74944336
Teacher Reflection
1. Based on what you have learnt about young adolescents in the middle years of schooling outline and justify an appropriate philosophy/approach for teaching young people in junior secondary
Students in junior secondary are normally aged between the years 7 and 9 and at this stage they are undergoing changes physically, emotionally and mentally. Junior secondary provides a better transition between primary and secondary phases of education and learning. Students at this stage are usually going through adolescence and they need to be handled properly in order to grow up as responsible adults in society.
Secondary school opens a new chapter both academically and personally. The surroundings are new, the teachers, the rules, responsibilities and expectations are also new. When children finish primary schooling they are not psychologically prepared to adopt the changes that come with secondary schooling hence the introduction of junior secondary. The academic demands of primary school are not as complex as compared to that of secondary but junior secondary has academic programs that are integrated to those of secondary school.
Young people in junior secondary should be encouraged to have a great interest in learning, they should be advised to love themselves and the changes they are going through and they should also be encouraged to have goals that they can work on achieving. For students to maximize on all these factors then there should be opportunities, skills and atmosphere that support them.
At this stage of their lives children are losing interest in school and most are dropping out of school and engaging in non productive activities. When young people drop out of school they end up being inexperienced and less skilled in society hence they cannot find decent work which leads to social vices like drug addiction, crime, violence and homelessness and this ends up affecting the society as a whole.
As an educator, dealing with children is challenging since there are different groups of students, they are some who are assertive, alert and bright but there are those who are quite, withdrawn and slow at things. In order for teachers to handle the students effectively they have to get each student’s perspective. By doing this they are able to understand the students better and are able to know each student’s weakness and strength. This approach also makes students to appreciate the curriculum and look at the world at a critical point of view for they know that their opinions matter.
Teachers should use a responsive approach to assessment and evaluation; this allows teachers to make good judgments on students on students’ performance and capabilities both individually and collectively. Assessment can be carried out in many ways and the sources could be the students, other teachers and also their parents.
Teachers should use a student-centered approach of working closely with the students compared to the way they would work with an adult. Teachers should encourage participation in class and focus on students instead of the traditional mode of learning where all the focus was on the teacher. The class environment should be free for students to express themselves, collaborate with teachers and contribute in development of the curriculum. (Paul, 2009)
A teacher teaming approach should be used where teachers work as a team of colleagues, this will be a show of trust and dependency that will help students to rely on one another when learning. This approach results in collective responsibility both among teachers and students. Modeling should also be encouraged; students need to have a model figure a person who will act as their mentor. A mentor will help them to be more interested in learning and pursuing their interests.
It is recommended that philosophy for children should be made better by teachers and students to suit their own requirements. Empathy, deep reflection and action are necessary for this to happen. Only by reading students’ behavior and empathizing with them can a teacher make the necessary adjustments for productive and relevant learning. Empathy is the experience of understanding the condition, feelings or thoughts of another person. When teachers practice empathy and act on it they are working productively in ways that the young students could follow. The classroom would benefit a lot from this adjustment and act of morality.
To achieve empathy, however, means going beyond the check lists. It means paying attention to the each and every student’s living presence and putting oneself in their shoes. (Paul, 2009)
2. Explain how you would engage young people
Majority of students found the junior secondary program boring and the duty of teachers is to involve them so that they can find learning entertaining. Students can be encouraged to participate in group discussions in class. This exercise would ensure participation of every student in class and will help in the association of girls and boys in class. Discussions tend to pill students of different characters together and bridging gaps in relations in class.
Students can be involved in the selection of resources used for studying and research in the curriculum. Though this is a good idea of engaging students in learning teachers should ensure that the quality of these I resources are not compromised. By using students to suggest resources teachers are using them as sources of resources and are sharpening their skills of critical thinking.
Students should be involved in writing during class discussions and teaching in general. This could occur as a means of closure or immediately after a section before proceeding on to another topic for discussion. They could write down ideas and thoughts in journals. This makes students to consolidate their thinking and literacy skills, thus providing an avenue for more depth through reflection.
Teachers should make more information about learning available, do things differently to make learning more interesting, show young people what they can achieve by learning. Teachers could make learning more interesting by having gifts like candy or fancy pens for every student who answers a question in class or participates in class. Since students love gifts then participation in class is going to improve a great deal and this would also help curb boredom.
