The Importance of Experience in My Learning and Teaching

Let us first ask ourselves this question, "what is 'experience'?" or "what do we understand by the word 'experience'?"

Experience could mean a lot of things. It could mean; the know-how, familiarity, practice or skill. It may also mean; the occurrence, incident, encounters happening, event and so on and so forth. It could also mean; feel, go through, live through, be subjected to, come across etc, etc. So when we talk about experience, which type of experience are we referring to? That doesn’t matter because they inform each other. You have to be subjected to or live through a certain event or occurrence in order for you to be able to get the know-how or skill or feel of it. You have to be allowed to feel things in order to become familiar with them.

Having been subjected to the traditional kind of learning and teaching, my experience has led me to somehow teach in the same way. The teacher has to be at the core of learning and teaching and the students have to listen and absorb knowledge from the teacher. Personally, I am a traditionalist with a bit of the progressive teacher too. I decide what my students learn most of the time and I tend to tell them what to do. Those who do what I tell them to do are rewarded with marks. This happens a lot in both the English language class and the literature in English Class and it has produced results most of the time.  But I find that they learn better if allowed to, for instance, suggest topics they wish to focus on. They get so engrossed in finding the information working in groups and it is amazing how much they can come up with. Take for instance Topics for debate, report writing, story- telling, acting or reciting poetry or reconstructing scenes in plays and novels or even relating the plays and novels to real life experiences. There are hurdles however and these include;
·       limited time for activities
·       rigid curriculum
·       competition
·       big numbers
·       lack of conducive environment
·       lack of administrative support
to mention but a few.
The reason I use the progressive approach is that;
·       it gets the students to experience what they are studying and they learn  a lot better.
·       it takes away the boredom the students may feel in certain topics.
·       gives them chance to share quality ideas hence foster learning.
·       gives them chance to satisfy their curiosity.
·       learners are actively involved in the learning process.
·       promotes collaboration while minimizing competition amongst the learners.
·       keeps them excited and interested.
·       allows them to relate what they are learning to real life experiences
I wish to learn more of the progressive approaches because the little experience I have had with it has shown that the teacher does not have to shoulder the heavy weight. The teaching is made easier and more fun.
What we experience in life becomes the spring board for our knowledge and learning. When we are allowed to go through something, we learn from it and therefore acquire knowledge. We learn better when we are allowed to feel, to practice, to live through or to familiarize ourselves with certain situations, events occurrences etc. Every experience is a reference for learning.

 

Feelings About Teaching

·       I feel that I am not doing enough to engage my students in their own explorations of topics that interest them and that probably I am hindering their learning about other things, related or not related to my subject.

·       I am sure that because of the nature of the curriculum a section of my learners are not catered for as I would have loved to and at this moment I cannot particularly say that I am proud of myself. Why? The section of the students that is not catered for is probably the section that is also failing and I am somehow to blame for their failure.

       It has opened my eyes to the fact that my learners have multiple intelligences and I need to put this into perspective for effective learning. Therefore I need to know my learners multiple intelligence mix

·       The constructivist approach encourages group activities and I find that at times I have gone on and on about some topics yet students would have grasped them better in group activities.

·       Not all aspects of my teaching subject can be subjected to group work. Some of them require individual tasks for instance writing, spelling and phonetics among others.

·       In some way the course has challenged  me to engage  my students more and more into exploring on their own and in groups, and I agree this would be very effective in literature in English where critical analysis is expected. Students can easily come up with different meanings and points of view about a piece that could be quite enlightening. As they share ideas, they register understanding of the texts and actually learn from them.

·       I need to give them more time to recreate the scenes in the novels/plays/poems through getting them to act or to rebuild the entire scene from the descriptions given in these books.

 

Using My Strengths in My Teaching

1. My unique mix of intelligences includes verbal/ linguistic Intelligence, Musical intelligence and Naturalistic intelligence.

·        I love telling stories and I always narrate a story to my classes to the point that they have even    started requesting for them in case I forget to tell them one. I also like writing down stories aside from telling them.

·         I enjoy playing vocabulary games such as scrabble.
·        Debates are things that I enjoy and once in a while I hold debates with the class.  
·        I enjoy reciting poems in class and I am very good at it.
·        I like acting dialogue as well as musical performances.
·        I enjoy mentoring and
·        I love nature walks.

