Learning Outcome:
1. select , use, evaluate and adapt as appropriate approaches to teaching, learning and assessment across the curriculum;
2. set in context approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, explaining how they relate to theory and research;
10. reflect critically on the complex factors which impact on children’s learning and development;
12. identify, select from and use a range of approaches to organising classrooms, working with other adults and meeting children’s diverse needs and ensuring their wellbeing.
While preparing this Module –Practice, I realised that teaching is extremely complex, to be effective, facilitator needs to engage learners mentally in order to find out what they are thinking. The programme plan I planned in Module-Design can only be carried out ideally based on many factors, including teaching strategies, organization, classroom management, differentiated strategies and learning environment.
1. select , use, evaluate and adapt as appropriate approaches to teaching, learning and assessment across the curriculum;
2. set in context approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, explaining how they relate to theory and research;
10. reflect critically on the complex factors which impact on children’s learning and development;
12. identify, select from and use a range of approaches to organising classrooms, working with other adults and meeting children’s diverse needs and ensuring their wellbeing.
While preparing this Module –Practice, I realised that teaching is extremely complex, to be effective, facilitator needs to engage learners mentally in order to find out what they are thinking. The programme plan I planned in Module-Design can only be carried out ideally based on many factors, including teaching strategies, organization, classroom management, differentiated strategies and learning environment.
Feedbacks from both observer and my learners are the essential elements to improve my teaching
practice. The observer helps me to recognise strength and weaknesses of my
professional practice, suggests solution and resources to me. My learners
helped me to identify how relevant and practical my programme plan is. After
the learning sessions, I have discussed with my observer about the issues
occurred during the class, methods to improve on the lesson.
There are several issues
being addressed by my observer, including:
Organisation/classroom management
In first learning session,
some of my learners were not engaged, I should have prepare handout or
worksheet as a task for them to fulfil while I was having individual tutorial
for the photo editing learning session. Besides, learners will have a better
understanding if the basic guideline of the software tools was given at the
beginning of the lesson. They can explore and develop their skills more in
depth.
Learners’
engagement in lesson
In
second learning session, I have used different approaches to cater Multiple-Intelligences
in my class. I was able to capture attention from the whole class because
various platforms were given to understand the content from different aspects. They
were able to understand the
significant concept, reflect on the Areas of Interaction (AOI) and the integration
to different subjects. Being a facilitator in an International Baccalaurate
(IB) School, conceptual understanding is essential in each learning session.My
learners have indicated excitement and were attentive during the learning
session. They showed active participation and interaction between teacher and
other learners. They were also able to elaborate the content creatively.
Content delivery
The
feedbacks were, I have engaged and provoke the active learning using
constructive questions and learners were actively participating in the
discussion. However, some learners were having difficulties to understand the
concept taught in class. Besides individual tutorial, I might need to develop
and learn more about differentiation learning strategies, hence to accommodate
different learners in the class with a well-organised structure. The observer
also pointed out the concept is too broad, although it integrated with many
subjects, some learners might find it too abstract to understand. It will be
more realistic to focus on only one or two context in the learning session.
Active
Learning refers to a method of learning where active student participation is
encouraged through project-based exercises. Characteristic of active learning
is that the teacher acts as a facilitator of the education process rather than
as a unilateral source of information. From this Module-Practice, I have
learned the fundamentals of active learning classroom practice included:
Eliciting prior
knowledge
Diagnostic
assessment is essential to understand my learners’ capability and their
thinking level. From my experiences in this module, I have learned that diagnostic
assessment is a baseline to understanding how much learning has taken place
before and after the learning activity is completed. This is also important for
me to improve differentiation strategies in the classroom practice. Besides, I
also learned that learners can only analyse and synthesize a particular concept
if their knowledge is insightful. For instance, learners who have no prior
knowledge of colour theory were not able to analyse their artwork based on the
theory. Bloom’s
taxonomy is always my guideline to determine the learners’ cognitive thinking
stages.
New knowledge with feedback
Ongoing
contribution of learners’ feedback is another important element to improve my
active learning practice. Some part of my programme plan in Module-Design was
not realistic when it comes to classroom practice because I didn’t encounter
the capability and prior knowledge of my learners when designing the programme.
I also realised the importance of class and group discussion in order to
develop a quality learning environment. During discussion, I can better
understand my learners’ strength and weaknesses hence reflect on my initial
plan.
Form of Assessment
The summative assessment is
always the goal of the whole programme plan. I have learned that the form of
assessment will affect the learning and teaching experiences directly.
Authentic assessment is more relevant to develop active learning because it
embraces diverse learning styles and personalities. Learners were developing
dynamic approaches to carry out the task based on their own learning
experiences. This is also encouraging them to be a life-long learner.
Reflection on
learning
Another element of active
learning will be the learners’ ongoing evaluation and reflection. The
philosophy of (IB)International Baccalaureate
framework stresses on learner centred, hence it’s essential to encourage
learners to know “how to learn” which is one of their Area of
Interaction-Approaches To Learning(ATL). Based on the ATL skills, learners will
examine their own learning effectively.
Besides, peer evaluation
and critic session is another powerful tool to provoke active learning. From my
experiences in this Module, I have learned that facilitator may not be the only
person who can give advice and solution. Interesting thoughts and ideas from
peer support are actually more realistic and provoking to create a harmony
learning environment. Collaboration and interaction between learners drive peer
support, hence, develop a quality learning atmosphere. Sometimes, learners know
better than the facilitator their peers’ strength and weaknesses.
As a Visual Arts facilitator, my biggest challenge is always to inspire
learners who have “zero” interest in the subject. I believe this situation
happens in all subject, but it is crucial to Visual Arts because most of the
learners have misconception that art is not an important subject.
My critical event during the learning practice was learners who did not
accomplish their task and have very limited research and reflection in their
Developmental Workbook. In order to overcome this circumstance, the perception of
“art as a language” is essential to engage learners to better understand the
purpose of learning art.
I showed examples of “art as a
language” in my class, hence the importance of visual literacy in real life.
For instance, a doctor can only interpret images from the CT scan machine if he
understands the representation of lines, tones and colours of the image. An
engineer needs to understand the layout plan drawing in order to carry out the
project effectively. Eventually, my learners understand that visual art is
interweaving in everyday life.
Time management is also another issue I was facing in the learning
session. The estimation of time given to group discussion was always being
extended. I tried to apply thematic group discussion to resolve this problem.
For instance, instead whole class doing investigation on a particular topic, I
assigned different task for different groups. This was able to shorten the
discussion time but meeting the learning outcomes.
“Teachers are the engineers for the soul.”
I have learned to be a active learner as a facilitator because I believe
teaching is an ongoing practice which need patience, passion and efforts.
