My dominant perspective is Apprenticeship

Here are my results from the TPI survey:

Transmission			33	Apprenticeship			40	Developmental			26	Nurturing			39	Social reform			32
B	I	A		B	I	A		B	I	A		B	I	A		B	I	A
11	10	12		13	14	13		8	6	12		14	13	12		11	11	10

Beliefs total: 57                                                 Intentions total: 54                  Action total: 59
Overall Total: 170

TPI means teaching Perspective Inventory. It was created by Dan Pratt and John B. Collins from the University of British Columbia. (TPI) is a tool made for the purpose of assisting teachers in reflecting on their practice and identifying characteristics that perhaps were not obvious to them. The inventory comprises of a questionnaire and the analysis of the answers. The main five key teaching perspective included in this inventory are transmission, apprenticeship, developmental, nurturer and Social Reform. The overall scores of the five perspectives are again composed of three smaller internal scores of beliefs, intentions, and actions. These sub-scores can be summarized as actions are what teachers do, intentions are what teachers want to accomplish, and beliefs are why teachers feel actions are important

My brief interpretation of the 5 perspectives: Transmission (content driven, enthusiast of the subject matter, timely feedback), Apprenticeship (excellent practitioner, attempts to understand the developmental phase of the students, guiding students from simple tasks to independence and engaging student with zone of development), Developmental (considers the content from the perspective of the student, frequently uses examples and questions, focus on more sophisticated forms of reasoning), Nurturer (focuses on the learner’s motivation and self-confidence, understands that students can succeed if they make an effort and are well supported, cares about learning process) and finally Social Reform (considers values and ideologies, believes that changing students is a way of affecting society, encourages critical and inclusive practices).

As mentioned in above figure, my overall TPI score is 170 and the dominant perspective in my view of teaching is apprenticeship which scores 40 point. Moreover, according to my Teaching Perspectives Profile above, my recessive perspectives is development which scores 26 point. From the TPI outputs, it can be concluded that my effective teaching methods are derived of a combination of Apprenticeship and Nurturing perspectives. However, the rest of the perspectives namely transmission and social reform are neither dominant nor recessive. Even though the scores are different in each perspective I believe that each perspective is important because every learner learns in different ways at different paces. One approach may suit a group of students, and another approach may be more encouraging for another group.

By reflecting on my TPI score I should focus more on developmental perspective of teaching, since it helps the learner to focus more on  their viewpoint. However, it is a great challenge for me to focus this area as my students were not up to the expected standard and they were not being practised before by different teaching strategies. Anyhow, as time passes I believe that I can learn the individual differences and I can help them to improve developmental perspective in teaching.

To sum up, I would like to say that this report enabled me to learn the different teaching perspectives that I can apply in order to develop student competences and more importantly it shows in what ways I can  guide the sessions and recognize my own orientations in teaching profession.

School Improvement Planning Process

The critical elements of planning for success include organizing,planning,implementing and sustaining.If a school wants to improve its performance, there should be a team called “Improvement Planning Team” including parents, school staffs, people from public, and outside experts.The role of this team would be making up a plan for the betterment of the school with the contribution its members and implementing it accordingly.

When an organization needs a change, first it has to diagnose and identify the current situation,then set a vision with the help of the improvement planning team regarding where they wanted to be in the future. Along with the vision, a mission,goals, and objectives have to be accomplished to reach the target. This will help the organization and its members to work on where, what and how to achieve their targets.

Then,implement the plan with contribution of stakeholders of the school.It is vital to follow the guidelines associated with the plan in order to have a smooth follow.Actions should be taken from the respective parties according to the date and procedure underlined with them. When the implementing stage is passed,organization should focus on the sustaining of the changes have brought into the organization.

Sustaining is the most critical and difficult stage in the improvement, hence it requires lot of assistance, courage and commitment from the whole community. If we cannot sustain the changes that have been brought to the organization, it will be like pouring water into a bucket with a whole at the bottom. We will not be able to taste the fruits even if it are at our hands. Therefore, the organization should work smarter than before to sustain the changes by reviewing and informing the stakeholders.

Motivation

                                                                      

The word motive comes from a Latin root meaning “to move” and is defined as an emotion, desire, or physiological need that incites a person to do something. Motive is the “why” of behavior (Charles & Senter, 2005). “Motivation is a way of explaining how people are aroused by an event, how they direct their behavior toward the event, and how they sustain that behavior for given lengths of time” (Ball, 1982).In other words when a teacher speak of motivation as a component of a lesson, they refer to what they do to attract student’s interest and engage them more or less willingly in the work provided. Motivation is required to read the text book; go to school; take tests; clean your room, house, or apartment; or attend a party (Henson & Eller, 1999).

