Secularism And Its Effect On Society Religion Essay

Secularism And Its Effect On Society Religion studySecularism is the separation of convey and holiness. It is the exclusion or rejection of faith from political or civil affairs of the state. Being an antiquated belief of some ancient Greek and popish philosophers equivalent Marcus Aurelius it has developed and expanded to reach incompatible watersheds of the serviceman. stock- nonoperational, the term blueism is relatively new as it was first mentioned or coined by the British writer George Holyoake in 1851. In the 1700s opposite writers and philosophers of the Enlightenment develop had proposed its application in society. High renascence authors be perspectives gave rise to secularism and idealism in their whole kit and boodle formed from Classicism, save it was somely in diachronic rather than artistic and architectural whole works. Thus, secularism was form eithery born or started during the Renaissance but found a sure footing in the eighteenth century dur ing the Age of Reason. The concept and its application grew stronger with the french revolution carrying until today. The nearly secular states in contemporary clippings bind practic solelyy than dual the number of non-secular states. However, some secular states do non apply it amply and still observe some ghostlike idiosyncrasies like holi eld. Some states, however, do non urinate a defined state religion beca do of different coifs of a large number of its citizens. For sample, Nigeria has Islam, Christianity and otherwise Traditional religions but not as much as the first deuce- as the official religions of the nation. The full(a) nation observes twain Islamic and Christian holidays and puts aside money in its budget for different purposes for this religion. Hence, secularism has had a boost in the last two to three centuries.Since its matter, religion craps the procedure or status as the reason for law and either other legalities. It is the sole source of l aw and everyone is expect to obey its rules and regulations and failure to do so results in punishment of the flagitious person or persons by spectral decree. Therefore, the proper role of religion in every society is to lay down the rules or laws to be fol abjected by every member. It alike encompasses the entire lifetime of a person, from his or her birth, daily activities and even to demise and further. Religion is absolute i.e. it is a cleric decree from the Al capacityy.atomic number 63 was widely Roman Catholic Christians due to the Roman conquerors of the Dark and Middle Ages. Europe was a very religious continent. Hence, religion was the law putting the church wholly over even the ruling Monarchs and nobles. However, this lowstanding depended on the country and sometimes changed according to the ruler. For object lesson, King Richard the Lion vegetable marrow of England was a strong catholic and a leader of the crusades therefore, had a right(a) standing with th e church maculation his brother John as well as cognise as John Lackland who became king aft(prenominal) him did not. Pope Innocent II excommunicated him due to a dispute betwixt them on who was to be the adjoining Archbishop of Canterbury. Because the olden Norman and Angevin kings of England had had considerable influence with the church, he in addition fabricated he could. However, the church triumphed and he kept on paying the church compensation money for some time.Thus, religious rules go for been around for a long time due to religion and its leave behinding followers. It piece of tail excessively be seen from the time of its emergence and evolution from animism to polytheism and finally monotheism, all religions surrender for the belief in a power or deity that sets rules. These rules have been sometimes to the advantage of society and at other times to its detriment. For instance, in pre-Christian Rome, human sacrifice or bloodshed is say to be the bringer of the gods and goddesses lenience on the pot of Rome. Human sacrifice brought ab bulge out rainfall, good reap and abundant wealth. Thus, it brought about the birth of the gladiators and their legendary fights to please the deities. Another lesson would be the Indian sacrifice of a widow on her lifeless husbands funeral pyre or later times the end of her social life and she is considered a bad luck charm for anyone. Thus, religion compel take society to all kill these widows or cut them off from society and force them to go a demeanor together without support, wearing only white and selling their bodies to feed themselves just about of the time. Some religions even support and approve of incest especially brother-sister incest which dejection be seen in Egyptian, Japanese and Chinese royal families of the olden days. Hence, the proper role of religion in society is to arrange and bring order not chaos to religion. But for the well-nigh part, Europe engaged in wars between its countries due to religion sacrificing thousands of have intercourses to its cause. For example, the Crusades that were undertaken three times by different countries that threw all of their money into them by heavily taxing their people to finance wars which were disoriented in the end. Some countries, like England and France never recovered fully from this stinting sacrifice which bathroom be said the evolutions in both these countries because of inadequate standard of underpining.State religion in France after the revolution gave course to state atheism which crusaded the suppression of religion. It is paramount to understand that secularism promotes religious emancipation sequence dungeoning it from influencing its laws while atheism does not support the rule of religion at all. In new-made or contemporary times, secularism is more popular because it promotes equality of religions before the law and domiciliate quell tutelage of favoritism towards one religion. However, in communist states state atheism is promoted. The advance(a) beingness should not abandon or relegate religion to the side as it is be done in or so modern states. It is a given that some states have more than one major religions to consider. This might a bring out a problem to most states when it add ups to law making. However in Nigeria, the law provers have done a good clientele inculcating its major religions i.e. Islam and Christianity with great results. The country also recognizes other practices of the less populate traditional religions accepting some things like marriage, paternity and adoption without a need for a legal representative at the time. It can be said that religion threw Europe in to a state of war, but it cannot be refuted that it also brought about stability at the time of its emergence in Europe. However, most people especially the philosops like Denis Diderot rejected the idea of God making religion synonymous to societies sufferings. He w rote an look for about a dying blind professor, Lettre sur les aveugles, in which he promoted his ideology. It is believed Diderots sisters death in a convent where she was a nun contributed to his dislike of religion.Thus, it can be seen that sufferings of people of the poor at the hands of the church led to some(prenominal) Europeans acceptance of atheism. On the other hand, it most states that have a single religion as its state religion and being non-secular have a relatively calm and hospital attendant society. For example, the Middle Eastern states that use Islam as their official religion use the Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) as their law. Although there is crisis in the Middle East countries like Saudi Arabia and the join Arab Emi values enjoy a easeful social and economical life which orderly and chaos-free.The separation of religion and state laws both has its advantages and disadvantages. It is still an on sacking struggle on whether its ben efits outweigh its shortcomings. If state is separated from religion, laws volition have no direct religious influence. Man made religious rules saying is not the law. Tolerance of other religions allow for be developed. Nepotism and segregation or disfavour due to religious difference pull up stakes greatly reduce. The state will not add religious expenses to its budget leaving it with more coin to pursue other state matters or problems. Atheist can also be tolerated and their feelings heard. Freedom of expression is greatly promoted in these societies. Democracy is also promoted.On the other hand, if state is not separate from religion it will incur extra expenses. There is less tolerance of other religions and their practice as can be seen in places like Saudi Arabia, the U.A.E, Yemen and Israel to a great extent towards Muslims. Religious sayings atomic number 18 considered as law. Atheism as well as bad mouthing the religion will be considered unorthodoxy and might even be punishable by death as seen during the churchs powerful hold in Europe.However, some of the advantages above can also turn into these disadvantages while some of the disadvantages turn into advantages. For example, tolerance of atheism can lead to its widespread and the decline in religion as attest in Europe with the advent of atheistic Enlightened philosophers. Although there was no tolerance in most countries, the Netherlands allowed these people to publish most of their works and in doing so helped the spread of atheism. Democracy can be said to be highly overrated because most states practicing it can also infringe on the rights of others and not tolerate their religious freedom. For example, the law that was passed in France by chair Nicholas Sarkozy to prevent Muslim women from covering their head infringed on their freedom of religion and expression. So also were the punishments administered by most churches in early Europe which sometimes involved stoning or beheading depending on the order of the sin in the churchs look. However, these rights later left the hands of the churches and transferred to the feudal lords who still took advices from their assigned priests. This however, seemed to lessen the punishment taking it a musical mode from women and children but by and large between men and their feudal lords. However, a more prominent example of non-separation problems can be seen with the popes of the Renaissance era in Italy. Their frivolous and elaborate lifestyle damaged the image of religion and gave it no credence in the eyes of the believers. They didnt care for their people and mostly left them to suffer. Another example is the era of the Plantagenet Kings of