Practical Teaching

In this essay I will seek to compare a teaching session that I facilitated on medical terminology, with that of an experienced teacher, who allowed me to observe her delivery of an element of a four day training course for students seeking to attain a Supervising Food Safety - Level 3 qualification.   I will consider areas including: the learning approaches that were used and how these met the needs of the learners, the use of resources in the sessions and how effective these were, the feedback and evaluation methods that were used and how functional skills were embedded into the learning experience.

My first question is to ask whether we created a learning environment that captured all the learners’ interest, engaged them in the deepest learning possible and motivated them to achieve the skills and knowledge that can be transferred into their working life. (Tomlinson, 1995)   who emphasized that when teachers differentiate curriculum, they ‘stop acting as dispensers of knowledge’ and, instead, serve as organisers of learning opportunities.

Differentiation is the process whereby teachers meet the need for progress through the curriculum by selecting appropriate teaching methods to match the individual student’s learning strategies, within a group situation.   (Visser. 1993)

As I look around my own class I see a group of difference, based on: learning style, age, previous classroom experience (highly negative, even traumatic), previous learning, the mood of the moment and learning ability et. al.   Were we able to put a range of ‘wow, I never expected that?’ moments into the learning experience? (Ofsted. 2006) If so, was this inclusive of all the learners in their current moment?   My colleague, ***, set clear objectives on what needs to be covered for the learners to pass the exam at the end of the session.   Her session is based mostly on knowledge transfer due to time restraints, for this reason she takes more of a tell approach.   Using name cards enabled...