Unit 009 Assignment 1
Unit 009 Understanding inclusive learning and teaching in lifelong learning I tend to use a variety of different teaching strategies. Reece and Walker (2006:101) state that “the choice of teaching strategy is often related to your own individual style and what makes you feel most comfortable in doing. However, there are some overall rules that you may like to consider. The first is the type of objective that you want your students to achieve. The second is the number of students you have to teach”.
When considering this aspect, what I want my students to learn is not to pre-judge and make assumptions based on limited knowledge of other people. Often I limit the numbers of students undertaking the learning to a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 30.
The sessions are targeted to ages 11-18 so …show more content…
are very young people focussed. The learners are encouraged to engage and participate in the activities. Learners are first shown a DVD which displays skewed views towards equality and diversity. The learners are then asked to participate in an icebreaker and then a Q&A session and discussion where the group is given an ambiguous statement. The group is then asked to move to areas of the room to see if they agree/disagree with the statement.. The group is then encouraged to detail the reasons why they have come to their conclusions.
There is more than one type of learning. A committee of colleges, led by Benjamin Bloom identified three domains of educational activities: * Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge) * Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude) * Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)
If we use the above to consider my session we have:
DVD – High cognitive, low affective and low psychomotor
Icebreaker – Low affective
Q&A – Very high cognitive
Discussion – High cognitive, high affective
What I have to consider when dealing with a group of younger learners is that it is important that these learners have strategies in place to keep them engaged. No single activity lasts longer than 20 minutes. What is also important is that the icebreaker is interactive and physical and encourages group work even if the group is already familiar with one another.
Malcolm Knowles and others theorised that methods used to teach children are often not the most effective means of teaching adults. In The Modern Practice of Adult Education (1970), Knowles defined andragogy as "an emerging technology for adult learning." His four andragogical assumptions are that adults:
1) move from dependency to self-directedness;
2) draw upon their reservoir of experience for learning;
3) are ready to learn when they assume new roles; and
4) want to solve problems and apply new knowledge immediately.
Initially defined as, "the art and science of helping adults learn," andragogy has come to be understood as an alternative to pedagogy; a learner-focused approach for people of all ages.
Even though our learners are not generally of adult age we can say that our approach to our workshop delivery and the learning undertaken by the students is certainly andragogical. As the learner is not dependent upon the teacher for all learning and learners are encouraged to share their (albeit limited) knowledge and experiences.
I find that allowing the learners to agree or disagree with statements can help them form a group; the discussion aspect of the session allows the learners to maintain their individuality when expressing their views. ‘Groups can often go off in the wrong direction, and they can be hijacked by a determined individual. Some group members may become passengers, letting others take the lead’ (Petty 2008).
The University of Sheffield defines Inclusive Learning as
What it is: * Creating and presenting opportunities for learning in such a way that they are accessible to all students * Making what we teach and the way we teach it much more flexible * Taking into consideration different learning styles * Using course content to teach about diversity issues
What it isn't: * Making radical changes to a course * Only for some subject disciplines * Just for under-represented groups * Something additional to core work
When looking at the sessions that I deliver I feel that the sessions are as inclusive as possible and can be easily adaptable to each group of learners I teach.
Normally, we know little about the groups we teach before we arrive. From this point of view we ensure that we bring our own laptop and projector so the DVD can be played. The DVD also has subtitles to make the DVD accessible to any people with hearing difficulties.
The Icebreaker is often very physical and relies on people moving around the room, however, we also have other icebreaker routines that allow people to remain in their seats. The same goes for the workshop Q&A element; this is usually very interactive and physical as learners are expected to move around the room. However we are prepared with colour cards so learners can remain seated and hold up their cards with the corresponding colour to ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’.
It is important that all the learners feel that they can participate, whatever their learning style or level. As our workshops are based on young people having an opinion and there are no right/wrong answers so learners feel that what they say is
relevant.
Reece and Walker (2006) define assessment as “... the process of obtaining information about how much a student knows.”For the style of our workshop we have a variety of assessment methods. Firstly, we have a pre and post workshop evaluation form asking the learners to detail their level of knowledge on the subject of equality and diversity and hate crimes. From this we can assess the effectiveness of the session for the group as a whole. We also have the Q&A element which is facilitated by the tutor and from this we can see if the learners can formulate their own opinions on the subjects raised.
There could be other assessment methods we could use in the future, such as gapped handouts, however we feel the ‘interactive’ methods we currently use are more appealing to the learners.