There are two types of motivation which are extrinsic and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money or grades. An extrinsically motivated person will work on a task even when they have little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction they will get from some reward. Unlike extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money or grades. “The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task itself or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on a task” (Bainbridge, Extrinsic Motivation).

However, it is noted that teachers are an influencing agent for student motivation. For instance, encouraging students in their pursuit for excellence in learning, providing positive feedback, being involved in positive interactions, remaining enthusiastic about students and student educational growth, and cultivating a positive classroom environment, have a strong impact on student academic motivation (as cited in (Rugutt & Chemist, 2009)

REFERENCE LIST

Bainbridge, C. (n.d.). Extrinsic Motivation. Retrieved August 3, 2010, from about.com: http://giftedkids.about.com/od/glossary/g/extrinsic.htm

Ball, S. (1982). Motivation.In H.E Mitzel,J.H.Best, & W.Rabinowitz(Eds.)Encyclopedia Of Educational Reaserach(vol.3,5th ed.,pp1256-1263). New York: Free Press.

Charles, C. M., & Senter, G. (2005). Elementary Classroom Management (4th ed.). Boston: Pearson Education,

Henson, K. T., & Eller, B. F. (1999). Educational Psychology for Effective Teaching. New York: Wadsworth Publishing Company.

Rugutt, J., & Chemist, C. C. (2009). What Motivates Students to Learn? Contribution of Student to - student Relations,Students - Faculty Interaction and Critical Thinking Skills. Retrieved August 1, 2010, from http://search.ebscohost.com: http://search.ebscohost.com

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy has been shaped by many things. I believe that the first day itself is very important for a new academic year. Hence that plays a vital role in students learning throughout the year. From the first day onwards I try to make my students feel comfortable and open to learning. I announce that all the questions are welcome and that they should feel free to interrupt me. On the same day with mutual understanding between the teacher and students I make some certain classroom rules and the expectations, so that they can focus more on being successful.

 Furthermore, I possess a collaborative classroom management style. I prefer to give my students control and freedom up to some extent as students need to be motivated. I would give praise and reinforcement to the students in order to make them understand that the teacher values what they are doing. On the other hand, I refuse to give punishment to the students who misbehave, but prefer to find out the reason of misbehavior and then give help to correct the misbehavior.

Similarly, I should also take in account, of how children learn and why they behave as they do. There are different views of behaviourists and psychologists, on how children learn. Cognitive Psychologists claim that children learn from an interaction of both inner and outer influences where else behaviourists claim that children are influenced by the environment. If humans are exclusively shaped by their environment, as behaviourists claim, responsible self-regulation is impossible. However, I stick both the Cognitive and behavioural psychologists’ point of view of how children learn.

I also adapt my teaching styles and techniques to benefit the students that I am teaching. I believe that it is important for teachers to find out what type of learners they have in their classrooms. Students usually fall in one or more than one of three categories. Students can be auditory, visual or kinaesthetic learners. When I create the lessons, I incorporate student centred approaches whenever possible and try to relate the topics to real life situations to help motivate students. I often use cooperative learning often so that students can work together and learn from one another which lead to   benefit the different types of learners in my classroom.

I believe that assessing students learning is a teacher’s most important method of understanding teachers’ success in teaching, and students’ success in learning. How I assess my students is something for which I must strive for perfection. I want to find the ideal way to assess my students in a way that truly evaluates their educational gains. I plan to be an active assessor and perform both informal and formal assessment in my classroom.

In wrapping up my personal philosophy of teaching, I would like to say I have tried to include some of my attitudes, beliefs and views in an organized manner regarding teaching and learning. It is equally important to remain open minded to new trends and techniques that may benefit our students. My educational philosophy is not static; it changes with time and experience, and I will continually reflect, examine and refine what I believe and why I believe it. I believe that my philosophy and the way I understand things will change with the knowledge that I gain. With this change I am open to anything and my views will be flexible and as open to options as I can be.