I could use this unique mix of intelligences trying to get through at each one of them in their own intelligences in this way;
·        Get students who are interested in telling stories to tell their own stories in class and then ask questions and get responses from the class about those very stories, and those who are interested in writing, to write stories.
·        Get students who are interested in playing vocabulary games to compete in games of scrabble, spelling drills and other such games.
·        Organize debates for those that enjoy them and ask them to come up with topics of their own choice.
·        Get those who are interested in musical activities to write poems and recite them.
·        Take those that are naturalists for nature walks after which they give a report of what they have seen during the walk.  

I can get to know about my students' mix of intelligence better through;
·        testing them,
·        assigning them individual and group activities.

To ensure that each of them benefits, I use their intelligences to allocate them tasks that fall in line with their strengths.

How Was It For You?

As a teacher, I try as much as possible to expose my students to a number of resources and and once in a while encourage them to make choices of topics they want to learn. I also engage them in debates and also get them to narrate their learning experiences to the entire class so as to encourage those who are facing problems in their learning. I show them videos and give them material to read about certain topics and in order to discover more about a topic or issue that has been discussed in class as a whole. In order to get them to brave the hurdles, at times I tell them some of my learning experiences and I have discovered that they enjoy listening to them and they get morale to push on.
In order to make my lesson authentic learning experiences for the students, I at times give them a task and allow them to work in a group or as individuals. I give them time to do their research and to look at these tasks from various view points. It is surprising how much they can learn on their own! Through their own effort and discovery, they learn a lot more than they would have in a teacher centered learning approach. At times they discover things that I did not know so I get to learn from them too.
But I can still do more. For instance, making it easy for them to do their research on the Net, encouraging them to get into group discussions using their smart phones and exchanging ideas no matter where they may be after schooltime.

Experiences of True Learning

1. Key aspects in Sylvia Bahiga's Learning English;
·        At first she found it hard but later on it was easier and was fun.
·        She did not fear to ask questions.
·        She was ready for corrections and laughed off her mistakes.
·        She associated French words with the English words and worked around them.
·        She used a dictionary once in a while.
·        She did not fear to speak it although she was just learning.
·        She also tried to read literature written in English.
·        She listened to music and it also helped her.

2.Experience from my colleagues
One of my colleagues in the Literature Department was having a problem adjusting from her experience of teaching an A' level class to an O' level class. She had been allocated an O level Class that she had never handled before. She went there the first time and the class was a disaster since she could not bring herself down to their level. She later decided to use the students themselves to control and direct the learning process and indeed it worked wonders for her and for the students. In fact the Class mastered the text very well.

3. My own experience in learning
My learning experience involves the time when I was just getting to know how to use a computer. I learnt how to switch the computer on and off and how to use word processor.

Now I at one time I began to think some of these computers as being funny. You see, it keeps warning you that you stand the risk of getting viruses on your computer especially if you have no antivirus. So at one time I asked my sister who was somewhat more informed about them than me, where the viruses passed to enter a computer that has not been in use. My perception of the whole thing was that like human beings, the computers also caught viruses from the air. When I told her what I thought, she laughed and couldn’t stop laughing. She even shared it with my younger brother who is a computer wizard, and up to now he cannot stop laughing whenever he recalls the incident. No explanation was given to me about the issue. Instead they both told me that I should discover on my own. They kept telling me not to fear the computer since I could not damage it no matter what I typed in. They also told me that the only thing that could happen was that if I gave it a command it did not understand, it would just refuse to respond.

I therefore set forth to find out myself. Each time such a message came on the desktop I would not ignore it but still I failed to understand where the viruses passed. Until one time when I connected a flash disk to the computer and it immediately announced a threat that had been detected. So I was like, they come from attaching a flash disk to the computer, but then where did the disk get them from? Slowly by slowly I discovered that the viruses are got from trying to download information from the internet, and that one would need to scan the flash in order to get rid of the viruses and to also put an anti virus on the computer to protect it from collapsing. So the computers also had viruses, only of a different nature!
Whenever I remember this I feel embarrassed because I thought I had been taught everything but I discovered this through exploring and practicing. Since then I have learnt a lot about computers through self discovery. After Mastering that I felt relieved and better, and I continue to learn more and more each day through practice, collaboration, investigating and reflecting.

