TEACHING: THE SOCRATIC WAY

This reflection  is not classroom based, but one that took place in my office. I hope it is as near a classroom experience as possible.

This a very short form of the whole experience. 

I used this the Socratic method yesterday when a student came to my office crying because she would not be admitted to a university because she had not filled the forms necessary for this while still at high school.

I requested her to take a seat and compose herself. when she came round, we sat facing each other and I toned down my voice, developed an empathetic disposition and she immediately felt at home.

I started  by asking  clarifying questions to get her tell me more;

 Nellie: Are you crying because you did not fill the form?

Student: Yes

Nellie: why did you not fill the form?

Student: I did not have money

Nellie: You did not have money? what about your parents?

Student: I have been struggling to pay my own fees. (sobs)

Nellie: (offers a serviette). what about your parents?

Student:  (sobs louder) My mother is battling breast cancer! and my sister who used to pay my fees was diagnosed with breast cancer too!

 I started asking probing questions - to reason her out

Nellie: Can you tell me the reason why you are crying?

Student: I have no future!

Nellie:Do you think tears will solve the problem?

Student: No

I gave her three view points:

Nellie: What if we looked at your future in this way?

             !. Admission to a tertiary institution

             2. Loosing one year and re applying to university

             3. linking up with a friend in one of the private universities to engage you in a

                 programme for brilliant but poor students

Student: (Smiles hopefully) I will take the last option

I fixed an appointment for her and off she went to see the Dean of this university.

By approaching the problem using the Socratic method I found myself:

1.   Challenging  the girl's accuracy and completeness of thinking in a way that helped her move towards her ultimate goal- education. She came to my office in tears but left with a smile.
2. Challenging her to make her own decision not by authoritarian means, but through questioning  ( the three options)
3. Challenging the girl through a constant progression of knowledge until she answered the original question: 'why are you crying?'

THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPERIENCE IN MY OWN TEACHING AND LEARNING

I feel cheated since I do not have any ' on- going experience' but I am bound to share!

Well, I will tell a story  about my recent visit to my little girl's primary school and what I experienced there. Here goes:

On Saturday 28th of February, the parents and guardians of pupils of Primary four (my daughter is in a stream Flamingoes - beautiful name conjuring beautiful images of stately birds by a lake ) and Primary five. Purpose for this meeting? CHECKING  ACADEMIC PROGRESS OF daughters.

School: St. Theresa Girls Boarding Primary School, Namagunga.

The Head Teacher's report focused on the primary seven results of 2014 in relation to  NUMBERS and SCORES and GRADES and DIVISION 1 or 2 and RANKING. 

The chairperson School Management Committee went on and on reminding us about our parental roles in the up bringing of our children in order to help them ATTAIN GOOD GRADES! 

The resource person made it clear to all parents that we should take care of our children,s emotional, physical, psychological,and spiritual needs if we expected them to SCORE HIGH IN EXAMINATIONS!  She also spoke of the challenges of parenting in the 21st Century and mentioned TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS as one of the biggest hurdles parents should contend with.

The Q& A session - most interesting of all- A parent was concerned about the STREAMING of pupils in terms of FAST LEARNERS, MIDDLE LEARNERS , SLOW LEARNERS- the chairperson School Management Committee  retorted- 'THAT IS NOT YOUR BUSINESS LEAVE THE SCHOOL TO DO WHAT IT THINKS IS RIGHT!'

After the meeting, the actual checking of progress begun. Parents poured into the classes each to see a teacher  and all six teachers for all the subjects for a comment regarding their daughters.Pinned at the entrance the class were SCORES , GRADES and POSITIONS of three sets of examinations that the children had been subjected to and we had to look through their exercise books and make comments- we were warned- not to the teacher EVEN IF THE TEACHER WERE WRONG.

I picked my daughter and her books and file. I was shocked at the extreme neatness of my daughter's handwriting and to learn that she is transiting from the use of the pencil to a ball pen. I quipped to her that she was too neat for my liking.The teacher's role? TASK MASTER ! I could imagine what the children went through to have such neat handwriting-THEIR KNUCKLES must have suffered the endless lashes of the cane, all in the name of ATTAINMENT!

