Module 5: Pedagogy
In my experience in the classroom, I try my best to consider and reflect different narratives in my teaching by representing diversity and recognizing the diversity in the classroom. I think this comes naturally to me since I grew up identifying outside of the common cultural narrative, having parents with a different culture than what was being presented in the classroom. My expectations for my students at times do still revolve around the common narrative since most of them have realities that reflect this same cultural narrative. I think it’s important for me to consistently make an effort to reflect on this and make space for my students to consider other perspectives that are different from their own, especially when building skills of empathy. For me, I think a way to open up the conversation to reflect different narratives includes me being able to share my own perspective of how I grew up or even how my parents grew up. My students are always really interested in my background. I think it could also be helpful to have students ask their parents or their about their own backgrounds, especially for students with parents that grew up in a culturally different environment from them. My Kindergarteners, I think it’s important to have the information be relevant to them for them to be able to understand.
A personal bias that I have in my current context is regarding the boys’ and girls’ different approaches and readiness levels for learning in the classroom context. My experiences teaching K have typically reflected the narrative that boys are less developmentally ready for school in the Fall than girls, which I have to consistently challenge since it isn’t always the case. To challenge my thinking, I try to look past these factors and base my assessments on reliable evidence. I try to think back on situations that challenged this narrative, such as all the boy students I’ve had that were perhaps more developmentally ready for school than the girls.
For me, having travelled quite a bit and experienced different cultures, I feel somewhat prepared for international teaching. I think the most important strategy I would draw on would involve the ability to analyze and understand curriculum, while applying it to my teaching context in a way that feels relevant and authentic to my teaching style and my teaching philosophy. I think it would also be important to be able to think critically and reflect on my own bias regarding how I’m approaching teaching in an unfamiliar context.
In reviewing the information about BICs and CALP on Dr. Bilash’s website, I found it interesting to distinguish the difference between context-reduced and context-embedded language learning environments. This highlights the importance of authentic learning environments for students that are meaningful and relatable for them to be able to engage in deeper learning, especially with language learning. Authentic experiences that include facial expressions and hands-on experiences are important for effective language development. It’s interesting to note that it takes approximately two years to achieve functional proficiency in a second language. This is really interesting to me teaching the first year of French Immersion for my students. CALP are really important in the French Immersion context since students require the language necessary to be able to engage in conversation about the topic and actively engage in deeper learning.
Cultural Expectations in my Classroom:
- show respect towards themselves, for each other and for classroom materials
- take responsibility for their belongings
- respect other people’s opinions and experiences
- respect others’ opportunities for sharing with the class by listening and waiting patiently for their turn to share
- actively engage in their own learning by participating in learning activities
- respect others’ personal space while also ensuring they have adequate personal space for themselves
- acknowledge and celebrate the diversity present in the classroom
- acknowledge other perspectives and cultures that may be different from their own
- practice setting boundaries with others by communicating clearly when something is making them uncomfortable
- practice self-regulation strategies that aim to bring us back to a state where we are ready to learn
- recognize that we are able to feel our feelings fully and that no feelings are good or bad
- ask for help from the teacher when we need support
These cultural expectations set in my classroom were all set primarily to create the safe space necessary for students to support their learning and give them the opportunity to take risks in their learning. I think that there are some expectations that can be challenging for Kindergarteners, like waiting for a chance to share or not being able to share every time that they’d like to. I have thought about renegotiating this expectation, perhaps by having smaller group discussions so that more people can share at once. I think it’s really important that students, especially younger learners, feel heard and seen in the classroom and that their opinion matters so that they can feel safe and build their identity in the classroom. This can also consider students’s culture that may value oral communication as a more important aspect of being in community. I would approach implementing this in the classroom by explaining this to the students in a way they can understand, starting with explaining how everyone is a very important part of our classroom and that we have space for each and every voice to be heard everyday.
