We headed back to our cosy laboratory after attending the paper sharing sessions.
We got into our groups and were given a case study each to work on, where we had to identify the issues in the given school and eventually decide whether to send our child to that school if given a choice. I thought it was interesting to see things from a parent's perspective, and it certainly brings to question what we value in an education, what we perceive as an ideal learning environment.
On another note, in one of the case studies, it was mentioned that 50% of the teachers in the school had been with the school for more than 20 years. Dr. Quek has always advised us not to stay put in one school for too long as we may grow too comfortable there and resist change. Indeed, I have learnt in another module that we only learn best when we are the edge of competence. However, how long is considered too long? Piqued by this and as brought up by Dr. Quek in class, I did a search on Wubbels and it turned out that Wubbels had indeed done a study and found that:
While running through the search results, I also found this link (http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=KhMAYVDnXboC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=wubbels+10+years&source=web&ots=wZX8lMD96a&sig=Z5HIZqEvfUkDsOi6QwKGWwILDFA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result) to be quite interesting. One significant result included here, in my humble opinion, is that a study found no clear evidence of effects of the SOL program on teachers' (who have been teaching between 1 and 10 years) reflective attitude and inclination towards motivation.
All these certainly leads me to think more about my very own teaching career, and how I should always be careful not to rest on my laurels.
P.S: Really looking forward to the next lessons, where Dr. Quek promised more hands-on action and an opportunity to try out SPSS.
We got into our groups and were given a case study each to work on, where we had to identify the issues in the given school and eventually decide whether to send our child to that school if given a choice. I thought it was interesting to see things from a parent's perspective, and it certainly brings to question what we value in an education, what we perceive as an ideal learning environment.
On another note, in one of the case studies, it was mentioned that 50% of the teachers in the school had been with the school for more than 20 years. Dr. Quek has always advised us not to stay put in one school for too long as we may grow too comfortable there and resist change. Indeed, I have learnt in another module that we only learn best when we are the edge of competence. However, how long is considered too long? Piqued by this and as brought up by Dr. Quek in class, I did a search on Wubbels and it turned out that Wubbels had indeed done a study and found that:
- Beginning teachers do manage to adopt greater dominant behavior, and this increases for the first 6-10 years of their careers. They gradually feel more secure in the classroom, and exhibit increasing control over the proceedings. After the 10th year, things begin to level out in terms of dominance, though the teacher's cooperative behavior begins to decrease at this point.
- Overall, then, teacher-student relationships steadily improve during the first 6-10 years of a teacher's career, leading to greater student achievement and more positive attitudes. Soon after, however, a change occurs that is both welcome and unwelcome. Teachers appear to decline in cooperation and increase in opposition, a change that negatively affects student attitudes. They also become more strict, however, and this can heighten student achievement.
While running through the search results, I also found this link (http://books.google.com.sg/books?id=KhMAYVDnXboC&pg=PA103&lpg=PA103&dq=wubbels+10+years&source=web&ots=wZX8lMD96a&sig=Z5HIZqEvfUkDsOi6QwKGWwILDFA&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result) to be quite interesting. One significant result included here, in my humble opinion, is that a study found no clear evidence of effects of the SOL program on teachers' (who have been teaching between 1 and 10 years) reflective attitude and inclination towards motivation.
All these certainly leads me to think more about my very own teaching career, and how I should always be careful not to rest on my laurels.
P.S: Really looking forward to the next lessons, where Dr. Quek promised more hands-on action and an opportunity to try out SPSS.
1 comment:
picture> Reminding not to rest on my laurels - the herding phenomenon
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