Correlation between Effective Teaching and Learner Relationships

Positive relationships in a school environment will promote learning in a classroom on a more fundamental manner. Teachers who have a more personal relationship with learner’s promotion more attention and participation.

Students that have negative as well as positive labels linked to them are be more likely to participate in class. Ill perceived students will also be more likely to answer questions but in a more disruptive manner. Students who are armed with the knowledge that the teachers have a positive opinion about them and their views, will be bolder and more outspoken in a classroom. This will be in order to facilitate learning.

In between these two polar opposites resides the quite students whom don’t elicit a strong label from most teachers. They are aware that the teacher has no opinion of them and will thus not jeopardise this fine line of impartiality just to deliver their opinion in a class. It is better to have no label than be thought of as senseless.

The point of my ramble is that a teacher’s opinion of a learner is a vital part in their participation in class. The same can be said about the opinions of the learners in class. If one learner constantly gets criticism from other learners, he/she will be reluctant to participate in discussions. Teachers play an important part in supporting the respect of each other’s opinions and the suppression of disrespect between learners.

I noted that students are more likely to pay attention to teachers if they have a constructive relationship. Focusing on a teacher that you admire is easier than focusing on a teacher that you dislike.

If we can be compassionate to our students and show them in a positive light that we care about their future and well being, they will be more interactive. This is needed to ensure that they are fully engaged in the lesson in order to facilitate maximum understanding of the work. We need this opportunity for interaction to help the learner in all the aspects of school. Learners need to be able to tell their teacher which learning tactic work better for them and why. An open platform between learners and teachers could bridge the gap that inhibits optimal learning.

The board of directors could converse with the student body about problems in the school and find solutions together. If the learners are aware of the problems in the school, they would be more willing to help with e.g. fundraisers.

Learners need more than just a voice; they need to know that issues are understood and solutions are produced.

Independent Study

There are those that say, independent study requires more self-control and dedication than the widely excepted norm of teacher-student learning. Mostly they are right.

If it was possible to go through the twelve year syllabus without teachers and a monotonous schedule (that always has double maths for some reason), we all would have done it in a heartbeat.
Have you ever tried telling a six year old to do his/her homework? It should take only thirty minutes, but it takes wise as long to us get them seated. Kids don’t want to do predetermined work that somebody somewhere decided they need to know, in order to pass their grade.

What they want to do is explore their interest of the week/month and discuss it. We have Google and You Tube, which has the most simplistic animations and documentaries for the most complex concepts, at our disposal. Tell them to pick any topic they like and do a research project. Talk to the rest of the class about it, discuss the project that you are doing and get their feedback. The students will not just memorise the work and forget everything at the end of a test.  It is well known fact that we learn faster in subjects that we find interesting.

We do not need specific standards in order to complete our education. Yes there are basics that the students need to know, reading and writing, but the job market is to diverse we are not capable of learning the fundamentals of everything.

Teachers will still be needed to guide the learners with the projects. Scientific methods, lab equipment, spelling and subject dialect are just a few things them we could assist them with. We will not be forgotten or excluded if we give them free reins to devise their own curriculum.

The one big problem with this idea is the lack of technology in our schools. This is a problem in general all over South-Africa. We cannot expect a computer for each learner when there aren’t even handbooks in the schools. We can still implement an independent study program through the use of libraries. Second hand handbooks from universities and colleges can be bought or donated and distributed to rural schools. A lot of students keep their handbooks, summaries and class notes even though they are not going to use these again.

With the independent program we would make the idea of school less daunting and school itself more educational.

Social Media in The Classroom

Can we use social media as a way of communication in the classroom or would that we an invasion of the students privacy?

There was recently an incident in the Stellenbosch area where a young male teacher, in an all-girls school, send friend requests to his students. The parents as well as the students were extremely uncomfortable about it.

Why did the teacher want access to their photos and opinions? Teenagers are at a stage in their life that they don’t even want their parent to have access to these things, why should a teacher? The headmaster was informed and the teacher was reprimanded.

This is an example of how NOT to use social media in a classroom.

It is not a tool for parents and teacher to check up on the teenagers. What a learner did over the weekend has nothing to do with us as teachers. We can guide them to make the right decisions but their actions will be determined by themselves.

