Pedagogue Blog

This refers to a written description of what is considered to be the best educational approach. It’s a reflective and purposeful essay about a prospective teacher’s teaching beliefs and practices. This individual narrative also includes solid examples of the ways in which the author enacts these beliefs and practices in the classroom.

A philosophy of education statement should comprise an introduction, body, and conclusion. However, there’re specific components that the author needs to include in the statement. These include:

Introduction: This should be the thesis statement where the authors discuss their general beliefs about education and ideals in relation to teaching. One should consider what the pupils will have learned once they depart the class, after having been guided by the person’s teaching philosophy and strategies.

Body: In this section of the statement, the authors should discuss what they see as the ideal classroom environment and how it makes them better teachers, facilitates parent/child interactions, and addresses student needs. This section should also discuss how they’ll facilitate age-appropriate learning and how they’ll involve students in the assessment process. The authors should explain how they’ll put their educational ideals into practice. They should clearly state their goals and objectives for students. This helps the reader understand how their teaching philosophy will play out in the classroom.

Conclusion: In this part, authors should talk about their goals as teachers, how they’ve been able to meet them in the past, and how they can build on those to meet future challenges. They should focus on their personal approach to classroom management and pedagogy and how they wish to advance their careers to support education further. While the authors don’t need to use an official citation style, they should cite their sources.

There’s no right or wrong method to write a philosophy of education statement. However, authors should follow some general rules when writing such a statement.

Keeping it brief: The statement shouldn’t be more than one to two pages.

Using present tense: Authors should write the statement in present tense and in the first person.

Avoiding jargon: Authors should use everyday, common language and not technical terms.

Creating a vivid portrait: Authors should try to write the statement in a way that helps the readers take a mental peek into their classrooms.

Additionally, it’s important to talk about the authors’ personal experiences and beliefs. Authors should also ensure the statement is original and truly describes the philosophy and methods they’ll employ in teaching.

This is a pattern of statistical data distribution. When graphed as a histogram, certain data forms a bell-shaped curve, which is commonly referred to as normal distribution. They are symmetrical and have a single central peak at the mean. The normal distribution is important in statistics due to several reasons. Some of these include:

·         The statistical hypothesis test assumes the data follows a normal distribution.

·         The central limit theorem establishes that as the sample size increases, the distribution of the mean follows a normal distribution regardless of the distribution of the original variable.

·         Both linear and non-linear regression assumes the residual follows a normal distribution.

A normal distribution has two main parameters: the mean and standard deviation. One can decide the probabilities and shape of the distribution concerning the problem statement with the help of these parameters.

Mean:

·         Statisticians use the average or mean value as a measure of central tendency. It can be utilized to define the distribution of variables that are measured as intervals or ratios.

·         The mean establishes the location of the peak, and the majority of the data points are clustered around it in a normal distribution graph.

·         If one changes the value of the mean, the curve of normal distribution moves either to the right or left along the X-axis.

Standard deviation:

·         The standard deviation calculates how the data points are dispersed in relation to the mean.

·         It represents the distance between the data points and the mean.

·        It defines the width of the graph. Therefore, altering the value of standard deviation expands or tightens the width of the distribution along the X-axis.

·        Generally, a smaller standard deviation concerning the mean leads to a steep curve while a larger standard deviation leads to a flatter curve.

Some properties of normal distribution include:

·         The shape of the normal distribution is fully symmetrical. This means one can produce two equal halves by dividing the normal distribution curve from the middle.

·         The midpoint of normal distribution stands for the point with maximum frequency, i.e., it comprises most observations of the variable.

·       In normally distributed data, there’s a constant proportion of data points remaining under the curve between the mean and a number of standard deviations from the mean. Therefore, nearly all values lie within three standard deviations of the mean for a normal distribution. These can help one understand the appropriate percentages of the area below the curve.

This refers to the educational philosophy that suggests that teachers should be paid according to their performance, with the more competent teachers receiving significantly higher pay. Teachers still get the step and lane salary in the merit pay system. The main difference is that one can also earn additional money based on thorough performance evaluations.

Here’re some pros and cons of the merit pay system.

The pros:

·         Incentivized teachers will work harder and generate better results. The simple possibility of additional money will most likely translate into smarter teaching and improved results for the children.

·         Merit pay system will help recruit and retain the country’s brightest minds. Particularly effective and intelligent teachers may reconsider leaving the profession if they feel that their outstanding efforts will be recognized in their paychecks.

·         Merit pay will inspire potential teachers to consider the profession a viable career choice instead of a personal sacrifice for the higher good. The profession will look more credible and modern by joining teaching salaries to performance, thus attracting fresh college graduates to the classroom.

