Teaching theories??
 

Hey everybody how's it going?
So i have this paper due on tuesday, it's the last one before I finish the semester (yes late I know that student strike f'ed up everything).
But anyway it's about my theories about teaching, you like what is the best way to get to the kids and all that stuff, stuff to make them pay attention and sh!t like that.
It's not like I want you guys to do the essay for me I just wanted some ideas, and since I know that some of you are teachers I though, why not?.
So any help would be appreciated, thanx.

dude
 

there are so many teaching theories out there...
lots of information can be found on the net...
Some interesting theories are those of Gardner... the theory of multiple intelligences, but thats more focused on the learner.... ie. catering teaching for children with different learning styles... maths smart, linguistic smart, body smart, image smart etc etc...

this is a good list comparing various strategies that I used for an essay once...

http://www.adprima.com/teachmeth.htm

hope that helps....

mjp

I would advise trying to obtain some OFSTED reports which are available online and cover week-long observation of schools in the UK by examiners to ascertain the quality of teaching. They point out downfalls and suggest strategies to enhance learning.

One particular example that I found was where a teacher was praised for identifying 3 categories of child and splitting them up according to intelligence. The group with the higher intellect were left with tasks to complete by themselves, the teaching assistant took the mid-level students and the teacher herself looked after and directed the lower tier children. The group with the more competent children were also set more demanding challenges once the first set of tasks were completed.

I personally think that this is a great way to teach and there are too many instances (particularly in the schools that I went to) where the teaching staff focus primarily on those of higher academic ability in order to fulfil these students' potential whilst almost ignoring the fact that half of the class are not given the attention and guidance they need to excel themselves. It creates a massive gulf between those of differing abilities and may also be a cause for the increased levels of truency and delinquency amongst teenagers if their needs were not met satisfactorily in their younger years (that's my theory btw, and not scientific fact! :wink: )

I think the most important is to make the lesson interesting and be friendly to the students. I have a teacher who's really understanding and approachable, and our class loves him. As well as trying to make thing interesting for the class he gives great handouts and does little things for the class such as hole punching the handouts for us (most of us carry folders). When something is done right he always give praises and he encourages people to ask questions when they don't understand. When someone do ask a question he explains tirelessly until the person understands, even if it takes a long time.

He never puts a student down for a low mark, he tells them that he'll help them do better. But the thing is that actually put us (or me at least) under more pressure to do well because we don't want to disappoint him.

Sometimes when he lets us talk in class he joins in the conversation (and he's quite funny), and there's no I-am-older-and-I-have-more-power attitide. But the people in our class respect him more than any other meaner or stricter teacher in our school.

These are great ideas thanks.
I searched for sites on this and found basically nothing I could use, and what I could use was minimal, but the site you gave me looks like it's gonna be really helpful mathew thanks.



RS8MB0R8 and Mis5y you both gave me some good ideas thanks.

as far as the getting them to listen part

In the schools here the way i look at it from 1st year to 4th (about 12-16ish) the teachers all pupils pay attention to even the ****wits are the ones everyones scared of. they don't necesarilly need to have a baseball bat hanging up above their desk for show but a teacher that pupils know will kick their ass into gear if they push it gets much more "respect" than one that has no onfidence and they can push around.

after that point people who are still in school are there generally because they want to be and the teachers don't need to bullshit them and can just treat them with the respect they desrve and it'll get returned.

your mileage may vary but we had a guy called doig who everyone in 1st to 4th year hated because he was so menacing and half the school would know when someone was in trouble with him cause he was so loud. he taught history and RE. most RE teachers we had were pushovers and the classes were shambollic but anytime he came in it went deadly silent.

I then had him for philosophy in 6th year and everyoen was dreading it but he treated us like adults, is one of the most intelligent men I've ever met, was about the furthest from aggresive you could get and was genuinely a really decent guy who didn't just see it as a wage. By the end of 6th year everyone who had him for a class was arguing whos table he was at at the prom.

he got the respect of every section of the school because he realised you had to use different methods to get the results.

that's incredibly true. i wonder if it's a phenomena only experienced in the UK. I was a amsart arse in school so i'm not complaining but looking back it was definetely a case of: k this mob could make it to uni with some help lets do all we can (turns round to "idiots") have they not dropped out and started signing on yet?

It may be true in your experience, but it's not always true. I work with middle school teachers now and their focus is always the lower-average students. There are students who are still in the dark on everything, obviously, but the higher level kids don't seem to get enough challenges. Middle school isn't rocket science, of course, but it seems to me that if several students are having 98-100% averages in their classes then the teachers aren't focusing on only the upper tier of students. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to teach to the middle students, but I can't help but notice the brighter kids could use a little more challenge...and, as you all pointed out, the lower-than-average students could use more help too.

And Javier, if you still need some ideas I've found that if you can make discussions interactive that it keeps the students engaged. Asking questions, and answering their questions with questions gets them interested and helps to keep them interested. Also, I think a teacher should know his or her audience, keep up with what's going on with the kids and what's popular. Relating topics to real life and particularly the local community helps when the students have a hard time grasping why what they are learning is important (I work in a math class...this comes up ALL the time). Another thing is that all lessons need a focus and some closure to them. I've worked with teachers before who'll do a lesson or a lab and when it's over, it's over...there needs to be a re-cap of what should have been learned that day.

I think that it seems to be an unfortunate trend that, as kids get older and move away from the 'soft-touch' approach that can be used in lower age-group schools, they become more aware of whether or not their needs are being met academically - even if it's at an almost subconscious level.

Couple this with the fact that an alarming number of schools place priority on National League Tables rather than necessarily striving to help all students reach their potential and it's bound to end up in disruption IMO. Even the least intellectual students aren't blind and can see that, whilst so much emphasis is placed on how many A-grades are attained at A-level and attention is focused on the brighter kids to achieve that end, they are being left out in the cold. At this age, the perception of failure and worthlessness can be incredibly damaging psychologically during their 'developing' years and the only way that they believe they can demonstrate this is to rebel.

If you can't get attention doing something well, you'll get it anyway you can!

Going to a selective grammar school, I no doubt saw the worst examples of this 'academic tiering' generated by the school's own desire to 'look good' at a national level at the expense of some students' education - thankfully, I was also one of the lucky ones like Jim. I think that this is probably a more common problem than many realise and too much blame, albeit justified for the most part, is laid at the feet of the parents but a considerable amount still rests with the schools and unofficial teaching policies.

Since school kids are now becoming more aware of the ever-thinning barriers keeping them disciplined, they are becoming ever-increasingly disruptive and a shortage of good teachers is being seen as a result, afterall, who wants to work in an environment where verbal and physical abuse are ignored and the kids given too much protection against disciplinary measures to the point where school management is scared to side with teachers over problem issues because of the threat of legal action from parents (who were once drop-outs causing these problems themselves)?

It's going to be a tough predicament to turn around as it's already a slippery slope and the complete disregard and ignorance of authority in such a young age-group, amongst so many is certainly something to worry about! Allowing it to continue, however, will only make it worse in the long run and it may become almost irreversible.

What sort of society would that breed?

It's already fast on it's way!

Bring back the cane ASAP!

Just finished it, thanks guys.
I over did it a bit (it was supposed to be 3 pagesand I did nearly 4) but the profesor isn't gonna take away any points because of that.
still have some studying to do, I have 2 finals tomorrow and then it's all finally over, To soak up the sun and scope all those tiny bikinis out there.
anyway back to studying, and thanks again all for your time and ideas.