Overview of Learning Edge School
The chosen school for this assignment is a mixed gender, mixed ability, extremely popular and successful school in an affluent area of West London, and has an excellent reputation for its academic achievement and extra-curricular activities (Martin Sun and Westine 2020). The school’s performance at GCSE level is outstanding and has a rapidly improved, and held their spot in the top 20% of the educational facilities in the United Kingdom for the last three years. As compared to other national and local educational institutes, the Learning Edge School discussed in this essay, the rate improvement of educational learning processes in this facility is fast as well (Coleman 2021). In 2019, students of this educational facility showed that an average of 87% students received a strong pass mark in standard 4. 65 % students with mathematics and English in GCSE level received a strong pass mark. The National average for grade 5 school- goers are 51.9 %, which is significantly lesser than that of this educational institution. It is significantly higher than the local average, which is even lesser than the national average in this area of study (Trigwell 2021).
In December 2013, the Ofsted inspection agreed with the school’s self-evaluation at the time as a ’Good’ school with ’Outstanding’ behavior and safety and Leadership and Management. However, the school was re-inspected in February 2018 and May 2019 and judged the school to be ‘Outstanding’ for overall effectiveness. The different sub- categories that have been into consideration during the inspection processes were: Effectiveness of Leadership and Management; Quality of teaching, learning and assessment; Personal development, behavior and welfare. This is evidence for the fact that the teaching processes within the school itself was being carried out in an effective manner. With advanced teaching processes, the learning outcomes of the different students are also boosted (Abdulrahaman et al. 2020).
The educational institution takes pride on the value systems that are used within the premises. The program under which these values become important and aid the community are known as ‘’School Values Community Aspiration Respect Endeavour”. The students who are enrolled into this institution come from a feeder school located in the locality. This feeder school has a proper idea regarding the level of education that a child needs, before getting enrolled into the chosen education institution in this assignment. The approximate number of students who are enrolled into this school on a yearly basis are over 1200. These students come from the local catchment area. It should be mentioned here that the high educational standards of this school have a positive impact on the local community (Purwantoro, Asari and Maruf 2021). Education does not comprise of the different academic subjects and relevant concepts. The educational curriculum within this school is built on a code of values, rights and responsibilities, that play a major role in the development of a better society.
One of the main important parts of educating children is trustworthiness. During the learning process, the teacher has to be open to any issue that a child might be facing. Viewing such problems from the perspective of the student. Pedagogical thoughtfulness is necessary for educators. It allows them to create a curriculum that is accordance to their learning capacity, as well as their age (Cendon 2018).
Academic Excellence and Value-based Education
The role of an educator within this institution is not just helping them understand different concepts and topics related to the academic subjects. The educators within the chosen school are also responsible for monitoring the behavior of the students, both during lessons as well as during break times (Walker, Jenkins and Voce 2018). This is helpful in understanding if any kid requires special assistance or has some form of behavioral issue. Therefore, the definition of teaching within the chosen facility is not just academic, but also value- based. Class management is also an important aspect of the responsibilities of the teacher as an educator.
The main focus of this paper is a year 7 science lesson, which are to be planned by an educator before the classes are started. When preparing this, a number of different factors need to be taken into consideration, like, seating arrangements, necessary resources required for the teaching processes, as well as the time that is required to help introduce new concepts in year 7. The role of teaching assistants (TA) is also important in this aspect (Harvey, McCormick and Vanden 2019). The pre- planned curriculum that is prepared by the teacher should be provided to the TA’s. They also often help in managing the students, and encouraging them to take part in activities that further improves their understanding of different topics and concepts introduced to them (Sumardi Rohman and Wahyudiati 2020). The new class that is to be started with 30 mixed gender and they have mixed abilities as well. 3 SEN and 2 EAL students are present as well. Students often need support due to a variety of reasons, and if they are assisted by teachers, peers as well as their family members then their issues can be resolved, improving their understanding regarding the different topics that will be taught in class. Students have a strong reaction towards educators, and their way of managing the class.
