•              Understanding The Social, Political and Economic Foundations of Education

•              Problems Teachers Face

•              Project Options

 

Having this article handy, will definitely help me to get a grip of teaching this all crucial skill to my students. It is very important that as teachers in this dispensation, we are equipped with tools that will help us to guide the 21st century learners and future workforce.

As educators, we often feel called to improve the lives of the students with whom we work. How does this impact your teaching philosophy and practice? How do you identify and address students' diverse backgrounds in your teaching practice?

As you reflect on the content of this course, how does this information impact your teaching or beliefs on teaching? Is there a quote or thought that best epitomizes your reason for teaching?

This resource gives very insightful details on autism, what can hinder them from learning and the strategies a teacher can adopt in order to help them learn maximally.

https://www.readingrockets.org/article/structured-teaching-strategies-students-autism-spectrum-disorder.

Another great resource on strategies to help autistic students

and
 https://docs.google.com/document/d/181KlxkWuIC-2p2xir9fZsAL0AsWuc1Hp2I9xbWFbFCU/edit

 

  

This is a very brief but straight to the point material on helpful tips for teachers to effectively manage and teach students with hearing impairment

This resource, in addition to offering very useful strategies for teachers to help students with hearing impairment, also offers insights into Curriculum Accommodations and regular evaluation of progress

This reflection focuses on the role of the teacher in a diverse classroom as opposed to the role of the teacher in a traditional classroom 

A Reflection of my View on Teaching Students with Disabilities

This portfolio, I reflected on the feelings of uncertainty with teaching students with disabiloities/disorders, and how to possibly overcome these feelings.

Here, the use of identity text stood out as a means to try and build bridges for students that are linguistically challenged. I found it interesting and useful and even tried it out briefly in my class.

 

This is a resource that I came across during this course. It highlights the pros and cons of the IB Program. I archived it because, it is important for me as a teacher in an IB School to understand the negative side of the program so that I would be able to mitigate the effects of such for the students as necessary.

 

 

It will also help a teacher to: • decide which qualities of your teaching to evaluate • choose an appropriate assessment method • make changes to improve your teaching

 

My school majorly uses The IB PYP style of assessment, the formative and summative modes of assessments, with the use of Rubrics, checklist and continuum.  This is both for investigating students’ learning in order to enhance the teaching and learning process, and for gauging what the students have learnt in relation to some set standards like standardized learning outcomes

This analysis will help an educator to see what learning theory or blend of learning theories to adopt in the classroom in order to best serve the students and also in line with the school’s vision.

 

 

 I decided to add this to my practice portfolio because, working with a student with this kind of challenge, is very unfamiliar to me, and more so, working with a child psychologist over a child’s case. Nevertheless, it offers a great opportunity for me to learn and practice how to handle similar cases in the future as a teacher.

·         When There’s a Developmental Concern

·         Promoting Developmental Monitoring

·         Engaging Families in Monitoring and provides Tools to Support Monitoring and Screening

·         Training Resources, Customization, Translations, and Ordering Online to suit peculiar contexts

Concrete Experience: Feeling

Reflective Observations: Observing

Abstract Conceptualization: Thinking

Application: Doing  

The Kolb’s learning cycle really offers a great way for any learning experience to be effectively analysed and reflected upon for subsequent enhanced output

Using the tool of flexible learning environment to resolve a challenge that came up in the classroom.

Adopting a change in the style of administering the mental math learning activity that we engage in weekly, and still monitoring how well the students adjust. Further changes may still be made, if need be, for effectiveness.

Team Teaming was adopted with a grade level colleague in order to be more effective in teaching areas of specialty

This reflection touches on how my thinking has changed regarding child development at all age levels and developmental stages, the key benefits of this understanding in my practice, the possible limitations of this understanding, how I will support the differentiating needs of students at particular age levels and specific developmental stages, what ideas I have garnered in applying this knowledge to my educational practice, and my view of how these implications could be helpful and why.

Freire views education from the perspective that traditional methodology of education which is teacher-centered, perpetuates oppression to the students. Students trained this way, readily accept the mythology that truth belongs to a select few.  Freire therefore advocates a new kind of teaching and learning methodology where Freire that creates an environment of equal participation of teacher and students where mutual respect, love, and understanding flourish. This new method of education, as believed by Freire, humanizes students and prepares them to fight for liberation from oppression.

I included it in my research portfolio because to some extent, it gives credence to student-centered learning, which is a form of progressive education.

 
This writing is mainly aimed to answer the question “Is curriculum for the 21st century best organized around the traditional disciplines or is there a more promising alternative?”. The author concluded since it is likely that disciplines’ structure will  continue to serve as the organizing rubric for the curriculum, it would be worth considering to stretch disciplines from within in order to push back the boundaries between various disciplines, and ask how each of the expanded subjects/discipline can be designed or restructured, to promote adapted and suitable aims for the 21st century.

