3
PEIRCE SECONDARY SCHOOL
My thoughts …
I do not believe in theories
To be frank, my days spent at NIE was when I started to disbelieve in theories. To me, the practical aspect of teaching is my concern and theories do not have any practical impact on teaching outcomes.
BUT ever since I started looking for solutions to teaching issues, I have rediscovered the value of learning theories. I am more interested in the “why” and I think theories may hold the key.
We still need learning theories
As mentioned in the article, there is not one single theory that addresses all aspects of learning Nevertheless, we can tap on the relevant ones as and when we need. We can also refer to those theories that are backed by extensive researches and proven to be valid.
Theories are what we need to transform teaching into a coherent set of effective practices. Procedure is not pedagogy. Having a theory helps teachers to plan pedagogy more effectively and to examine all factors relevant to learning. Otherwise it is just a coincident set of steps taken based on instinct. You would not know why it is working for you and how it may be deployed in different scenarios in the future.
From Behaviorism to Constructivism
I have been a firm behaviorist throughout the three quarters of my years spent teaching. I firmly believe in structures and routines , rules and logical consequences. If students are to learn well from teachers, there need to be discipline and order. The profile of students years back matched my philosophy and I reaped results and satisfaction from my belief.
Then it got harder with just rules and order. Nowadays students’ learning needs are more complex. I needed a breakthrough so I tried out new teaching methods. Indeed, they yielded some immediate positive responses
and that was enough to set me thinking. I decided that I wanted to know why this method is working.
Tap on theory
Teaching reading comprehension to a class of generally lower ability students is a challenge. I remembered I wanted to provide them with new learning experience working in groups. I chanced upon reciprocal teaching and decided to try that out as I saw the opportunities to enhance social, communication skills.
The students were excited yet the quality of discussion was not up to expectation. I decided to conduct research on why the approach did not work out the way I had intended. I made the choice to look into why my students would be interested, motivated during group work, and what were their needs. Probing further, I came across the familiar theory of constructivism.
Since I was looking for answers based on relevant keywords , I became more interested to connect this theory with my practice. I reflected on my lesson on reading comprehension, choosing some of the characteristics of constructivism that seem to tie in more with my lesson and did some further adjustments (Refer Table A & B ).
Moving on...
Constructivism or behaviorism can never work on their own and I will continue to find solutions to my teaching issues by tapping on relevant theories. I will not be jumping at every chance to out new strategies that I come across, to avoid getting lost in Buzzword wasteland. Instead, I will dwell into the “why”, understanding the factors that contribute to effective learning and deriving my own conclusion or solutions. The results may not be immediate but will be more sustainable as I can make continuous improvement based on relevant theories backed by valid research.