·         If the old methods of motivating teachers and running schools aren’t working, probably it’s time to think outside the box and try merit pay.

The cons:

·         Many major questions will have to be adequately answered before educators can even consider implementing merit pay for teachers. These deliberations will inevitably take away from the actual goal of focusing on the students and providing them with the best education possible.

·         In places that have already tried variations of merit pay system, the results have often been counterproductive and unpleasant competition between teachers. If teachers refrain from working as a team, it may be disastrous for the students.

·         High-stakes merit pay systems will naturally encourage corruption and dishonesty. Educators will be financially encouraged to lie about testing and results. Teachers may have valid suspicions of principal favoritism. All these messy issues serve only to distract from the needs of the students who simply need teachers’ attention and energies to succeed in the world.

The largest criticism of the merit pay system is that it’s almost impossible to measure teacher effectiveness, which is the most important component involved in determining extra compensation. Therefore, administrators should devise a thorough and meaningful evaluation system based on transparency and fairness rather than relying on any test to display classroom effectiveness. The evaluation process should be as clear as possible, and educators need to know exactly what’s involved in the review.

These are tests used to determine whether a student is experiencing learning difficulties. Trained professionals usually administer these. Diagnostic tests directly guide academic, instructional, and curricular decisions because there’s a better comprehension of what a student does or doesn’t know in relation to particular learning goals.

Important features of diagnostic tests include:

·         Diagnostic tests focus on an individual’s learning deficiency or educational weakness and identify the learning gaps in students 

·         Diagnostic tests are often limited to low ability students

·         These tests pinpoint the particular types of error each student is making and look for the underlying causes of the problem

Teachers often administer diagnostic tests for reading and math skills, utilizing the results to provide remedial instruction or place pupils within appropriately leveled classes. Diagnostic tests for reading provide particular information about students’ reading skills. Students take the test in groups or individually. Some tests require interaction with a test proctor, while others are computer-based. These tests are designed to identify at what grade level kids are reading based on their mastery of blending, phonics, word recognition, and text comprehension. Ideally, a student entering a grade should demonstrate reading skills typical of that grade, meaning a fifth grader shouldn’t use sound-out techniques like a first grader. When teachers identify students are reading below grade level, they usually implement interventions designed to strengthen the missing skills.

Diagnostic tests for maths typically provide a level for a kid’s mathematical skills, not just related to grade level but also math topic. Schools often use these tests to place pupils in appropriate math classes. However, educators use math diagnostic tests to improve student achievement by motivating high achievers and offering remedial instruction to struggling students.

Conceptual diagnostic tests aim to reveal whether students hold common misconceptions about a subject. Answer choices on these multiple-choice tests are designed to activate common misconceptions about a particular discipline, thus ensuring the pupils have a clear understanding of the concept. Conceptual diagnostic tests pinpoint weak areas of key understanding by assessing students’ knowledge of a topic.

Despite the advantages offered by diagnostic tests, there’re some drawbacks too. These include:

·         The importance of diagnostic tests may get diminished in large groups

·         A teacher may develop inappropriate assumptions about a student’s knowledge of a subject and overlook that specific topic during the unit

·         Special training may be required to administer diagnostic tests correctly and reliably

This is a type of test where the students are not held to a collective standard but are expected to reach a standard that is above a specific predetermined percentage. This is usually for individualized forms of education or testing objectives with definite results. The test designers analyze the components of specific academic skills and then write the test items that’ll measure whether or not the student has mastered all the components of the skill.

A test of reading skills will seek to find out whether a student can identify the particular sounds consonants make before it’ll evaluate whether a pupil can answer comprehension questions. The questions seek to discover if the student has the skills, not whether the pupil does as well as other students in the same grade. A criterion-referenced test provides important information that the teacher can utilize to design particular instructional strategies to help the students succeed. 

A criterion-referenced test for maths should reflect the sequence and scope of state standards (like the common core state standards). It’ll reflect the skills needed at any age. As kids grow, they’re expected to acquire new skills in a reasonable order that builds on previous levels of skill acquisition. State high-stakes tests of achievement are examples of criterion-referenced tests that are aligned with a state’s standards. They measure whether kids have actually mastered the skills suggested for the students’ specific grade level.

Criterion-referenced tests have both advantages and disadvantages. The advantages include:

·         Criterion-referenced tests are more effective than norm-referenced tests to track pupils’ progress within a curriculum. Teachers can design test items to match particular program objectives. The scores indicate how well the student can correctly answer questions on the topic being studied.