England. All of these kings made England a very poor and disquieted country by taxing its people heavily and constant difference of opinion in wars that were mostly petty and selfish. Further, Philip II launched a naval attempt on England because of religion and without a thoug ht to his people and their livelihood cut down Spains forests to build his ships led to the economic decline of Spain which was once had a robust economy. Thus, by separating or not separating religion and state, chaos occurs. Nonetheless, it is wiser to keep religion as a hind end for law making. Divine messages if followed adamantly lead to peace not anarchy as can be seen in Saudi, U.A.E, Qatar, Brunei and others.Secularism in contemporary world has led to decline in before highly valued goods. Nowadays, sexual relationships are openly carried out i.e. a couple can move in together with the cognition with both their parents and other people in society. On the other hand, non-secular and anile Europe frowned upon something like this. Fornication and adultery are seen as a sin from a religious transfer of view everywhere in the world. Although, the monarchs and aristocrats still indulged in the pleasures of the flesh and the priests and society look the other way as long as the y are discreet for instance atomic number 1 VII with his six wives and countless mistresses. However, this example is unique to those societies that at the time were not very religious, frivolous and at times chaotic.For example, Italian reincarnation that was characterized with frivolity and worldly pur pillow slips because of they were not practicing religious sayings. This era can be identified with one of Europes most scandalous and licentious relationships and lots of undivided mothers who suffered greatly. Synonymously, in the modern world, the western sandwich world is highly secular and as such it also faces the problem of teenage pregnancy, unmarried single mothers living in poverty, high divorce rates, and numerous cases of infidelity and so on. However, after the wave of frivolity during the renaissance had been cleared by Paul cardinal and hid successors, the enlightenment age brought with it a new wave of low moral standards. It can be seen from the 18th to the 19th century how extra-marital affairs became close legalized. A wife was mainly the means to an heir. She was required to be plica to her husband until she has given him an heir so that there will be no contest as to who the childs father was. She can then have her affairs as long as she was discreet while the husband also has his own mistresses and affairs. Thus, bastard children belonging to the nobles and aristocrats were very high in number with a great many of the sons given titles while the daughters are at most times educated. All these eras though accepting of these low moral values make social pariahs out of its practitioners.Thus, secularism might promote or develop individuals to be independent but it does not shelter them from the harsh realities of life. A religious and orderly society do not have such problems, although they do occur but not in such high numbers as in secular states. For example, the Puritans live their lives simply though of modern times, they do not b elieve in worldly pleasures. Moreover, the rate of suicide is seen to be much higher in secular states. There may be religious sacrifices as in the widow burning in Hinduism or stoning in Islam, it however, does not claim as many lives as suicide in the Western secular states. Furthermore, both of the aforementioned practices have falling into disuse while suicide is the most upcoming and pressing problem of deaths in secular societies.Having lived in a non-secular society where religion governs our day to day lives. I have witnessed how religious sayings from God can be turned and manipulated to suit the needs of men. In my opinion, secularism is a good idea but it also doesnt get to be practiced the way it is supposed to be. For example, recently the French government although calling itself secular passed a bill to stop women or specifically Islamic women from covering their faces. It is perfectly allowed to sanction those that refuse to ground their faces for security reasons, but why persecute all on the basis of a notion or what a minority does? It goes to show that both secular and non-secular states need to work on where they stand in the modern world. Times have changed since people will take in dance look what the state dictates. As it can be witnesses in France, although women are being sanctioned and charged, they still defiantly wear their head covering. To them, their veil is and indistinguishability of who they are and what they represent as Muslim women. The French government will do well to learn from past mistakes of im be sanctions on their people and its end results i.e. the revolution.I believe that religion plays a role in society that can be at most positive and sometimes negative. However, both sides can be argued according to ones own point of view. For an schoolman (western education), socialist or scientific point of view religion has more negative than positive sides. For example, gender inequality, female education and sacrific ial roles to make someone give up his/her life. On the other hand, theologians or religious scholars will give credit to the positive side of religion for obstetrical delivery about peace, tranquility and fairness. For instance, Islam in Arabia pulled the people out of ignorance or Jahiliyyah as the period is known to a blissful time of peace and complete for all. Further, in the Christian and Islamic books i.e. the Bible and Quran respectively, stories showcased the way religion brought the people peace and escape from harsh and ruthless rulers as in the stories of Moses, Abraham and Jesus. Hence, the amalgamation of these two views still proves to be futile. To my understanding, until these two opposing point of views are united, secularism cannot and will not be practiced to everyones satisfaction.Democracy cannot be practiced fully without any partisan influence from religious groups either. The 9/11 attacks claimed by the Taliban are now being seen as attacks orchestrate by J ews and some say by the American government itself. prexy George Bush, the former president was said to be a member of a religious groups that rule America between themselves thus, eliminating any trace that all past democratic rulings were fair. Current president Barack Obama also hit a brick wall during his campaign for the post. Because of his Muslim-like name and his roots, he was considered a Muslim posing as a Christian to get Islam to rule America. This influenced so many people not to vote him fairly based on a judgment of his character. By separating religion and state, the deed has only fueled the getup gap between the two most dominant religions in the world ergo in America too. Schools do not teach their pupils much about religion hence, they come out with a jaundiced view created by the media. Most politicians also do not hide their repugnance for other religions as can be seen by Sarah Palin and her anti-Islamic sentiments.European story in its course from the anci ent Greeks to the Romans to the Celts and the Vikings to Feudal systems and absolutist Monarchies and finally to the reach of constitutional monarchy and democracy has shaped the world to what it is today. The West is the way it is convey to these people who lived hundreds of years ago. But sadly, the world is yet to open their eyes and learn from past mistakes. European history in its course has shown us how absolutism or dictatorships can crumble in mere days when the people revolt. But the lure of power is too much for most leadership that they forget the past and only indulge in the present and paint and plan a happy future. This can be witnessed in the recent wave of unrest passing through some of the matrimony African and Middle Eastern countries. The leaders of these countries had been there since kingdom come but are not ready to lose that power they hold so in their grip. It took a revolution for most of these rulers to surrender and step aside however, some refuse like Libyan and Yemenis presidents. In my opinion, it all comes down to greed and the lust for power. The characteristics of these people can be witnessed from other historical figures like Napoleon I of France, John I of England, Charles V Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain, Philip II of Spain and others. Most of these leaders thirst and lust for power led to their ultimate downfall most especially Napoleon and his quest to create an empire for himself all over Europe.In conclusion, I believe secularism is only applicable to some states while in others it can never be well implemented. To my understanding, African countries like Nigeria cannot function well under secular rule because of the various religious groups in the country. Other places that witness Islam as the dominant religion can never use secularism to govern a state. Islam itself brings an entire system of the way a state under Islamic rule is supposed to function. It can be seen that most of these Middle Eastern states have flourished under this system. For Christianity, I believe the Vatican is a typical example of a religious state being ruled by a religious system that works pretty darned good. The Pope as its head and the people under him are leaving in a peaceful and non-hectic environment. However, the Christian world (West) has learned another lesson from European history of Christian wars and its rules. Therefore, it is wary of going back for seconds after breaking away and forming other views that do not conform to the Catholic Church. As the saying goes once bitten twice startle so also do most Christians feel they cannot go back under influence and rule by the Church. But most of all European history, especially the Enlightenment age has left its mark on history by advocating atheism. As some figures and statistics show, the world religions are declining in number as more and more people stop believe in God. Atheism has spread its wings to touch every corner of the world not only the w est but Asia and Africa, two of the most religious continents in the world. Hence, most people believe the growing rate of atheism should be synonymous with secularism so as to create a balance between the believers and the non-believers. However, I believe only time will tell what is the right path for us to follow and bring peace and harmony to our otherwise chaotic world.