I came across the teacher's spelling error looking misplaced in this school where a simple error like missing a full stop, or not crossing your ts and dotting your is' earns you a big cross even if the answer is correct! the teacher had spelt  QUAVER as QUAVAR (a beat in music). I took him on and  in revenge!I told him to mark the spelling of that word and also to realise how hard it is to force down facts into the young children;s heads! How could they drive the children to perfectionism at such a tender age? Were they breeding ROBOTS?

Despite all this I smiled widely when my daughter presented me with a card she had drawn for me decorated with a multiple of colours with words written in a font style different from the standard font of the school- in which she expressed that she loved her family and she also made suggestions as to what I should cook for her when I visit her on the visitation day. -A clear sign that a human being  cannot be harnessed however much one tries.

What is it that is so disturbing about the nature of learning at my daughter's school?

1. Focus on  rigorous teaching, testing, and  regurgitation of facts
2. Method of work- strict time tables, strict schedules, measured way of doing work and structured writing  of responses 
3. Stiffing of  the learners' ingenuity, creativity etc- in an effort to make them all the same- the children all have similar handwriting!
4. Parental involvement is geared at pushing the competitive spirit forward. Any dissenting idea is not tolerated.
5. The children are made to feel guilty if they do not attain very high grades and are pushed beyond their limits !

What next? Is that all?

The whiff of fresh air is in the Lower Secondary Curriculum Reform, CURASSE)  which aims at shifting from an old tried and trusted model of Secondary Education to a broader and more inclusive curriculum that can satisfy needs of different abilities.The current curriculum is outdated in its strong emphasis on subject content at the expense of learner acquisition of marketable skills and competencies.

After carrying out the situational analysis and a market survey, the findings guided this curriculum reform which has the following aims:

• To promote effective learning and acquisition of skills
• To address the needs of all students and lay the foundation for improved pedagogy and assessment procedures which allow learners to more effectively realise their full potential and demonstrate their achievements
• To address the social and economic needs of the country by meeting the educational needs of learners who will take jobs in the world of work, become self-employed people or pursue academic studies beyond senior four.
• To allow flexibility to absorb emerging fields of knowledge in a rapidly-changing world
• To reduce content overload by specifying a realistic set of expected learning outcomes with a range of essential generic skills at the heart of the curriculum

One of the aims of reforming the curriculum was to reduce the load on the teaching and make it skills based to enable graduates of Ordinary Level education relevant to the learners in the society where they live. The subject menu has been reduced to eight learning areas:

Creative Arts-will embrace dance, drama, music and the visual arts.  These are all inter-related. Creative Arts will develop lifelong appreciation of and participation in expressive arts and cultural activities.

• Creative Arts will enable learners to:
• create and appreciate different art forms
• foster and enhance Uganda’s diverse culture
• explore and utilise the environment
• use art  and  culture to generate income and employment

Language-One's ability to use language lies at the centre of the development and expression of our emotions, our thinking, our learning and our sense of personal identity. Learners from S1 will be exposed to local, national and international languages.

Life Education -designed to address societal challengesLearning in Life Education will ensure that young people develop the knowledge, understanding, skills, and capabilities which they need for their psychological, physical and social wellbeing at school and later in adult life.

Life Education integrates Personal Social and Health Education and Physical Education.  This Learning Area is designed to address societal challenges such as:

• Obesity among young people
• Drug and alcohol abuse
• Early engagement in sexual activities
• Teenage pregnancies and high dropout rates
• High HIV prevalence among young adults
• The poor hygiene standards of young people
• Inadequate and inappropriate sources of information regarding sexuality

Religious Education-aims to develop spiritual and moral well-being in learners.It will ensure that young people acquire the knowledge, understanding, skills and values which contribute to spiritual wellbeing while at school and throughout life. Religious Education will enable young people to engage in a search for meaning, value and purpose in life. They will appreciate the beliefs and values that are fundamental to families and to the fabric of society.Learners will study either Christian Religious Education or Islamic Religious Education.

Science -Learners will use evidence to analyse and evaluate the way science is used in daily life.  They will engage in a wide range of collaborative and investigative tasks to develop functional science skills. Science will help them to become creative, inventive and enterprising adults.

 

Social Studies -will develop the knowledge, understanding, skills, attitudes and values that learners need to participate actively in society. It will help them to be informed, confident and responsible citizens of the local, national, regional and global communities. 