Additional ideas from Lombardi's perspective;

• For learning to take place the learner has to be actively engaged in finding the facts. Lombardi refers to this as the 'Real-world Relevance'.
• A learner has to study a task from multiple angles and identify with the task required so as to accomplish it.
• There is always need to give enough time to investigate.
• Investigation includes collaborating efforts
• Some tasks require interdisciplinary perspectives so as to come out with a polished product that is of value.
• There is need to reflect before performing  since it offers multiple interpretations of a task which also affect the outcome.

Feeding the Need

From the survey that I have conducted, I have discovered that in order for my colleagues to embrace technology integration in their teaching, there are needs that have to be worked upon first. Amongst the first needs that have to be addressed are:

·       Being in position to access the computer lab at all times.
·       Being conversant with the basic technology applications.
·       Being in position to use the computer for record keeping and data analysis.
·       Being in position to surf for relevant information or data from the internet.
·       Some need to change their attitude towards technology i.e. get rid of the technophobia.
·       Acquiring personal gadgets like laptops, iPads, or smart phones for starters.
Before this course I was just like a number of them with only the basic computer knowledge. I had an added advantage that I was a proud owner of a laptop and a smart phone, gadgets that have been handy throughout my journey of staff development.
When I started the course I was cautiously feeling my way. Slowly by slowly I got to learn more about computers through the following steps;
·       Identifying and having a professional learning goal.
·       I have created a blog in which I have shared my experiences in the course.
·       Exploring and joining social media.
·       I have surfed for relevant professional development information from the websites.
·       I have created my personal learning network.
·       I have learnt to contribute to a discussion online.
·       I have learnt to join a wiki discussion and to contribute to it.
·       Finding Video resources on teacher professional development and professional learning goals on YouTube.
·       I have created my own YouTube channel to which I posted teacher professional development videos from YouTube for further viewing.
·       I have also created a diigo account on which I have bookmarked the teacher professional development sites and blogs that I intend to revisit.
·       I have learnt to upload documents.
Using the knowledge that I have acquired this far and the gadgets that I have, I am in position to take up the challenge as an isolated teacher in a school to teach and help my colleagues to acquire the above information and skills. That would be the starting point for me to give them the basic technology information and skills as I also encourage them to acquire their personal technology devices. It may not be easy for individuals to have constant access to the internet because of the cost involved in being connected throughout.  However, once the project starts, it would not be difficult for the school administration to render its support and also to solicit support from the ministry of Education since the whole issue is to improve Education through Technology integration.

                                                   

Trawling the Net

As a student of CCTI seeking professional development, I no longer feel lost as I did before. At first I was scared of technology, but now I have an idea where to go for any information concerning my professional development. I know what sites and blogs to visit for information and I know how to bookmark sites that I would wish to revisit.

However, I still feel timid and hold back when it comes to sparking off discussion of any kind. I still need to feel the ropes. I have tried to give my comments on certain issues once in a while. My PLN has given me insight into some of the most popular tools that could be used by both students and teachers in the teaching and learning process. It has helped me with solutions to some controversial issues and also suggested tools that promote my professional learning goals and development. I have visited sites and blogs that have been very informative and mind-opening. I have engaged in discussions with my collaborative group members, and I have bookmarked sites and blogs that have been key in my professional learning and development and I intend to revisit them and share them with my colleagues at the work place.
The power of collaboration includes:

·        sharing new ideas and strategies.

·         learning to work together and ease the load that would have been cumbersome if dealt with by an individual.

·        helping each other out in case of a problem. 

Collaboration is not without pitfalls and some of them include;
·        getting the group members to move at the same pace is frustrating.
·        the silence of some members may be quite  disconcerting.  
·         It takes more than the necessary time to make the decisions for what to include or not to include, or who is to handle what aspect of a task.
·        lack of access to the Net and the high expenditure on Internet bundles may delay contact
·        lack of tools to work with i.e laptops, desktops, or iPads etc.
·        other commitments.

With the Wiki page, the following are the advantages;

·        It is easy to work on a wiki and to contribute to it.

·        ability to share with others openly any ideas that you wish to share

·        the feeling that you are adding something of value to an important discussion that will be viewed by others.

The disadvantages include;
·        the fact that anyone can alter what you have put down and distort the meaning of what you wanted to put across.
·        when you miss the link that gives you access to it, you may never be in position to post any input to it.