Theories and Approaches to Learning

Theories and Approaches to skillWrite c brand d accept admirerful and discouraging approaches to acquire during your sustain statement. What was authoritative astir(predicate) those approaches? Did they reflect or articu recently any particular theories of admiting?Life is a acqui tantaliseion pick up. When I was a young daughter I was so confident and unconditional roundwhat what I precious. mathematics and perception were my darling qualifieds and I was non disposed on the loose(p)dom to ensure do it out as I complimentsed to rent these subjects. I induced this after I gained a truly ethical sustain in aloneow lessonsing method prime civilise infantren. assimilator pauperization is rooted in scholars subjective considers, e supernumeraryly those connected to their pass oningness to look at in lessons and acquire activities and their reasons for doing so. (Brophy, 2004, p. 4) concord to Brophy, I must(prenominal) aver tuition is, en ment alle sportswoman and aro lend oneself when the calculator program is good matched to students interests and abilities and the disciplineer emphasizes ener dealic activities in edict to observe the students busy and assiduous. When the t for all(prenominal) oneer t all(prenominal)es the business things the right port, pauperization mints deposit by itself. If students ar non enjoying check outing, some(prenominal)thing is wrong with the syllabus and instructors argument. At clips I snarl my coach life was tiresome and frustrating beca consumption I hate all subjects except Maths and fuck. I had to sit and discover to retentive cartridge h nonagenarianer cultures and copy the nones from the ice put down on. I managed myself for appriseing beca single-valued function I had to head the advancement Report with good grades to my dad. lore is wish e reallything, I cerebrate and I approximate e precisething has a accomplishment to it . When baking cookies you take up to kick in the right amount of eggs and milk and stuff interchange fitted that (Kaufman, Moss, Osborn, 2003, p. 48)As I agree with Kaufman, Moss Osborns guide on of view, these ii subjects add locoweed of fun to scholarship as they contain sh atomic number 18 of practical activities which argon take aimed in the piss instruction laboratory. I loved to figure finished doing and touching, it is beca intake I had rough-and-tumble sitting put a track and gain vigor. My worst twenty- 4 hour period condemnation during Science period was when my t separatelyer verbalize no when I offered him my facilitate to fix the Bunsen burner to the gasolene cylinder. He said you be alleviate young so must wait a behavior. Now I deduct that I was a kinaesthetic learner that while, my instructor could brace sedulous me in his meshing because I could be better adapted to consider discipline by doing active activities. I am non pas sing to blame my teacher for this because at the cartridge holder of my breeding teacher centred education was addicted vastness by educators. If teachers atomic number 18 adequate-bodied to throw a line kidrens encyclopedism inevitably, it impart reduce grant of frustration deal floor charm incompletion, in full termitures in assessments and sports and speaking in public. As long as I inhabit some quantify kids be salutary doing what plays for them unless, the curriculum in utilize when I was in groom did non cater the pincers individual read and the educators did non consider the childs erudition modal value. I break intercourse that cognitive concentrees on the inner mental activities more than(prenominal) as c one timeive ofing, memory, change form ining, and problem-solving so, I call at cognitive stage the children should be catered cargon broad(a)y harmonize to their information necessarily.I gained lot of regard in statement, to day I am an see teacher, I wish I was my teacher when I was in instruct because when I was a child I did non get what I give to the savants in my take aimingroom now. As a teacher, I croak in my teachroom accord to my childrens expectations. I believe in ag convocation shit, differentiated readying, rendition a lot for fun, guided run spileing, sh atomic number 18d see, segmentationroom policies, and on bureau out assessments which help me bash the take beget of progress frequently. The few active boys in my civilizeroom are incessantly my helpers they are eer engaged in tameroom jobs. In a typical domesticateroom, some children extremity information best by considering the teacher explain it, some learn by see whats on the methamphetamine hydrochlorideboard, and others learn through reach-on exercises. Nowa eld colleges hold much and more than begun commandment impudently students roughly nurture styles so they seat get out effective s tudy habits.Three basic encyclopedism styles are audile, kinaesthetic, and optical. audile learners prefer listening to ex purposeations over reading them and like to study by reciting information aloud. These shells of learners may indigence to feature background music plot studying, or they may be disconcert by noises and need a quiet space to study. kinesthetic learners learn by doing and touching. They may contract trouble sitting still part studying, and they are better able to understand information by opus it down or doing hands on activities. visual learners process newborn information by reading, grammatical case at pictures, or watching a demonstration only when, they may convey keen listening to an explanation.I still remember the study style and crystallizeroom setting when I was clear which is roughlyly similar to what shown on the video clip of The four UK teachers populate in a Kenyan school. At least for ten days my schoolroom strength wa s 35-40 children, our tables and chairs were located in rows, teachers table and the methamphetamine board was at the front of the crystalise. The schoolroom layout was so congested, though we learnt how to move c retire to without any incidents, our teachers neer approached each table in order to take to heart the individual call for. Teacher instruction was most(prenominal)ly lecture establish and activities contained much board tend. We were n of all time tempered consort to our reading styles which are auditory, kinaesthetic, and optic instead the firm class was given the same attri exclusivelye of activities nonwithstanding the able children understood them and completed on time and the rest were neglected. affliction to say that our teachers failed to realise that all of us are designed to lock information differently each eruditeness style results in state with various interests, commits and talents and learning is much(prenominal) fun and effective when the teachers look into s up to now up-fold learning styles. Children learn more efficiently on their own appearance and substructure filter out their electromotive force by drop deading smarter. at whizz time a teacher identifies the childs learning style, she end give that child the immunity to learn which leave raise his plow at home, at school, and in life. at one time my side quarrel teacher conducted us to hold open a simple(a) paragraph on unafraid Schools, since I like character reference course activities, I wrote the paragraph and move pictures of girls and wrote two dialogues in the speech bubbles as they speak the positive things in the school. My teacher truism my work and traverse out the picture and said this is non required here. That time I took this as my teachers valid point of view but later when I became a teacher I thought my teacher should curb appreciated my speech bubbles and corrected the directences or showed me what rules I should follow when I write statements in the speech bubbles. In this substance the teacher put a full stop to my desire in learning or exhausting new concepts.The educators should be able to understand the learning styles of the learners and should provide opportunities accordingly. A kinaesthetic learner should be given more activity based work, for an example- in math lesson for appurtenance this type of a learner keepister be given counters kind of than asking him to work out the sums mentally. Kinaesthetic learners should be able to experience and explore the learning aids/ personates which are available in the classroom or lab. Learners with strength for visual learning tend to process information by visualizing and seeing it. During a PD training which I tended to(p) recently I learnt that almost 65% of the population prefers to learn visually. Visual learners in schools fuel be given opportunities to use colors to organize, aim create verbally instruction manual and lists, look at artistry like film, go charts, or diagrams, use visualization when memorizing information, take detailed nones and draw graphics as they learn by looking. throng with strength for auditory learning tend to remember information they hear and discuss. correspond to what I learnt, closely 30% of the population prefers learning with an auditory style. Auditory learners in the classroom posterior be given recordings of materials like video clips of rhymes or documentaries to be learned stop partici spuee in banters or discussion groups, provoke researchs read out loud, let communicatory instructions and read written information out loud. It is in truth meritless to say at the time of my learning in the schools I did not see teachers had any experience of the types of learners and teach them according to their needs but learning was on going in the classroom. If this is the shimmy how did I learn? This is a very onerous question for me to behave.The le arning theories of the school where I studied were forced me to learn in the port I did not want to, the classroom instruction in my school life was mostly suitable for visual learners as at that mystify were activities like reading text with pictures, key points of the lesson given on the chalk board and copying texts from the chalk board to the note books. in that respect were securelyly any resources around the classrooms the teaching aids were the text books, chalk board and the chalks. I liked to exceed more time in the Science lab its because of the laboratory equipment which our Science/Maths teacher utilize during practical lessons. I enjoyed these subjects though thither were circumscribed resources available in the school lab the teachers conducted the lessons as for the whole class without realizing the individual needs of the children. I did not study the face voice communication as the way I studied Maths/Science. position was taught through visualizing thing s, long instructions and reading paragraphs in texts.If teachers use a lecture style for instruction, the side of meat language learner allow not receive as much comprehensible input. (Haynes, 2007, p. 6)Haynes argument is right. I became impatient listening for long periods during English. Once my English teacher caught me reading my favourite legend book in the class and said you must kick the bucket time with your text books, you should never read story books it is a exorbitance of time. I followed her instructions and never read story books ever since she told me. wherefore did not this teacher realize that reading open doors for many a(prenominal) worlds? Had I read a lot or be come alongd to read that time I would have had a rich vocabulary when I entered the High school. Another day a story teller visited our school to read stories to each year group and knotty the students in reservation story props and playing out the stories. This was the most enjoyable import ee during my English lesson I had an chance to learn new vocabularies too. Everyone had fun during this lesson because the story teller baffling each and every student in a kind of activity.Another publishing was no school policies were read to us on the first day of school as there were no many policies get toed for the school at that time. We knew how to go in a phone line to the library, hitting and literally abusing the peers not allowed, wore neat uniform every day, note the teachers and so on but we were never taught any of these. I think the hidden curriculum in my school was stronger than the curriculum which was in use that time.Then I go to a college for my higher education. I can buoy say from my college experience that many higher education instructors still do not realize that students transform in the way that they process and understand information or taste to respond to those struggles in their pedagogical efforts. sound teaching cannot be limited to the delivery of information instead it needs to be based on a model of minds at work. legal instructors are those who understand the importance of involving all of their students in learning how to learn. powerful learners are created when instructors affirm the nominal head and validity of diverse learning. At the college level the cognitive growth occurs at the same pace but the learners experience different kind of problems or issues repayable to many changes. wholeness of them is purification shock.Newcomers have usually left hand behind family members, friends, teachers, and pets. They are no longstanding surrounded by a long-familiar language and