Behavioural Learning theory in Classroom

Understanding and applying the principles of behavioural learning theory will help teachers to change their lessons effectively for classrooms (Abromitis, 2009). Problem behaviours disrupt class, interfere with student learning and make meaningful instruction impossible. It is the teacher’s responsibility to identify the problem behavior and its cause, and replace it with more desirable behavior (Abromitis, 2009). Borich and Tombari (1996) states that a skill teacher gets learner to respond correctly by bringing correct responses under stimulus control.(Borich & Tombari, 1996, p. 117). According Ashton (2010),as cited by (Laureate 2008), behaviorist learning theory in the classroom is due to “operant conditioning” which bases learning on reinforcing desired behaviors and punishing undesirable one. However classical condition also underlines many learning experiences in the classroom (Long, 2000, p. 273)

The concept of classical conditioning was developed by behavioural theorist Ivan Pavlov (1849- 1936). Borich and Tombari (1996), define classical conditioning as the process by which an unconditioned, neutral stimulus and as unconditioned response are paired repeatedly to become a conditioned stimulus that elicit a conditioned response. Slavin (2000), define classical conditioning as the process of repeatedly associating a previously neutral stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus in order to evoke a conditioned response. From these two definitions we can see the key element in classical conditioning is association. It states that two stimuli repeatedly experienced together they will become associated. The principles Pavlov outlined can be applied to learned emotional reaction and learned emotional reactions, are central to the educational process (Betham, 2002, p. 22).

The teacher’s role is to be aware of the classical condition paradigm and use it to build positive association between teaching activities and learning (Borich & Tombari, 1996, p. 107). As teachers, we want our learners to acquire positive attitudes toward us and our subject. Borich and Tombari (1996) explain that, at the beginning learning activities are neutral stimuli, but overtime the teaching process become conditional stimulus that elicit emotion ( or conditioned response) of interest and joy, evoke approach behaviour such as studying and asking questions, and even arouse psychological responses and naturalness.It is essential that learning be a positive experience, as unpleasant emotional association will interfere with learning process (Betham, 2002, p. 22).  According to Woolfolk (2003), classical condition can be applied in classroom through:

-          Associating positive pleasant events with learning task.

-          Helping students to risk anxiety-producing situation voluntarily and successfully.

-          Helping students identify differences and similarities among situations so they can discriminate and generalize appropriately.

Another behavioural learning theory that is used in classroom is the operant conditioning theory formulated by B.F Skinner. Thorndike (1874 – 1949) was the pioneer in studying this kind of learning. His famous formulation of Law of effectlies at the heart of operant conditioning. Operant conditioning states that environmental contingencies or the environment’s ‘reaction’ to an individual’s controls that individual’s behaviour (Betham, 2002, p. 23).  Borich and Tombari (1996), explain operant conditioning as a reinforcement of correct response after it has already occurred to increase the likelihood that the responses will occur again. Likewise Slavin (2000), define operant condition as the use of pleasant or unpleasant consequences to occurrence of diminish or enhance behaviour.

Skinner points our most of the behviours that we acquire in school can be classified as operant conditions(Borich & Tombari, 1996, p. 112). According Borich&Tombari, Complying rules, following important routines such as lining up or changing learning groups, completing homework, writing legibly and working independently are behaviours teachers can gradually strengthen, shape and refine through operant condition.Operant conditioning can be applied in the form of ‘behaviour modification’ to manage problem classroom and increase work involvement(Long, 2000, p. 15). Betham (2002), state that theorist like Skinner (1903 – 1991) says that actions that are followed by reinforcing consequnces are more likely to re-occur, and that the actions that are folloewd by unpleasent or punshing consequences are less likely to re-occure.

References:

Abromitis, B. (2009, March 29). Modifying Behavior in an Elementary Classroom. Retrieved July 3, 2012, from New Teacher Support: http://suite101.com/article/modifying-behavior-in-an-elementary-classroom-a95637

Ashton, L. (2010, March 22). Behaviorist Learning Theory in the Classroom. Retrieved July 3, 2010, from Ashton's World: http://lonnieashton.edublogs.org/2010/03/22/behaviorism-in-practice/

Betham, S. (2002). Psycology and Education. Florence,KY, USA: Routledge.

Borich, G. D., & Tombari, M. L. (1996). Educational Psychology: A Contemporary Approach (2nd Edition ed.). USA, USA: Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers Inc.

Long, M. (2000). Psycology of Education. London: Routledge.

Slavin, R. E. (2000). Educational Psychology: theory and practice (6th Edition ed.). USA: Prentice Hall.

Woolfolk, A. (2003). Educational Psycology (9th Edition ed.). India: Dorling Kindersley(India) Pvt Ltd.