Teaching - My Values and Beliefs

Every student is capable of successful learning and each student’s personal best looks different.

With this in mind, teaching to me is

• Providing a safe and nurturing leaning environment in which difference is valued and catered for through a wide variety of learning experiences.
•  Forming strong and positive relationships with students, colleagues and parents through good communication.
• Providing a curriculum that is intellectually rigorous, relevant to a student’s life and one which promotes higher order thinking.
• Encouraging interaction and collaboration between students so they can construct knowledge and problem solve in a social situation.
• Ensuring students are clear around expectations and criteria for success and this should clearly link to formative and summative assessment.
• Designing curriculum that embeds technology in a way that emphasises what is done by the learner rather than what the technology can do.
• Providing opportunity for multiliteracies to be developed in response to societies demands.
• Continuing my own learning and professional development to be able to offer students a curriculum based on sound learning theory and current best practice.

This list remains quite stable in my thoughts however, my elaborations around each of the points is where my thinking is more changeable. As I forever grow in my teaching skills and knowledge so too do my perceptions alter slightly around my values and beliefs.

When considering the question... "how good do I  think the alignment is between my pedagogical beliefs and the terms I have identified as being critical elements of 21st Century pedagogy?" .  I think the alignment is quiet strong. My beliefs do not conflict with the any critical elements and I can position each within my beliefs. I think in practice though I do not provide enough opportunities for creative and critical thinking. My practice is mildly in contrast to my belief that I should be providing such opportunities.

I identify the following as important elements of 21st century pedagogy. Curriculum and practice that has:  

student-centered, real life, problem-based learning opportunities that require collaboration, literate and media fluency, creativity and critical thinking to be utilised regularly so students can develop, reflect on and strengthen their abilities. Curriculum that allows students to access and consume global knowledge and resources and authentic tasks that requires them to produce content for an audience outside of the four walls of the classroom.

Luckily, my last belief (listed above) means I will continually improve by constructing new knowledge in my chosen field. Studying elearning for me is one way I am working towards better alignment between my beliefs, my practice and the needs of my students.