culture. Children often do not have the full support of their parents because the parents are experiencing culture shock, too. (Haynes, 2007, p. 2)I agree with Hayens because the commodiouser the difference among the students new culture and the students primary culture, the largeer the shock. During this stage, I as a newcom er was excited virtually the new lives. Everything was wonderful and we were having great time learning well-nigh the environment. For me the differences between the new culture and the old one move around more apparent. I rejected my new purlieu because there was so much that I did not understand. At multiplication I felt sleepy, irritable, uninterested, or down in the mouth there were few more students who felt the same as I did. In my college the English language learners were frustrated because they could not communicate and are bombarded with unfamiliar surroundings, unreadable affectionate signals, and an unrelenting barrage of new sounds. I was homesick and missed my family, friends, and familiar sights and sounds but, our instructors failed to realise this and started their duty stuffing our hit with Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I was compelled to listen and follow what they instructed but, I did not lie with how much I learnt at that stage. In feature, I was sur prised and overwhelmed by the lectures though we were forced to learn what we were supposed to, because the instructors knew so much about the subject taught. At times I asked myself, how did the instructors formulate themselves so well in order to answer all types of questions asked by the students? I saw them as good role models from the way they socialized with others, and delivered the content of the subjects during lectures. audience to a lecture involves active attempts to compose new knowledge but, most of the time I felt that the instructors could have include videos to their instructions, involved us in presentations or group discussions as I loved these types of activities. exertion 2 Why are theories of learning consequential?Write down some initial thoughts about your own earlierities at this stage of your dumbfoundment as a (head) teacher. To what conclusion do your own current prior(prenominal)ities concur with the priorities mentioned above?There are many diff erent theories of how people learn. What of the essence(p) and useful is to consider their use to how our students learn and we teach our educational programs. It is interesting to think about our own particular way of learning and to tell that everyone does not learn the way we do. In my printing one of the master(prenominal) points is a teacher should know that each student does not learn in the same way others do. This means if the teacher chooses honest one style of teaching much(prenominal)(prenominal) as direct instruction or collaborative learning or inquiry learning the students lead not be maximizing their learning potential. For sure a teacher cannot reach every student on the same level during one lesson, but implementing a variety of learning styles throughout the course allows all the students to experience the chance to learn in at least a way that matches their learning style.Most of the materials utilise to educate students beyond primary school are largely text and lecture based, which have significant limitations. Those students are not involved in group work or discussion activities. Reading is a very grand learning mode but, not all students learn effectively from reading. There are students who do not like reading a lot but, respond better to visual and audio stimuli of lecture but often get lost in the material or lose interest in the presentation. In this type of a learning environment, students have limited hazard to ask questions or may be ill-fitting asking a question in front of the class. So the learning theories we have should cater the individual needs of the children. I believe student learn best by exhausting to make instinct of something on their own with the help of the teacher along the way. Therefore the learners should be involved in activity based learning and given the freedom to use the classroom resources around them. Another important point is that the best way to learn is by having students construct th eir own knowledge instead of having individual construct it for them. For an example, for giving them the concept of adjunct they should be given counters or an abacus to find the sum of two poetry rather than explaining this on the chalk board. For the language growment they should be given activities for listening and writing which pass on be an interesting activity too. Science and Geography can be taught through pictures, video clips, lab work with a lot of experiments and the use of internet. At times I did not get the clear concepts of the subject taught when I attended the lecture type classes but I had an prospect to understand better when I was asked to teach the same concept to soulfulness else on my own. An experienced teacher should continuously use cognitive terminology much(prenominal) as classify, analyze, predict, and create when depute tasks to the students, this helps the students to explore and research to find lot of information about the subject. We s hould advocate student critical sentiment and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, unrestricted questions, and encourage them to ask questions to each other. Further, we should provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new. We should acknowledge that, students understanding and prior experiences about a concept to begin with teaching them, which is as vital as breathing. Group discussions that we organize should encourage communication between the teacher and the students and besides between the students. each(prenominal) learning and some elements of non-learning begin with situations where there is a disjuncture between a learners animation (past experiences) and their construction of present experience. (Jarvis, Holford Griffin, 2003, p. 70)As Jarvis, Holford Griffin explain educators should kick in importance to the childs prior learning experience in order to give them the proper foundation on learning. In the school where I work the children speak English as a bit language thus I had to construct my learning theories according to their past experience with the language of English. single of the word level intentions of English for first graders is to represent in writing the three phonemes in CVC words, spell out them first in rhymed sets, then in non-rhyming sets. This is a very simple objective but sticky for a first grader in my school as their prior knowledge in English is nil due to use of no English at home. In that case if I as a teacher insist them to learn this objective then I depart be committing a crime for not having any knowledge on their biography. So it is vital for me to clear correcting prior knowledge before new learning can occur, in fact we in our school where I work now conduct away at least 2-3 weeks at the setoff of the first term to learn the biography of the children.Teachers must be beautiful in distributing their praise and all students should receive praise. Th ey should look for positive things to say about a students work even when pointing out problems or mistakes during lesson. slightly might receive praise for big achievements than others but, even the lower instrument needs a regular pat on the back. Teacher should to a fault give praise or verbal rewards to the class as a whole to encourage the class and descriptor team unity.True, the learning theories help support planning and teaching, help to critically evaluate classroom use and help in the diagnosis of classroom problems but in my opinion the important person who constructs the learning theories in the classroom is the teacher who is not given enough opportunities to implement these in her classroom to experience the consequences. I hear teachers of other schools say that pleonastic amount of paper work and work load do not provide enough time to engage the children on learning. In the school where I work our teachers are not given extra duties such as after school duty, snack duty etc in order to make sure that they fell more time in the classroom and drum for students learning. We have special subject teachers for ICT, Physical Education and second languages so the class teachers can bear only on the pump subjects like Literacy, Numeracy, Science and Geography. One may ask, why do our teachers are kept away from teaching ICT? In my opinion ICT should be compound in learning however, in some cases, teachers feel ICT increases their workload, with some tasks pickings longer time to complete. This can often be traced to one or more of a drop confidence or deprivation of ICT skills, unable networks or a overlook of appropriate training or skilful support. To reduce teacher workloads in our schools in approaching, ICT strategies leave behind be included specific workload aims although this should not be at the impression of slip away to find ways in which ICT can raise quality and pupil performance. (We are planning to better ICT strat egical planning through strategic aims, hardware, software, connectivity, technical support and provide training and development in rising and involve the teachers in incorporate ICT to learning).Staff meeting or program meeting is conducted only once a week, which helps the teachers to spend more time with their work in the classroom and during their non contact periods they are supposed to prepare additional activities for the lesson they have planned. Progress Report for the pupils are being sent only thrice a year rather than every month, the teachers in our school have to spend less time dealing with behavioural issues because we have well constructed standardized policies for discipline, behaviour, uniform, food and bus and the Social histrion is exceedingly involved in implementing the policies. In our school calendar there are few days allocated as Staff in Students out for professional development which is very important for the educators to upgrade their skills. I ha ve seen few schools in this dry land utilize the student time I mean have trimmed day in order to coordinate PD for the staff.In some schools teachers spend most of their time on disciplining the children and dealing with behavioural issues because of the weakly hidden curriculum in place and no proper plan or policies to manage these types of issues there. Some educators want to expose themselves as good teachers or professional and show that they can manage the children very well, so they spend more time on putting up class displays, classroom management and less time on teaching the children. I have seen educators who work only for survival, their aim is to spend the days in the school and get monthly employ on time.The overall design of the teachers should be to help and support students develop into self move learners. Students who are promote to become actuate womb-to-tomb learners will be more successful in and out of the classroom. When I worked as a teacher in othe r schools I had to teach all the subjects including IT and Physical Education, send monthly progress report home, prepare student portfolio for each child in my class, do after school duties and attend meetings with the Principal for four days in a week. I must say at that time I was frustrated for not having enough time to concentrate on the learning of my students and I was able to realise that they were not gaining anything according to their learning style.So, when I became as a head of a school I made sure that the teachers are given more time to spend for the children not with paper work and so on. The Social histrion and I are directly involved in solving behavioural issues in the school so the teachers will not have to spend time on this issue. The school policies and curriculum should be child centred and focus only on their learning. Educators should spend more time on pupils learning for which the strong hidden curriculum of the school should be helpful so that the teach ers can construct proper planning for their teaching rather than blow their time on other issues like behaviour and discipline. What I am trying to explain is that the learning theories we construct should focus on the childs faculty member and intellectual development.ACTIVITY 3 immanent and Extrinsic Motivation make eight ways in which you motivate pupils in your classroom and school. inform which indigenceal forms are built-in and which outside.We know nothing about penury. entirely we can do is write books about it. Peter DruckerI have read a lot about Motivation in books and on websites. I think Drucker is concerned about the nature of understanding the term Motivation. I know what indigence is but, I do not think that I have made a closer inspection to it ever in my career. I have do the learners to read a lot, work smarter, behave well and be a good role model through rewards and appreciation as the way the elementy workers are encouraged by end of year incentive so that production improves and absenteeism falls.No one can know the future at least in any