The Pedagogy - Essay Example

?Pedagogy is the art of teaching and training It requires a balance between adult directed activity and child initiative. This balance is an essential element of the process of turning children into useful and effective members of society. Perkins (1999) suggests that teachers need to adopt a pragmatic approach to enabling pupils to construct their own understanding of knowledge which further enables them to express their creativity (Craft 2002, p.159). Pedagogical techniques are different for different levels of students. The techniques used for Montessori students are not affective for secondary school students. Then, within a certain level of students the teaching needs differ from individual to individual. Therefore, a tactic affective for one student may not be useful for another. The video shows a school which has diversity in terms of its students. The students belonged to different cultural and ethnic backgrounds. As the children are in their early years, so if they are treated properly, the element of diversity would serve as a plus point for the school environment. At the same time, if the concept of discrimination is developed at this sensitive stage, the children will hardly learn to respect others throughout their life. Therefore, showing respect towards teachers, parents and the students themselves is an effective tool for training children to live peacefully in an environment. There should be a balance and equality in terms of parameters of respect and honor. If some of the students are given undue favors, it will create intimidating environment for others. While training children in early years to show respect to others, it is very important to train them about how to communicate with others. Most of the children have natural hesitation while interacting with a new face other than their family. This hesitation should be removed by making them comfortable in speaking, moving and expressing their feelings. Sometimes, teachers and parents put great focus on making children learn the manners. It is helpful but it can cause the child to become uncomfortable with natural instincts and desires of his age. Therefore, while teaching manners to young children it is very important to understand the needs of their age and let them do what they want to do freely. Do not embarrass them by quoting examples of their activities which you think are stupid. Try to persuade them to follow a certain rule, rather than imposing it. In that case, children become revengeful in future and find a desire to break every rule that tries to mold them. There are certain general issues of students like lack of confidence, hesitation, and reluctance to communicate and to ask questions. Such issues require general solutions applied in specific way. This means that teacher needs to provide this solution individually in addition to creating an environment supporting such solutions. Parents should also observe the special needs of their children and notify about these needs in the school. As it is said that ‘nip the evil in the bud’, so is the case with children; the earlier their issues are resolved, the better they can perform. Proper planning and discussions about the behavior of individual students are helpful both for student and the teacher. For a student, it is useful as he/she would get help in a proper and timely manner. For teacher it is useful as it would indicate that how much the situation has improved. The issue with the planning is that if the teacher becomes too obsessed with the plans, then the results can be reversed. Human beings are the most complex creatures in the world so sometimes you learn by doing. Once you have made a plan, try it with the child and see if you both are comfortable with the tactic or nor. If anyone is uncomfortable, do not hesitate in making modifications in your plan. Studies have shown that over formal approaches to teaching young children are counterproductive (Nabuco and Sylva, 1996) and can hinder young children’s learning, generating high anxiety levels and low self esteem (Anning ,Cullen, & Fleer 2008, p.155). One of their key goals is to ensure that the early years of schooling in Northern Ireland should become less formal in perspective; offering instead a more developmentally appropriate, play-based and child-led approach to teaching (Clark, & Waller 2007, p.67). The school shown in the video has children using different languages; therefore they had specifically highlighted their way of communication. In addition to that, special language classes are also useful for enabling children communicate easily. Communication barriers are destructive to the whole learning process, so they should be removed as early as possible. Cultural historical theory has allowed us to interpret how talk among children engaged in block play can result in collective planning, joint problem solving and shared thinking (Corrigan 2011, p. 238). If a child is not comfortable with speaking, how can he get the benefit of such activity? Children in early years have strong observation and this quality can be used to enhance their learning. Spellings and sentence building is a crucial phase both for teacher and students. Teachers can focus on teaching sounds of alphabets rather than their names. Names of alphabets are useful to a limited extent. The tool which helps in making word is the sound of alphabet. Making a strong facial expression for the sound of each alphabet is useful for identification and pronunciation of that sound. Children are more inclined to spell things when they can visualize it. Therefore, picture aid is very useful for kids. Another factor demonstrated in the video was the practice. Whatever you teach, make sure that kids practice it. Allow considerable time in which children can practice what they have learned. Children in their early years have lot of energy and they try to find an outlet for that energy. They like activity, thrill and adventure. They cannot sit in their chairs listening to the lecture of an aged professor. This is the requirement of their age. Therefore, learning material should be prepared in a way that involves activity so that children can relate to it. The video showed a lesson of geometrical shapes. Shapes were shown to kids along with their names. This enhances the image of a shape in their minds. Then, in order to increase the time spent with an idea, an activity was planned. Kids had to find shapes in the backyard of school. They were excited and involved in this activity in addition to learn the shapes. Try to arrange the activity which can address more than one concept. Like the activity shown in the video was addressing the learning of shapes, counting, and group tasks and communicating. Outdoor activities are very important as they provide an open atmosphere other than indoor classrooms. It provides physical activity which sharpens the mind. Children are more willing to learn in open air. They feel free and excited to play and get involved in the learning activity. Schools must pay special attention to providing such an area to children where they can run, play, move about and ultimately learn. Children should be taught about how to deal in real life situations. They need an understanding of the common phenomenon they observe in their daily life. The video showed such an activity in which children were learning how to trade. They developed a pet shop and role played the character of buyer, seller, cashier