From the 8 Ground Rules for Difficult Dialogues outlined by Bucher (2015), I found third rule, “Realize that we are all teachers and learners” (p. 144) to be the most relevant to my teaching philosophy. To me, this reflects such an important aspect of adapting a growth mindset and being able to apply it to any circumstances, if it’s academic or social-emotional growth learning. This also creates an environment where the teacher is seen less as an authority figure and more of a support for students who can also model this growth mindset by modelling what it looks like to be a continuous learner. It also empowers students to understand that there is also such value in learning from each other as well as from the teacher. I think a really powerful way of enforcing this idea is to ensure that the teacher is involving students in being aware their own learning process to model a growth mindset and self-regulated learning in real time. For me, this could be sharing with students when I’ve made mistakes and what I’ve learned from them in real time. I also really like the idea of sharing a goal that I have with my students, like being able to run a certain distance, with all the challenges that come up along the way to be able to model this process of self-regulation and goal setting. I think it’s so important to steer away from the traditional teacher-student dynamic where students are meant to listen and adhere to teacher expectations with little autonomy and opportunity to offer teachings of their own. I feel so strongly about having students able to lead direct their own learning to make it an experience that is authentic and meaningful to them on their own life trajectory. I think this is also really important in being able to value others’ opinions and perspectives as something we can all learn from, regardless of what we know and what experiences we’ve had.
In reviewing the Bucher (2015)’s Active Listening Skills Checklist, an important skill that I feel would promote active listening skills for my Kindergarten students would be promoting awareness of verbal and nonverbal messages. This could be done through an activity using thought bubbles, where we would have a thought bubble drawn on the board for a student to stand under. I could have students volunteer to come stand under the thought bubble, think of something that made them feel an emotion in the past and then use their body language to express how they were feeling. The class can then guess what could have been in that person’s thought bubble by observing their nonverbal expression. We could then compare this to verbal messages that we receive through speaking.
Another skill that could promote active listening skills in my class would be listening intently when having a difficult time understanding someone. This is so important for me teaching language, since there is an initial period of language learning where understanding and absorption of new vocabulary requires intent listening. I think an effective activity to promote this skill would be an activity where students are able to acknowledge and understand what it means to listen with your whole body. This could be done by having students demonstrate what it means to be listening with their different body parts. This kids would likely find it entertaining or silly at first to think of how you can listen with all of your body parts, not only your ears. The teacher could have the kids get up and wiggle all of their body parts, then they can cue to listen with a certain body part and students can demonstrate what it looks like to be listening with only that body part. They could finish by demonstrating what it looks like to listen with your whole body. I think this is such an important foundational sill to be able to demonstrate active listening starting with young learners.
References:
Bucher, R. D. (2015). Communicating in a diverse world. In Diversity Consciousness Opening Our Minds to People, Cultures, and Opportunities (4th ed., pp. 125-150). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
A personal bias that I have in my current context is regarding the boys’ and girls’ different approaches and readiness levels for learning in the classroom context. My experiences teaching K have typically reflected the narrative that boys are less developmentally ready for school in the Fall than girls, which I have to consistently challenge since it isn’t always the case. To challenge my thinking, I try to look past these factors and base my assessments on reliable evidence. I try to think back on situations that challenged this narrative, such as all the boy students I’ve had that were perhaps more developmentally ready for school than the girls.
For me, having travelled quite a bit and experienced different cultures, I feel somewhat prepared for international teaching. I think the most important strategy I would draw on would involve the ability to analyze and understand curriculum, while applying it to my teaching context in a way that feels relevant and authentic to my teaching style and my teaching philosophy. I think it would also be important to be able to think critically and reflect on my own bias regarding how I’m approaching teaching in an unfamiliar context.
In reviewing the information about BICs and CALP on Dr. Bilash’s website, I found it interesting to distinguish the difference between context-reduced and context-embedded language learning environments. This highlights the importance of authentic learning environments for students that are meaningful and relatable for them to be able to engage in deeper learning, especially with language learning. Authentic experiences that include facial expressions and hands-on experiences are important for effective language development. It’s interesting to note that it takes approximately two years to achieve functional proficiency in a second language. This is really interesting to me teaching the first year of French Immersion for my students. CALP are really important in the French Immersion context since students require the language necessary to be able to engage in conversation about the topic and actively engage in deeper learning.