Mathematics-will move to the applicable and functional mathematics that is required by all learners for full and effective participation in social and economic life 

Technology and enterprise-Learners will engage in creative, practical and work-related activities within a programme of study designed as a sequence of modules through each year. The learners will apply these skills on a range of projects. These projects will be selected according to ‘do-ability’, local area needs, learner preference and teacher competence. The projects will constitute responses to identified societal problems and challenges. The products of the skills developed in this Learning Area will be in form of designs, items, approaches, technical methods, experimental techniques, or prototype equipment.

Finally?

My story ends with a "Happily ever after"

1.  Teachers will be retooled to help them deliver the curriculum which is more skills based as opposed to the current one which is content loaded. 
2. The trainees in the CCTI course will have an upper hand in the delivery of CURASSE, because the course is enacting what the progressive learning  is and Nellie is finding it challenging but  beautifully engaging!
3. I am not a linear person, I resist structures and being put in to pigeon holes. I am a free spirit- the spirit of progressive learning and will make sure it takes root and holds! My blog to which  I intend  to engage all teachers of Literature in English will involve these ideas  (progressive learning) and novel ways to improve  learning of the subject.

LESSON 2: FEELINGS

I keep thinking:

Does the  Constructivist learning theory  delineate all the other learning theories or  is there a relationship among them?

 I will  compare with the Behaviourist and the cognitivist theories.

BEHAVIOURIST CONCEPTS

1.  Learners are not just passive entities who react to environmental stimuli. Learners  learn by doing, experiencing, and engaging in trial and error. 
2. What has been learned, under what conditions, and the consequences that support or maintain the learned behavior all work together, and must be observable and measurable.
3.  Learning is a change in behavior due to experience and a function of building associations between the occasion on which the behavior occurs (stimulus event) and the behavior itself (response event).
4.  Repeated continuous pairing of the stimulus with the response strengthens learning. To change behavior in an educational setting, learners must be assessed for their needs and capabilities so that instruction is appropriate and meaningful.
5.  Observable goals can then be written.
6.  Learning tasks are ordered logically according to a hierarchy. Learners' performance of tasks is measured against objective criteria for mastery and correctness.
7. Reinforcement, which is contingent on successful achievement at each stage, maintains previously learned behaviors (Burton et al., 1996).

COGNITIVE CONCEPTS

1. Prior knowledge and mental processes intervene between a stimulus and response that operate to reduce the predictability of human behavior (response) given a stimulus.
2.  Mechanisms, such as chunking or grouping like items and interactive mental imagery, intervene between a stimulus and response to promote memory.
3. People learn meaningful material by generating relationships among new information and knowledge already stored in long-term memory. 
4. Three kinds of learning based on  Norman's schema-based theory of long-term memory: Accretion, associated with memorization, involves acquisition of factual information. Schema creation occurs as a result of encountering examples, analogies, metaphors, and tutorial interactions. Tuning or schema evolution involves gradual refinement of existing schema as a result of task practice or concept use (Shuell, 1986). 

Behaviorists look at learning as an aspect of conditioning and will advocate a system of rewards and targets in education and that human behavior is predictable; cognitive approaches consider the role of unobservable mental states and introspection, which are part of human behavior (Winn & Snyder, 1996).

CONSTRUCTIVIST  CONCEPTS

1. Learning is a constructive process in which the learner is building an internal illustration of knowledge, a personal interpretation of experience.
2.  This representation is continually open to modification, its structure and linkages forming the ground to which other knowledge structures are attached. 
3.  Learning is an active process in which meaning is accomplished on the basis of experience. Reality places constrains on the concepts that are, but contends that all we know of the world are human interpretations of our experience of the world. 
4.  Conceptual growth comes from the sharing of various perspectives and the simultaneous changing of our internal representations in response to those perspectives as well as through cumulative experience (Bednar, Cunnigham, Duffy, Perry, 1999
5. The locus of  control over learning is the student not  the teacher. Objectives should be negotiated with students based on their own felt needs
6.  The nature of learning  is (situated, interactive) and  the nature of knowledge is (perspectival, conventional, tentative, evolutionary).  
7.  Programmed activities emerge from within the contexts of their lived worlds, that students should work together with peers in the social construction of personally significant meaning
8. Evaluation is a personalised ongoing, shared analysis of progress (Hanckbarth,S., 1996, p.11).
9.  Learning is placed in a rich context, reflective of real world context, for this constructive process to happen and transfer to environments beyond the school or training classroom (Scaffolding) . 
10.  Learning is through cognitive apprenticeship, mirroring the collaboration of real world problem solving, and using the tools available in problem solving situations.
11.   How effectual or instrumental the learner’s knowledge structure is in facilitating thinking in the content field is the measure of learning  (Bednar, Cunnigham, Duffy, Perry, 1995: 103-104.)

