effective teaching and leraning
EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING ESSAY
Student teacher practicum is a crucial part in pre-service teachers’ professional development. As a student teacher who has just finished the first ten-day school placement, the point of view argue in this paper is that effective teaching and learning starts with a good understanding of educational theories.
The first episode of effective teaching and learning was taken place in a year 3 Mathematics lesson on playing “Clock Tables” (which is based on the multiplication facts of Times Tables). There were 26 students in the class, and they were sitting at tables of five (one table had six students). The teacher asked the class to do four rounds of multiplication, and each round she recorded the time individual students needed to complete the task by using a timer. From the second round, small stickers were distributed to students who had all the answers correct and had broken their last record, ie. Less time needed to finish the calculations. There were another major awards, large stickers were given out to students who had all the answers corrected for the four rounds of calculation. All students were expected to achieve the goal of getting all answers right in a shortened time. Both the engagement level and the outcomes were used here to measure the success.
The use of rewarding stickers to high achievement students, encouraing student involvement of the task and motivated students to get the most for their effort. This particular behaviours of students are called operant, and the changing learning voluntary behaviours by antecedent, in this case, the informing of rewards, is called operant conditioning (McInerney DM & McInerney V, 2010, p.165). It is important for teachers to understand the concept of operant conditioning, as it shows how behaviour can be altered by changing the consequences or the antecedent. Teachers can reinforce students’ positive behaviour by presenting rewards that are desired by students.
Student teacher practicum is a crucial part in pre-service teachers’ professional development. As a student teacher who has just finished the first ten-day school placement, the point of view argue in this paper is that effective teaching and learning starts with a good understanding of educational theories.
The first episode of effective teaching and learning was taken place in a year 3 Mathematics lesson on playing “Clock Tables” (which is based on the multiplication facts of Times Tables). There were 26 students in the class, and they were sitting at tables of five (one table had six students). The teacher asked the class to do four rounds of multiplication, and each round she recorded the time individual students needed to complete the task by using a timer. From the second round, small stickers were distributed to students who had all the answers correct and had broken their last record, ie. Less time needed to finish the calculations. There were another major awards, large stickers were given out to students who had all the answers corrected for the four rounds of calculation. All students were expected to achieve the goal of getting all answers right in a shortened time. Both the engagement level and the outcomes were used here to measure the success.
The use of rewarding stickers to high achievement students, encouraing student involvement of the task and motivated students to get the most for their effort. This particular behaviours of students are called operant, and the changing learning voluntary behaviours by antecedent, in this case, the informing of rewards, is called operant conditioning (McInerney DM & McInerney V, 2010, p.165). It is important for teachers to understand the concept of operant conditioning, as it shows how behaviour can be altered by changing the consequences or the antecedent. Teachers can reinforce students’ positive behaviour by presenting rewards that are desired by students.
References: McInerney, D.M. & McInerney, V. (2010) Educational Psycholog: Constructing Learning, (5th Edition), Sydney: Pearson “Positive reinforcement” 2007, Techniques: Connecting Education & Careers, vol. 82, no.4, pp. 1-3, viewed 16 June 2010, Rosenfeld M & Rosenfeld S, 2004, Developing Teacher Sensitivity to Individual Learning Differences, vol. 24 no. 4, pp. 465-486, viewed 17 June 2010, http://ezlibproxy.unisa.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=13713880&site=ehost-live Schmidt and Čagran, 2006, Classroom climate in regular primary school settings with children with special needs, vol. 32, no. 4, p361-372, viewed 16 June 2010, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=22897522&site=ehost-live South Australia. Dept. for Education and Children 's Services, 2006, Students with disabilities policy, viewed 16 June 2010,