and customer. Such an activity is useful for teaching multiple concepts and their application. This activity can be further improved if the kids were allowed to set up the whole pet shop on their own. In this way, they will get emotionally involved in the activity. They learn to feel their emotions and the ways to express them. Emotional literacy is an important area to be taught. Neurologists have now demonstrated that quality of learning is significantly affected by our experiences and learning environment (Greenfield, 2000). To start and then maintain learning environment built on emotional literacy means approaching your class organization and planning with emotional literacy foremost in your mind (Bruce 2010, p.16). Teachers should keep in mind that they are to prepare independent individuals not the teacher driven creatures. Children should be encouraged to do their work independently, to participate in the activities on their own and to speak up what is on their minds. They should be motivated to ask questions and try to take their questions as much as possible. Questions open up mind and lead to more knowledge. Children naturally have curiosity but teachers should work to build up curiosity and teach the ways to look out for the answers rather than providing them ready made. Davis states some pedagogical approaches as use of inclusive language and examples, learning to correctly pronounce students` names, looking for opportunities to give personal attention and validation to students, cultivate an inclusive classroom, recognizing your own culture bound assumptions, assigning group work and collaborative learning activities (Davis 2009, p.62-63). Use of inclusive language is very important because it helps children remain neutral rather than developing preconception about the real world. Inclusive language means the use of word ‘parents’ instead of mother or father, ‘people’ instead of Jews, ‘worship temple’ instead of church and so on. Do not differentiate kids as being a girl or boy, call them as kids. Learn to pronounce the names of the students and ask them how to do it if you do not know how to say their name. This will increase the communication and reduce the distance between the teacher and student. Kids are motivated when they are called by their names and feel comfortable to an extent with their situation. The feeling that someone is familiar with their name makes kids more confident and responsive. Personal attention is very effective in classrooms. Try to give personal attention in a natural way. Do not make the child dependant upon your response. Ask him/her questions in the routine class session. Do not make him feel that you are doing something special for him and yet involve him in the class on individual level. Ask children for help so that they become generous. Use the words ‘please’, ‘thank you’ and other general phrases frequently and the children will ultimately start using them in their conversations. Arrange group activities and game plans so that children learn how to interact with each other, making friends and become competent. Resolve their disputes by arguments and do indulge in their fights. Train kids to ask for help if they need it. Try to give them confidence that they can share their problems with the teacher yet not becoming the only source of help. There are technology gadgets which let children record directly into the microphone and download files straight onto the computer through a USB connection. Children born and raised in the 21st century require different pedagogical approaches (Canning & Reed 2009, p.232). Technology improvements have changed the way children learn. Too much use of technology gadgets restricts the general creativity of the children, even if it increases the graphical and mechanical creativity. Children find books and outdoor games boring and uninteresting. The reduction in physical activity affects the overall growth of the children. On the other hand, lack of knowledge of technological equipment lead to incompetence in the real world. Therefore, a carefully managed balance is required between making the children well aware of the new technologies and the traditional requirements of children growth and development. The forms of activity relating to rhythmic tendencies are such as physical culture exercises, rhythmic plays and games, singing, marching, dancing, etc. (Hall 1901, p.26). Children tend to retain more when the lesson has a kind of melody and rhythm to it. Teachers find it very helpful when they sing ABC and children retain the song in full order. Therefore, nursery rhymes are said to be unforgettable by any individual. Rhythm and rhyme is motivating and interesting for the children. The Regulations require that a child should avoid specialization in one sport at an early age (before 10 years old), and from 10 to 13 years old, specialization should be limited. The regulations also insist that all exercises between competitions should be play oriented in a manner that all activities are suited to the physical and psychological development of the child, and that learning is more important than achievement (Houlihan & Green 2007, p.211). Performance evaluation and reward philosophy is also very crucial in motivating the children. But at early age children should not be involved in fierce competition and encouraged just for their participation. They should not be discouraged for poor performance. They should be given some solutions to improve their performance. Children should also be taught how to cope with failures. They should be encouraged to show sportsman spirit when they lose a game. They should be taught that winning and losing is the part of game. The winners should celebrate their victory with everyone and the kids who lose should be given special attention for their participation. Children should believe that participation is the thing which is important not the victory. The solution advocated by the international community is to focus on early childhood care and development, democratize and universalize high-quality education, and ensure the protection and participation of youth and adolescents (Zaalouk 2006, p.3). Thus, proper use of pedagogical approaches makes the children useful members of society and ultimately a progressive nation and a better world. The early education is very important because it has strong impacts on the whole life of an individual. Work Cited Anning,A. ,Cullen,J.&Fleer,M. 2008, ‘Early childhood education: society and culture’, SAGE Publications Ltd, pp.155 Bruce, C.2010, ‘Emotional Literacy in the Early Years’, SAGE Publications Ltd, pp.16 Canning, N. &Reed, M.2009, ‘Reflective Practice in the Early Years’, SAGE Publications Ltd,p p.232 Clark,M.& Waller,T. 2007, ‘Early childhood education and care: policy and practice’ , SAGE, pp.67 Corrigan, D.2011, ‘Conceptualizing the Knowledge Base of Quality Science Teaching’, Springer, pp.238 Craft, A.2002, ‘Creativity and early years education: a lifewide foundation’, Continuum International Publishing Group, pp.159 Davis, B. 2009, ‘Tools for teaching’, John Wiley and Sons, pp.62-63 Hall, G. 1901, ‘The Pedagogical seminary’, Volume 8, Clark University Press, pp.26 Houlihan,B. & Green,M. 2007, ‘Comparative elite sport development: systems, structures and public policy’, Butterworth-Heinemann, pp.211 Zaalouk, M. 2006, ‘The Pedagogy of Empowerment: Community Schools as a Social Movement in Egypt’, American Univ in Cairo Press, pp.3 Read More