Need the teachers disregard the earlier approaches to learning?

No! There is a clear continuum of one theory as the building block of the other:

1. Constructivism builds upon behaviorism and cognitivism in the sense that it accepts multiple perspectives and maintains that learning is a personal interpretation of the world. Behavioral strategies can be part of a constructivist learning situation, if that learner choses and finds that type of learning suitable to their experiences and learning style.
2.  Cognitive approaches have a place in constructivism also, since constructivism recognises the concept of schema and building upon prior knowledge and experience.
3.  Behaviorist,cognitive and constructivist  approaches value meaningful learning and realistic contexts for application of knowledge and skills.
4. The  greatest difference is that of evaluation. In behaviorism and cognitivism, evaluation is based on meeting specific objectives, whereas in constructivism, evaluation is much more subjective. Of course, what if I, as a learner, negotiate my evaluation and wish to include objective evaluation? Then isn't behavioral and cognitive strategy a part of constructivism?

What does this mean to me as a teacher today?

1. I have to be open minded and conscientious  in my class especially regarding the emerging situations there in, keeping in mind that no one learning theory is inferior/superior  to the other and neither must i take one theory as the absolute thus risking stifling my learners.
2. I need to be flexible, creative and innovative in order to bring out the most conducive  learning environment which will make learning a scaffolding experience.
3. The focus should always be on the learner...in all respects.

These pictures are a summary of what I envision as what learning is. 

T        T

The teacher's role-modified  , the learner in charge of his/her learning                  

What about assessment in our Ugandan Education System?

Using my strength in my teaching

This quotation summarises the power of  using Multiple Intelligence

If we are to achieve a richer culture, rich in contrasting values, we must recognize the whole gamut of human potentialities, and so weave a less arbitrary social fabric, one in which each diverse human gift will find a fitting place.

- Margaret Mead

I rank high in linguistic intelligence-I love poetry, reading,working with word games, telling stories journal writing.

All my teacher trainees are training to be teachers of English language and Literature.This makes it interesting because it is most likely that we have some intelligence in common.

I will incorporate both teacher centered and learner centered activities:

 I will  use my linguistic intelligence to explain the concepts surrounding poetry  clearly and use appropriate language to aid understanding.The lecture speaks into the teacher trainees' linguistic intelligence.

I will encourage general class discussions which will  provide an opportunity for students to exercise both areas of their personal intelligences, as well as to reinforce the subject matter.

Through my interpersonal intelligence I encourage  Cooperative learning (group and pair work) giving the trainees a chance to exercise their Interpersonal Intelligence;  simulations and role plays  prepared involve Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence, as well as Interpersonal and Verbal/Linguistic intelligences.

 By allowing  the trainees to read a poem, write about it and listen to one another's responses, I am fully exercising my linguistic intelligence.

Poetry is essentially song and is full of rhythm. Using my  musical intelligence I choose and use poetry that teach rhyme and rhythm.

I encourage them to use resources that will build their information seeking behaviour.

• Encyclopaedia
• Dictionary
• Thesaurus

This is of advantage to the students in that it keeps them working together, thinking, inquiring, and generating new ideas.

Getting to know  my students' intelligences better

This I can do by means of:

1.  Creating a student learner profile which I fill as I teach and observe the students undertake  various activities

 The questions are categorized under the five dimensions of learner identity.