From looking at how we deliver our sessions we provide opportunities for learners to practice their literacy, language, numeracy and ICT in the following ways:
Literacy – completion of evaluation forms
Language – Q&A and discussions
Numeracy – providing learners with hate crime statistics
ICT – Encouraging the learners to research hate crimes
Motivating learners in an inclusive environment is a key part of the sessions we deliver. Having the learners feel that they take ownership of the session is one of our key motivating elements. The learners are allowed to express their own opinions and are not force fed information. As the session often takes place during school time in the classroom, they are encouraged to remove their school ties and are informed that they should feel as comfortable as possible, The session is highly interactive and the learners feel that it is away from the ‘norm’ of school day and therefore are generally much more motivated to participate. We also inform the students that what we are here to do is not to ‘teach’ them but to raise their awareness over issues that have affected them or their peers. They feel they can engage with this and therefore participate more.
Part of creating this motivating environment is to establish the ground rules. Ground rules can be established in 3 different ways: * Teacher imposed. * Learner imposed. * Negotiated.
It is not always recognised that learners can impose ground rules but they have just as much right to expect appropriate behaviour and actions from the teacher as the teacher has from them.
The best way to establish ground rules is to negotiate them. Think about how you could do this with your learners. Perhaps you could ask your class to suggest ground rules they would like through an ice-breaker activity, a group discussion, a boardstorm, learner presentation, by post-it notes, flip chart paper etc.
The important thing is that after they have been suggested they are negotiated and agreed or rejected. This allows the learners to ‘own’ them - which should, ultimately, mean that they will respect them.
Reece and Walker (2006) state that “The quality and type of feedback given to students is crucial if it is going to lead to improvement. Feedback can be given as a mark or a grade, or comments or a mixture of the two”. Through the workshops that we offer we try and make sure that we offer feedback to the group as a whole. We try and make the comments constructive to empower the learners and thank them for their input, as without them participating there would be no session. Is is through their involvement and participation that they are able to learn so it is important that this is fed back to group and they understand the reasons why they have been asked for their involvement. Feedback is also continually given throughout the session, even when a learner may have given an opinion that is not shared by the rest of the group it is important that the learner is given constructive feedback so they can learn from the experience and still feel comfortable to participate.
Reference List
Inclusive Learning and Teaching – University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/strategy/resources/inclusivelandt [Accessed 12th July 2012]
Knowles, M. S. (1970, 1980) The Modern Practice of Adult Education. Andragogy versus pedagogy, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall/Cambridge.
Petty, G (1998). Teaching Today, 2nd ed. Nelson Thornes.
Reece, I., Walker, S. (2006). Teaching, training & learning- A practical guide. 6th ed. Oxford: Business Education Publishers
When considering this aspect, what I want my students to learn is not to pre-judge and make assumptions based on limited knowledge of other people. Often I limit the numbers of students undertaking the learning to a minimum of 15 to a maximum of 30.
The sessions are targeted to ages 11-18 so …show more content…
are very young people focussed. The learners are encouraged to engage and participate in the activities. Learners are first shown a DVD which displays skewed views towards equality and diversity. The learners are then asked to participate in an icebreaker and then a Q&A session and discussion where the group is given an ambiguous statement. The group is then asked to move to areas of the room to see if they agree/disagree with the statement.. The group is then encouraged to detail the reasons why they have come to their conclusions.
There is more than one type of learning. A committee of colleges, led by Benjamin Bloom identified three domains of educational activities: * Cognitive: mental skills (Knowledge) * Affective: growth in feelings or emotional areas (Attitude) * Psychomotor: manual or physical skills (Skills)
If we use the above to consider my session we have:
DVD – High cognitive, low affective and low psychomotor
Icebreaker – Low affective
Q&A – Very high cognitive
Discussion – High cognitive, high affective
What I have to consider when dealing with a group of younger learners is that it is important that these learners have strategies in place to keep them engaged. No single activity lasts longer than 20 minutes. What is also important is that the icebreaker is interactive and physical and encourages group work even if the group is already familiar with one another.
Malcolm Knowles and others theorised that methods used to teach children are often not the most effective means of teaching adults. In The Modern Practice of Adult Education (1970), Knowles defined andragogy as "an emerging technology for adult learning." His four andragogical assumptions are that adults:
1) move from dependency to self-directedness;
2) draw upon their reservoir of experience for learning;
3) are ready to learn when they assume new roles; and
4) want to solve problems and apply new knowledge immediately.
Initially defined as, "the art and science of helping adults learn," andragogy has come to be understood as an alternative to pedagogy; a learner-focused approach for people of all ages.
Even though our learners are not generally of adult age we can say that our approach to our workshop delivery and the learning undertaken by the students is certainly andragogical. As the learner is not dependent upon the teacher for all learning and learners are encouraged to share their (albeit limited) knowledge and experiences.
