The progress of the initiative was tracked by the Educational Psychologist against a control class as part of her on-going research. However, I was interested to know how our participation in the project had affected class dynamic and, more importantly, if it had created a learning environment which was conducive to active learning. I used the three predetermined reflection points to track mine and the class’s progress. Sonia observed a lesson and engaged in a pre-agreed monitoring activity we also had a coaching conversation. Due to the unique position an LDO holds it is difficult to term the type of coaching I received. Upon reflection, Sonia and I created a brand of coaching which was a blend of what (Nieuwerburgh, XXX) terms Specialist coaching and collaborative coaching. The coaching was collaborative in nature because as coach and coachee the benefits of the outcome were reciprocal, we were working together to glean new knowledge and become more knowledgeable in a particular aspect of education (Nieuwerburgh XXXX). However, the coaching was also specialist in nature because the work was structured and driven towards the improvement of a specific aspect of my practice (Nieuwerburgh XXXX). The coaching sessions helped me to identify strengths in the progress of the project and areas for development which were inhibiting my vision coming into fruition. The first session that Sonia observed was a base line session, she tracked children’s answers and highlighted those who did not participate. We then had a coaching conversation during which Sonia asked me to rationalise why these particular 6 children were engaging less than the others (see notes appendix 4). I made mini profiles of the 6 children and identified key themes. Thes... ... middle of paper ... ... that they perceived as being less able than themselves. 3 children said that they wanted to extend their answers into full sentences but they didn’t know what words to use. They also thought that the cooperative groups should be changed more often to ‘give everyone a go at working with each other’. At the end of this reflection I made three further targets moving forward. I decided to place sentence openers on the table to aid children in structuring their responses and to rotate the groups more often to facilitate relationship building. These targets support how I am going to continue to facilitate cooperative learning in the classroom in future. In terms of wider impact, I will be co-delivering a cooperative learning CPD session with the Educational Psychologist to Teaching Staff in St Peter’s with the aim of embedding some of the structures across the school.
One of the children (George) created a map, that did not look like a physical representation of the children outdoor area, when his partner asked what he was drawing he explained he was using his imagination. The ‘water represents the big children’s playground, our area is the island, the dotted line is where we have to find the word treasure, that’s hidden under the X!’ George’s partner Pedro looked puzzled and asked me why he was doing it wrong. I explained that George was not doing it wrong, it is his interpretation of his outdoor area, and this is how he imagines it. This allowed me to be reflexive and flexible as a researcher, and to ensure at all times the child’s voice was being heard, and that I was not shaping the research to the outcome I wanted. I also thought this was a lovely example of children’s imagination. The child’s outdoor area can represent a number of things to them as expressed through George map. As adults we will never think how children do, or how we once did (Christensen, 2004). Child lead learning and child participation is increasingly being valued, as reflected in the literature. The map-making activity was a superb way to extend the pupils critical thinking, contributing to their communication and language development. Examples from my observation reflect the impact the
Although the term coaching may be used to refer to a variety of one-to-one development activities, there is some emerging consensus about what constitute the core features or elements of coaching. Likewise, these are (1) formation and maintenance of a helping relationship between the coach and coachee; (2) a formally defined coaching agreement or contract, setting personal development objectives; (3) the fulfilment of this agreement (i.e., achievement of the objectives) through a development process focusing on interpersonal and intrapersonal issues; (4) striving for growth of the coachee by providing the tools, skills, and opportunities they need to develop themselves and become more effective (Jones, Woods, & Guillaume,
Throughout this course, I have engaged my oldest child in discussions on the topics covered. He is interested at first, believes he knows the correct answer, and then becomes frustrated when there is no simple or correct answer. His reaction is, I believe, entirely age appropriate. Unfortunately, it seems that many people do not move beyond this need for simple answers and dismissal of complexities.
