TEACHING APPROACH

As a teacher my aim is to develop each child’s natural talents, impart new skills and encourage them to fulfil their potential in all areas (academic, emotional, spiritual and physical). In so doing, I hope to promote the development of well-rounded individuals who are able to both meet life’s challenges and present the world as we know it, with new ones. I am aware of, and recognise the diversity of each child’s abilities and natural talents and therefore attempt to instil in the child an appreciation of knowledge, culture and a sense of community. This will enable them to meaningfully contribute to the realisation of the values outlined in the South African constitution.

21^st century skills are important in equipping learners with tools that can be taken to university, their workplace and to civic society. If learners are able to think critically, think creatively, solve problems, communicate and collaborate with others then they will not only be socially responsible citizens contributing to society, but they will be able to face the challenges and solve ever evolving problems in the world that present themselves on a daily basis. The first thing that I will try to do is focus on student engagement, if a learner does not have their interest grabbed in your subject they will not ask questions and take ownership of the learning process. I aim to do this by sparking curiosity, not simply downloading information to the learners, but by letting them think, ask, struggle with, communicate, listen to other learners’ ideas and by using varied sources and medium (including ICTS- smartboard, projectors, powerpoints, videos, online quizes and acitvities) to help get information and ideas across. In order to grab a learner’s attention you also have to make them aware of why what they are learning is relevant, how can the students use this in their everyday life? An example of this in History is getting the learners to reflect on the ways that the activities of ordinary individuals/ groups have shaped the history of societies - for example Rosa Parks choosing to stay seated on the bus as a sign of passive protest. What impact did this have on the Civil rights movement in America? What impact can one person actually have?

As collaboration and communication are skills that need to be developed, as a History teacher I will set up debates in my lessons, where learners express their own thoughts, but also have the safe space to hear differing viewpoints. Where they can ask questions that they may have not thought of before, so that when they are presented with ideas and information after school, they will be interested and curious enough to ask “But why?”. When these debates are taking place, I plan to use the Harkness method where learners sit in a oval shape in the classroom which encourages ideas and discussion between the students in the debate. This also enables me as a teacher to make a “map” of where all the students are sitting and track the flow of conversation, as well as track questions and interruptions by students. This map could be shown to the learners after the debate, so that they can self-evaluate and see what their input is and evaluate the value of their participation.

It is important for learners to be aware of and reflect on their process as well as their progress so when tasks are done I plan to give the learners a self-evaluation rubric so that they can critically think about their gained knowledge from the task. This means that they can be aware of their strengths and weaknesses and are able to focus on improving where they have struggled before. This also let’s learners learn from their mistakes, this is how innovation and creativity is sparked and it also allows learners to not fear ‘failure’ but rather see it as another problem to be solved with the knowledge and skill set that they have. I see my class as a way to teach critical thinking and problem solving – and I just happen to use the subject of History to do this.