Environment, Physical Characteristics and Behavioural Patterns
I begin by stating my teaching philosophy is based upon a hybrid combination of Constructivism and Social Cognitive theory. There are aspects of each realm that I find appealing and links closely with my behaviour management plan.
At this stage of my career I find that I am linking my
teaching goals to have my students become self regulated learners. To facilitate
this I need to acknowledge the interactions between Bandura’s three markers in
the student’s life, each one affects the other and can cause different
outcomes.
1. Physical Characteristics; includes mental and emotional factors such as goals and anxiety and self-efficacy.
2. Behavioural patterns; includes self observation, students perception of themselves, their acknowledged reaction to circumstance (perhaps through journal or recording using the Ipad.)
3. Environment; this is the students social and physical environment, it includes the nature of tasks set by teacher and classroom management systems
As my students move through their education it is imperative they understand self- regulation as it assists them when goal setting and producing an achievable contribution to reach those goals.
I want my class to be discoverers. Bruner argues that too
much worksheet step-by-step education has caused students to be able to recite
in the classroom but they are unable to relate this measure to real life. He
says we should teach our student’s strategies that encourage them to seek
solutions to problems, either on their own or in-group discussion
Constructivist learning is helped by scaffolding students learning by placing them in situations where they are learning in realistic contexts, an example of this is teaching maths through cooking, looking at measurement in the context of weight of every day objects.
Social interaction is imperative to my classroom and I encourage this through the structure of co-operative learning. I understand tolerance to be a skill that is required for my students to operate in a global world and I always spend some time with my students developing this. The interaction between education and technology is an important part of my teaching style, as my students will be completing their learning with exposure to many different types of digital hardware.
I am a firm believer in having my classroom set up in a positive way that students can interact with each other and different zones within the room will provide room for movement and room for reflection too. They will materialise into an environment conducive to different learning styles. I do not want my students to sit at desks being passive learners; instead I encourage movement to immerse them in their learning by providing hands on tasks and lots of group work.
I adhere to some of Rogers’s preventative strategies for
behaviour management, and as such will with at well-planned timetable.
On this last point of behaviour, it is an important part of our role as teachers to keep records, it helps when a particular student is struggling, or exceeding the bench marks, it is noted and can be treated as a basis for school reports, or reference for other departments, such as Department of Children Services, school psychologists and the Department of Education should they require.
"Amanda is showing a very high standard in teaching and is destined to be highly successful in this profession." Murdoch University Supervisor
