Teaching and learning in practice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Teaching and learning in practice - Essay Example A teacher’s role of investigator in classroom makes him/her a life-long learner. Wright (1987) suggests a teacher must adopt this role to explore his teaching approach. Joyce, Calhoun, and Hopkins (1997) also agree with Wright that by adopting the role of investigator makes him/her a reflective practitioner. Taking into account this notion, I developed the lesson plan with an array of teaching strategies. My all students are young students of grade two. Further, I kept my options open to add, subtract, or alter any strategy in my teaching. To make this possible, I always try to reflect back upon each and every activity in my classroom. I not only try to take into account the students’ response during each activity, but also consider how the individuals are responding. Most importantly, I reflect back on my own role during the activities. This process of reflection helps me not only in adapting my strategies in a creative way, but also helps me in knowing about my own st rengths and weaknesses. Following is the account of such a detailed reflection. First of all I will present my Lesson plan and then my detailed analysis on the events in classroom Lesson Plan Subject: Medical Emergency Content: Cardiac Arrest Topic: AED Participants: 16 Objective of the Lesson: Students will be able to administer AED (Automated External Defibrillators) to manage an emergency patient of Cardiac Arrest. Teaching Methodology and Strategies: Individual Reading The students will be given an article on signs of Cardiac Arrest and AED intervention. After individual reading of the article they will form groups Group Discussion The participants will discuss the important points they have learnt during the individual reading. Presentation I will give a short presentation on the management of Cardiac Arrest through AED. I will use pictures and videos to illustrate my points. Demonstration Firstly, I will give a show a video demonstrating the use of AED. Students demonstration In pairs, students will demonstrate to administer of Defibrillator Summary: Randomly, students will retell the signs of Cardiac Arrest Each student will share one step involved in administration of AED management. Teaching Strategies: Discussion and Reflection I divided my classroom time in individual, pair, group and class work on one hand. Similarly, I distributed my teaching strategies into lecture/presentation, demonstration, reading, and group discussions. Many scholars have establish that incorporation of more than one strategies optimize learning and minimizes their threats (Reece and Walker 2000). Different strategies have different strengths. Swain, Monk, Johnson (1999) has also suggested the same kind of plan. Similarly, Joyce, Calhoun, and Hopkins (1997) said that a variety of learning experiences increases the learning rate. Thus, I used several different strategies in my classroom. Individual work involves more efforts and thinking, group work develop interpersonal skil ls, and pair work is more productive and time saving. It raises individual participation. During the lesson I exercised class work, pair work and group work. Further, as my task is to develop AED administration skills and knowledge, I will also reflect how the combination of different methods

Is our Education System Failing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is our Education System Failing - Essay Example Research evidence seems to indicate the problem may be one of inappropriate measurement methods; however, a more detailed examination of American secondary schools indicates that although measurement methods might negatively affect our estimates about how much high schools are failing students, an underlying problem still exists and it needs to be corrected. This underlying problem with secondary schools is one that revolves around the concept of accountability, and a number of issues emerge from unaccountable schools. An important consideration to make when considering the success or failure of American secondary schools is the statistics involved with either side of the argument. A graduation rate is a good indicator of whether a specific school is successfully educating and preparing its students. Therefore, it is essential to see whether the statistical measurements of graduation are actually correct or not. Swanson (analyzes American graduation rates across the country, and offe rs a resource for better evaluating and measuring the graduation crisis. The analysis points to a clear role for public policy in improving the conditions and environmental circumstances in which American secondary schools operate. An important consequence of this is that â€Å"the findings here do tell us that there is a strong and very detrimental linkage between graduation rates and the environmental conditions that go along with factors like poverty and segregation† (Swanson, 2003, p. 35). Accordingly, the author of this report is convinced that incorrect concepts of graduation rates leads to incorrect views (and incorrect solutions) of the educational crisis. That is, by identifying the environmental circumstances surrounding failing schools, officials can be better prepared with â€Å"better knowledge† about how to fix the problem. However, ascribing poor graduation rates to environmental circumstances (such as poverty and segregation) is a point of view that mov es responsibility for failings away from the schools themselves. Swanson (2003) is suggesting that the only solutions to the graduation crisis can only come from successful interventions, which implies that internal changes to schools is not an effective strategy. But studies such as Chiang (2009) indicate that accountability pressure, which is defined as the â€Å"threat of sanctions on low-performing schools,† is not an effective tool when schools are able to manipulate the accountability system. Referencing claims like those made by Swanson (2003), Chiang (2009) argues that accountability systems within schools properly constructed and maintained make educational reforms more likely to generate test score gains. So, even if in fact American secondary schools are failing their students in terms of the students’ long-term benefits, improved accountability systems within schools will lessen the impact of environmental circumstances that decrease student performance. Fo r instance, in some cases, sanction threats prompted schools to increase spending on instructional technology, which improved student performance. Knowing that accountability is the best solution for making sure secondary schools do not fail their students, one might compare that result with additional studies where accountability is a problem