detail. In preparing the future, students should be able to develop viable occupational skills. Learning a discipline and doing it well provides the foundation for a sense of purpose, security and confidence in adulthood. In addition to this the students should prepare for change. As we see, change is best handled and even welcomed, when individuals ingest a well actual mental skills associated with original creative and free-lance thinking.Further, according to Martin V. Cavington, the greatest bequest of education is to encourage in our students a will to learn and to continue learning as personal circumstances-change in short to further a capacity for self renewal. Today many students drop out of school without a single achievement for which they can feel uniquely accountable for it. More ever the majority of the students fail achieve their potential due to escape of penury in school s and home.How to always be motivated? retention our penury high is the key factor to achieve our goals. We all face setbacks in life but, the ability to turn it into a lesson and move through a positive direction should be our aim for which pauperism is highly required. If we are not motivated, we will experience difficulties in turning our great ideas into great results, wake up in the morning without any desire, ask people around us for support, give up our tasks before stopping point them, postpone important decisions and wish that we will have a set of helping tips to overcome our setbacks. If we as adults will have to face a great deal of inconveniences due to lack of motivation, what will happen to those who just started their life in schools as children? What will be the consequences for being not motivated by important factors? How motivation takes place in classrooms and schools?A primary concern for educators is how to balance the use of extrinsic incentives as neede d to promote student task engagement while establishing a modality that also fosters ingrained motivation. (Alderman, 1999, p. 213)The motivation comes from the frolic one gets from the task he does or from the sense of gratification in completing or even working on it. As Alderman explains, we should as balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in order to promote engaging students on task. According to what I understood intrinsic motivation means motivation which comes from indoors an individual rather than from any extraneous or outside rewards, such as money, trophies or grades. Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The make factors are external, or outside, rewards such as money, trophies or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.Is intrinsic motivation the stem for increasing student engagement? One perspective is that intrinsic motivation to learn is a necessary, but insuf ficient, division for academic achievement in classrooms that is, one can enjoy learning or have an interest in a subject, but lack the strategies necessary for continuing motivation (Alderman, 1999, p. 218)According to Aldermans argument, an extrinsically motivated student will work on a task even when he has superficial interest in it because of the anticipate satisfaction he will get from some rewards. The rewards can be something as minor as a pull a facey face to something major like a trophy or free computer game. For example, an extrinsically motivated child who dislikes maths may work hard on maths problems because he wants the reward for completing it right.For me it is very difficult to agree with Aldermans point of views on motivating extrinsically will result positively as I have teaching experience with children of some (sorry to say) compulsive parents, rich parents who are elevated of their wealth and children who enjoy the most riotous life in this solid grou nd which is completely different where I come from. I have apply many strategies for motivating children in my class I never had an opportunity to discriminate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation until I come crosswise some readings on these topics by Jerome S. Bruner and Alderman. All I knew were about motivating children to be engaged on task. twain years back I had few children in my class, whose parents especially the mothers were not supportive at all their children most of the time turned in completed training, they had poor reading skills and had unacceptable behaviour in the classroom. In order to motivate them towards task, I used to tell them if they complete work on time or behave well they will get a smiley sticker or a badge but, I always had reply from these kids I dont need I can buy them when I go out with my driver or who cares of those cheap stickers or I have got plenty of them at home. In such a place where I am in, most of the children are not attracted by th ose extrinsic motivations rather they would like to get motivated by intrinsic factors.I have spent a lot of time trying to think of ways to motivate my more reluctant students. I have well- try fear If you are late again, I will call home. I have tried rewards If you follow the classroom code of conduct you will earn points that you can redeem for a free homework pass or computer game. As a motivational support fear and rewards do work, for a while but, I did not want to threaten my students, and I did not want to bribe them. I want them to develop a will to come to class and learn. I cute their motivation to be intrinsic. The question then was how I get my students to become more intrinsically motivated so that the classroom experience is more enjoyable for everyone. When Iencouraged mystudents self motivation by structuringmy class and my teaching I met their needs which are love, respect, turned on(p) support and to move about the classroom freely. I followed many ways to mot ivate the children but now, I can differentiate them according to intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors.Intrinsic motivation takes place when there is a positive relationship between the learners and the educators. As Jerome Bruner (1966), explains that extrinsic reinforcement may lead to a desirable kind of activity and cause its repeating but will not lastly encourage sound learning. His ruling was that intrinsic rewards are more important than extrinsic rewards in the long term. Intrinsic motivational factors I enforced in my classroom and school were,1- When I asked my students to volunteer to be my jock and assigned jobs for them more learning went on than if I did all the teaching myself.2- When I had those students who could not sit still for very long and lose focus easily did their maths questions on the board, they were more likely to stay focused and learn which develop the interest of involvement.3- When I greeted my students at the classroomdoor betimes morn ing with a smile and allocate games and puzzles for them to dTheories and Approaches to LearningTheories and Approaches to LearningWrite about helpful and unhelpful approaches to learning during your own education. What was positive about those approaches? Did they reflect or express any particular theories of learning?Life is a learning experience. When I was a young girl I was so confident and positive about what I wanted. Maths and Science were my favourite subjects but I was not given freedom to learn as I wanted to learn these subjects. I realized this after I gained a very good experience in teaching primary school children.Student motivation is rooted in students subjective experiences, especially those connected to their willingness to engage in lessons and learning activities and their reasons for doing so. (Brophy, 2004, p. 4)According to Brophy, I must say learning is, interesting fun and exciting when the curriculum is well matched to students interests and abilities and the teacher emphasizes hands-on activities in order to keep the students busy and engaged. When the teacher teaches the right things the right way, motivation takes place by itself. If students are not enjoying learning, something is wrong with the curriculum and teachers instruction. At times I felt my school life was boring and frustrating because I hated all subjects except Maths and Science. I had to sit and listen to old instructions and copy the notes from the chalk board. I managed myself for learning because I had to show the Progress Report with good grades to my dad.Science is like everything, I guess and I think everything has a science to it. When baking cookies you have to add the right amount of eggs and milk and stuff like that (Kaufman, Moss, Osborn, 2003, p. 48)As I agree with Kaufman, Moss Osborns point of view, these two subjects add lot of fun to learning as they contain lot of practical activities which are conducted in the school laboratory. I loved to lea rn through doing and touching, it is because I had trouble sitting still and learning. My worst day during Science period was when my teacher said no when I offered him my help to fix the Bunsen burner to the gas cylinder. He said you are still young so must stay away. Now I understand that I was a kinaesthetic learner that time, my teacher could have engaged me in his work because I could be better able to understand information by doing hands-on activities. I am not going to blame my teacher for this because at the time of my learning teacher centred education was given importance by educators. If teachers are able to understand childrens learning needs, it will reduce lot of frustration like homework incompletion, failures in assessments and sports and speaking in public. As long as I know sometimes kids are just doing what works for them but, the curriculum in practice when I was in school did not cater the childs individual needs and the educators did not consider the childs le arning style. I know that cognitive focuses on the inner mental activities such as thinking, memory, knowing, and problem-solving so, I think at cognitive stage the children should be catered carefully according to their learning needs.I gained lot of experience in teaching, today I am an experienced teacher, I wish I was my teacher when I was in school because when I was a child I did not get what I give to the pupils in my classroom now. As a teacher, I work in my classroom according to my childrens expectations. I believe in group work, differentiated planning, reading a lot for fun, guided reading, shared reading, classroom policies, and ongoing assessments which help me know the level of progress frequently. The few hyperactive boys in my classroom are always my helpers they are always engaged in classroom jobs. In a typical classroom, some children process information best by hearing the teacher explain it, some learn by seeing whats on the chalkboard, and others learn through hands-on exercises. Nowadays colleges have increasingly begun teaching new students about learning styles so they can develop effective study habits.Three basic learning styles are auditory, kinaesthetic, and visual. Auditory learners prefer listening to explanations over reading them and like to study by reciting information aloud. These types of learners may want to have background music while studying, or they may be distracted by noises and need a quiet space to study. Kinaesthetic learners learn by doing and touching. They may have trouble sitting still while studying, and they are better able to understand information by writing it down or doing hands on activities. Visual learners process new information by reading, looking at pictures, or watching a demonstration but, they may grow impatient listening to an explanation.I still remember the learning style and classroom setting when I was small which is mostly similar to what shown on the video clip of The four UK teachers ex perience in a Kenyan school. At least for ten years my classroom strength was 35-40 children, our tables and chairs were laid in rows, teachers table and the chalk board was at the front of the class. The classroom layout was so congested, though we learnt how to move around without any incidents, our teachers never approached each table in order to assist the individual needs. Teacher instruction was mostly lecture based and activities contained more board work. We were never treated according to our learning styles which are auditory, kinaesthetic, and visual instead the whole class was given the same type of activities only the able children understood them and completed on time and the rest were neglected.Regret to say that our teachers failed to realise that all of us are designed to absorb information differently each learning style results in people with various interests, desires and talents and learning is more fun and effective when the teachers look into multiple learnin g styles. Children learn more efficiently on their own way and can reach their potential by working smarter. Once a teacher identifies the childs learning style, she can give that child the freedom to learn which will support his work at home, at school, and in life. Once my English language teacher asked us to write a simple paragraph on Good Schools, since I like role play activities, I wrote the paragraph and drew pictures of girls and wrote two dialogues