Personal Teaching and Learning Philosophy

Don McNiven TEE 276R
Personal Teaching and Learning Philosophy

I learn and instruct best when teaching follows this simple pattern.

Instructor Responsibilities:

1. Summarize what should be learned.
2. Teach in detail what is to be taught.
3. Summarize and reinforce again what should have been learned.
4. Help student’s practice or review what was to be learned.
5. Test student’s understanding or skills.
6. Provide feedback so student knows how they are doing.
7. Repeat 1-6 until student reaches learning goal.

Student Responsibilities

1. Prepare as required.
2. Note important points during lesson.
3. Practice or review with instructor.
4. Keep asking for help until learning goal reached.

Teachers and students need to be on the same team working together everyday toward a common and very specific goal that follows the teaching pattern noted above.

The combination of all of these daily, weekly, and monthly goals taken together over the course of the semester will bring the student to the overall learning goal.

There are teachers and instructors:

Teachers understand their job to be one of presenting information. Teachers feel that once the information has been presented the only thing they need to do is test and assign grades. Teachers take no responsibility to ensure that the learning goal is met. Teachers always end up with a “top 10%” and then everyone else. They view learning as something the student is entirely responsible for.

Instructors understand that their job is not just to present the information but ensure that the students meet the learning goal. Instructors end up with a “top 90%” and the only students who are not successful are the students who refuse to be helped or quit. They view learning a something that the instructor can greatly influence. Its really easy to spot a good instructor, they have 90% A’s not 10%.