In regards to Ofsted’s criteria of outstanding teaching, this method will struggle to engage all pupils, especially when it focuses more on able pupils. Garner, D (2000) describes this as vicarious learning and that a student spent 99% of the time listening to other people answering questions. From my experience in a secondary school, student will lose focus when they are not involved in the questioning and answering process. However, when students are questioned to work as a group there is a high level of participation from all
I believe that collaboration is extremely beneficial for the educational growth of our students. On Wednesday, January 24th I had the opportunity to attend a coaching workshop on Flipped Lessons. I was amazed with the the collaboration that went on in the room. We learned skills that we will be able to utilize with our students. This evidence supports element 6-4. I have also learned a lot about collaboration from my site mentor, my team members, and the grade level teachers at my site . A perfect example is the suggestion my site mentor did when I was teaching the number line. She suggested I use a whiteboard so that the students were able to interact when learning the new technique. I tried it and definitely made an improvement. My group
I wanted to start telling the story of our experience by sharing the feelings I brought into this exercise. A few years ago I underwent an experience of coaching through several sessions that left me this taste in the mouth that the coaching as a tool to develop others is not very effective. I have not taken the time to deeply analyze what went wrong but in general if I had to choose to do it again I think I would choose another methodology to foster change. Its objective in general is to assist in building behavioral skills, but in my opinion to really look for a long lasting change you need to give a deeper understanding to the lack of a certain skills, strongly reflect on the variables linked to it as could be the emotions, values and motivations that conduce you towards a behavior different that that one desired. Personally, I enjoy seeking information that allows me to jump beyond the facts, and staying on the behavioral side of the reality limits my passion for inspiration and insight.
Some administrators use clinical supervision or peer coaching to determine from which it is obtain the most feedback and some other uses this methods or the combination of both (Hooker, 2014). It is important the comparison of both methods in order to identify the benefits of each. The clinical supervision includes a developmental evaluation that is meant to assist and improve the instruction of teachers (Glickman, et al., 2010). It is necessary to do a preconference, lesson observation, analysis of the information and interpret the teaching observed, and a post conference to determine the effectiveness of the process. In the clinical supervision are steps to follow: first, during the preconference the administrator and teacher identify the process, purpose or reason of the ob...
...S., … Killen, R. (2009). Professional Practice in Primary Education. South Melbourne, VIC: Cengage Learning Australia Pty Limited.
The second theory was “Recognition of the crucial role of children’s self-initiated, active involvement in learning activities. In a Piagetian clas...
Scarnati, J. T. (2001). Cooperative learning: make groupwork work. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 67(Fall), 71-82.
On important factor that Vygotsky claimed to influence a child’s ZPD was cooperative learning, which is an educational approach that directs classroom activities to involve peer interaction and problem solving. Vygotsky suggested that educators should use cooperative learning to enhance child cognitive development, where peers teach each other and the less proficient children will benefit from more accomplished and skilled peers. However, the effectiveness of cooperative learning is dependent on which developmental limit the child is at. The ZPD lies in between the zone of actual development, which is defined by a child who is capable of independent problem solving, and the zon...
...I believe through the use of critical thinking, communication with students and parents and showing the creative side of learning the collaboration within colleague would be enhanced. I know from my prior experience within the classroom as a substitute that without some collaboration the students are at a disadvantage. One memory stands out the most when collaboration is mention is when I was subbing for a ECE Teacher in a regular learning classroom, while the teacher was giving the rest of the students their assignments I was working one on one with a ECE student that needed the extra help in order to fulfill their task. The teacher and I collaborated on the questions that the student had left to complete before moving on to their homework. Through the use of collaboration the student was able to complete their task and be on the same task as the rest of the class.
The participants(10 teachers-10 parents-10children) in this research will be given the same questions(10 question) except the children ,the interview will be
As English wasn’t their first language, I noticed that some students struggled to express themselves and put their ideas across. However, in order to tackle this issue, I would see what direction they were going in and would then suggest words to help them structure a sentence or if it was a complicated sentence, they would use a translator app. This loosely links to the cooperative principle because when English isn’t somebody’s first language and they make speech errors, I tend to ignore them and carry on the conversation. One of the reasons why I don’t mention that they have created an error is because the speaker may feel embarrassed about their mistake. On the other hand, I might also help them if I notice that they are struggling with their
“There is a need to address the fundamental issue of how the thinking of these children can be made more effective, also a...