Teaching Learning Things

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  Assessing Diversity in my Classroom      I teach in a special classroom for students whose eligibility are identified by the Government of Canada. I am a Language Instruction for Newcomers to Canada (LINC) Instructor. This is a federally established English School Program for students who meet the criteria of being a Permanent Resident (PR) or Government Assisted Refugee (GAR) to Canada. On this first premise, my classroom is certainly homogenous as eligibility criteria is immigration status of PR or GAR.      Additionally, Canada’s immigration policies inform who the newcomers to Canada will be in terms of what part of the world they come from, based on four categories of economic, family, protected persons and refugees and humanitarian. Canada specifically codified immigration as a means of meeting cultural, economic and social objectives (Cheatham, 2020) and it is these immigrants who satisfy the criteria for becoming students at my ...

  Philosophy, Sociology and Pedagogy As I reflect on the philosophy, sociology and pedagogy of education I have recently read or watched, I find myself adjusting my teaching practice to incorporate the ideas learned. I subscribe to Dewey (in Mintz, 2018) and Rt. Hon Gibb’s (2016) idea of education being a great equalizer. Furthermore, like Dewey (in Mintz, 2018), I believe that testing in education should not be geared toward test scores but much more toward learning in a self-directed context with opportunities to practice. In my view and Dewey’s, (in Mintz, 2018) success is determined by much more than the achievement of a passing grade. I believe success is comprised of the willingness and ability to learn, grit, curiosity, teamwork, oral communication, ability to listen and creativity.   Teaching adults outside traditional classes allows me more latitude to format my teaching practice in alignment with my philosophy. A phrase I have become known for is “English is not a ...

 Article by VISK              November 18, 2020 I would certainly like to believe that I am a good teacher but the readings this week have thrown light on some aspects of my teaching style and environment which could use a bit of help. I must say I was a little perturbed by this realisation and set out to implement some immediate changes. Good teachers must demonstrate or embody certain critical characteristics that will enable them not only to teach but encourage the students’ motivation to learn in an active manner (Cini, 2017; Great Schools Partnership, 2014). The crucial role of the teacher was validated when Yoonsun Choe (n.d.) stated ‘’It’s the teacher who makes or breaks her classroom’’. I will outline below some major characteristics of a good teacher as outlined in the readings. Content Knowledge : A good teacher is knowledgeable about the subject matter (Bailey, 2017) as well as of the students’ learning styles (Sieberer-Nagler, 2016...

Assessing Students: Some Methods I Have Applied  Article by VISK                   March 15, 2021 Assessments definitely have their place within the education system, whether formative, summative evaluative or educative, each has a legitimate function and place. Without them it would be difficult to tell how well students are improving, in what areas they are excelling, where they may need help and how to offer that help. In my classroom, I have applied the required assessments listed above, but I have also had the privilege of employing some innovative assessment procedures. I teach English to adult learners of English who need to learn the language to help them transact business of all kinds and integrate into their new home. Every time a new module is introduced or a new aspect of the module is discussed, student understanding is checked by doing a Concept Check (Queens University, n.d.). The most simplistic way of doing th...

  Curriculum Evaluation Models: Their Use In My Milieu John D woods (1988) stated that curriculum development was equivalent to collecting information and making judgements about curriculum. He goes on to claim that evaluation is a must to spur debates about curriculum issues and is the basis for proposing change. In my milieu, teaching English to adult learners of English, evaluation in the sense described by Woods (1988) is non-existent. Instead, what exists are two forms of evaluation: (i) a threat-based evaluation of teachers’ lesson plans with ineffective feedback and almost no suggestions for improvement that are imaginative or inventive! (ii) a yearly performance review meant to determine whether a teacher meets some arbitrary standard that has no real conceptualisation than to satisfy professional accreditation. Woods (1988) says a critical aspect of curriculum evaluation is to know why the change and what direction the change should go. Curriculum evaluation serves sev...