Learning Outcome (g)

Articulate and justify a personal professional philosophy of teaching.

Evidence 1.) Notes taken in class, 'How People Learn', 6th March.

Started off with napkin task (folding napkin to certain shape following you tube video), showed that sometimes task done in classrooms have no real learning aspect involved, just completion of the task.

In teaching, to be able to justify what and why you are doing something, in terms of assessment, planning, content etc, one needs to understand how people learn.
There are a number of learning theories that offer different views on how people learn which can guide our teaching.

Blooms Taxonomy
Breaks knowledge into different type, different levels of thinking, questioning, answering.
Involves working at surface and deep level.  The aim is for students to show evidence of different types of thinking in their work.

• knowledge
• comprehension
• application
• analysis
• synthesis
• evaluation

Skinner - Operant Conditioning
Based on idea that people learn through punishments and reinforcement.  To promote/increase positive behaviour teachers should provide rewards (e.g stickers, treats).  To decrease negative behaviour teachers should punish, tell off, give negative consequences e.g time out, to students. Could get stuck in vicious cycle of students only doing work to gain reward, not actually have the inner desire to do so, quite manipulative.

'Communities of Learners' Etienne Wenger, Jean Lave
This involves outsiders learning the rules/conventions in order to become an insider in the learning community

Constructivism
Students have specific ways of thinking as a result of their prior knowledge.  Teachers responsibility to challenge this, add to their way of thinking (when necessary) so they can gain knowledge and learn, learners construct their knowledge through the combination of this.

Metacognition
Students thinking about their thinking

Vygotsky - Socio-cultural theory
Students learn through communicating with others in a social environment.  Developed concepts, scaffolding and the 'ZPD' - working in a level that is harder than what they would be able to do by themselves but are able to do so with assistance.

Piaget - Age/State Theory
Believed that children entered a certain stage of development at certain age.

Evidence 2 - Assignment 3 EDUP 362 'A Personal Philosophy of Teaching Statement'

Evidence 3 - Read Alfie Kohn's "Feel-Bad Edcuation", aided formation of Personal Philosophy.