring Individual Learning and providing feedback
4) Attend to heart feelings, emotions of children and interact with them letting them know that you care.
5) Influence outcomes – make students learn.
Hattie sees an expert teacher as having the following characteristics:
• Willingness to learn
• Persistence
• Maturity
• Sensitivity
• Sociability
• Determination/ Commitment
• Reliability
• Teamwork
• Imagination
• Initiative
I would like all the above qualities and more!
I would regard the most important quality I could possess as a teacher is a love of “The Divine” in all things and trust in the ever present help of the spiritual world. Everything begins and ends with “The Creator” and I recognise that we are all connected to the divine and as such we are all powerful instruments of creativity and inspiration. A love of “The Divine” leads one to a love of the world. As a teacher I endeavour to take an interest in all that comes to me from the world and maintain an open heart and mind to new and different ways of thinking, feeling and acting. A love of the world and humanity leads me to a special love of children.
I regard the life of each child as precious and “ DO NO HARM is a motto that I have always taken seriously so I must start by stating my initial reactions to educational theory. From my first “meeting with Steiner” I was impressed by both the gravity and truth of Steiners assertion that TOO EARLY AN EDUCATION WOULD LEAD TO EARLY BRAIN DEATH and while this may seem a dramatic place to start, it seems to have been born out in the increase in prevalence and in the decrease in age of people suffering from DEMENTIA. So when I see educational theories which do not have this philosophical base I return to the motto. In particular, the emphasis on technologically based educational tools at very early ages seems hard to comprehend.
Another major quality is a love of “the work” which becomes “love made visible”. A love and passion for learning is infectious for students and colleagues.
As a teacher I understand that all students are different and have many and varied gifts and talents. Every individual has something to contribute to the whole( Gardners Multiple Intelligences). It is my endeavour to accept, respect and celebrate diversity and engage students in activities which foster their individuality and encourage their higher order thinking and learning.
Other qualities that I think are important in my teaching are a sense of humour, a sense of order and beauty in the classroom environment and the ability to build individual relationships. I think it is important to make time available for students to tell me their news and just chat about things that matter to them. These times help to strengthen positive relationships and aid mutual understanding and respect. Also making time for meetings with parents aids communication and learning outcomes. A parent needs to know that you have their childs best interests at heart.
I have always found the support of my colleagues to be important in the collaborative process in order to gain fresh perspectives and insights.
The indications of Rudolf Steiners teaching and learning practice has provided me with a wealth of knowledge and understanding to guide me. The understanding of how children learn through the twelve senses, the four temperaments, the thinking, feeling and willing processes corresponds to the educational theories of Gardeners multiple intelligences and Blooms Taxonomy. The idea of teacher as co-learner, nurturing risk-taking and engaging students in collaborative group activities fosters high-level thinking.
In conclusion the moral guidance of children through their developmental years is the most fundamental principle in teaching. A teacher who can guide the moral development of a child must firstly work on their own moral development. Teaching is a VOCATION!
It does not matter how we view the word vocation, whether in a religious or in a secular sense, a teacher must have it or he/she is possibly in the wrong profession. The qualities of IMAGINATION, INTUITION or INSPIRATION usually set these apart from the rest. One could regard the profession as a destiny path .
QUESTION 2
How do the theories of Jean Piaget and Lev Vygotsky complement each other to provide the underpinning of the Constructivist Theory of Education.
Piaget is usually quoted in the context of the early development of education theory and these days it is hard to even imagine the social context of his theories. He was writing in a time when children were regarded as little adults. Children were even dressed as little adults. Consequently, a theory which challenged this by saying that children not only learned in different ways but they could not learn some things at the wrong time, was very much flying in the face of practices of the time.
Piaget posited four necessary stages of development and like Steiner before him, spoke of the dire consequences of ignoring these stages and forcing an early or inappropriate education. He believed that everyone passes through in sequence these distinct stages and a person cannot skip or reorder them. Although all normal children go through each stage in exactly the same order, there is some variation in the ages the children may attain each stage. As the child interacts with the world around him and develops, knowledge is invented and reinvented. He believed that intellectual development controlled social, moral and emotional development.
A major part of Piaget’s theory of thinking and learning is that both involve learner participation. Knowledge must be constructed and reconstructed by the learner. The learner is not a vessel to be filled with facts but must be active in the process. Readiness is of paramount importance as children cannot learn something unless their level of maturity has ordained it. Their ability to learn is always related to their stage of intellectual development and if they are at a particular stage they cannot be taught the concepts of a higher stage.
