My natural style aligns with a humanist approach to learning. Establishing the foundations of Maslow’s hierarchy (Duchesne & McMaugh, 2016) of safety, belongingness and building self-esteem have been a priority for me as a teacher. Ensuring I have both clear and agreed expectations of the students and myself sets class boundaries. Keeping to these agreed expectations ensures consistent predictable behaviour management which assists in fostering a safe classroom culture.
To cater for student diversity, I have come across, I have realised there is not a one size fits all approach and I persistently trial new approaches to engage the students to have them reach my high expectations. I’m realistic about what is required to be an effective teacher but ultimately, I use a range of techniques including strategies aligned with behaviouralism to scaffold students towards a humanist approach to learning where they are intrinsically motivated (Duchesne, & McMaugh, n.d, 2016). As an effective teacher, I ensure that I create a safe learning environment and a sense of belonging in the classroom (Churchill, 2013). I take the time to show interest in the students and their backgrounds and develop positive relationships. To ensure I’m effective I work alongside their parents to ensure we are working towards the same goal and celebrate success along the way. I monitor student achievements through a number of assessment types to ensure effecting learning is occurring and being flexible to alter my approach if assessment results indicate otherwise. By creating a safe classroom culture, I can reduce student’s anxiety in assessment situations and give them the motivation to seek feedback to improve. I have found formative assessment useful and utilise this type of assessment as a core part of my pedagogy. This allows me to check the progress of students and to determine my effectiveness. To ensure effective assessment I utilise different types of assessment to holistically assess my student’s performance. In addition to formative assessment I utilise authentic assessments, these involve real-world activities in Science. When designing performance assessments, I utilise Bloom's taxonomy to ensure I’m assessing high order learning of students. I want to create positive learning experiences to ensure they have success and positive association’s in future learning endeavours (Killen, 2015). References Churchill, R. (2013). Teaching; making a difference (2nd ed., pp. 112 - 143). Milton, Qld: John Wiley & Sons Australia. Duchesne, S., & McMaugh (2016), A. Educational psychology for learning and teaching (1st ed.). South Melbourne: CENGAGE Learning. Killen, R. (2015). Effective teaching strategies; lessons from research and practice (6th ed.). South Melbourne: Cengage Learning Australia. |