Assignment 1 - The ways technology supports my dominant teaching perspective.
“Life doesn't require that we be the best, only that we try our best.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
According to the Teacher Perspective Inventorymy dominant teaching perspective is an apprenticeship style which makes sense since a lot of the teaching I do is project based learning within the context of teaching programming and Chess.
The second dominant perspective I have according to the TPI form is one of direct instruction which I agree in regards to the instruction of Japanese class.
The TPI ranking shows no recessive aspects of my teaching styles, and this makes sense since I have developed a constructivist philosophy, and use all of these teaching strategies in order to help students to construct knowledge within themselves.
My Teaching Philosophy
These dominant teaching perspectives come from my teaching philosophy in which I have a strong belief in the public education system and believe that the goal of student achievement takes precedence over the sorting and ranking of students. This is part of my belief in the constructivist model. I do not support the idea of transmission of knowledge, nor do I subscribe to the idea that groups are the way to develop knowledge, though I do feel that both of these applications can help students to construct knowledge.
How Technology supports my teaching philosophy
The way which technology supports my teaching philosophy and therefore my teaching perspectives are as follows:
1. Technology allows Learning to be self paced so that students are able to internalize knowledge at a pace that works for them. Technology allows for this to happen by making for flexible timelines and assessment (students can take tests when they feel that they are ready, not when the teacher is ready). I do not feel that forcing students into assessment when they are not ready is necessarily the best way to conduct summative assessment and with the help of technology, be it a moodle quiz that lets students rewrite a quiz or a word document that allows for questions to be re-ordered or changed easily.
2. Technology allows students to be part of the learning process. Technology can help with this by allowing students to express themselves in a variety of ways beyond speaking (which is still an important and valid form of contributing), such as on a blog or class discussion site, or a wiki such as this one.
3. Technology allows me to be more organized and therefore spend less time on tasks which do not help students to learn. By using bulk emails and having grades accessible to students, it helps me to be more organized and spend less time on administration and more time dealing with student learning.
4. Technology allows me to access new information and teaching strategies quickly and efficiently. In courses such as computers where there is new information all the time, this allows me to stay current. In courses such as Japanese, mail lists allows for me to try new teaching strategies.
5. Technology allows students to make corrections to digital assignments without redoing the entire project. This allows me to make sure that he work that students hand in for summative assessment is perfect. An example of this is the “only 100%” assignments which I give to programming students and they can re-hand in assignments until they are perfect.
Limitations of my teaching philosophy due to the system in which I operate
I teach in the public school in which I strongly support, but this also causes me to have to make compromises about some of my philosophies. I am not always able to give students the time they need to fully understand concepts. I also have to make choices about which students need the support the most, and where to divert my time and energy.
Assignment 1 - The ways technology supports my dominant teaching perspective.
“Life doesn't require that we be the best, only that we try our best.”
H. Jackson Brown, Jr.
According to the Teacher Perspective Inventory my dominant teaching perspective is an apprenticeship style which makes sense since a lot of the teaching I do is project based learning within the context of teaching programming and Chess.
The second dominant perspective I have according to the TPI form is one of direct instruction which I agree in regards to the instruction of Japanese class.
The TPI ranking shows no recessive aspects of my teaching styles, and this makes sense since I have developed a constructivist philosophy, and use all of these teaching strategies in order to help students to construct knowledge within themselves.
My Teaching Philosophy
These dominant teaching perspectives come from my teaching philosophy in which I have a strong belief in the public education system and believe that the goal of student achievement takes precedence over the sorting and ranking of students. This is part of my belief in the constructivist model. I do not support the idea of transmission of knowledge, nor do I subscribe to the idea that groups are the way to develop knowledge, though I do feel that both of these applications can help students to construct knowledge.
How Technology supports my teaching philosophy
The way which technology supports my teaching philosophy and therefore my teaching perspectives are as follows:
1. Technology allows Learning to be self paced so that students are able to internalize knowledge at a pace that works for them. Technology allows for this to happen by making for flexible timelines and assessment (students can take tests when they feel that they are ready, not when the teacher is ready). I do not feel that forcing students into assessment when they are not ready is necessarily the best way to conduct summative assessment and with the help of technology, be it a moodle quiz that lets students rewrite a quiz or a word document that allows for questions to be re-ordered or changed easily.
2. Technology allows students to be part of the learning process. Technology can help with this by allowing students to express themselves in a variety of ways beyond speaking (which is still an important and valid form of contributing), such as on a blog or class discussion site, or a wiki such as this one.
3. Technology allows me to be more organized and therefore spend less time on tasks which do not help students to learn. By using bulk emails and having grades accessible to students, it helps me to be more organized and spend less time on administration and more time dealing with student learning.
4. Technology allows me to access new information and teaching strategies quickly and efficiently. In courses such as computers where there is new information all the time, this allows me to stay current. In courses such as Japanese, mail lists allows for me to try new teaching strategies.
5. Technology allows students to make corrections to digital assignments without redoing the entire project. This allows me to make sure that he work that students hand in for summative assessment is perfect. An example of this is the “only 100%” assignments which I give to programming students and they can re-hand in assignments until they are perfect.
Limitations of my teaching philosophy due to the system in which I operate
I teach in the public school in which I strongly support, but this also causes me to have to make compromises about some of my philosophies. I am not always able to give students the time they need to fully understand concepts. I also have to make choices about which students need the support the most, and where to divert my time and energy.