Reflecting On Pedagogical Comprehension And Understanding

Pedagogies for Engagement in Education

Discuss about the Pedagogies Portfolio.

The major aim of this paper is make a critical reflection of my own teaching practice and ensure that there is development of a portfolio which will seek to depict pedagogical comprehension or understanding. The end result will be pedagogies portfolios which will comprise of three major artifacts each of them having a commentary on how it is capable of demonstrate pedagogical development or understanding (Nicholls, 2002). The first artifact will be a Statement of Personal Teaching Philosophy that will be builds on my two previous items of assessment. The other two selected pieces of artifacts are the Examples of Teaching Materials as well as the resources with commentary and lastly a self-evaluation statement that will focus on both the strengths as well as areas that need development especially in terms of the Pedagogical Practice while drawing on the relevant or appropriate literature.  

The pedagogies for engagement are quite important in education because they will help me to effectively reflect on the best practices of teaching in my own learning contexts. As a result, this will ultimately present me with good opportunities of enhancing my comprehension of pedagogy, enhance my teaching practice in school, and also present me with an opportunity to make relevant contributions to both teaching and learning in my own contexts and aspects (Ramsden, 2003). The pedagogies for engagement are quite important in both my personal and professional life because they present me with an opportunity to critically thing and reflect regarding my own practice especially in relation to teaching as a profession and thus enable me effectively articulate teaching philosophies that are personal in nature (University of the Sunshine Coast, 2005).

In order to achieve this objective, I will thus be required to ensure that I positively participate in learning within a specific community of practice that is developed with the main aim of putting the theory learnt in class into practice. This is quite important because it will enable me research on the various concepts that had been leant in class work. Among some of the topics that have been learnt in the course include understanding of the pedagogy, pedagogies which build intellectual connectedness, rigor, supportive learning environments, as well as those which build on the diversity (Tight, 2004). The course also dealt with the issue of online pedagogies, and the specific teaching strategies which are used in the facilitation of effective learning. That apart, the course also deals with the characteristics which are associated with both professional as well as learning portfolios, and the evaluation of the pedagogies.  

Three Major Artifacts in the Pedagogy Portfolio

Comprising of six major units, this course has among other things demonstrated a specialized set of skills and body of knowledge that is quite essential for me to attain the much needed further learning as well as professional practice (Schunk, 2003). This has been attained through provision of advanced applications of skills and knowledge that is presented in very unfamiliar contexts. The course has enabled me to investigate as well as make viable decisions regarding the key or major features which can be used for effective teaching in my professional contexts through using the latest literature in educational research.

Based on the first pedagogical assessment on Text investigation, it was quite evident that my approach towards teaching of the students was highly based on the engagement pedagogy and this implied that the relationship that existed between me as a teacher and my students was dialectical. This implied that the entire classroom actually became energized through our shared and intellectual project (Mezirow, 2000). The opportunity to teach my students enabled me to become aware of the new ways in which I saw old materials and used them in gaining of new intellectual depths. This was quite helpful since it enabled me to generate both new as well as innovative research questions which were duly utilized in the class environment in order to enhance the entire learning process.

The stating and restating of the of the theoretical perspectives in totally new ways was quite essential since it presented me with a chance to impart my students with the relevant knowledge and skills that ultimately made them to become aware of the world that surrounded them. The lessons were developed in a manner that made it possible for my students to easily walk away with the skills that could help them to easily make a sense of the world around them and also present them with the abilities of not only thinking critically but also the ability of reading and analyzing both the written and visual texts (Australian Vice-Chancellors’ Committee, 2002). This ultimately made my students to have the invaluable assets of effecting communicating both in speech as well as in writing.

My lessons were developed with an aim of empowering my students to have analytic skills. This implied that they will have the ability of effectively negotiating in the different types of media that pervaded their own lives and thus ultimately making them to succeed in the contemporary or modern society which is known to be highly marked with visual saturations (Biggs & Tang, 2008). The lessons were also developed on the basis of enabling learners to how best they can deconstruct as well as critically think regarding both the individual as well as the institutional power which are indeed the key or essential skills in a highly competitive modern economy.

Importance of Personal Teaching Philosophy

In the first assessment, the embracing of an engaged classroom was quite essential since it made it possible for my students to become encouraged on how best they can integrate their “lived experiences” into the materials as well as trying on the new theoretical perspectives (Jenkins et al, 2003). In addition to that, owing to the fact that the contemporary community is quite global, the lessons were designed in a manner that made it possible for the students to not only learn but also comprehend and appreciate the differences in sexual orientations, gender, religion, geography, ethnicity, and race and thus learn to appreciate each and sundry in an equal manner. 

The first assessment clearly helps me to inform my students of the need to see each and every individual equally before their eyes and also become aware of reality which they also yearn to achieve through learning.  The major aspects that were associated in the first assessment for my students is that it should not only have good organization, but it should also have the capability of having well established aims and clear learning that may be used in enhancing both my teaching and learning life (Foote & Vermette, 2001). In order to achieve this objective and ensure that my learners achieve the best in the learning process, I will ensure that I use appropriate texts that will play a significant role in the comprehension of pedagogy. In reading the texts, it was quite important to ensure that viable views regarding the world and the use of pedagogy were ascertained. Through reading of the texts, I was able to ascertain the meaning of social constructivism and the importance of reflecting myself as a teacher.

As a teacher, I learnt through the texts, it was important for me to use the spiritual, emotional, and intellectual aspects of pedagogy in the actual work environment so that I can present my learners with both a thoughtful and challenging platform that can enable them to better comprehend the numerous reasons for the application of pedagogy in the classroom environment. Through the texts that were read and analyzed, I realized that while the discourse of education was known to be both normative and descriptive, pedagogy on its hand was known to invite and entice different and dynamic scenes of teaching and learning (Nayler, 2005). However, it was important for me to ensure that the approaches were effectively refined while the pedagogies were targeted to the strengths and experiences of the educators. All the texts stressed the fact that pedagogy was quite important to learners because it enabled them to develop an easier way of the learning process. 

Importance of Learner-Centered Approaches

The texts indicated the importance of comprehending the three levels of teaching students namely what the student is what the teacher does, and what is done by the student. In thinking about pedagogy, it is always important to also think about the issue of social re-constructivism. This implies that there is need to not only understand the tremendous changes in the world but also comprehend the acquisition of information and the dynamic nature of work. It is prudent to rethink ourselves as both learners and teachers especially in the dynamic social, technological, and cultural environments (Manning & Bucher, 2005). The investigation of these concepts is quite important because it helps us to have new needs that will ultimately call for new capacities that required pedagogies that are re-conceptualized. 

Based on the second part of the assessment, it is quite evident that there is need for me as a teacher to focus on the learner-centered or child centered approaches as opposed to embracing an education system which was teacher-centered. Rote learning can be an occurrence of the past if teachers brought a paradigm shift from the teacher-centered approaches to the teacher-centered approaches (Nayler, 2005). This implies that there should be no resistance to change and that there is need to both identify and also address any of the underlying beliefs so as to have an effective pedagogy that will mainly be based on learners. 

Just like the other instructors, I realized the importance of having students in a learning setting effectively connect the numerous concepts from their class activities and apply the same to their own personal lives. However, in the last semester, the students in my class felt that I had actually requested lots of reflection from them. This is attributed to the fact that as I developed the syllabus for my course, I actually imagined that my students were back at home and making reflections at least twice per week. I therefore ensured that I had provided the weekly questions or prompts that were to be considered based on the syllabus (Bates, 2016). However, I noticed that this was indeed a complex task for many of the students because majority of them failed to fulfill them. As a result, as I reflected on the reflection assignment which I had made, I actually noted some of the areas in which a change could have significantly changed or enhanced the specific part of this course.

Challenging Rote Learning Through Pedagogies

 It is important to first of all note that the reflections were indeed developed with an aim of being interconnected to the numerous class discussions and activities. However, from what I learnt, I noted that my students actually answered the prompts that I had set for them using the assertions which were based on their specific expertise instead of using their own questions. I highly believe that this was actually been connected to the second lessons which I had learned about the limitations of the numerous mediums in which such reflections had actually been made (Knowles, Holton & Swanson, 1998). It was important to note that all the reflections that were made were the public posts which had been executed using the discussion board in the course.

According to me, I noted that most of the students were known to have posted the comments regarding what they knew as being thoughtful to their classmates as opposed to the understanding of the question based on what had been taught. It is important to note that research regarding the benefits which were associated with reflection for the learners has either focused on a specific practice such as teacher education or the benefits that are associated with Meta cognition even though the concept has further been extended to learning on the job. 