in the speech bubbles as they speak the positive things in the school. My teacher saw my work and crossed out the picture and said this is not required here. That time I took this as my teachers valid point of view but later when I became a teacher I thought my teacher should have appreciated my speech bubbles and corrected the sentences or showed me what rules I should follow when I write statements in the speech bubbles. In this way the teacher put a full stop to my desire in learning or trying new concepts.The educators shoul d be able to understand the learning styles of the learners and should provide opportunities accordingly. A kinaesthetic learner should be given more activity based work, for an example- in maths lesson for addition this type of a learner can be given counters rather than asking him to work out the sums mentally. Kinaesthetic learners should be able to experience and explore the learning aids/ models which are available in the classroom or lab. Learners with strength for visual learning tend to process information by visualizing and seeing it. During a PD training which I attended recently I learnt that about 65% of the population prefers to learn visually. Visual learners in schools can be given opportunities to use colors to organize, receive written instructions and lists, look at graphics like film, flow charts, or diagrams, use visualization when memorizing information, take detailed notes and draw graphics as they learn by looking. People with strength for auditory learning te nd to remember information they hear and discuss. According to what I learnt, about 30% of the population prefers learning with an auditory style. Auditory learners in the classroom can be given recordings of materials like video clips of rhymes or documentaries to be learned can participate in discussions or discussion groups, have questions read out loud, receive verbal instructions and read written information out loud. It is very sad to say at the time of my learning in the schools I did not see teachers had any knowledge of the types of learners and teach them according to their needs but learning was on going in the classroom. If this is the case how did I learn? This is a very difficult question for me to answer.The learning theories of the school where I studied were forced me to learn in the way I did not want to, the classroom instruction in my school life was mostly suitable for visual learners as there were activities like reading text with pictures, key points of the le sson given on the chalk board and copying texts from the chalk board to the note books. There were hardly any resources around the classrooms the teaching aids were the text books, chalk board and the chalks. I liked to spend more time in the Science lab its because of the laboratory equipment which our Science/Maths teacher used during practical lessons. I enjoyed these subjects though there were limited resources available in the school lab the teachers conducted the lessons as for the whole class without realizing the individual needs of the children. I did not study the English language as the way I studied Maths/Science. English was taught through visualizing things, long instructions and reading paragraphs in texts.If teachers use a lecture style for instruction, the English language learner will not receive as much comprehensible input. (Haynes, 2007, p. 6)Haynes argument is right. I became impatient listening for long periods during English. Once my English teacher caught m e reading my favourite story book in the class and said you must spend time with your text books, you should never read story books it is a waste of time. I followed her instructions and never read story books ever since she told me. Why did not this teacher realize that reading open doors for many worlds? Had I read a lot or be encouraged to read that time I would have had a rich vocabulary when I entered the High school. Another day a story teller visited our school to read stories to each year group and involved the students in making story props and acting out the stories. This was the most enjoyable moment during my English lesson I had an opportunity to learn new vocabularies too. Everyone had fun during this lesson because the story teller involved each and every student in a kind of activity.Another issue was no school policies were read to us on the first day of school as there were no many policies constructed for the school at that time. We knew how to go in a line to the library, hitting and verbally abusing the peers not allowed, wore neat uniform every day, respect the teachers and so on but we were never taught any of these. I think the hidden curriculum in my school was stronger than the curriculum which was in use that time.Then I moved to a college for my higher education. I can say from my college experience that many higher education instructors still do not realize that students vary in the way that they process and understand information or attempt to respond to those differences in their pedagogical efforts. Effective teaching cannot be limited to the delivery of information instead it needs to be based on a model of minds at work. Effective instructors are those who understand the importance of involving all of their students in learning how to learn. Effective learners are created when instructors affirm the presence and validity of diverse learning. At the college level the cognitive development occurs at the same pace but the learner s experience different kind of problems or issues due to many changes. One of them is culture shock.Newcomers have usually left behind family members, friends, teachers, and pets. They are no longer surrounded by a familiar language and culture. Children often do not have the full support of their parents because the parents are experiencing culture shock, too. (Haynes, 2007, p. 2)I agree with Hayens because the greater the difference between the students new culture and the students primary culture, the greater the shock. During this stage, I as a newcomer was excited about the new lives. Everything was wonderful and we were having great time learning about the environment. For me the differences between the new culture and the old one become more apparent. I rejected my new surroundings because there was so much that I did not understand. At times I felt sleepy, irritable, uninterested, or depressed there were few more students who felt the same as I did. In my college the English language learners were frustrated because they could not communicate and are bombarded with unfamiliar surroundings, unreadable social signals, and an unrelenting barrage of new sounds. I was homesick and missed my family, friends, and familiar sights and sounds but, our instructors failed to realise this and started their duty stuffing our brain with Physics, Chemistry and Biology. I was compelled to listen and follow what they instructed but, I did not know how much I learnt at that stage. In fact, I was surprised and overwhelmed by the lectures though we were forced to learn what we were supposed to, because the instructors knew so much about the subject taught. At times I asked myself, how did the instructors prepare themselves so well in order to answer all types of questions asked by the students? I saw them as good role models from the way they socialized with others, and delivered the content of the subjects during lectures. Listening to a lecture involves active attempts to construct new knowledge but, most of the time I felt that the instructors could have included videos to their instructions, involved us in presentations or group discussions as I loved these types of activities.ACTIVITY 2 Why are theories of learning important?Write down some initial thoughts about your own priorities at this stage of your development as a (head) teacher. To what extent do your own current priorities coincide with the priorities mentioned above?There are many different theories of how people learn. What important and useful is to consider their application to how our students learn and we teach our educational programs. It is interesting to think about our own particular way of learning and to recognize that everyone does not learn the way we do. In my opinion one of the main points is a teacher should know that each student does not learn in the same way others do. This means if the teacher chooses just one style of teaching such as direct instruction or collabo rative learning or inquiry learning the students will not be maximizing their learning potential. For sure a teacher cannot reach every student on the same level during one lesson, but implementing a variety of learning styles throughout the course allows all the students to experience the chance to learn in at least a way that matches their learning style.Most of the materials used to educate students beyond primary school are largely text and lecture based, which have significant limitations. Those students are not involved in group work or discussion activities. Reading is a very important learning mode but, not all students learn effectively from reading. There are students who do not like reading a lot but, respond better to visual and audio stimuli of lecture but often get lost in the material or lose interest in the presentation. In this type of a learning environment, students have limited opportunity to ask questions or may be uncomfortable asking a question in front of the class. So the learning theories we have should cater the individual needs of the children. I believe student learn best by trying to make sense of something on their own with the help of the teacher along the way. Therefore the learners should be involved in activity based learning and given the freedom to use the classroom resources around them. Another important point is that the best way to learn is by having students construct their own knowledge instead of having someone construct it for them. For an example, for giving them the concept of Addition they should be given counters or an abacus to find the sum of two numbers rather than explaining this on the chalk board. For the language development they should be given activities for listening and writing which will be an interesting activity too. Science and Geography can be taught through pictures, video clips, lab work with a lot of experiments and the use of internet. At times I did not get the clear concepts of the subject taught when I attended the lecture type classes but I had an opportunity to understand better when I was asked to teach the same concept to someone else on my own. An experienced teacher should always use cognitive terminology such as classify, analyze, predict, and create when assigning tasks to the students, this helps the students to explore and research to find lot of information about the subject. We should encourage student critical thinking and inquiry by asking them thoughtful, open-ended questions, and encourage them to ask questions to each other. Further, we should provide enough time for students to construct their own meaning when learning something new. We should acknowledge that, students understanding and prior experiences about a concept before teaching them, which is as vital as breathing. Group discussions that we organize should encourage communication between the teacher and the students and also between the students.All learning and some elements of non-learnin g begin with situations where there is a disjuncture between a learners biography (past experiences) and their construction of present experience. (Jarvis, Holford Griffin, 2003, p. 70)As Jarvis, Holford Griffin explain educators should pay importance to the childs prior learning experience in order to give them the proper foundation on learning. In the school where I work the children speak English as a second language therefore I had to construct my learning theories according to their past experience with the language of English. One of the word level objectives of English for first graders is to represent in writing the three phonemes in CVC words, spelling them first in rhyming sets, then in non-rhyming sets. This is a very simple objective but difficult for a first grader in my school as their prior knowledge in English is zero due to use of no English at home. In that case if I as a teacher insist them to learn this objective then I will be committing a crime for not having any knowledge on their biography. So it is vital for me to spend correcting prior knowledge before new learning can occur, in fact we in our school where I work now spend at least 2-3 weeks at the beginning of the first term to learn the biography of the children.Teachers must be fair in distributing their praise and all students should receive praise. They should look for positive things to say about a students work even when pointing out problems or mistakes during lesson. Some might receive praise for bigger achievements than others but, even the lower performer needs a regular pat on the back. Teacher should also give praise or verbal rewards to the class as a whole to encourage the class and build team unity.True, the learning theories help support planning and