Becoming a reflective practitioner

¶ … Education

Individual learning

When a student is asked to personally read to a teacher, there is both a feeling of 'specialness' combined with an increased desire to perform well. Of course, if a child is selected for individual instruction as a punitive measure, this feeling of being singled out might have a negative dimension. However, if the teacher makes use of individualized instruction to ask questions about the story that stimulate the child's curiosity about the tale, if the teacher uses the moment to engage the child about matters personally of interest to the child that are revealed in the reading, and the child is engaged as an active and equal partner in his or her learning the experience of reading to a teacher can have a unique, added dimension of pedagogical value.

Furthermore, for shy children, being able to read and explore a story without the pressure of speaking aloud to a class of his or her peers can act as a confidence-builder that eventually translates into a wider social situation. Even for children without reading difficulties, the social relationship fostered by reading to a teacher can create a positive feeling about school that translates into better performance. I recall from my own experience that when I was in a class with few friends, although reading was one of my stronger subjects, the ability to read aloud to a teacher and have other individual learning experiences with my teacher enabled me to 'get through the year' and remain focused in a positive fashion on my schooling.

Teaching away from the classroom

Field trips, interactive assignments like staging a school play, or simply going out into nature for a science or an art lesson can make schooling seem less like work and more like play. Assigning science projects, making use of computer-based activities like creating a classroom WebQuest, that require outside research and nontraditional learning situations make children more independent learners, and facilitate teamwork and other important social skills.

Classroom layout

Almost every teacher knows that the less confident students in the class often tend to gravitate to the back. Preventing this from occurring is easy to do by rearranging student's desks in the shape of a horseshoe, or rotating student's seating patterns. Also, it may be necessary for a teacher to split up 'best friends' sitting in pairs may to minimize distractions within some classroom dynamics.

Creating a positive educational environment is also tied to creating a friendly and hospitable environment that suggests learning is a fun activity. Filling the classroom with bright posters that relate to the current topics being studied creates a sense that learning is fun. Decorating the class with student artwork creates a personal sense of investment in the classroom environment.