Jimmy Sweeney
Biology teacher
Standard 5: Learning Environment
A teacher must be able to use an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create learning environments that encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
My interpretation: A teacher must be able to create a positive learning culture in her classroom. This includes creating a culture of curiosity, balancing competitive and cooperative activities, and a culture of rigor (where students relish challenges).
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By examining a veteran teacher's lesson plan on photosynthesis, I have found that various pedagogical approaches have various strengths and limitations. I found that a using a variety of pedagogical approaches might allow me to maximize my students’ learning since different situations/students may call for different approaches.I noticed how the veteran teacher utilized different approaches depending on the goal of the learning experience. For example, he had students read about classic experiments in order to build some background knowledge. Conversely, he had the students design their own experiment in order to build critical thinking skills. He even allowed his students to proceed with experiments even when he knew that they were bound to fail - learning by trial and error. The point is that different goals called for different strategies. In the instructor’s description of his lesson, it is evident that he consciously considered the limitations and strengths of different strategies.
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