Who am I as a learner and who am I becoming as a teacher?

Educ 430: The Pragmatics of Learning and Teaching Lauren McAdam October 16, 2013

Growing up I was always a kid who loved school and learning. School came very naturally to me and I was always quick to pick up information and, as a result, had good grades. Thinking back to my early elementary years, I was always asking teachers to work ahead and for homework assignments. I never had homework because I got everything done in class and while other kids were praised for having their homework done every morning, I felt left out. A lot of teachers, in both elementary and high school, would send me to the library or different room to work on my own. At the time I was happy that I had freedom and responsibility, but looking back now I realize that a lot of my potential may not have been reached. When other students, doing the same material, were working at a slower pace they would be constantly helped and encouraged to do more and learn the information fully. Teachers need to help students reach their full potential and teach within each students zone of proximal development (ZPD). A students ZPD is the phase at which a child can master a task if given appropriate help and support (Woolfolk, Winne, & Perry, 2012). This is such an important concept to remember because every students ZPD is different and as teachers we need to encourage students to be reaching their full potential in every subject and lesson. A lot of my success in school, especially in the early years, came from the support and resources my parents provided me. Families are a huge part of childrens development and where they first gain opinions and an understanding of the world. Children bring the funds of knowledge available within extended families and their communities, and the attitudes that family members display toward the skills and values of schooling. (Bransford, 2000, p. 234). I think teachers have to encourage students to use their funds of knowledge and draw on what they already know to apply to what they

need to know. Teachers need to take time and effort to develop relationships with each and every student. When I was in grade 4, my teacher suggested to my mom that she put me in speech therapy and my mom was shocked. On the playground, at home and with my friends I was talkative and a leader, organizing games and our own businesses all the time, but in the classroom I was quiet and I thought I was just being respectful to the teacher. The teacher had a narrow vision of who I was and didnt take the time to get to know me in different settings. I think it is so important to understand not only how each child is in the classroom setting but also what they are interested in and what they are bringing with them from their family and culture to contribute to the class. I really had to find myself as a learner when I went to university. In my high school if you were a good student, came to class, and maintained good grades you were exempt from writing final exams. Of course, I fit the description and thought I was being rewarded for my grades and got an extra week off of school. Once I went to university I was shocked! I felt like I didnt know anything- how to study, how to write exams, how to write proper essays and how to deal with my stress. Because school always came so easy to me, I never developed these necessary skills. I even found some of my peers had been trained throughout their high school years to study, manage time and write exams. I failed a class my first semester and was absolutely devastated, I had never got less than an 80% on anything! After this I was motivated to learn how to study and get better grades. I hired a tutor to help me when I retook the calculus course and found it so helpful. Through my time working with him I realized that I retained much more information when I was able to have someone explain it to me and discuss the ideas and answers to questions. Having someone help me recognize how I learn and what methods

I could use to study more efficiently was a pivotal moment for my experience as a student and I hope to help other students find their own styles. There are so many different types of learners and in a classroom I think it is best to encourage students to find out who they are as a learner, how they learn best and what strategies they can use to take in and retain information. I think a really great way to use all the students strengths would be to have a class play around one of the topics or books in the curriculum. You could have students break into groups based on their interests and learning strengths: actors, writers, costume and set designers, production, etc. It would give all students the opportunity to work in small groups together and come together as a class for the final presentation. In this project different learning and studying strategies could be taught and would help prepare the students not only to work in teams and choose what they are interested in, but for their future in school. In my artifact, the lesson plan Erasing Meanness, it shows how important it is to have students involved with classroom discussion and active learning. In this blog, the teacher talks about bullying and how he addressed issues in the classroom by involving the students in discussions throughout the week. Starting with mean words he addressed the words, some familiar and some not, which Johnson (2012) said it helped them understand that there is more than one way to describe unkindness. The next day he wrote on the board: How do you want to be remembered? in the middle of all the mean words. He then shared personal stories about bullying from his experiences in school. In order to make a statement to the class, he went to the board and erased one of the mean words and replaced it with the word Love, then invited students to come and replace words with ones that represented how they want to be remembered. I think the

message in this story is a good way for all teachers to connect to students and involve them in their own learning. It is also very powerful to have the whole class come together on something like bullying that they all are seeing at school or at home everyday. By involving the kids and having interactive activities and discussion a teacher can really promote a positive culture and climate in the classroom. In the article Transforming school culture: Stories, symbols, values, and the leaders role, Stolp and Smith (1995) discuss how everyone determines climate and culture in a classroom and school and that we as teachers should be asking students questions and have constant communication about issues and planning that will effect them. The positive words the teacher had the students write on the board reminded me of an activity we did in our first psychology class of this semester. Dr. Alderson asked us, as a class, to make a list of words that we believed were qualities that a good teacher would have. Some of the words included: caring, friendly, energetic, compassionate, organized and fun. He then had us go around the room to introduce ourselves and had us say three of the words we believed applied to ourselves (Educ 425 Lecture, 2013). It is so important to encourage students to be the best person they can be. By using positive language with students and encouraging them to recognize good qualities they posses you can evoke many emotions in children, especially those who arent being encouraged in other areas of their lives. If the students can find good qualities within themselves and share these with their peers, they will believe in their qualities and want to work on showing more good in their lives. It is activities like these I want to promote in my classroom to encourage students self esteem and involvement in the classroom.

Looking forward to when I become and teacher and the way I want to teach, I hope to encourage students to be the best person they can be. I know in large classrooms it will be very challenging to build relationships with each student and search to find out how each individual learns and how to encourage them to excel. In my opinion it is not just students with learning disabilities or who are learning to speak English for the first time that need the extra help, each and every student needs to be challenged and motivated. This is a fear I have going into field experience and the teaching world because I know sometimes time and resources are limited. Drawing on my own school experience, I hope to try my best and give every individual the education he or she deserves.

REFERENCES Alderson, Kevin (2013). Educ 425 Class Lecture discussion.

Bransford, J.D., Brown, A.L., Cocking, R.R. (Eds.). (2000). How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school (expanded ed., pp.3-27, 233-247). Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

E. Johnson. (2012, April 14). Erasing Meanness. [Web log comment]. Retrieved from http://www.yourkidsteacher.com/2012/04/erasing-meanness.html

Stolp, S. W., & Smith, S. C. (1995). Transforming school culture: Stories, symbols, values, and the leaders role. Eugene, OR: ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management.

Woolfolk, A., Winne, P., & Perry, N. (2012). Educational Psychology fifth Canadian edition. Toronto, ON: Pearson Canada.