Here is a snip of a Teaching Perspectives Profile that I completed on the Teaching Perspectives Inventory site by Daniel D. Pratt.
In summary here are the results:
Transmission total: (Tr) 32.00
Apprenticeship total: (Ap) 31.00
Developmental total: (Dv) 35.00
Nurturance total: (Nu) 39.00
Social Reform total: (SR) 32.00
Here is what Pratt has to say about Nuturing:
Effective teaching assumes that long-term, hard, persistent effort to achieve comes from the heart, not the head. People become motivated and productive learners when they are working on issues or problems without fear of failure. Learners are nurtured in knowing that
(a) they can succeed at learning if they give it a good try;
(b) their achievement is a product of their own effort and ability, rather than the benevolence of a teacher; and
(c) their learning efforts will be supported by both teacher and peers.
Good teachers care about their students and understand that some have histories of failure resulting in lowered self-confidence. However they make no excuses for learners. Rather, they encourage their efforts while challenging students to do their very best by promoting a climate of caring and trust, helping people set challenging but achievable goals, and supporting effort as well as achievement. Good teachers provide encouragement and support, along with clear expectations and reasonable goals for all learners but do not sacrifice self-efficacy or self-esteem for achievement. Their assessments of learning consider individual growth as well as absolute achievement.
Refer to the Summary of Five Perspectives on "Good Teaching" for all of the Perspectives.
Unit 2: Discussion Activity
Jamie MacKenzie - Grazing the Net: Raising a Generation of Free Range Students
Questions to consider:
Is the future here? If yes, how is that the case (site examples)? If not, why not?
What do you think about his ideas?
How far away or close to this idea are we at present?
Greg I really appreciate your thoughts about the amounts and extent of information that students have at their fingertips along with the various mediums and devices they use to communicate. The problem that arises from all this wonderful and new technology stems from what to do with all this information. I think this is a major argument that MacKenzie is trying to make. His discussion on free range students vs. those impregnated with hormones and chemicals of the Net is a very relevant issue in today's classrooms despite the fact that the article was written 15 years ago. A major battle that I have with students in grade 9 ELA involves students conducting research. Our school purchased very expensive access to ELibrary. For those who do not know, ELibrary is an online library hosted by Proquest which provides students with relevant, accurate and appropriate material for research; it is a great resource. Students find it much more labor intensive and not as user friendly and always want to use sites that are not as accurate or trustworthy (wikipedia for example). A good portion of our research time is spent introducing students to ELibrary. This can be frustrating for me as a teacher as well as a student who just wants to get to the research.
Is the future here? There are many answers to this question. Yes, when you think about all the amazing technological devices. Maybe not when you think about how people - not just students - do not know how to best incorporate this technology into our lives not to mention the existing school structures and curriculum. A major shift in attitudes about assessment and evaluation will have to occur before the future of educational technology can be fully realized. A quote from the article that I found interesting was "students may not know what they don't know". This is where a shift in 'information gathering'vs 'student questioning' can take place. Our current approach to assessment and evaluation does not often allow for "sifting, sorting, weighing information to gain an insight or solve a problem". Are we close? There is a lot of work that still needs to be done.
Unit 4: Online Teaching and E-Moderating Discussion Activity
Take a moment and brainstorm the ideal online moderator for you. Think about the first time you went online vs. now. If you were taking an online course or a course with an online discussion component, for the first time...
What characteristics would you want to see? Why? What would you need to know? How would you get this information? What would frustrate you?
It is quite difficult for me to imagine what it would be like to be taking an online course for the first time since this is my sixth online masters course. I have had all kinds of experiences as I am sure many of you have as well. While I was initially apprehensive about the online course thing, I can honestly say the positives outweigh the negatives.
What characteristics would you want to see? Why?
As a first time and experienced online learner, I appreciate a course menu that is logical and prominent. It is a key feature of an online learning environment that I continually rely on to help me navigate through the information.
Another key feature is a Click Here to Start or Welcome email from the professor. These help you not get too overwhelmed when you log on to a course for the first time because it gives you tasks that you need to complete right away as well as a rationale for the course. A course schedule with timelines and assignment dates it also very important.
It would also be important to be able to easily contact the moderator and that the moderator respond to questions in a reasonable amount of time.
If these components were not used, it would be hard to imagine how a student could succeed in this environment.
What would you need to know?
I would need to know the following:
- outcomes and expectations for the course
- what assignments/discussions that would be required
- due dates for assignments/discussions
- how to navigate and use the online environment
- how/where to find the information to complete assignments/discussions
- how to contact the professor
- where to communicate with classmates
How would you get this information?
This information would hopefully be found or provided by the moderator in an organized way.
What would frustrate you?
Some frustrations of the first time online learner include:
- As mentioned earlier, not being able to navigate and find information in the learning environment
- Not being able to communicate with peers/moderators in a timely manner
- Working in a group where the work is unevenly completed is a big turn off
- Links that do not work or are inactive
- Dates that are inconsistent throughout the course environment
- The professor not being able to 'use' the online learning environment
- Activities that do not relate or are out of sync with the course
- Information/discussion postings that are not clear or concise
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