Social media, a platform that teens seem to be using 24/7, should be used to give information to our learners. Twitter is a great way to do that. A page can be made for learners to visit without giving the teacher access to their respective profiles. The change of a test date, reminder of homework or just informative YouTube links about work. Learners could also post about things that they have learned or photos at a field trip. Learning from your peers is an unused gem for teachers, they learn easier and it makes learning fun.

Reminder would also work great, no personal information is shared through it, in contrast to WhatsApp where your number is accessible to the whole group. Facebook friend requests are a bad idea especially since 2008, when teens started posting photos that are inappropriate for their teachers to view.

If an international platform could be made for learners and teachers around the world, think about how much further we could bring education. Videos and concepts could be shared about classwork. New learning ideas could come from across the globe, different ways to teach subjects and explaining the work. Learners could share their methods of studying for exams and doing projects.

Think about creating international group projects to develop intercontinental relationships. Students could learn from one another about their culture, food and country. Schools could give more potential to students than we would have ever thought possible.

We should not ban its use because it was managed wrong at a time. It should be used to our advantage in engaging learners.

Digital Pedagogy Again

“The best digital tools inspire us, often to use them in ways the designer couldn’t anticipate.”¹

Digital Pedagogy will bring forth the new age of teaching. We will not be able to teach in five years without the use of technological methods. It is booming like the industrial revolution, popping up in schools with an alarming speed.

When it is applied, students who are above average will be able to do more online exercises in class, thus moving at a faster pace. Average students will receive more help because the teacher would not be worries about the whole class falling behind in order to explain work over. We will have free learning periods where children can explore subjects that they find interesting, in order to know more about the world and about themselves.

But is South Africa ready for it?

Stellenbosch Primary school started implementing tablets into their school at the start of 2016. There is a school High school in George that gives children tablets as soon as they enrol.

Firstly Digital Pedagogy is great in cities that have the foundation for it, since parents should be able to assist their children with homework and assignments. Nothing demotivates a child more than struggling with school work. Imagine the frustration when they start struggling with technology and no one able to help. If the parents have some understanding of technology then they could help when a problem occurs. We do not live in a country where everybody has the background to work on computers.

Another reason why a foundation is required is because the children that grew up further away from the cities, with little to know background, will fall behind very quickly while the rest will excel. Asking a competent child to type a simple essay, will not take much of their time. What about the child that has never typed anything in his life?

This can be equalised by starting children from Grade 1 with computers. Give them the tools to learn the basics. If they have to use the computer each day, they will grow more confident. At the end of Grade 12, they will probably write their own programs.

Secondly if the Grade one class started with tablets, this will cause a generational divide between the Gr1 and Gr2 age groups. Why would you hire a person who is adequate in the use of technology when there is a whole generation that is majorly advanced in it?

I’m naming all these problems without solutions. To implement the use of digital pedagogy all these problems must be solved. Technology will largely be used in our classrooms one day and we need to search for a balance. My solution is this:

“Digital pedagogy calls for screwing around more than it does systematic study”

1)    http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/decoding-digital-pedagogy-pt-2-unmapping-the-terrain/

Comparing digital pedagogy and conservative method of teaching

Is digital Pedagogy removing our ability to search for knowledge? Are we losing our initiative to search and explore through books in search of the necessary information?

Most of the teachers and lecturers that I have had, constantly noted that we are being spoon fed. We are given the necessary information, already summed up in a nice neat PowerPoint and just have to restate it in tests. The previous generation had to write down everything that the lecture said and then research the rest by themselves. Hours was spent in front of books, reading more than the required knowledge. All this fuelled the acquisition of knowledge in young minds.

We have vast amount of data at our fingertips, ranging from string theory to the newest bacteria found kilometres under the sea. This data is mainly used to search cat videos and post selfies.

On the other hand, how many hours are saved by optioning the information directly from a teacher? How much easier would it be to just give the learners all the needed data? With the fast pace syllabus and lifestyle that we live in today, do we really have any other option as to just give the data to learners and ask them to recite it back? When time is one of our most limiting resources, we cannot expect learners to waste assets just to fuel their curiosity.

In an ideal world, we would be able to combine the inspiring of the old with the easy access of the new.  Teachers would be able to give class on computers, give all the data and still inspire the students to go learn further that is required. We need to integrate both ways to form a method of teaching that is less dependent of technology but still innovative.