Who am I as a learner?
The categories in which is seem to align with are the
auditory and kinaesthetic so more often than not strategies in instruction that
engage me are discussions, physical activities and experiences that affect me
in a visceral way.
What I have found that limits my engagement are
repetitive, personally, long observations, written and reflective in nature.
Not to say that I don’t value these experiences immensely it is just that it
takes more effort on my part to find merit in them for myself, and usually I
need to connect those activities with one of my strengths to be engaged.
I have found that this is evident in my teaching I enjoy
class discussions, physical activities, intellectually varied and challenging
experiences, and even some that did not engage the students in any way. So a
question I have to ask myself is “am I teaching for them or my own enjoyment?”.
I believe that it should be both.
I have the ability to find interest in almost any subject
because of my skills in adapting the conditions in order to appeal to my own
interests but I have not shared this ability with my students, asking them
questions in which they are offered chances to input their own experiences or
understanding my students to the extent to which I can draw on their interests
to allow them to be engaged with the experiences. This in conjunction with
modelling a positive passion for learning and the subject matter can offer
students a learning environment which rewards those positive attitudes.
That last point is one of my highest beliefs in teaching.
Teaching may be a profession but learning is only done by choice. Now while
this does mean we as teachers need to make the learning experience as
attractive as we can to students it does not mean that we subtract those
elements that are less attractive but are profoundly important to the growth of
our students. So the task of a teacher is to create experiences which allow the
students the best chance to engage while at the same time giving them the most
successful experience to learn as possible. The only way that this is possible
is through a rigorous reflective practice.
The important of reflection has only influenced me recently
reflecting on my first prac. While I did set aside time to reflect on my
experiences I found that the reflection was quite superficial and do not
reconnect with my practice. I did have moments of effective reflection but
these were only after intense experiences which if I did spend time in critical
and productive reflection could have been avoided. This is the important reason
for reflection; it gives us a chance to be aware of the causes and conditions
which brought about a specific result. If in reflection we can identify those
variables and analyse them for their success can we create better experiences
for our students.
But those experiences are constantly changing. It is a
fundamental fact in this universe that everything changes. We cannot plan for
every eventuality, so why try. It is because we have the power to play with
those causes and conditions to create better experiences for our students. Not
every student will learn or even want to, all we can offer is the best
opportunity for that learning to occur and using deep reflection can give us
insight and maybe some tools in order to create and be innovative with those
experiences for our students.
Because that is why we teach; so students can learn.