Students should be engaged in hands-on activities by doing assignments, cooperative learning, problem solving, and project- based learning rather than passively receiving knowledge. Hands-on activities make learning fun and personally engaging because students get the opportunity to try things out, use their senses, ask questions and discuss with others. Active learning also makes students work in collaboration with others. (Best practices, 2006)
Young people are encouraged to participate in a variety of expressive activities such as sculpture, dramatic plays, painting, dancing, music, ceramics, construction and writing. These extra curriculum activities are going to keep students excited and interested in school and are also going to contribute to their development. They will have something to look forward to other than studies.
In a typical classroom there are students with diverse personalities and come from diverse cultures; teachers need to accept all of them in order to make them feel safe. Teachers should make their diversity look like strengths but not deficits. For students to participate and engage in class they have to feel emotionally and physically safe. (Melinda, 2009)
The school could broaden the range of learning options or subjects that are available so that there is something that everyone can do. Most students at the adolescent stage do not see the relevance of school and that is why there are a lot of drop outs at this level. It is the duty of educators to provide learning options that will seem important to students and that they can be able to use the knowledge they gather in future. (Gavin, 2006)
Teachers should improve the quality of support to young people, including appropriate information, advice and guidance. When students are exposed to appropriate information about learning and the importance of learning they will get encouraged to participate in learning. Students could also get guidance and advice from people who have already achieved success through education; this could motivate them and improve their interest in education. Their parents could also help in supporting, guiding and advising their children. (Gavin, 2006)
Young people are greatly affected by how their parents view them and feel about them. They also feel positive about their parents or guardians sense of advice. If their parents or guardians keep shooting them down about their school work, they will feel discouraged and this will directly affect their school work poorly but if they receive positive feedback about themselves and school work no matter how they perform they will improve their performance in school. Most young people tend to look at what their parents are doing for a living and want to be like them or better than them. So it is of importance for parents to offer a good path for their children to follow but they should not put too much pressure on them to perform better than them.
3. Explain how you would target higher order thinking skills whilst supporting a range of learning needs and abilities
In all classrooms and schools there are learners with different learning needs and abilities, there are learners who demonstrate high learning abilities, middle abilities and others show low abilities in one or more areas of learning. Although there is no single test that determines the abilities of a young person, teachers ought to assess by looking at the students behaviors. Students can be generally intelligent, in specific academic areas, certain arts, leadership, creative thinking, interpersonal and intrapersonal skills.
Students who are highly or moderately skilled can be readily accommodated with enrichment and extension in the regular classroom compared to those who are not highly skilled. A variety of thinking strategies is taught to all students, as part of the school curriculum. These exercises help all learners including those who are more talented. Students who are highly or exceptionally gifted require several practices provided for development and monitoring of their performance. They could participate in curriculum differentiation, debating, hybrid courses, mentoring student leadership and competitions. (Chris, 2006)
Curriculum differentiation is the structuring of lesson plans for specific students based on their individual aptitude. A differentiated curriculum widens and develops a student’s knowledge, especially those who are profoundly or exceptionally talented in an area of the curriculum.
Teachers will develop, monitor and work with more complex content when it comes to the more intelligent students in order to challenge their capabilities while those who are slow and have low achievements are allowed to achieve and grow at their natural level. This will be discussed with each student in partnership with his or her family where appropriate. (Chris, 2006)
Environmental factors can influence the development of intelligence among students and so the emphasis in education must be on the learning environment. It is important that the learning environment and curriculum is able to accommodate the different learning needs and abilities. A typical learning environment should consist of student population, teaching staff, learning facilities like classrooms, libraries, laboratories and sports facilities. All these provisions should be able to offer the adequate curriculum in order to improve the thinking skills of students.
Teachers could come up with projects to support each student who has particular abilities while at the same time offering opportunities to other students with few or no abilities to develop their strengths. These projects could be from various activities like starting a school newspaper, enterprise activity or engage in charity events.
The teaching staff could add pull-out programmes/master classes to the school curriculum. A pull out program is the act of taking pupils who have gained from a short term specialized programme of work from the mainstream class to work together as a group. This group could be taken from across a year or across stages and these opportunities are offered at regular intervals in each academic year.
This programme gives different students the opportunity to be noticed for different activities depending on the requirements of the task and on the individual’s profile of abilities. Each student would be in the master class for a short amount of time and the student will not always be in the same group. This allows different pupils to participate in different tasks that they are good at.
Mentoring systems are very adequate for young students since they improve the view of education and life in general. Mentoring also improves critical thinking and these leads to better performance in certain academic areas. Parents, older pupils, teachers, successful people and celebrities can be mentors to students.
