Teaching As A Middle Level Educator

According to Anthony & Walshaw, (2009) within a constructivist view, it is a teacher’s role to facilitate the learning of a child by providing a resource rich environment from which they guide a students learning. A student within a constructivist-learning environment must become engaged in the learning process by becoming a researcher, identifying a problem, collecting and analysing data and formulating a conclusion. This process of engagement provides a student with endless opportunity to develop his or her own understanding and knowledge. An educators ability to understand this learning theory as a process of construction and development provides a conceptual framework from which to build a teaching practice.

As a teacher, one of my main roles is to motivate my learners, to develop their ability to learn also to develop my learner’s aspiration to learn. When you train to teach you read about delivering training and how to facilitating learning, but in reality you do much more than that, your role as a teacher is not just about teaching your subject or preparing learners for assessment. The focus of your role as a teacher I feel relates very much to inspiring your learners to change and develop their personal, social and professional skills to the best of their

“…apart from the prime and given responsibility of teaching selected content and skills, middle school teachers must be about the business of helping students believe in themselves, form their character, discover their interests, nurture their potential, gain a sound perspective on their physical development and related health issues, and develop those universally and critically important humanitarian and social skills—all while daring them to be their best selves, to breath deeply, and to live well at the moment.”

I feel that the goal of education is to open up a world of possibilities for learners. The purpose of education is to show someone that they have the ability to do and be whomever they want to. Education is simply there for bettering oneself and one’s world.

The responsibilities of the students are to maintain the coherence of the school community and to keep the school a safe and productive environment. It is necessary for students to follow the code of conduct supplied by the school, and must advocate anti-bullying within the school community. It is the student’s responsibility to, alongside teachers and parents, commit to create and maintain an environment that promotes learning. Students must show responsibility in achieving their full academic potential.

My personal objectives for teaching is to connect the dots for the students when they learn new things and find ways to integrate what they knew and continuing to learn (Moran, Burson & Conrad,

The great challenge for constructivism is that the world in which students and teachers interact is not utopian. Students come to class with predetermined ideas about a course, or with personal needs that distract from attention from the classroom experience. Some students are not willing or able to interact with peers due to emotional issues, thus

Results of hierarchical regression showed that the teachers has a considerably higher level of fidelity to the curriculum when beliefs aligned more with the constructivism approach to teaching and had a better since of self-efficacy for student engagement and instructional strategies. It tells the reader that this information was valid regardless of the class size, age of students, or degree/years of experience of the teacher. Pretty much it sums up that it does not matter what experience level of the teacher is, or the class size but that the teacher dealt with constructivist curriculum better when it was based on the

I believe that Martin Luther King Jr. captured the fundamentals of teaching when he said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically.” My goal as a teacher is to allow the students to apply what they learn in the classroom to the outside world. I personally believe that school should be a place for the students to come and not have to worry about feeling embarrassed/bullied. It should ultimately be a place of understanding and learning.

Furthermore, as I read the assigned articles and viewed videos, I realized that my teachers obviously, followed Piaget’s, Vygotsky. Dewey, and Bruner constructivist view because they used the theory of assimilation and accommodation, e.g., the learning of a new experience and changing of a person’s worldview. I also discovered after deep reflection on this week’s assignment, how much of an impact my teachers had on my teaching style. Before retiring, I taught based on what my students needed. Therefore, much of my teaching mixed the theories of, Constructivism, Social Constructivism and Cognitive-Behavioral depending on the student.

Constructivism encourages the learner to be active regarding how they learn, take information and concluding it to their understanding instead of being a passive learner (Piaget, 2016).

Having a constructivist classroom can mean many different things. Being a teacher with a constructivist perspective is a different type of teaching style than people are used to. Constructivism, as I understand it, is a way of teaching that has the students learn through their own methods. They are to try to find their own style of learning a concept, whether it be in their heads or with unifix blocks or by drawing pictures. Everyone learns differently and children need to be given the freedom to explore their learning by themselves. Also, students need to be able to construct their own meanings and insights without teacher instruction. Having a constructivist classroom would mean the teacher not giving as much direction as in a traditional classroom. Teachers with this perspective want their students to be “’mathematizing’” their learning (FD Ch 1.4).

My beliefs on learning is that the teacher is the key to all children’s learning. The teacher is the one who interacts with the children and gives them the tools they need to continue their schooling. The teacher is also the one that communicates with the parents about the development of their children. The teacher also has to learn how to give the child the best learning opportunity they can. No two children are exactly alike so it is the teacher’s job to make sure each child gets the most they can out of the class. A teacher can not make children enjoy learning and getting an education, but they can make it fun along the and inspire the children to want to learn more. That is really the main job of a teacher is to inspire.

There are five identified central tenets of constructivism as a teaching philosophy: Constructivist teachers seek and value students’ points of view. This concept is similar to the reflective action process we call withitness, in which teachers attempt to perceive students’ needs and respond to them appropriately; Constructivist teachers challenge students to see different points of view and thereby construct new knowledge. Learning occurs when teachers ask students what they think they know about a subject and why they think they know it; Constructivist teachers recognize that curricula must have meaning for students. When students see the relevance of curricula, their interest in learning grows; Constructivist teachers create lessons that tackle big ideas, not small bits of information. By seeing the whole first, students are able to determine how the parts fit together; Constructivist teachers assess student learning in daily classroom activities, not through the use of separate testing or evaluation events. Students

Now we are going to explore teacher and student norms and roles in classroom settings. According to Phillippo (2013), “in recent years, academic, policy and popular discussions about education have increasingly emphasized teachers ' central role in promoting student academic growth” (p. 358). The roles of teachers influence students’ learning. Teacher roles have tended to focus on the curricular instruction of students within classrooms. They are also expected to plan things for the students. They create lesson plans, activities, and more. Teachers must be leaders in the classroom and in the school so they can earn the respect of students by setting a positive example. They must discipline students, distributing fair and consistent punishments to students who break the rules.