I'm going to be reflecting on a number of chapters from Stephen Brookfield's Book, A Skillfull Teacher (2015). This particular post is based around the 2nd chapter.
Brookfield talks about his core assumptions as a skillful teacher and the one that sticks out most to me is "whatever helps students learn". While this may sound obvious as he says as well, it is actually quite easy to forget. I'm sure anyone who has designed a workshop, presentation, or course has fallen into the trap many times of being caught up in the PowerPoint pretty factor, or the cool gimic that you found etc... Yes ensuring things are catchy and have an easy flow to them is important, but the time you spent on how the word flies into the slide from the right or the left likely isn't. What is it about the PowerPoint that helped students learn?
I think this is why I am drawn to constructionism. What helps the students in my class is usually building on blocks of understanding that they have as they make sense of the content and share how they can apply it.
I also keep coming back to the similarities between Brookfield's and Hattie's work, of Visible Learning, in terms of the need for the instructor to really understand how the student is viewing what is being taught. While I can totally agree with them, I don't think I've been doing this very effectively.
The questionaire's that we usually ask volunteers to fill out are specific to the course but don't really assess the instructor from their point of view. Good thing I have an assignment on just this topic, time to get to work!
Brookfield talks about his core assumptions as a skillful teacher and the one that sticks out most to me is "whatever helps students learn". While this may sound obvious as he says as well, it is actually quite easy to forget. I'm sure anyone who has designed a workshop, presentation, or course has fallen into the trap many times of being caught up in the PowerPoint pretty factor, or the cool gimic that you found etc... Yes ensuring things are catchy and have an easy flow to them is important, but the time you spent on how the word flies into the slide from the right or the left likely isn't. What is it about the PowerPoint that helped students learn?
I think this is why I am drawn to constructionism. What helps the students in my class is usually building on blocks of understanding that they have as they make sense of the content and share how they can apply it.
I also keep coming back to the similarities between Brookfield's and Hattie's work, of Visible Learning, in terms of the need for the instructor to really understand how the student is viewing what is being taught. While I can totally agree with them, I don't think I've been doing this very effectively.
The questionaire's that we usually ask volunteers to fill out are specific to the course but don't really assess the instructor from their point of view. Good thing I have an assignment on just this topic, time to get to work!