The role of a teacher in this aspect is very high. The different strategies or skills that an educator possesses are to be used to help the students clearly understand new topics like that of a cell. It is important for teachers to treat their students as individuals. The opinions and thoughts of all students are to be taken into consideration (Dewi and Primayana 2019). This plays a major role in create a connection between a teacher and a student, as well as speak freely if they face any problems or challenges. The learning processes are to be made engaging so that the students are curious to learn about the different topics that are introduced in the class.
Thus, the strategies that an educator should follow when teaching a class of 30 kids, in order to ensure that they are getting a comprehensive learning experience are being outlined. The implications of using these strategies are also discussed.
- The first and basic thing that an educator should do is be aware of the names of each of the students, and their speed of progress.
- The areas that are of interest for the kid or prove difficult for them should also be identified for each child. This is to be done before the classes begin (Mian and Khan 2020).
- If the educator stands at the door at the beginning of their class to greet their pupils, a positive notion is created regarding the teacher, which has a positive impact on their learning processes (Subramani and Iyappan 2018).
- Gaining the respect of the kids is a very important aspect of a teacher’s job. In order to do this, they are not to take an autonomic approach when running her own class, but take into consideration the issues or opinions that their children might have.
In this regard it can be mentioned here that an educator or a teacher plays a number of different roles like a facilitator, an authority figure, parent, and counsellor.
Year 7 Science Lesson: Strategies for Comprehensive Learning
The topic that will be highlighted as a part of the Year 7 course curriculum is that of cells. The different learning outcomes relevant to the same are being outlined and briefly discussed before (Sobnath et al. 2020).
- To help students understand the concept of cell and its functions.
- To help identify the differences between the plant cell and an animal cell.
- To identify the different organelles that are present within a cell.
- To gain knowledge regarding the functions of these different cell organelles.
- The students are also to take part in a practical experiment in the laboratory to be able to see a true cell under the microscope, and prepare diagrams of the same.
The main objective of the lesson is to study the structure and function of both plan and animal cells. Students are asked to swab their own cheeks and see the same under the microscope. They are required to be able to identify their cheek cells and the different organelles within the cell.
The lesson fits into the mid-term plan for the key stage 3 Year 7 school (Appendix 2) for the second half of the term. When a plan is thought of, think not only of what is being taught and how it’s going to be taught, but also of the implications of these choices (Deng Benckendorff and Gannaway 2019).
The student and the teacher need to have a trustworthy relationship with each other. This improves the communication between them, and as a result their learning processes are impacted positively. Connecting with each student as an individual is useful as it helps in the bringing out the personalities of each of the students to the front. This helps identify if they have any issues related to learning, and resolve the same.
Even though politeness is essential for any educator, but there should be a set limit or boundary regarding the behavior that is accepted within the classroom (Munro 2018). The basic rules that are set by them, to manage the classroom efficiently should be followed at all times by the students. They should also refrain for unfair punishments or decisions. For example, if a particular student did not do their homework, all students should not be punished for it.
In order to encourage the students to learn more efficiently, students should be instructed to write the date and the topic name on their exercise books. This helps create a good habit among the students (Winstone and Boud 2019). Setting a task objective instead of learning objective helps students learn better. Proper time management is also very important for effective learning. Thus, students should be given a set time when trying to complete a task.
A key dimension along which learners differ is level of prior knowledge, a factor that has been extensively investigated within the literature on elaborative interrogation. Both correlational and experimental evidence suggest that prior knowledge is an important moderator of elaborative-interrogation effects, such that effects generally increase as prior knowledge increases.
Students were asked to get out a green pen to mark the work for self-assessment. A well-known book, Inside the bi- ed significant gains from the way teachers interact with their students. Known more broadly as ‘assessment for learning’ or ‘formative assessment’, it is not about assessment in its usual meaning of grading and so forth, but rather a whole approach to teaching. One study found a 15 per cent improvement in outcomes in the classes where teachers used the techniques compared with those where they were not used (Flavin and Quintero 2018). Research has a great deal to say about what contributes to good teaching. Formative assessment’ and feedback are high on the list of helpful approached Personalized learning, understood correctly, has an important part to play in this text (Lightbown and Spada 2020).