I find that allowing the learners to agree or disagree with statements can help them form a group; the discussion aspect of the session allows the learners to maintain their individuality when expressing their views. ‘Groups can often go off in the wrong direction, and they can be hijacked by a determined individual. Some group members may become passengers, letting others take the lead’ (Petty 2008).
The University of Sheffield defines Inclusive Learning as
What it is: * Creating and presenting opportunities for learning in such a way that they are accessible to all students * Making what we teach and the way we teach it much more flexible * Taking into consideration different learning styles * Using course content to teach about diversity issues
What it isn't: * Making radical changes to a course * Only for some subject disciplines * Just for under-represented groups * Something additional to core work
When looking at the sessions that I deliver I feel that the sessions are as inclusive as possible and can be easily adaptable to each group of learners I teach.
Normally, we know little about the groups we teach before we arrive. From this point of view we ensure that we bring our own laptop and projector so the DVD can be played. The DVD also has subtitles to make the DVD accessible to any people with hearing difficulties.
The Icebreaker is often very physical and relies on people moving around the room, however, we also have other icebreaker routines that allow people to remain in their seats. The same goes for the workshop Q&A element; this is usually very interactive and physical as learners are expected to move around the room. However we are prepared with colour cards so learners can remain seated and hold up their cards with the corresponding colour to ‘agree’ or ‘disagree’.
It is important that all the learners feel that they can participate, whatever their learning style or level. As our workshops are based on young people having an opinion and there are no right/wrong answers so learners feel that what they say is
relevant.
Reece and Walker (2006) define assessment as “... the process of obtaining information about how much a student knows.”For the style of our workshop we have a variety of assessment methods. Firstly, we have a pre and post workshop evaluation form asking the learners to detail their level of knowledge on the subject of equality and diversity and hate crimes. From this we can assess the effectiveness of the session for the group as a whole. We also have the Q&A element which is facilitated by the tutor and from this we can see if the learners can formulate their own opinions on the subjects raised.
There could be other assessment methods we could use in the future, such as gapped handouts, however we feel the ‘interactive’ methods we currently use are more appealing to the learners.
From looking at how we deliver our sessions we provide opportunities for learners to practice their literacy, language, numeracy and ICT in the following ways:
Literacy – completion of evaluation forms
Language – Q&A and discussions
Numeracy – providing learners with hate crime statistics
ICT – Encouraging the learners to research hate crimes
Motivating learners in an inclusive environment is a key part of the sessions we deliver. Having the learners feel that they take ownership of the session is one of our key motivating elements. The learners are allowed to express their own opinions and are not force fed information. As the session often takes place during school time in the classroom, they are encouraged to remove their school ties and are informed that they should feel as comfortable as possible, The session is highly interactive and the learners feel that it is away from the ‘norm’ of school day and therefore are generally much more motivated to participate. We also inform the students that what we are here to do is not to ‘teach’ them but to raise their awareness over issues that have affected them or their peers. They feel they can engage with this and therefore participate more.
Part of creating this motivating environment is to establish the ground rules. Ground rules can be established in 3 different ways: * Teacher imposed. * Learner imposed. * Negotiated.
It is not always recognised that learners can impose ground rules but they have just as much right to expect appropriate behaviour and actions from the teacher as the teacher has from them.
The best way to establish ground rules is to negotiate them. Think about how you could do this with your learners. Perhaps you could ask your class to suggest ground rules they would like through an ice-breaker activity, a group discussion, a boardstorm, learner presentation, by post-it notes, flip chart paper etc.
The important thing is that after they have been suggested they are negotiated and agreed or rejected. This allows the learners to ‘own’ them - which should, ultimately, mean that they will respect them.
Reece and Walker (2006) state that “The quality and type of feedback given to students is crucial if it is going to lead to improvement. Feedback can be given as a mark or a grade, or comments or a mixture of the two”. Through the workshops that we offer we try and make sure that we offer feedback to the group as a whole. We try and make the comments constructive to empower the learners and thank them for their input, as without them participating there would be no session. Is is through their involvement and participation that they are able to learn so it is important that this is fed back to group and they understand the reasons why they have been asked for their involvement. Feedback is also continually given throughout the session, even when a learner may have given an opinion that is not shared by the rest of the group it is important that the learner is given constructive feedback so they can learn from the experience and still feel comfortable to participate.
Reference List
Inclusive Learning and Teaching – University of Sheffield http://www.shef.ac.uk/lets/strategy/resources/inclusivelandt [Accessed 12th July 2012]
Knowles, M. S. (1970, 1980) The Modern Practice of Adult Education. Andragogy versus pedagogy, Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall/Cambridge.
Petty, G (1998). Teaching Today, 2nd ed. Nelson Thornes.
Reece, I., Walker, S. (2006). Teaching, training & learning- A practical guide. 6th ed. Oxford: Business Education Publishers