I’ve recently had a conversation with a colleague about how students rarely remember the content you teach them after they leave school. We concluded though that students will always remember how you treated them, whether it be favourably or unfavourably. But I realised later that how you approach your work and subject, including the thought […]
As a student, a teacher, or an adult you’ve probably experience Behaviourism’s Operant Conditioning at some time in your life. Teachers use it all the time to guide student behaviour, and while I believe it has a place I also believe that it can be (and is) overused in the classroom. Firstly, what is it? Operant Conditioning is the […]
I recently had a student challenge a classroom rule. It wasn’t a major classroom rule, and the student didn’t make a big deal of it. In fact he may not even have known he was doing it, but from my perspective I needed to reaffirm the rules to clarify the boundaries of acceptable behaviour. After […]
I’m about 20 minutes into a class with 28 science students. We’re investigating electric circuits and how current, voltage and resistance influence each other and I’ve done a bit of theory in the class already, explaining the what happens with an animation and an analogy and a little bit of drilling (the voltage pushes the current, the current […]
We know teachers play a huge role in a child’s academic success, but parental influence is arguable greater. Here are a few parental characteristics, from the educational literature, that have significant impact on a student’s success. Emotional Support provided by the parents 1. The quality of care-giving being provided by parents together. This includes how […]
“Teaching for the exams” has long been considered a dirty phrase in teaching. I believe it’s time to re-assess this, in a balanced way. Before my words are misrepresented, I believe in the importance of teaching subject content, skills, attitudes and behaviours that facilitate student learning and growth. In my subject, learning appropriate skills, attitudes and […]
Being a teacher you sometimes question your effectiveness, the direction of the curriculum, summative assessments, a whole host of things. In fact there are always job-related difficulties and doubts, that are shared by others in the profession. So I wondered, why do we do it? Why do we dedicate ourselves to helping students develop academically, […]
Here’s my attempt to provide a straightforward method to learn, develop and improve any skill, and it’s as simple as; Focus, Feedback, Fix, and Repeat. Focus Narrow down the aspect of skill that you need to improve. Focus on one part of this skill only, whether it’s your foot placement while kicking a conversion/penalty in rugby/soccer?, […]
I’ve been mulling over the idea of the growth mindset these past few days and its implication to my learning, so I thought I’d share some new understandings. For those unfamiliar with the growth mindset idea, it is a personal view that intelligence is not fixed. Instead it can be developed over time by being exposed […]
There exists a complex interplay between the information you assimilate and your previously acquired knowledge. So much so that the incoming knowledge is affected by prior experiences and existing information, while your existing thoughts and frameworks are affected by this new knowledge. This isn’t really a new idea. However, what if your learning focus is […]