Role of Teacher in Creating a Comprehensive Learning Experience
An effective method of holding the attention of the students is to use the ‘No hands up’ method when question the students. This method keeps the students at edge as there is no certainty as to whom the educator would pick. It makes it compulsory for them to be attentive at all times. They should also be provided with some wait time after they have been asked a question. Questioning is one of the important aspects of learning. This method should be properly planned. The students should be asked questions that are in an increasing level of difficulty. If a student answers a question correctly, both their understanding and their confidence are boosted.
If a particular student is not attentive or receptive in class, they must be facing some challenges which discourage them from trying to learn. Such issues should be identified as behavioral issues by the educator and necessary assistance should be provided. An educator should be rational at all times, and have a clear idea regarding the cognitive and learning abilities of all of their students.
After the students have completed their laboratory work, they were asked to label a microscope (Batanero 2020). When the answers were revealed, the teacher asked all the students who got 10/10 then 9/10 then 8/10. The teacher looked at the raised hands and how many reacted to 10/10. A majority put their hands up say that they got the answer correct. The teacher then looked at how many raised their hands for 9/10 and 8/10 fewer hands were raised. This showed the teacher that the students had shown that learning and taken place and they were able to recall the knowledge. There are no students that got less than 8/10. The teacher recognized that the students has understood the lesson prior and were able to label a microscope correctly (Alenezi 2020).
AFL practices or strategies are a set of guidelines that helps educators manage their responsibilities (Mainali 2021). The strategy of sharing the learning outcomes of a particular topic or chapter with the students helps them better grasp the different concepts. I also allow my students to freely talk in class and place any questions or queries that they might have. If a particular student has special needs, the teacher should ensure that they are assisted in areas where they need the same. Having a positive learning environment within the classroom promotes a better learning (Asmus 2021).
The laboratory experiments that the students have taken part in is also a significant part of the learning process. It is engaging for the students and helps them remember the different cell organelles that they have seen under the microscope. Some students had problems being able to see the cells or the organelles under the microscope (Whitton and Langan 2018). They should be assessed. After this process, the students were asked a few questions on this topic, and then asked to label a microscope in their workbook. This helped them understand the topic at hand even better.
The COVID 19 pandemic that took over the world in 2020, has also had a significant impact on the teaching and learning processes. In order to efficiently deal with the pandemic, and prevent further spread of this fatal infection many countries triggered their lockdown protocols. This indicated that all educational institutions had to be closed due to this unexpected disaster. As a result, both the learning and teaching processes are disrupted. The negative impact on learning processes that happened during this period of time, by both the teachers and the students are being outlined and briefly discussed below.
- First and foremost, problem that arises for both the teacher and the students is the habit of being within a physical classroom, and teaching the students within the same. This becomes a problem as all the skills that an educator has practiced and improved upon have been targeted for being properly able to manage a classroom full of students. On the other hand, the students of year 7 learning, have also become used to attending physical classes and learning through effective face to face questioning by the educators. However, during the pandemic, all schools in the United Kingdom were closed down due to the pandemic and in order to continue with the education of the students, an online classroom method was introduced. This new method disrupted the learning process temporarily (Whitton and Langan 2018).
Another challenge that was identified during this time is that regarding the changes that were necessary within the curriculum of the students of Year 7. This was necessary as the speed of teaching declined significantly this year as a result of the limited time as well as the strategies that educators use during the learning process were not applicable over virtual online platforms used for teaching (Alenezi 2020).