1. Biological traits
   • In what ways might the child's gender be influencing learning in the classroom?
   • Is there anything in the child's medical records that indicates a condition that might impact classroom learning?
   • Does the child have a learning disability?
   • Has the student been identified as highly capable?
2. Cultural and societal influences
   • What is the child's dominant culture (or cultures), and how might it (they) be influencing learning?
   • How do you think the child perceives the role of the student?
   • If I were to ask the child what the word "learning" means, how do you anticipate the child would respond?
   • What might be some ways that I could support the child in coming to better understand the culture of the school?
   • If the child's first language is not English, how might this linguistic diversity enhance achievement in the classroom?
3. Emotional and social influences
   • What are the socioeconomic circumstances of the child's family circumstances? What is the family's primary language?
   • What is the student's prior school history?
   • Does the student prefer to work alone or in groups?
   • When have you seen the student take on leadership responsibilities?
   • How would you describe the student's interpersonal skills?
   • When is the student most self-directed?
4. Learner preferences
   • What are the child's strengths as a learner?
   • Under what conditions have I seen the child doing his or her best work?
   • What do I  notice about the environmental influences on this student's learning?
   • What activities does the child engage in after school or during recess?
   • If the child were to design a field trip, what are my hunches as to where he or she might choose to go?
   • What have you noticed about the child's preferred learning styles or intelligence preferences?
   • In what ways does this student most prefer to demonstrate learning?
5. Academic performance
• What have I learned from your analysis of this student's work, and how will this 
• influence the design of future instruction?
6. Other ways could be:
7. 
   

• Examining past records
•  Interviewing the child and/or parents
• Engaging in structured observation of the child.

This knowledge will help me understand each student and treat each of them as  a unique individual.

How Can I use this knowledge to the benefit of each child?
Understanding the theory of multiple intelligence redirects my mind towards the following concepts which will help me meet the needs of each student:

• Each student learning the subject matter in a variety of different ways  multiplies the  chances of successfully understanding and retaining that information.
• Many student needs are met through this program. Their intellectual needs are met by constantly being challenged and frequently exercising their creativity. At the same time, their emotional needs are met by working closely with others. They develop diverse strengths, and they understand themselves better as individuals.
• The students’ interests and developmental needs dictate the direction of the program. Such a model adapts to students, rather than expecting students to adapt to it.

Making my lessons a more authentic experience.

2.1.4
From my experience with school practice supervision, I noticed that student teachers all teach their lessons in the same way- not distinguishing one lesson as being different from the other;not taking cognizance of the fact that no two classes are the same; and not taking care of his/her own creativity nor that of the student.

The crux of this matter lies with the way I as a lecturer could have presented my self and my mode of teaching- telling them to do one thing , while I do not strictly follow it during my delivery of the lecture- making them detached from the actual practice.

I would like to use this illustration from Jonassen et al (1999), to illustrate what I would do to make my learning experiences more authentic:

 Meaningful learning occurs when learners actively interpret their experience using internal, cognitive operations which  requires that I change my role from sage to guide. 

Since students learn from thinking about what they are doing, my role becomes one of stimulating and supporting activities that engage learners in thinking. 

 Meaningful learning requires knowledge to be constructed by the learner, not transmitted from me  to the student 

To experience meaningful learning, students need to do much more than access or seek information—they need to know how to examine, perceive, interpret and experience information.

Therefore, a authentic learning experience is one that is:

• Active (manipulative): We interact with the environment manipulate the objects within it and observe the effects of our manipulations. 
• Constructive and reflective: Activity is essential but insufficient for meaningful learning. We must reflect on the activity and our observations, and interpret them in order to have a meaningful learning experience. 
• Intentional: Human behaviour is naturally goal-directed. When students actively try to achieve a learning goal that they have articulated, they think and learn more. For students to experience meaningful learning, they must be able to articulate their own learning goals and monitor their own progress. 
• Authentic (complex and contextual): Thoughts and ideas rely on the contexts in which they occur in order to have meaning. Presenting facts that are stripped from their contextual clues divorces knowledge from reality. Learning is meaningful, better understood and more likely to transfer to new situations when it occurs by engaging with real-life, complex problems. 

Cooperative (collaborative and conversational): We live, work and learn in communities, naturally seeking ideas and assistance from each other, and negotiating about problems and how to solve them. It is in this context that we learn there are numerous ways to view the world and a variety of solutions to most problems. Meaningful learning, therefore, requires conversations and group experiences

This can be achieved by use of technology to re -imagine learning.

Learning experience in class -To what extent?

2.1.4 

To what extent do I create learning experiences in my classes?

I am no longer an active and practicing teacher trainer. However, I will look back on how I used to train the teacher trainees at the National Teachers' college.