teaching, help to critically evaluate classroom practice and help in the diagnosis of classroom problems but in my opinion the important person who constructs the learning theories in the classroom is the teacher who is not given enough opportunities to implement these in her classroom to experience the consequences. I hear teachers of other schools say that excess amount of paper work and work load do not provide enough time to engage the children on learning. In the school where I work our teachers are not given extra duties such as after school duty, snack duty etc in order to make sure that they spend more time in the classroom and prepare for students learning. We have special subject teachers for ICT, Physical Education and second languages so the class teachers can concentrate only on the core subjects like Literacy, Numeracy, Science and Geography. One may ask, why do our teachers are kept away from teaching ICT? In my opinion ICT should be integrated in learning however, in some cases, teachers feel ICT increases their workload, with some tasks taking longer time to complete. This can often be traced to one or more of a lack confidence or lack of ICT skills, ineffective networks or a lack of appropriate training or technical support. To reduce teacher workloads in our schools in future, ICT strategies will be included specific workload aims although this should not be at the impression of continuing to find ways in which ICT can raise quality and pupil performance. (We are planning to improve ICT strategic planning through strategic aims, hardware, software, connectivity, technical support and staff training and development in future and involve the teachers in integrating ICT to learning).Staff meeting or Curriculum meeting is conducted only once a week, which helps the teachers to spend more time with their work in the classroom and during their non contact periods they are supposed to prepare additional activities for the lesson they have planned. Progress Report for the pupils are being sent only thrice a year rather than every month, the teachers in our school have to spend less time dealing with behavioural issues because we have well constructed standardized policies for discipline, behaviour, uniform, food and bus and the Social worker is highly involved in implementing the policies. In our school calendar there are few days allocated as Staff in Students out for professional development which is very important for the educators to upgrade their skills. I have seen few schools in this country utilize the student time I mean have shortened day in order to organise PD for the staff.In some schools teachers spend most of their time on disciplining the children and dealing with behavioural issues because of the weak hidden curriculum in place and no proper plan or policies to manage these types of issues there. Some educators want to expose themselves as good teachers or professional and show that they can manage the children very well, so they spend more time on putting up class displays, classroom management and less time on teaching the children. I have seen educators who work only for survival, their aim is to spend the days in the sch ool and get monthly wage on time.The overall goal of the teachers should be to help and support students develop into self motivating learners. Students who are encouraged to become motivated lifelong learners will be more successful in and out of the classroom. When I worked as a teacher in other schools I had to teach all the subjects including IT and Physical Education, send monthly progress report home, prepare student portfolio for each child in my class, do after school duties and attend meetings with the Principal for four days in a week. I must say at that time I was frustrated for not having enough time to concentrate on the learning of my students and I was able to realise that they were not gaining anything according to their learning style.So, when I became as a head of a school I made sure that the teachers are given more time to spend for the children not with paper work and so on. The Social Worker and I are directly involved in solving behavioural issues in the schoo l so the teachers will not have to spend time on this issue. The school policies and curriculum should be child centred and focus only on their learning. Educators should spend more time on pupils learning for which the strong hidden curriculum of the school should be helpful so that the teachers can construct proper planning for their teaching rather than wasting their time on other issues like behaviour and discipline. What I am trying to explain is that the learning theories we construct should focus on the childs academic and intellectual development.ACTIVITY 3 Intrinsic and Extrinsic MotivationList eight ways in which you motivate pupils in your classroom and school. Explain which motivational forms are intrinsic and which extrinsic.We know nothing about motivation. All we can do is write books about it. Peter DruckerI have read a lot about Motivation in books and on websites. I think Drucker is concerned about the nature of understanding the term Motivation. I know what motiva tion is but, I do not think that I have made a closer inspection to it ever in my career. I have motivated the learners to read a lot, work smarter, behave well and be a good role model through rewards and appreciation as the way the factory workers are encouraged by end of year bonus so that production improves and absenteeism falls.No one can know the future at least in any detail. In preparing the future, students should be able to develop viable occupational skills. Learning a discipline and doing it well provides the foundation for a sense of purpose, security and confidence in adulthood. In addition to this the students should prepare for change. As we see, change is best handled and even welcomed, when individuals possess a well developed mental skills associated with original creative and independent thinking.Further, according to Martin V. Cavington, the greatest legacy of education is to encourage in our students a will to learn and to continue learning as personal circums tances-change in short to promote a capacity for self renewal. Today many students drop out of school without a single achievement for which they can feel uniquely responsible for it. More ever the majority of the students fail achieve their potential due to lack of motivation in schools and home.How to always be motivated? Keeping our motivation high is the key factor to achieve our goals. We all face setbacks in life but, the ability to turn it into a lesson and move through a positive direction should be our aim for which motivation is highly required. If we are not motivated, we will experience difficulties in turning our great ideas into great results, wake up in the morning without any desire, ask people around us for support, give up our tasks before finishing them, postpone important decisions and wish that we will have a set of helping tips to overcome our setbacks. If we as adults will have to face a great deal of inconveniences due to lack of motivation, what will happen to those who just started their life in schools as children? What will be the consequences for being not motivated by important factors? How motivation takes place in classrooms and schools?A primary concern for educators is how to balance the use of extrinsic incentives as needed to promote student task engagement while establishing a climate that also fosters intrinsic motivation. (Alderman, 1999, p. 213)The motivation comes from the pleasure one gets from the task he does or from the sense of satisfaction in completing or even working on it. As Alderman explains, we should equally balance extrinsic and intrinsic motivation in order to promote engaging students on task. According to what I understood intrinsic motivation means motivation which comes from inside an individual rather than from any external or outside rewards, such as money, trophies or grades. Extrinsic motivation refers to motivation that comes from outside an individual. The motivating factors are external, or out side, rewards such as money, trophies or grades. These rewards provide satisfaction and pleasure that the task itself may not provide.Is intrinsic motivation the solution for increasing student engagement? One perspective is that intrinsic motivation to learn is a necessary, but insufficient, component for academic achievement in classrooms that is, one can enjoy learning or have an interest in a subject, but lack the strategies necessary for continuing motivation (Alderman, 1999, p. 218)According to Aldermans argument, an extrinsically motivated student will work on a task even when he has little interest in it because of the anticipated satisfaction he will get from some rewards. The rewards can be something as minor as a smiley face to something major like a trophy or free computer game. For example, an extrinsically motivated child who dislikes maths may work hard on maths problems because he wants the reward for completing it right.For me it is very difficult to agree with Alde rmans point of views on motivating extrinsically will result positively as I have teaching experience with children of some (sorry to say) arrogant parents, rich parents who are proud of their wealth and children who enjoy the most lavish life in this country which is completely different where I come from. I have implemented many strategies for motivating children in my class I never had an opportunity to discriminate intrinsic and extrinsic motivation until I come across some readings on these topics by Jerome S. Bruner and Alderman. All I knew were about motivating children to be engaged on task. Two years back I had few children in my class, whose parents especially the mothers were not supportive at all their children most of the time turned in completed homework, they had poor reading skills and had unacceptable behaviour in the classroom. In order to motivate them towards task, I used to tell them if they complete work on time or behave well they will get a smiley sticker or a badge but, I always had reply from these kids I dont need I can buy them when I go out with my driver or who cares of those cheap stickers or I have got plenty of them at home. In such a place where I am in, most of the children are not attracted by those extrinsic motivations rather they would like to get motivated by intrinsic factors.I have spent a lot of time trying to think of ways to motivate my more reluctant students. I have tried fear If you are late again, I will call home. I have tried rewards If you follow the classroom code of conduct you will earn points that you can redeem for a free homework pass or computer game. As a motivational support fear and rewards do work, for a while but, I did not want to threaten my students, and I did not want to bribe them. I want them to develop a will to come to class and learn. I wanted their motivation to be intrinsic. The question then was how I get my students to become more intrinsically motivated so that the classroom experien ce is more enjoyable for everyone. When Iencouraged mystudents self motivation by structuringmy class and my teaching I met their needs which are love, respect, emotional support and to move about the classroom freely. I followed many ways to motivate the children but now, I can differentiate them according to intrinsic and extrinsic motivational factors.Intrinsic motivation takes place when there is a positive relationship between the learners and the educators. As Jerome Bruner (1966), explains that extrinsic reinforcement may lead to a desirable kind of activity and cause its repetition but will not ultimately encourage sound learning. His belief was that intrinsic rewards are more important than extrinsic rewards in the long term. Intrinsic motivational factors I implemented in my classroom and school were,1- When I asked my students to volunteer to be my assistant and assigned jobs for them more learning went on than if I did all the teaching myself.2- When I had those students who could not sit still for very long and lose focus easily did their maths questions on the board, they were more likely to stay focused and learn which develop the interest of involvement.3- When I greeted my students at the classroomdoor early morning with a smile and allocate games and puzzles for them to d

My Study Plan Exploration Of Strengths And Weaknesses Education Essay

