From the Front of the Classroom
As I began
my journey into teaching, I quickly discovered it wasn’t just about standing in
front of the classroom and giving directions, which every student would
willingly comply with. Instead, teaching
is multi-facetted employing a variety of theories and strategies to help each
and every student learn. In college I contemplated
these theories from Ivan Pavlov’s behaviorist theory to Jean Piaget’s cognitive
stages of development to name a few. In the end, entering the hall of education
with a newly bestowed teaching certificate I found additional hurdles to
overcome. Although I am now considered an
experienced teacher, education has been evolving where students are becoming
more active participants through models of student-centered instruction verses
teacher-centered instruction.
Our
conversation this week have been very reflective; challenging what we consider
to be the better methodology of dealing with 21st century learners
and how that correlates to the implementation of learning theories. One person
in the cohort, Mark, posted about using lecture because that is all he knew.
When do teachers decided to go down a different path? Is there one
moment, a buildup of moments, or just the desire to make a change? Myself, I was taught in parochial schools;
lecture mode was all I knew. Yet, when I entered the classroom for
student teaching I was on the other end of the spectrum. How did I get
there? In the background I can still
hear my sponsoring teacher saying there was no time for hands-on activities or
projects if the standards were all going to be covered. But cover the standards I did and my student
scores rapidly increased. Moreover, student
engagement increased and my classroom filled with chatter. Students were excited to come to class. Yes, even for math.
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| Mount Everest |
Instead
of using one theorist to drive my teaching, I adapted my teaching to the needs
of my students. It did help me, however,
that I began as an instructional aide for special needs students. They taught
me the norm could be redefined. As I
stand in front of my classroom I see students who need to see the lesson, hear
the lesson, and become the lesson.
Adapting lessons in today’s classroom is enhanced through technology
applications. For instance, learning about transformation of functions, college
algebra took a virtual field trip to the Himalayans where they saw a first-hand
account of trekkers going up Mount Everest. They discussed delays due to
weather conditions and the backtracking needed to acclimate to the ever
increasing altitude changes. We graphed
time and altitude changes in our graphing calculators and even changed the
scale to show compressions along with vertical and horizontal shifts. Technology enhanced their experienced by
providing a concrete real-world example on function transformations.
Being
proactive in bringing technology to the classroom is important to me because of
my students. I must engage them. I want them to enjoy learning and see how content
fits into the world around them. I
cannot accomplish this on my own. I need
technology. They need technology. Using
modern tools such as cell phones, laptops, and document cameras can easily be
combined with all learning theories to move forward from a traditional classroom
where students sat in single rows facing the board to copy notes to engaging in
debates through collaborative investigation where the world is just a mouse
click away.
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