The teacher chose students to answer the question rather than having a student raise their hand. recognizes that ‘no hands up’ is a simple and incredibly valuable technique to use in your classroom. ‘No hands up’ means that a question is asked to the whole class, allowing thinking (processing) time and only then identify the pupil who is to respond first. When students are given the option of ‘hands-up’ it is giving students the option of whether they want to participate or not. To take the choice away from students they then need to synthesize the question
and it creates a cliff hanger where any one of them could be picked to answer, this then limits the possibility of student’s switching off and they have to pay attention because it could be them.
Research studies recognize that there are two different aspects of ‘wait time’. The first is the time you wait before asking a pupil to respond (thinking time); the time you wait before responding to their answer (response time). Short thinking time coupled with rapid teacher response shows immediately that there is little opportunity beyond low-level cognitive development and the quality of answers is poor (when compared with extended processing time). Extend pupils’ thinking time to three seconds or more for lower-order cognitive questions, and to more than seven seconds for higher-order cognitive questions, the quality of discussion.
Students that named the correct part of the microscope and was asked to describe its use.
The level of the questioning can be put into lower or higher order so that the same pupils answer the lower-order questions and the same pupils answer the higher- order questions. All these teaching methods depend on a good atmosphere in the classroom, and the teacher being able to control unruly and disruptive behavior. The relationship with the students should be reciprocal as an engaging teacher is likely under most circumstances to encounter less disruptive behavior.
Questioning is one of the most powerful techniques available to use, commonly used to develop, challenge and assess learning. Questioning is also one of the most powerful pedagogical techniques, yet it is underestimated and often underused. Reports revealed that, in observing a number of lessons, he found that at least 60 percent asked questions were recall questions, with 12 to 30 per cent more being management questions (for example, ‘would you please sit down?’), leaving only approximately 4 per cent of questions being of a higher order or open in nature. Questioning needs to be developed and may be more appropriate to begin with lower – order questions, progressing to higher order questions. It is important to plan some questions in advance of the lesson in order to stimulate discussion (Deng Benckendorff and Gannaway 2019). Key questions should be developed that will help students to deepen their understanding. It will also act as a critical standing point for further and similar debates. Questioning should be used to draw out learning and probe understanding, and can b used to differentiate questioning by the type of questions that are asked and by how they are asked to them. Scaffolding questions where appropriate can be introduced. A research study revealed that if the majority of the questions focus on recall or knowledge -based facts then a much smaller percentage of the question develop higher- order thinking skills. Questions weighted to low- level of cognitive skills. Questions weighted to low- level cognitive skills, suggest that to assess the majority of the pupils (through questioning) on their ability to recall rather than their ability to think deeply that it therefore limits the challenge of learning. If a student had special need, then the question would be levelled at that student (Winstone 2022.).
A research study showed that taxonomy to reject relevance to twenty-first-century work. Students were shown a video describing animal and plants cells. The students needed to watch the video and complete a table giving a description to the key word. Students were asked to swap the tables with their peers so that peer assessment could take place. The teacher chose students to read each definition and mark the work correct or incorrect.
(Bartlett, 2016) recognizes that there are two commonly used styles of questioning which are the ping-pong style and the basketball style. The ping-pong style is used for quick- fire, low- level questions that simply require recall basic knowledge, associated with a closed style of questioning. The question goes from the teacher to the pupil and back to the teacher for the final response which could be correct or incorrect, and then ask another direct question. The input is high and immediately after the first response, this type of questioning is not suitable to development learning. The basketball style of questioning allows for thinking time; identify the first person to respond and then allow for response time; this style is associated with first person and then allow for response time; this style is associated with an open style of questioning. In response time expect all student to add their thoughts or to develop the answer further and so on. There may be a need to dispense a few added thoughts or comment to develop the answer through the ’team’ rather than only through a single pupil, and then back to the teacher for the final response, and then a new question. A single question is extended and developed much more and the students embrace the opportunity to discuss misconceptions as a part of this forum. When students are given time to think about why an answer is not correct, they are using higher- order thinking skills this is an essential part of cognitive development (Lightbown and Spada 2020). Lower order questions are not just for low -ability pupils as all students of all ages and abilities need to be exposed to the higher order question.
