Triad Essay What you learned about yourself as a teacher ..., Study notes of Technical English

Download Triad Essay What you learned about yourself as a teacher ... and more Study notes Technical English in PDF only on Docsity! Triad Essay What you learned about yourself as a teacher. The thing that surprised me the most about this teaching was that I found it very hard not to tell the learner the answer or to direct their learning. When I was growing up I feel that so much of the learning done was teacher directed, so that is what I am used to. Furthermore, I have never practiced this type of teaching in my other classes, so this way of teaching was new to me. By the end of the triad I found that I really like this way of teaching because it lets the learner really experiment all aspects of the lesson without being directed by the teacher. Furthermore, when the student figured out the problem I felt very proud as a teacher because I watched her go through a process to figure out the problem without my help. I feel this way of learning can really boost a child’s self-confidence and self-esteem because at the end of the lesson they realized they have achieved something challenging. What I did differently than my peers as a teacher is that when the learner was working on the problem, I was taking notes along with the observer. However, my notes were different from the observer because instead of writing down everything the learner was doing, I wrote down what challenges she had and how I could present the environment differently next time so that learning would be more conducive for her. Doing this really helped me a lot because it was a lot easier for me to specify what problems the learner was having right then and there rather than to think about it two days later. Furthermore, I then compared my notes to the observer’s to make sure she confirmed what she wrote down as well. This strategy was different than my peers and it really helped me as a teacher because taking the notes myself during the triad really triggered my memory for later use. The main challenge and stumbling block I found as a teacher was that my learner was closed minded and I did not even realize it until toward the end of the triad because she was not thinking out loud, rather she was thinking in her head, so I could not hear what she was thinking. For example, toward the end of the last triad she was trying to think of all the possible answers. She drew the right answer on paper, but then she scribbled it out without even testing it because she automatically did not think it would work. The challenge for me as a teacher was how to get her to try out that answer without actually hinting or giving it away that it was the right answer. How I made sense of this was that I realized I do the same thing, too. For example, sometimes when I come across a problem I rule out some possibilities right away because they seem like too much work. This made me realize that as a teacher I need to encourage my students not to rule anything out because anything is possible! This will also help my students to develop a more open mind. There are many things I have learned as a teacher during this triad that can be applied to my early childhood teaching career. For example, during this triad I sat back and I let the learner explore and understand the ideas and events of the problem which promoted sustained shared thinking. Furthermore, Lindon states, “The team linked this observation with the importance of a learning environment that enables a great deal of child-initiated and chosen activities, rather than a balance towards are not afraid to do this they will better understand their own learning because of the fact they are directing their own learning without focusing too much on getting the “right answer”. What you learned about learners. Based on this triad experience, the general observations I can make about learning is that when students construct their own knowledge without being directed by the teacher, their sense of accomplishment and self-esteem is greater because they feel they have accomplished something on their own without being directly directed by the teacher. Furthermore, this type of learning focuses more on the process the students go through rather than getting the “right answer”. Those implications described above have a profound impact on myself as a teacher because I think about learning differently now that I have experienced this triad process. As a teacher I think it is more important to focus on the process children go through when figuring out a problem. For example, when I was growing up, I cannot ever remember a teacher focusing on the process we went through to get an answer. They were always just looking for the “right answer”. In my classroom I want my students to be able to think freely and really experiment with the process of learning. I do not think subject matter affects learning if the subject matter is at the right level for students. I think this because the learners in my triad group all went through the same process regardless of what we were learning. We all were trying to figure out a problem, but the focus was not on the “right answer”, rather the focus was on the process we went through. Therefore, if the focus is on the process, then the subject matter should not matter because the focus is not on the “right answer”. What I learned applies to my practice as an early childhood educator because I realize now that the subject matter I teach should not matter if the focus is on the developmental process my students go through. This ties into the intellectual search Lindon describes (172) because if the focus is on the process of learning children go through, then very much of the conversation should stem from the children’s own questions. What you learned about teaching. Based on this experience, the general observations I can make about teaching are that it is a lot harder to sit back and let the students lead their own thinking. A lot of the time teachers are too quick to jump in, and by doing that they hinder the process of learning children go through when trying to figure out a problem. Furthermore, I realized that teachers can be used as a tool for helping the children’s process rather than just a person who gives answers. For example, when I was growing up if you got stuck on a problem the teachers would usually just give you the right answer. Now, I realize that you can still help children get on the right path just by asking them certain questions to promote their thinking. This leads in to the different implications these observations have for me as a teacher because I realize that I can help students through the process of learning simply by asking them questions rather than telling them the answer. I do not really think the subject matter affected teaching directly because if the focus is on the process the learner goes through, there is no right answer. I feel that you could throw any problem in there and still have teaching be the same because the teacher simply helps the student through the developmental process of thinking and learning. What I learned applies to my practice as an early childhood educator because by guiding children through the process of learning I am helping them work within their zone of proximal development (Lindon, 179). Guiding the students this way will continually challenge them as well as help them to explore the learning environment. Explain the connections you observed between observations, assessment, learning, and teaching. From my own experience of experiencing these three different roles, I do not think one more process is more important than the other. I think of all the parts as being equal because to be a good teacher you need to understand how students learn. Furthermore, you also need to be a reflective practitioner and to be able to observe students well. This can go vice versa for being a learner and an observer as well. All three of these processes are critically important to each other because I believe they influence each other just the same. For example, all my learning growing up has influenced how I will be as a teacher because I remember what worked and what did not as a learner. Furthermore, throughout my collegiate career I have continually learned that I need to be a reflective practitioner which makes observation equally important as well. Teacher