Cultural Expectations in my Classroom:
- show respect towards themselves, for each other and for classroom materials
- take responsibility for their belongings
- respect other people’s opinions and experiences
- respect others’ opportunities for sharing with the class by listening and waiting patiently for their turn to share
- actively engage in their own learning by participating in learning activities
- respect others’ personal space while also ensuring they have adequate personal space for themselves
- acknowledge and celebrate the diversity present in the classroom
- acknowledge other perspectives and cultures that may be different from their own
- practice setting boundaries with others by communicating clearly when something is making them uncomfortable
- practice self-regulation strategies that aim to bring us back to a state where we are ready to learn
- recognize that we are able to feel our feelings fully and that no feelings are good or bad
- ask for help from the teacher when we need support
These cultural expectations set in my classroom were all set primarily to create the safe space necessary for students to support their learning and give them the opportunity to take risks in their learning. I think that there are some expectations that can be challenging for Kindergarteners, like waiting for a chance to share or not being able to share every time that they’d like to. I have thought about renegotiating this expectation, perhaps by having smaller group discussions so that more people can share at once. I think it’s really important that students, especially younger learners, feel heard and seen in the classroom and that their opinion matters so that they can feel safe and build their identity in the classroom. This can also consider students’s culture that may value oral communication as a more important aspect of being in community. I would approach implementing this in the classroom by explaining this to the students in a way they can understand, starting with explaining how everyone is a very important part of our classroom and that we have space for each and every voice to be heard everyday.
From the 8 Ground Rules for Difficult Dialogues outlined by Bucher (2015), I found third rule, “Realize that we are all teachers and learners” (p. 144) to be the most relevant to my teaching philosophy. To me, this reflects such an important aspect of adapting a growth mindset and being able to apply it to any circumstances, if it’s academic or social-emotional growth learning. This also creates an environment where the teacher is seen less as an authority figure and more of a support for students who can also model this growth mindset by modelling what it looks like to be a continuous learner. It also empowers students to understand that there is also such value in learning from each other as well as from the teacher. I think a really powerful way of enforcing this idea is to ensure that the teacher is involving students in being aware their own learning process to model a growth mindset and self-regulated learning in real time. For me, this could be sharing with students when I’ve made mistakes and what I’ve learned from them in real time. I also really like the idea of sharing a goal that I have with my students, like being able to run a certain distance, with all the challenges that come up along the way to be able to model this process of self-regulation and goal setting. I think it’s so important to steer away from the traditional teacher-student dynamic where students are meant to listen and adhere to teacher expectations with little autonomy and opportunity to offer teachings of their own. I feel so strongly about having students able to lead direct their own learning to make it an experience that is authentic and meaningful to them on their own life trajectory. I think this is also really important in being able to value others’ opinions and perspectives as something we can all learn from, regardless of what we know and what experiences we’ve had.
In reviewing the Bucher (2015)’s Active Listening Skills Checklist, an important skill that I feel would promote active listening skills for my Kindergarten students would be promoting awareness of verbal and nonverbal messages. This could be done through an activity using thought bubbles, where we would have a thought bubble drawn on the board for a student to stand under. I could have students volunteer to come stand under the thought bubble, think of something that made them feel an emotion in the past and then use their body language to express how they were feeling. The class can then guess what could have been in that person’s thought bubble by observing their nonverbal expression. We could then compare this to verbal messages that we receive through speaking.
Another skill that could promote active listening skills in my class would be listening intently when having a difficult time understanding someone. This is so important for me teaching language, since there is an initial period of language learning where understanding and absorption of new vocabulary requires intent listening. I think an effective activity to promote this skill would be an activity where students are able to acknowledge and understand what it means to listen with your whole body. This could be done by having students demonstrate what it means to be listening with their different body parts. This kids would likely find it entertaining or silly at first to think of how you can listen with all of your body parts, not only your ears. The teacher could have the kids get up and wiggle all of their body parts, then they can cue to listen with a certain body part and students can demonstrate what it looks like to be listening with only that body part. They could finish by demonstrating what it looks like to listen with your whole body. I think this is such an important foundational sill to be able to demonstrate active listening starting with young learners.
References:
Bucher, R. D. (2015). Communicating in a diverse world. In Diversity Consciousness Opening Our Minds to People, Cultures, and Opportunities (4th ed., pp. 125-150). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Comments
Post a Comment