The role of technology in the area of teaching and learning has made strides of improvement during the pandemic. As a result, new tools have been developed in order to help the process of learning through virtual classrooms. One of the most important issues that is associated with the process of teaching during the pandemic was the inability of the students to talk to each other, and help learn together. This was because the classes were not being able to physically be present in a room. However, this issue was also resolved as the school started using an advanced virtual classroom software that would help providing both the students and teachers a comprehensive learning environment. However, after the students were vaccinated against COVID 19, the physical classes were restarted. This experience helped both students and teachers understand the importance of laboratory lessons (Flavin and Quintero 2018). The lesson that was conducted among the students of year 7, about cells and its function was a new concept for the students. When explained and discussed elaborately within the class, a number of students were still not able to grasp this concept completely. However, the laboratory procedure played a very important role in helping these students understand the topic freely. This is because not all students respond to verbal explanation, some prefer visual learning method.
In conclusion, the students explained the microscope was different from the previous lesson and the objective lenses were not very powerful so the cheek cells looked different to what they were expecting. They were able to distinguish what they were shown at the beginning of the lesson what an animal cell looks like and what they saw under the microscope. They were able to recall the knowledge from the prior lesson about the microscope. The students engaged with the lesson and enjoyed completing the experiment (Appendix 5).
As discussed formerly, the role of a teacher is integral in the process of learning. I believe that being able to manage my class of students properly and assist them in any area where they need the same. During the lesson, I use of method of questioning at random in order to identify the students who might have some understanding issues (Harvey, McCormick and Vanden 2019). These students are focused upon in the laboratory, as visual learning often helps students understand a particular concept even better. After the learning process was completed, all students were asked to finish their workbook. And finally, they are tested on this particular topic. The entire process of teaching and learning during my experience as a teacher 30 students from year 7 are being reflected upon below.
As a teacher, I have my own values and methods that I often use for teaching students. The national policies and standards of Australian learning released by AFL were also an important tool for promoting better outcomes from the learning process. Before the classes were started, I pre- prepared a lesson plan for the topic that I would introduce. The chosen topic for the year 7 students were that of cells, cell organelles and its functions. I divided the amount of time that I have to help students understand the entire topic (Harvey, McCormick and Vanden 2019). Based on the same, I used the first class with the students to help them understand what a cell truly is and how the same forms an integral part of the human body. The function and structure of the different cells throughout the body. After this, the students are asked to open their workbook and complete this particular section under this topic of learning. In the next class, I introduced the two types of cells, and started discussing the functions of the same. Cell organelles as well as their roles within the body are also discussed. For the last class on this topic, students are taken into the laboratory, and do a cheek swab to observe their own cells.
I believe that during the process of teaching, I used the questioning method extremely efficiently. After having explained a concept, I chose a student at random from the class and asked them an application- based easy question to them. If they are able to understand the same and answer it, the students gain more confidence. Next, a harder question is asked, and the difficulty of the same is increased progressively. This was helpful for both the learning process and the self- esteem of the students (Sobnath et al. 2020). Apart from the method of questioning, another method that I commonly used in order to facilitate the learning process was that of visual learning options. After the main topics in the lesson plan are explained to the students, I took them to the laboratory and helped them see the cells themselves. This leads to an eagerness regarding learning for the students, and the visual cues that they got during the laboratory session helped them understand the topic even better.
The idea of testing the student after the entire topic is covered is useful in testing the impact of the learning process on them. However, it should be done in a manner to ensure that low marks for a particular student demotivates them to try and learn new concepts. I believe that first assessment on this topic will be done without any marking or grading, to help the students learn from their own mistakes. After these, the graded tests are to be conducted. After I received the result of this test, I saw that the students have scored significantly more than they used to. This is an indication of my success as their educator (Cendon 2018). This process of teaching helps me understand the different areas of my strengths and weaknesses. From this experience I am able to understand the areas within my skill set that I need to improve upon.
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