Discuss how the issues studied in this course have influenced your understanding of the role of the teacher

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Samantha Gornall

Discuss how the issues studied in this course have influenced your understanding of the role of the teacher.

During this course I have come across a variety of issues that have influenced my understanding of the role of a teacher, and in this essay I will discuss how these issues have influenced my opinion both positively and negatively and my reasons for this.

First of all I will look at a couple of learning theories and whether I feel they are relevant to teaching and how I feel you can apply them to teaching practice.

Multiple intelligence theory was developed by Howard Gardner. His thesis was that individuals do not have just one type of intelligence, such as might be measured by an IQ test, but several. He described a number of intelligences, each of which was identified with a different part of the brain. He discovered that there were 9 intelligences, and that all humans possess these intelligences in varying amounts, and so the education system must cater for these varying intelligences because pupils do not learn at the same pace, same time or in the same way. By doing this pupils are more likely to engage with the work and thus “It’s not about how smart you are - but how you are smart” Highland learning and teaching tool kit (2005).

This theory was very useful in my understanding the role of a teacher. “Multiple intelligence theory helped me understand that teaching is not just about giving a child a sheet with information on it, but is about using a variety of teaching methods, in order for a child to achieve the desired learning outcomes” Gornall, S (23 October 2005) Learning Log.

So looking at this theory it seems that as a teacher when planning your lessons you must ensure that you cater for most and if possible all types of intelligences in order to engage the whole class. However I feel this would be very difficult, for example in my subject, religious education, I would find it very complicated to incorporate kinesthetic learning into my teaching and a physical education teacher would also find it hard to fit existential intelligence into their teaching. It would also not be easy to have a class doing 9 different activities at the same time. This is because it would be difficult to keep track of their progress, as it would be hard to assess what level each child was at, and also every child has varying levels of multiple intelligence, which are not mutually exclusive and so they would need to do a variety of tasks in order to gain their full potential.

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We also looked at Skinners theory of operant conditioning. This theory was based on the idea that learning is a change in overt behaviour. He believed that individuals respond to changes (stimuli) in the environment and thus a change in behaviour occurs. If this is this response is rewarded the pupil is conditioned to respond as suggested by Kearsley, G. (2005)

This therefore suggests that a child’s behaviour or work should be rewarded, either through material reward, praise or good grades, in order that the child continues to behave in the desired way. This theory is very useful when applied ...

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