Reflection On Student Learning

As a student of education, I have been able to gather many ideas and opinions about practices and ideals I want to implement in my future classroom. My philosophies about education are still being formed and continually change with every class I visit and with every educator I encounter. My ideas, admittedly, come from random experiences and intangible texts, but as I gain more experience in the field through my courses, my philosophies about teaching will become more clearly defined. These few ideas I have now will undoubtedly be added upon as I enter student teaching and my professional career, nevertheless, they are concepts of which I hope to never lose sight.

According to Seyfarth (2008) “all of the actions of a human being originate from inner motivation” (p. 81). Therefore, teachers need to reflect on their beliefs about education in order to keep motivated and teach effectively. This paper will present my own personal practice theories and beliefs about the learner, the teacher, and the subject matter. As well as to analyzing the importance of the classroom climate, the parents, the school leadership team and the principles of learning.

Reflection is thought by linking recent experience with early experience to promote more complex and interrelated mental models or patterns. The thinking involves looking for commonalities, differences, and interrelations beyond their superficial elements. The goal is to develop higher order thinking skills.

The greatest struggle in our educational system is the lack of educators that are willing to activate the students’ interest in the subject. Instead of increasing the students’ motivation to learn, students are being presented with material that is meaningless to them. I believe that effective teaching starts by presenting students with material that seems relevant to them. Presenting fresh ideas to students increases their motivation. Breaking the monotone routine makes students willing to explore new content. It is the teacher’s responsibility to provide students with some motivation that augments the students’ willingness to learn a topic. Learning is a step by step process that will not occur over night. This process requires great effort from both the teacher and the

Critical reflection Planning to ensure students learning experiences are engaging and challenging is a complex and demanding process. Catering for diverse needs and abilities requires careful and detailed planning and I am grateful that I had the opportunity to experience and work in a Year One/Two composite class with a diverse range of learning needs. My placement class consisted of 24 students including two students diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), three students diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and three students for whom English is an additional language or dialect (EAL/D). There were a number of students with anxiety or behavioural issues and other students who needed to be extended into the next stage of learning.

When we prepare children for life. We have to bring lot of changes to the teaching methodology. My personal philosophy is to create positive learning environment through active learning. Teaching and learning are the two sides of a coin... Students can learn best when they are motivated. To motivate them for learning teacher need to be well prepared and motivated him/herself. Students enjoyed learning if the activity is fun. Therefor an effective strategy can help students to get involved in the lesson and they get to know what they learn best.

Critical reflection is an essential part of student’s development, it entails students to contemplate on their practices, actions, and individualities (Sutherland, 2013). The objective of this paper is to explore my emerging practice framework based on a particular experience during my placement. Further, this paper will outline the piece of work and support I have provided to a client, which will give me the opportunity to examine the skills, knowledge, theories, and values I used as a guide to my practice.

‘Reflective teaching should be personally fulfilling for teachers, but also lead to a steady increase in the quality of the education provided for children.’ Pollard (2008, P.4) Here Pollard is suggesting that reflecting on our own teaching experiences is not only important for the standard of education we provide, but also for our own benefit as it can be rewarding and very worthwhile to reflect on our practices. By reflecting on my own practices in SE1, it will enable opportunities to analyse strengths and weakness and how to improve for future practice, which will allow me to develop more as both a reflective and a professional teacher. This idea of reflection stems from Dewey’s (1910) cited in McGregor and Cartwright (2011) ideas where he suggests that there are three attributes which enables us to be reflective, them being ‘open-mindedness’, ‘wholeheartedness’ and ‘responsibility’. By taking responsibility for our own teaching and reflecting upon our actions, it allows us to be open-minded about changing and adapting to new ideas from what we have concluded from our reflections, which then allows us to fully engage with these new thoughts.

Starting University can be quite the daunting experience. Moving to a new city, or on my part; an entirely different country, meeting new people, and adapting to the student lifestyle, your senses are constantly overloaded. With all these new impressions and responsibilities hanging on your shoulders, it is vital to take a step back once in a while, and reflect over where your life is heading. Doing this can play a key role in making the most out of your years as an undergraduate student. I will therefore with the support of Boud, Keogh and Walker’s (1985), as well as Kolb’s (1984) and Gibbs’ (1988) work on reflection, reflect over my own transition into Higher Education.

This message is directed towards educators. Being that I am no educator, nor have I ever experienced being in the shoes of one, it would be notable to say that my understanding, in terms of the notions of education, may not be valid. It would appear that only teachers understand the struggle of sitting in a room in which the interest for learning is zero to none. But there is a perspective that is genuine. The perspective of a student. An educator, more likely than not, has taught the same class, over many years, in the same forty-six by thirty-five foot class room. By the time a student graduates, he or she, more likely than not, has had well over 10 different teachers and gained the perspective of how different classes are run. In my time as a student, I have acquired an understanding of that which is wrong.

My goal is to increase and demonstrate my personal knowledge and confidence in ICT teaching strategies and resources to use during lessons on placement to both help with the engagement of student but allows for extension opportunities for students learning.

In ensuring that genuine learning transpires in the classroom, there are various issues that educators must concern their selves with. Understanding and responding to these issues require extensive knowledge of various theories in education as well as in the application of such theories. One such issue which is the focus of this paper is that on how learning occurs. Student learning is the primary goal of any academic institution, and leading students to achieve learning is the purpose of every educator. However in order for teachers to be able to lead students to learn, it is only logical to consider that teachers must know how learning actually

Studying Learning and Communicating Online has been a very important experience for my academic and professional development because I have learnt skills that will keep me up to date with the drivers of change such as the new media ecology, extreme longevity, the rise of smart machines and new global connections(Institute for the Future, 2010).In this discussion I am therefore going to reflect on my journey of learning since week one to show how my goals, skills and understanding of learning have been transformed by learning about the 21st century skills. In the conclusion, I will briefly discuss the future implications of acquiring such skills for my personal and career development.

Going back to what were my beliefs about experience and learning meant to me, I still feel that experience and learning has always been a part of life. We learn in different ways and process different understandings differently. But as I furthered my knowledge on how experience and learning in adulthood are understood, I have learned much more.

I believe a successful learning experience is engaging and valued by the students. I believe students’ will value what they are learning if they believe what they’re learning is relevant. Relevance is important to teaching and learning because it is directly related to student engagement and motivation (Frymier & Schulman, 1995; Martin & Dowson, 2009). Marsh (2008), states a positive classroom environment provides a sense of security, community, belonging and identity (Marsh, 2008). Based on my experience as a practicing teacher, I have found establishing clear expectations within the classroom assist in maintaining control and discipline, to create a safe learning environment (Fatt Hee, 1996). I believe within all classrooms, students’ diversity should be valued. This creates a discrimination free environment and ensures students feel safe and included (Philips, 2010). According to Stanford & Parkay (2007) students are more engaged in class when learning experiences are satisfying, challenging and friendly.