Debating improves the order of thinking among students since it allows several students to come together and discuss or argue about a motion/ topic concerning school, current trends like technology or matters of general knowledge. Debating makes students able to think critically and fast, it also makes students to be eloquent in languages and adept with vocabularies and facts. Students who engage in debates tend to be confident and find expressing themselves before others very easy.
Educators should emphasize on the use of information and communications technology (ICT) since the world of today has made milestones when it comes to technology. The field of ICT offers endless possibilities and challenges to young students individually or as a group. The internet is a platform used by several people all over and it still proves to be a challenge to others. There are young people who come up with websites that are hosted on the internet and this has been made possible by hard work, high order thinking skills and support. Teachers ought to use ICT as a learning tool and integrate it into the curriculum. With practice highly skilled students are going to be able to write their own computer programs that can be used to improve our lives.
4. Explain how you would attempt to create an inclusive, supportive learning environment regardless of race, culture, gender or socio-economic background of the students
Teachers should ensure that all students regardless of race culture, gender, socioeconomic background, family structure, or disability have an inclusive, supportive learning environment that challenges their thought processes and respects their unique differences. Each of these factors can affect the relationship between teacher, student, family, friends and community. Teachers should respect diversity by looking at all students with genuine interest and openness, and they should be flexible when providing instruction with no discrimination.
The first thing teachers and educators should do is ensure that all students experience learning in the least restrictive environment. The least restrictive environment is an environment where young students are able to get education with their peers to the maximum extent possible which is mostly a classroom. Here students of all sorts will interact and feel welcomed since despite the diversity they have one thing in common, their age group. Young people of the same peer group tend to have similar interest enabling them to coexist freely in a classroom. (Melinda, 2009)
Teachers should create a classroom environment that does not have bullying between members of different sex, especially boys who are fond of bullying their female classmates. Teachers should not be biased to one gender and leave out the other because the gender that is being discriminated upon will not perform well to their maximum potential. Support of both genders both at home and in school will encourage students to take up independent gender roles and there will be no qualms when it comes to group discussion. (Melinda, 2009)
When we talk about the socioeconomic background of a student we are talking both income and educational level of the family members. Researchers say that one in five of America’s children live in poverty and that a third of students with exceptionalities come from homes with below poverty income levels (Turnbull, Turnbull, Erwin, & Soodak, 2006). To help the number of students with exceptionalities then teachers should use teaching strategies and projects that are accessible to all students despite their socioeconomic background. Teachers should also emphasize to students the importance of having a trusting and non judgmental relationship with one another despite their respective backgrounds.
Teachers should observe and assess their students before making assumptions about what students are capable of. If they make assumptions then some students are left under challenged, overwhelmed or disengaged. If teachers act accordingly then students will value their teaching since they are being considerate of everyone’s needs and interests at the same time other students are able to emulate the teachers in valuing one another.
Teachers should develop strategies for sharing and generating knowledge in class. This can be achieved by creating open, flexible activities that enable students to learn from their own knowledge, interests and experiences while at the same time supporting the sharing and application of different knowledge, and perspectives among peers. This improves the learning environment of everyone in school regardless of the exceptionalities.
Teachers could also expound on the diversity of students by teaching and making the students aware of the different cultures backgrounds and their relevance in society. They could learn of different practices carried out by different people, it could be child rearing, food types, religion etc. this will encourage connecting among students, understanding and also appreciation.
Teachers should organize all students to take part in high-interest educational activities that are p relevant. Engaging students from unique backgrounds in interesting educational activities results in a large number of future adults of the country that and participate successfully as global citizens. Students who go through learning institutions that are inclusive and supportive get to live fulfilling lives in future as adults and are able to exist anywhere in the world since they were taught the importance of diversity while they were growing.
In order for the society to have more successful and responsible adults then students, teachers and parents have to play their roles right in the act of nurturing good talent and skills. All the successful people in the world today are skilled in one or more specific areas of life.
References
Paul Rumble (2009) In search of the Middle school Teacher: what differentiates the middle school teacher from other teachers?
May Leckey (June, 2000) Philosophy for Children in the Middle Years of Schooling: Findings from a Year Seven Case Study
Gavin Bailey (2006) Re-engaging young people
Best Practices: A Resource for Teachers (2006) Public Schools of North Carolina
Department of Public Instruction: Elementary Division
Chris Smith (2006) Guidance for addressing the needs of highly able pupils
Melinda D. Swafford & Helen T.(2009) Dainty Learning Environment: Respecting Diversity and Exceptionality; Tennessee Technological University