The major theme of Vygotsky's theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. Vygotsky (1978) states: "Every function in the child's cultural development appears twice: first, on the social level, and later, on the individual level; first, between people (interpsychological) and then inside the child (intrapsychological). This applies equally to voluntary attention, to logical memory, and to the formation of concepts. All the higher functions originate as actual relationships between individuals." (p57).
Another aspect of Vigotsky”s theory is that cognitive development depends on the “zone of proximal development”(ZPD) When children engage in social behavior a level of development is attained. Full development of the ZPD depends on full social interaction. With adult guidance or peer collaboration a range of skills can be developed that far exceeds what may have been achieved alone.
The Constructivist Theory of Education acknowledges that students may put ideas together themselves but their understanding will depend on their prior learning.
These theories complement each other in that Piaget, who after years of observation and reflection, came to the conclusion that the interaction of environmental and hereditary factors resulted in intellectual development.. Vygotskys work became more accessible in the west in the 1980’s and showed a way of reconciling the different ways in which children were regarded, namely as unfolding flowers or empty vessels waiting to be filled. The constructivist model took on these ideas as part of the basis for a system of knowledge acquisition in which the ideas were developed from scratch and in which all of the participants grew in knowledge and understanding.
QUESTION 3
In the use of BOS syllabuses, explain the use of the following documents at school level:
Scope and Sequence
Teaching programme
Assessment programme
Evaluate the part that each of these documents plays in determining what is taught?
“Scope and Sequence is all about the range of teaching content and the order in which it is taught. If you get it right, it will mean that the stages of teaching will flow sequentially from one to the next and skills and knowledge will be taught in a logical order. It endeavors to ensure that students at any particular stage will have the prerequisite skills and knowledge to acquire new skills that are being taught, and will find new challenges as they progress.”
“Scope and sequence is vital in whole school planning and in the planning of learning sequences. Scope includes decisions about what is significant and manageable. Sequence includes decisions about what is necessary for sequential development of both skills and concepts.”
In using the Board of Studies syllabuses at the school level it is important to note that the scope and sequence, teaching programme and assessment programmes are specific to each KLA so it makes more sense to discuss the use of these terms in relation to a specific subject. I have chosen Geography.
The following table gives an overview of material to be covered in year 7 and year 8. When designing a lesson for year 7 Coral Reefs I would refer to the section on Global Environments. The scope of this lesson is indicated as having the outcomes listed as 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4,
4.5, 4.6, 4.10
The sequence is the order in which the lessons will unfold to achieve these outcomes. The order needs to take into account the prior knowledge of the students and to build sequentially upon these prior stages.
Sample Stage 4 Mandatory Scope and Sequence Plan
Students must undertake 100 hours of study in Global Geography (Stage 4). Each of the four mandatory topics is allocated equal time of 25 hours per topic. In a semesterised system, topics 1 and 2 would be taught in Year 7 and topics 3 and 4 in Year 8.
Topic Hours
25 25 25 25
1 Investigating the World Outcomes: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4,
4.5, 4.6, 4.10
2 Global Environments
Outcomes: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4,
4.6, 4.8, 4.10
3 Global Change
Outcomes: 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4,
4.5, 4.7, 4.9, 4.10
4 Global Issues and the Role of Citizenship
Outcomes: 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 4.7
4.8, 4.9, 4.10
The teaching programme will take into account both the prior knowledge of the students and the age appropriateness of the material to be taught. Examples of appropriateness here would involve discussions of fishing while on a field trip to the “Reef” since the indigenous members of the class may have a different understanding of this issue. Past experience has shown a need to relate this issue to the need to eat what is caught and not engage in wanton destruction.
The assessment program enables teaches to know if the students have gained knowledge and understanding that will enable them to move to further levels of understanding of the subject material.
The following excerpt from the BOS syllabus document shows the necessary outcomes for effective learning and assessment.
When designing assessment activities, teachers should consider whether the activity:
• has explicitly stated purposes that address the outcomes
• is integral to the teaching and learning program
• shows a clear relationship between the outcomes and content being assessed
• allows students to demonstrate the extent of their knowledge, understanding and skills
• focuses on what was taught in class and what students were informed would be assessed
• provides opportunities to gather information about what further teaching and learning is required for students to succeed
• provides valid and reliable evidence of student learning and is fair.
Scope and sequence considerations are integral to planning for the school year and helps teachers to : Promote a spiral curriculum, i.e. teaching programs that help students progress towards the next level of outcomes by building on experiences in previous years.
Avoid unnecessary repetition of content.
Ensure that sensitive areas are taught within the context of a whole school program.
Organise limited time, resources and facilities in the most effective way.
Schools are able to design and make relevant teaching programmes that recognise the individual needs of their students, teachers and the culture and core values of their community using the resources that are available.
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