 

https://unesdoc.unesco.org 
 

Based on an extensive review of scholarly literature, this paper seeks to overview curriculum reforms aimed at improving learning outcomes and reduce disparities in school achievement in low- and middle-income countries in the past 15 years.  The paper focuses on four major curriculum areas, including curriculum content, pedagogical approach, student assessment and language-in-education policies. Curriculum reforms in four countries, namely China, Turkey, Uganda and Bolivia, are analyzed in order to illustrate the global reform talk, implementation in  local  contexts,  challenges encountered,  and  the  outcomes  of  these  major  reform  efforts  on  learning  outcomes  and  addressing discrepancies in school achievement. The paper concludes with specific policy recommendations for the post-2015 education agenda (ABSTRACT).

 

This resource talks about curriculum as a dynamic interplay of sociocultural, economic, and political contexts at local and global arena, and it is impacted by various isms (philosophies) of people involved in the design and implementation of the curriculum.

I placed this here because to me, it is an interesting subject of research and evaluation.

 

 

This video is on how a 21^st century classroom looks like on the average and how it can leverage on the integration of technology into the curriculum and the teaching and learning process.

It is a video clip that any 21^st century teacher should have handy because of the way it projects how different subjects can be presented in exciting ways and made interactive to the students.

This material from Mohawk College gives a very good description of the UDL and how it can be used in schools to promote Equity, and Inclusion for the diversity of students represented in the classroom. The site also contains links to videos on the UDL implementation process

1. Academic Support, 

2. Prepare Teachers

3.Curruculum  

4. Integrate Student Bodies

5. Adjust Ranking Calculations                                                       6. Create a Respectful School Community 

7. Create A Space for Discussion 

                                                                                                                               

 

 These resources provide some very practical guidance for designing instructions and as a reminder of good practices that are relevant to optimal/enhanced learning.

In this reflection, an attempt was made to bring out the relationship between some of the principles from the various thematic categories and the different learning theories that have been explored in this unit- behaviorism, cognitive theory, social learning and constructivism.

a) educational practices that fail to make accommodations for students with cognitive or physical disabilities

b) negative stereotypes toward students

c) curriculum expectations which do not provide the same opportunities for students of different socio-economic backgrounds

 CRT helps to effectively connect their culturally- and community-based knowledge to the classroom learning experiences.”

Culturally responsive teaching is more of a mindset for the kind of teaching that embraces and values culture, and builds it into everyday instruction in order for learning to make sense to students.

The need for humans to sharpen their skills for adapting to whatever may come next was highlighted. The other needs pointed out as needed to cope with the current trend of globalization were:

 -Demand for adaptability,
 -Diversifying Learning Outcomes,
- Inclusive Skills Development,
-Laying Mental Foundations and 
- Skills for Tomorrow   

 

Huddart, D. (2014). English in the Conversation of Mankind: World Englishes and Global Citizenship. In Involuntary Associations: Postcolonial Studies and World Englishes (pp. 52-74). Liverpool: Liverpool University Press. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt18kr776.6

I added this to my practice portfolio because, it will help me to constantly look into these areas and ensure that the best is being done to maintain that positive classroom environment that brings out the best in the students

Carrying out this activity as against reading about it, offers the teacher the opportunity to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of each arrangement, first hand and she/he can keep photos of these for future reference. It goes further to provide a checklist on classroom design which aims at providing the teacher with clues or guidance in creating a better physical environment that will result in enhanced teaching and learning.   

Sites for the Standards, e.g (NGSS Standards and Checklists) and several sites carry good STEM lessons. Two of such sites are eFGI for Teachers and TeachEngineering.

This rich resource, contains basically everything that a teacher needs to get a hang of effectively designing and integrating Authentic assessments into the teaching and learning process 

 

 

 

This resource is a great one in setting a teacher on the path of selecting the best and ideal scientific/investigative tool for the level of his/her students. Something between Structured Scientific and Flexible Inquiry approaches 

I decided to include this in my research portfolio because action research is an ongoing thing in a teaching profession that empowers any teacher or practitioner to keep growing professionally 

The video above is from University of the West of Scotland on how use the acronym CRAAP, to help you evaluate the information (sources) that you find for relevance, high standard and to meet the expectations of any assignment like research.

2) Erikson’s Psychosocial Developmental Theory
As it became known, Erikson’s Psychosocial Developmental Theory produced a framework for organizing human growth, through all stages of life, into eight distinct stages:

3) Bandura’s Social Learning Theory:

This theory states that while much child learning and child development does come from direct experience, much also comes from modeling and simple observations of people around you.
This theory takes into account both cognitive and environmental factors in determining how children learn and learn to behave.

4) Bowlby’s Attachment Theory:
Bowlby was a psychoanalyst like Freud, and as such, he placed a lot of importance on early childhood and how experiences during that period of life could determine whether or not a child would grow up to have significant mental health problems.

Collaborative learning – the practice of breaking students into small groups to answer questions, work on projects and learn from one another – has become one of the strongest core philosophies operating in classrooms today.

The concept is not new; much of the early research on collaborative learning (also called cooperative learning) was done in the 1980s and 1990s when most classrooms favored the traditional teacher lectures and individual student work. But with the growth of technology and the increasing value society places on the ability to work in teams, collaborative learning has become more common. Here are 10 strategies for encouraging the success of collaborative learning: