Efective pedagogy or teaching a whole child

That YouTube video went so quickly I had to re-watch it several times just to get a grip on it.

I think I did and here is what I got form it:

Effective teaching pedagogy depends on 3 elements witch include, pastoral care and student wellbeing, effective teaching practices and school environment and lastly using classroom resources effectively.

I had no idea what pastoral care was, so I did what any student would do, I googled it. A great definitions popped up, "Pastoral care is an ancient model of emotional and spiritual support that can be found in all cultures and traditions. It has been described in our modern context as individual and corporate patience in which trained pastoral carers (teachers) support people in their pain, loss and anxiety, and their triumphs, joys and victories".

What does that means in my classroom then, well I think that it means we as educators should support our student when they are down or on a high. We should use all the tools we have (internet, the curriculum or CAPS) to make an environment where our student would flourish. We should also allow and encourage the students to build each other up, we should encourage our student to try and understand each other and show empathy towards others.

For effective teaching to take place you will need to engage your students, the easiest way you can do that is bay asking your student what they think, give them feedback and ask for feedback yourself. They are the ones being taught so why should they not have a say in how they are taught. Now you can’t give them all the say, because they are still kids and let’s face it, most of them are a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Lastly classroom resources, this is all the material that you can use to help teach you students. Every school has limited resources that you can use, this all depends on the school. If you are at a school with less resources you will need to be more creative in your implementing of those they have.

In closing, we are more than teachers

Do you want social media as an ally?

I am still a believer in the old school way of teaching. The way I was teached when I was still a lad. The teacher was in front and he/she would facilitate the teaching by asking questions and sparking your curiosity. The teacher would not converse with the students outside the class room, it was kept as a learner-teacher relationship.

Some of the ideas that the articles gave across, was a little too progressive for my ancient was of thinking, but that is not to say that there where others that I thought that I could implement in my class.

First let’s look at the ones that I might use:

• ·      Reminder - it is a tool that allows the teacher to connect with the teacher through their mobile devices. The teacher would create a group and only the teacher will be able to post on the group. I think this will be a good way of relaying important information to their learners, and will help the learners stay up to date with the classes.
• ·      Blogging - In the way as the teacher will post something that will spark the internist of the learners and they can then exchange ideas or thoughts that they have on the specific topic. The parents of the learners can then also see how their kids react to the new information or ideas that is put out there.

Now let’s look at the part where I differ:

• ·      Twitter - I feel that twitter is too personal, the line between teacher and learner gets blurred, the learner will think of you as a friend. I see where the idea can actually help with the teaching, "Twitter has become a medium for students to expand their learning in the classroom. They've used Twitter to share something they saw outside of school that related to our class conversation."
• ·      Instagram - I don't think that sharing funny photos does anything to help with teaching... I understand that you can extend the learning beyond the classroom, and that you can share informative ideas or concepts through it, but I still feel that it becomes too personal.

In summery we have to remember that we are in South Africa and that all the learners don’t have equal opportunity to technology and that we can’t go running blindly in to this way of teaching. Some of the ideas that was giving in this article I feel will benefit the learners. Most importantly I feel that the learner-teacher relationship must stay just that, it can to easily morph into something that can be interpreted as something that was not its intention.