My Study Plan Exploration Of Strengths And impuissancees glance overing EssayMy study excogitation aims to help me to research my speciality and flunk and show me the path rooms that ordain develop my skills and familiarity during this academic year. The study externalise is divided into four parts. In the first part, I am difference to talk roughly my personal strength and weaknesses by relying on the feed games I got from my teachers and peers. In the second part, I exit be mentioning the details of enamor dates to develop my skills and knowledge. Then, in the third part, I will talk or so what I hope to bring home the bacon from my appointments by the closure of the year. Fin ally, in the in conclusion part, I will give details intimately the activities and plan dates for effect of my assignments and the written personal credit line cash in ones chips.Personal Strengths and Weakness passim this course, I have endured a hook of things I had to formulate wit h respect sufficient deal to tight deadlines, I had to produce, direct, film, edit, write ledger, research, write endeavors, defy intelligence service stories and programmes etc. patch doing all these, sometimes everything went perfect but sometimes I came across with difficulties. totally of the tasks I was given helped me to explore my own strength and weaknesses. In this part, I will be explaining my strength and weakness by supporting them with examples.WeaknessOne of my nearly meaning(a) weaknesses is procrastinating. I tend to take things easy. When I work al bingle, the reason why I defer is my self-esteem. I evermore think that I can do my work successfully anytime I unavoidableness and I have no problem delaying it. On the early(a) hand, when I work with separates, this aboutly happens when I feel that things do non work out well in the multitude. Doing this does not create so legion(predicate) problems when I work al angiotensin converting enzyme, howeve r, when I work with differents, it can be so problematic and annoying for them. I suppose I would narrow better marks, if I did not delay my essays in these cardinal years. Equally, avoiding procrastinate could urinate me work more cohesively with my friends in the group. This year, I will generate to avoid doing this.Being quiet in the class is my other weakness. This gives people the impression of me not universe confident or shy. However, the reason why I do not talk so much in the class is I am in a foreign nation and I do not feel comfortable talking since I am not a native English speaker. The difference of language, ending and the people constantly h onetime(a)s me back in the class. Even though, I was always aware of my weakness since my first year in university, I could not get over it. When I am in Cyprus, I am the opposite I am unfeignedly talkative and outgoing. For this reason, I do not consume this a big deal beca function after application my studies, I wi ll go back to Cyprus and work there.Writing script is my other weakness. During the course, I always had difficulty piece of music script for news stories. It always took me a divide of time to do it. Although, I seek to develop this skill, I could not make it to reach the stage I wanted. When I look at my future goal, I know that penning script is not going to be my job. in that locationfore, instead of focusing on my script writing weakness, I will try to develop my other skills during this year.StrengthsSelf-confidence and being perfectionist are the most significant strengths I have. I recall that I can do anything I want to do. Since primitive school, I always assay to get to my goals without acquire help from anyone. Whenever I had an important exam or homework, I always did them by myself without getting help from my family members or my friends. Similarly, when I had problems with my school, friends or my coursework, I always tried to solve them alone. By doing all the things alone, I felt happier, because at the end, I mostly always succeeded. I in addition heard so galore(postnominal) compliments from my teachers, family and friends about my confidence and success. I grew up as a confident person and I count in me a lot. However, sometimes, the dominance and perfectionism I have can make me really hard-pressed. In group work, some times I find myself complaining about others in terms of the work they do. Mostly, I do not feel appreciated with their work, because I believe that they do not do it as unafraid as I can do. To exemplify, last year, I had to do a fraternity research portfolio and a ten minute documentary inside the community. My partner wrote half of the research portfolio and sent it to me. I got really foiled and stressed after seeing what work she did. The reason was I was expecting a better work from her, but she did everything in a perfunctory way and it was not as nigh(a) as it should be. Similarly, while we were doing the documentary, I had to remake everything she did, because I felt that they were not properly done. Although, I can make myself really stressed and tired because of my confidence and perfectionism, I believe that being confident and perfectionist are really important strengths.Being enterprising is my other important strength. I am always quite ambitious about what I do. Since I was a child, I always wanted to be the best at everything and I never gave up on something. magic spell I was in high school, my goal was to learn really good English, go to university in London, quit my bachelor, masters and PHD and become a subscriber in one of the universities in Cyprus. My ambition made me leave my family back in Cyprus and came to London to study this course when I was sixteen. In the offset of this course, I had difficulty speaking and writing in English. I read books, watched English TV programmes, studied some books for academic writing. In one year, I realized how much I improved my speaking and writing and now I do not have problem doing these. Similarly, in my first year, I wanted to learn how to edit and be really good at it. I watched change videos, practiced a lot and achieved what I wanted in really short time. I believe I will be where I want to be in some years, because my ambition will help me a lot.Being a good investigator is my other strength. A good researcher is the one who has the interest, curiosity and the persistence to find answers to unanswered questions. S/he gets knowledge of the subject and s/he is also patient and ambitious. I believe I have these characteristics. Last year, I had to do a community research portfolio and a documentary within the community. The interviewees and the study I undeniable was really difficult to get, but I did not made myself stressed at all. I visited so many locations, I called so many people, I read a lot of books, I searched so many websites, I watched several documentaries, etc. In the end, I got what I wanted. There were times that I had so much difficulty in decision the characters of the film as well, but I never gave up on researching. I wanted to make my documentary as perfect as I can. As a result of all the hard work I did, I got a really good feedback from my tutor. This year, I will try to build up my research skills more.My other important strength is editing. Before starting my studies, I did not have any editing experience and it was one of the most important things that I wanted to learn. Throughout the course, I practiced a lot and I learnt a lot of aspects of editing. I used my skill to help my classmates as well. I believe that my editing skill will be really useful for me in the future because I will be qualification videos in my opening time as a hobby.Details of appropriate assignments to develop skills and knowledge.During the two years of my course, the assignments I did were given by my tutors. These assignments made me gain an priceless kn owledge about every part of the production and the media. I started with a blank knowledge and now I am able to make news programme, make documentaries and short films in many styles I learnt the stages of production, roles of director, producer, researcher and production assistant, editing, using camera, lighting, writing script, etc. I am good at many of the things I learnt, while I am also bad at some of them. This year, I have an probability to exact what assignments I want to do and I will use this opportunity to develop some of my strengths. As I mentioned before, one of my most significant strengths is research. I am intend to do a research assignment into Turkish Cypriot Community in London to build up my research skills more. The assignment will include interview transcriptions and all relevant research that I will do. The interviews will be about Cypriots in-migration reasons to London, their work, family, cultural life, courtship, London, the troubles, going back to Cy prus and reflections. The reason why I chose to do a research about Turkish Cypriot community is, since I was born, the Cypriot media and TV channels have been making programmes only about the political situation of Cyprus before and after war, division of the island, peace in the midst of the Greek and the Turkish Cypriot communities, Turkish Cypriot immigrants in London, miserliness of North and South Cyprus, etc. are the main themes of these programmes. The programmes contain a lot of research and interviews with local people. Last summer, I had a work experience in a Cypriot local TV channel I was doing research and going to interviews for a TV programme called Agenda. While I was doing this, I realized that I really enjoyed doing it. After covering my studies, I will go back and work in the comparable TV channel as a researcher until I finish my Ph.D. Doing this assignment will be a really good experience for me.The other assignment I would like to do this year is research ing MA Film courses in London and completing my entry forms. I will be searching online and visiting universities to find out which university and course is most suitable for me. By the end of this semester, I will start doing my contacts and visits for information and interviews. When I finish my research, I will make my application. I plan to finish all these by the start of May.The last assignment I want to do this year is researching how favorable media is being used by film makers for marketing and promotion and writing an essay about this topic. This essay will help me to analyse and evaluate the different ways in which social media as platform is being used as an election way to promote and market films by filmmakers in the media industry. The research I will do will be commenced in order to explore the future potential of social media as an industry in the knowledge domain of film making, as well as to understand the different approaches and steps taken by film makers in order to reach as wide an audience as possible. The reason why I want to do this assignment is to understand the true power and potential that social media and to discuss the issue with the filmmakers themselves.What I hope to achieve from my assignments by the end of the year.The first thing I want to achieve from my assignments is to having my MA course research done and my entry forms flesh outd. I am quite busted about what course, which university I should assume and how I will do it. Doing this assignment is the greatest chance to find out what MA course is most suitable for me. Deciding on what course I will apply and completing my entry forms will remove a great accuse from me.The second thing I want to achieve is to do a research into Turkish Cypriot community, get as many interviews as I can and improve my skills. I am really ambitious about this assignment because of the topic and the interviewees. The interviewees are the only generation of Cyprus who experient a l ot of difficulties in their life and who will extinct before long they experienced war, hunger, poverty, separation, sadness, horror and anxiety. This makes the interviews I will get really invaluable for me. Last year, I started to keep an archive of interviews I did with elderly Turkish Cypriots both in Cyprus and London. I will be able to use these when I start to work in the TV channel I worked last summer. Apart from that I have the idea of turning the accurate interviews I have into a book in the future. My future plans make this assignment really important and necessary for me. I have already started to visit the Turkish Cypriot Community Association which is in Haringey. The validation has quite a lot elderly Turkish Cypriot members. I will visit the place every Thursdays and Fridays which are the days that old generation Turkish Cypriot immigrants gather. I will be able to achieve my goal and finish my assignment by the end of the year.Activities and planned dates for c ompletion of my assignments and the written courseworkI have decided to divide my assignments into trinity pieces this year.Overview of MA Courses in UK containing research and completed entry forms with references 25% interrogation into Turkish Cypriot community in London containing a 8000-10.000 enounce interview transcription and all relevant research and a 2000 treatment (minimum) Reflective Analysis 25%A 5000 Essay on The do of Social Media as a tool used for film making and promotion an investigation of both dependent independent filmmakers around the world, 25%The deadline for all three pieces is 1st May 2011.In this study plan, I analyzed my personal strength and weakness and what I seek to achieve from my assignments by the end of the year. I believe I have elect the most appropriate tasks for me. Doing these tasks will make me gain responsibility of planning and completing my assignments independently and make me use my own communication, research and skills to comple te them. I will work hard to complete all my tasks and achieve all my goals which will make me ready for my future studies and goals.