 To a larger extent, since I was training teachers, I managed to create learning experiences in my class.

The training curriculum has emphasis on integration  -across the curriculum, with co curricular activities,and with real life.

My lectures would take the following shape:

1. I help students find a motivation for learning by awakening  their   insight- teaching  from the known to the unknown (build on prior knowledge) 
2. I use pathways to learning (things that help bridge the known to the unknown: metaphors, experiences, etc.) and  provide  knowledge that addresses a need, solves a problem, or satisfies. 
3. I concentrate in helping them learn  concepts and principles other  than learning facts or receiving information.
4.  Lecture, explication, problem-posing -these have been my most helpful pedagogies.
5. The lecture objectives for Literature in English and English Language is based on the development of skills and sub-skills. I  identify knowledge category (skill, information, concepts, principle, self-understanding, and lecture on concepts and principles (not information).
6.  At appropriate intervals, I  test for comprehension and check for misunderstanding by use of  dialogues, question and answer, self-assessment, test for misunderstanding.
7. I then share information, provide sources of information or knowledge, test for comprehension, test for misunderstanding using appropriate assessment taxonomy.
8.  the most creative part of designing the learning experience is allowing the students to manipulate the knowledge by Interpreting it, enhancing it, diagramming it, depicting it, changing it, deconstructing it, combining it, illustrating it, interpreting it, modeling it by providing them with the appropriate experiential learning activity.
9. I  Plan intervals for revisiting and rehearsing core concepts by  designing multiple ways for students to revisit, manipulate, and apply the concepts at intervals during the course through rehearsal, memorisation and recall, association and application.
10. Through  simulation, experimentation, application in context and  projects I encourage the students to apply knowledge  in the context it must be used, applying what they are learning in the "real world," outside the classroom while I provide feed-back on application.

Examples of tasks that I give students:

ROLE PLAY: Students take roles of various characters in a case study and act out the parts.

Project work: Prepare files for school practice, Prepare a mock lesson and teach a mock
                               classroom.

Group work: prepare and present a character analysis or theme in a text.

School Practice: the immersion into the real world of school that prepares the student in
                              making the transition from trainee to professional.Student teachers are
                            exposed to experience the complexities and richness of the reality of being                              a teacher.                             

Experiences of True Learning

Sylvia Bahiga's experience
Learning the language was a difficult process.
Learning is a cyclic process.
The more she interacted with the learning material, the more she learnt.
She had a positive attitude towards learning
She was not shy to accept corrections and constantly laughed at herself.
She was open minded, friendly and persistently experimented with the language
She developed her own learning style- looking up difficult words, listening to music, watching soaps,was totally immersed in the language learning environment.
Her colleagues were prompters and the school provided a conducive learning environment.
In the end, she mastered the language, she is very happy and very confident since she is able to share her experience.

My Experience
Having to make a video documentary was the most daunting task that I have undertaken so far.I had little or no knowledge about making videos, shooting pictures, editing, making the voice over,writing the sub titles, making the video tell a complete story in itself in an interesting and engaging manner.

However, I set myself to it and made my first video documentary.
I widely  read around the subject, sifting information and noting what was pertinent. I then embarked on the actual production process, making many mistakes,doing, re doing, undoing, reconstructing;persistently giving it a lot of time. In so doing, I kept learning more and more.

Despite this, I consulted the tutor and other participants and the activities undertaken augmented my learning, giving me a premise, a platform, a thrust! The sense of victory still lingers..... I remember the saying: "the tasting of the pudding is in the eating!"

There is a strong correlation between Sylvia's experience of learning and mine.

2.1.2
Gleaning from my experience and of my course colleagues in relation to the overview by Marilyn, learning  is facilitated by the following

1. Who? -The learner

• Motivation for learning
• Open mindedness (Creativity, Flexibility)
• Curiosity
• Determination, optimism and effort
• Learning style 
• Desire to learn
• Collaborative spirit
• Reflective practice

    2. What? The content

• Real life 
• Thought provoking
• Authentic
• Well defined problem

    3. Where?

• Classroom
• Learning platform

    4. How?

• Authentic Activities
• Guided discovery/investigation
• PLN
• Tutors
• Integrated assessment
• Multiple sources
• Reflective practice