How does the media portray views of learning and schools? How does this build community views of how people learn and perhaps influence what some people think should happen in classrooms?
Lets look at some schools that learning might be seen as different and opinions might influence people in communities.
Koonwarra Village School – http://www.koonwarravillageschool.org/
Kensington Community High School http://www.kchs.vic.edu.au/
Sophia Mundi Steiner School https://www.sophiamundi.vic.edu.au/
Jacana School for Autism http://www.jacanaschoolforautism.vic.edu.au/
King Khalid Islamic College of Victoria https://msc.aiahome.net/
Alia College Hawthorn East http://bit.ly/3aTuqgj
Kurnai Flow School https://kurnai.co/flexible-learning-option-flo
Your Own views
In your own schooling, what views of learning and learners were evident?
As a teacher, how do you hope your students’ experiences might be different?
Respond to these two questions in a blog post below.
My own learning at school was it was head down, one text book per subject and don’t talk, lots of rote learning, it wasn’t medieval, but it wasn’t open free learning, it was a grind from nine until three. As a teacher, I’d hope that my children are allowed to be more free and expressive, not as much rote learning, more resources.
In my schooling it was evident that there were different types of learners. Some with disabilities and some with learning difficulties that needed extra support. Usually there kids had a Education Support worker with them in the classroom but it was often found that in the earlier years of high school that these kids were picked on outside of the classroom. I also often found some teachers struggled to teach to all different types of learners. As a teacher I would hope that i am able to engage with all types of learners and give kids all of the resources to get the best out of my students.
In your own schooling, what views of learning and learners were evident?
As a teacher, how do you hope your students’ experiences might be different?
In my schooling experience, which ended about 15 years ago, you were either an academic, hands-on learner or a drop-out. You were either going to be a ‘successful anyway’ private school student, or a student in a semi or severely under-resourced school.
I hope that I am able to access the resources required to give my students the best possible learning opportunities and seeing as I am going to be in ‘the Valley’ for a long time to come, am able to help students from challenging backgrounds see purpose and opportunities through education to escape the cycle of poverty, drug abuse, domestic violence and crime.
At my school there were “mainstream” classes and a “SEAL” class, this meant that there was a class for those at a regular learning speed and one who was at an advanced level. This was positive for those in the advanced class, but once the classes were combined it was a struggle to get them to the same level. The emphasis of the school was on those doing better and on the results.
As a teacher I would want to encourage and focus my attention on those who need more support as well as those doing higher order thinking. I would want my students to be supported to their specific needs.
During my schooling, there was a clear divide in passive active students. The passive students tended to be the quieter ones and the active ones were the louder students. If students were excelling in a class, they would tend to help out the ones that were struggling within the class.
For my future students, I hope to see more inclusiveness without different learning styles and behaviours. I would love to see the passive students engage more with the active ones, so they don’t feel left out.
Everybody seemed to be treated the same, sit in a classroom and get talked to for the day.
I’d hope to make learning more interactive and deliver information through different methods to hopefully cater to everyone. I hope they want to learn and achieve their goals.
In your own schooling, what views of learning and learners were evident?
– Learning in my experience in early primary involved a number of group work activities that engaged the classroom. Individual work was also conducted by students and would then be collaborated to the class through discussion
As a teacher, how do you hope your students’ experiences might be different?
– I hope that my class is willing to engage themselves in classroom discussion time and also be open to multiple learning approaches
At my school it was a very judgmental environment. You either wanted to do VCE and do well or you were forced to do unscored or VCAL. I hope that when I’m a teacher I can change peoples views on pathways in year 12 and make people realise that not doing VCE isn’t a bad thing.
In your own schooling, what views of learning and learners were evident?
In my schooling days there were no ES staff members in the school the only time there was one was when a student needed to have an teachers aide with them while now working at a primary school there is an ES staff member in every classroom. Students that want to get a trade would have to go through vcal instead of dropping out at year 9 or 10 to start up a apprenticeship.
As a teacher, how do you hope your students’ experiences might be different?
As a teacher i would want the students to have as much support as they can get in a classroom. To be able to get more adults in the room it can give the students a better understanding of the learning and adapt what they learn into their knowledge.
In my high school there was a huge emphasis on ATAR and lots of pressure around getting the highest score. There were people who just did not perform as well as others, due to either poor home circumstances or learning disabilities, as well as people who performed really well. I think this message damaged a lot of our students self esteem which caused them to be less motivated and then we were labelled as ‘lazy’. I want my students not feel like they have to compete with each but build each other up and do the best that they are capable of.
Learning, in my experience was mostly focused on being independant, and completing worksheets. As a teacher, I want them to be able to do tasks that require more creativity, and collaboration.
When i was a student, i was kid that needed that extra attention but didn’t want to be singled out as the “struggling kid”. When i got older i understood that i had to want to learn if i wanted to do well and get into my course. If went back in time i would have asked for help in primary school because i knew that the teacher was only trying to help my teaching not just being mean and making me do maths. As a teacher i believe that i would be a good teacher to a student who struggles and just needs that extra help and custom teacher whereas a child who is very independent straight away and an academic would rather a teacher who can almost be more advanced.
The children that needed help, got the help. However I had one teacher who only engaged with the high achieving students. If you were one of those than that’s great. However the not as high academics struggled. I was the middle person, I understood it, yet sometimes it needed further clarification of what I was doing, and it my method was correct. Also it’s the ability to teach it in another way, as we all know everyone learns differently!
As a teacher I would hope to have student tell me if they understand or if they don’t understand.
The views that were evident in my schooling about learners were that there was smart kids, that were expected to achieve higher marks and be seen as a greater success. Whilst there were also kids that were seen as not as intelligent and as though they didn’t want to be there so they put no effort into their work. As a teacher I hope my students views are different, I hope that everyone is there to learn and enjoys learning, so I hope that I will be able to make the classroom environment engaging and help kids stay focussed and allow them to learn whilst they are having fun, to change the views to one that is positive.
It is important that students feel good about school, and they are motivated to go to school. They want to make a contribution in class discussions, and those who feel intimidated by group discussion approach and acknowledge the situation. I want the students to feel like the classroom isn’t just to sit in rows and write until their hands go numb, while listening to a teacher ramble for hours. They should be able to feel like class can be fun, and they participate in class discussion to help further their developmental knowledge.
I can look back on my schooling experience and clearly now see the disadvantages some others in my classes faced with little to no support in their learning. These students had harder and less effective schooling because the learning didn’t take into account their unique ways of understanding and learning.
I hope I can stop students experiencing this by having a classroom that can adapt and change how our learning is done in a way to best suit all the different learners in the class.
In my own schooling i remember early statements that your brain is wired a specific way and that you would struggle at certain things based on the make up of your brain. As a student in early primary school i struggled with math and still face confidence issues surrounding simple math today. As a teacher i don’t want my children to feel isolated and unsupported if they can’t do something just because they can do other things well.
In your own schooling, what views of learning and learners were evident?
There was a heavy focus on learning, Through out all my teachers, there was a ton of change though my year level. New curriculum, now way of running things, new equipment.
As a teacher, how do you hope your students’ experiences might be different?
They experience school that doesn’t change massively. Not to all their teachers trying to teach things fresh to them. Having a teacher that is experienced with what their teaching.
In my experience as a student, especially in Primary school, is was evident that some of my peers simply had no interest in learning and put in little effort to change it. These same people ended up disrupting others simply because it was something to keep them occupied, as they got no joy out of learning what everyone else was.
I hope that when I teach I am able to successfully engage students and that they are able to see that everyone can get something out of it, even if it takes longer for some than others.