There are two kinds of reflection namely reflection in action and the reflection on action in which the former is known to occur in the present while the latter is known to be based on the retrospection. That apart, it is also prudent to note that in the instances in which reflection is known to occur, it is actually known to be quite different from the other forms of assertions that are used by students when demonstrate learning in class (Long, 2002). This implies that a reflection is capable of illustrating the ability of an individual in experiencing puzzlement, surprise, or even confusion in an uncertain or unique situation. As a result, through carefully consideration of a prevailing situation and ensuring that it is well integrated with one’s expectations, an individual is capable of easing reaching at new comprehensions (Paananen & Lipponen, 2018). However, it is prudent to note that reflection in such definitions cannot be equated with thinking but rather it is the ability of individuals to put what they have attended into words. 

A self Evaluation Statement that Reflects both the Strengths and areas which need development in terms of Pedagogical Practice and which Draws on the Relevant Literature

Importance of Reflective Learning

It is a common fact that performance in most of the schools has become increasingly judged mostly on the basis of the effective outcomes in learning. Information is thus quite critical in knowing whether a learning system in a learning institution is actually delivering enhanced performance and providing the relevant feedback that can be used in enhancing the outcomes for the students or learners (Brinkmann, 2015). It is thus important for the educational stakeholders to ensure that they look for viable methods that can be used in the development of evaluation and assessment policies and how they can effectively work together to enhance the learners’ outcomes. It is thus quite beneficial for nations to use numerous techniques which can be used in both the evaluation as well as the assessment of the teachers, the students, the schools, as well as the education systems.

It is a common occurrence that in most countries, the students are usually tested at some key points and some of the international or global assessments are known to not only provides useful and additional information, but they are also quite essential as external comparators. It is quite important to understand that in almost all countries across the world, there is usually widespread recognition that both the assessment and evaluation frameworks are the key to ensuring that there is building of both stronger as well as fairer school systems (Biggs & Tangs, 2008). Nations are also known to highly emphasize the importance that is associated with seeing the aspects of both assessment and evaluation not as being an end to themselves but rather as being vital tools that can be used in the enhanced of student outcomes.

It is prudent to note that even though the context can be unique in some of the countries, some of the policy challenges that are emerging are applicable to all of them (Carlson,2018). These include among others the issue of governance and implementation, system evaluation, student evaluation, school evaluation, and teacher evaluation.

It is prudent to note that even though each and every country typically has their own provisions that are used in the assessment of students, system evaluation, school evaluation, and teacher evaluation, it is prudent to note that these have not been integrated explicitly and as a result, there has been no specific strategy that has been used in ensuring that such different framework components are capable of mutually reinforcing and integrating in each other (Feldman et al, 2018). It is important for all stakeholders in the education sector to note that there ought to be a strategic and viable approach that can be used in provision of an opportunity that can be used in providing a chance for reflections on the articulations that have been made on the different components of evaluation. 

In the development of the competencies that are used in both the evaluation as well as assessment of using feedbacks, it is important to note that the effectiveness highly depends on ensuring that both the people who design as well as undertake the activity of evaluating such actions and even the people who use the results have the relevant competencies and skills. This is quite crucial in ensuring that there is provision of the relevant legitimacy to the people who are responsible for the assessment and evaluation process (Crusan & Matsuda, 2018). It is also important to note that since the issue of evaluation indeed has strong stakes especially for the stakes which have been assesses and the school outcomes also highly rely on both the cooperation at the school as well as individual relationships, this implies that the successful mechanisms of feedback need specific attention in order to not only develop appropriate competencies but to also define the responsibilities which are used in the process of evaluation (Stronge, 2018).

The competencies which are used for the provision of feedback in order to enhance practice ate quite essential in ensuring that both the evaluation as well as the assessment procedures is quite effective. It is important to note that the assessments that are used for the enhancements normally required that there is the inclusion of essential appropriate actors like for instance teachers in the learning development process (Brakke, Guillory & Patterson, 2019). It is this pertinent to ensure that trainings for evaluation be included in the initial “teacher education” alongside all the appropriate skills of development. Preparations or becoming school leaders also ought to comprise of educational leadership which will put the emphasis on the feedback mechanisms (Lam, 2018). That apart, it is also important to note that particular groups like inspectorates are in a better position of getting engaged in the modelling as well as dissemination of good practice such as in teacher appraisals and in school assessments.  

As a teacher, it is my responsibility to ensure that I have the pedagogical competence that will enable me to have the appropriate knowledge, approaches, and skills that will enhance or facilitate the effective learning of my students. Such pedagogical competencies will include among others the planning, the delivery, and the evaluation of the entire learning process (Seng & Geertsema, 2018). It also includes the education and teaching that actually encompasses more off teaching proficiency.

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