·         Every teacher must assess student progress. Teachers can develop criterion-referenced tests at the classroom level. If the standards aren’t met, they can specifically diagnose the deficiencies. Additionally, they can quickly obtain test results to provide students with feedback on their performance.

The disadvantages include:

·         Creating criterion-referenced tests that are both reliable and valid requires a significant amount of time and effort. Moreover, results cannot be generalized beyond the particular course or program. These tests are specific to a program, and teachers cannot use them to measure the performance of a large group of students.

·         Item analysis is performed to evaluate the effectiveness of individual test items. The teacher must know how the analysis of criterion-referenced tests differs from norm-referenced tests.

This is when a teacher gives students helpful feedback to help them improve in a specific area. Corrective feedback is the communication to a student that’s intended to modify the learner’s behavior or way of thinking to improve learning. It redirects learners and offers support when they make an error. In the context of behavior, there may be a thin line difference between positive and corrective feedback. Positive feedback is the act of describing particular behavior, emphasizing a kid’s strengths and competencies. Corrective feedback is the act of describing the behavior and offering an alternative action, asking what the child could have done differently.

The key benefits of corrective feedback include:

·         It makes pupils less defensive. Here, the child is more likely to accept the feedback as help from the teacher instead of criticism.

·         Corrective feedback focuses on the solution instead of the individual. It focuses on what the kid can do, not on what the child should have done.

·         It gives students options on how to rectify their behavioral skills. They can concentrate on their replacement behavior rather than how they appear to their parents/teachers, or peers.

Corrective feedback can take different forms, some of which include:

Correct answer feedback: The teacher provides the learner with the correct answer. In oral reading instruction, this kind of feedback can be further differentiated as word supply and phonetic emphasis. Multiple studies have shown that supplying the entire word is more useful than the phonetic emphasis in minimizing errors.

Error flagging: This involves highlighting where an error happened when the learner’s response includes multiple components like in mathematics instruction.

Recast: Here, the teacher implicitly reformulates the learner’s errors or provides the correction without directly indicating that the learner’s utterance was incorrect.

Elaborations/explanation: This involves providing additional hints, prompts, or information and may or may not include error flagging or correct answer feedback.

Here’re some effective methods to give corrective feedback.

·         Teachers should acknowledge students’ goals. They should share that they know why students are behaving this way before giving the feedback. This helps students know that the teacher is trying to help them.

·         Teachers should give students an alternative. They should give proper direction on the best way to behave or act in the given situation.

·         Teachers should understand when to communicate in a group or one-on-one because knowing the ideal time to give feedback is crucial. If the teacher embarrasses the students, they’re less likely to receive feedback.

This is a measurement that is used to determine how frequently a phenomenon occurs. A specific statistical distribution is expected where most scores will be distributed in the center, and the high and low ranges will be close. The bell curve gets its name because when the data is plotted on the graph, the line created generally forms the shape of a bell. In a normal distribution, the majority of the data will be near the mean, or the middle, with very few figures on the bell’s outside, known as outliers.

Teachers utilize the bell curve to analyze their tests. They assume that a bell curve will be noticeable if the test is good. For example, if a teacher looks at the class score and sees that the average (mean) grade of the midterm was approximately a C, and slightly fewer pupils earned B grades and D grades and even fewer pupils earned A grades and F grades, then the teacher can infer that the test was a good design. On the other hand, if the teacher plots the test scores and sees that the mean grade was a 60%, and no student scored above an 80%, then she can conclude that the test may have been very difficult. At that point, the teacher may use the curve to adjust the scoring so that there’s a normal distribution, including A grades.

Here’re a few of the most common ways teachers use to grade on a curve.

Add points: A teacher increases every student’s grade with the same number of points. While every student gets a better grade, students fail to learn from the question unless the teacher provides a revision.

Bump a grade to 100%: A teacher moves a particular student’s score to 100% and adds an equal number of points used to get that pupil to 100 to all other students’ scores. While everyone gets a better score, the student with the lowest grades benefits the least.

Use the square root: A teacher takes the test percentage’s square root and makes it the new grade. Every student gets a better score, but not every student’s grade is adjusted equally.

Students in a class often accuse one individual of throwing off the curve. The theory is that a very bright student aces a test that everyone else has difficulties with will “throw off the curve.” For instance, if most students earned 70% and only one pupil in the entire class earned 98%, then when the teacher tries to adjust the grades, the outlier can make it more difficult for other students to score higher.

This involves all the activities, techniques, methods, science, art, and strategies that go into the practice of teaching. Pedagogy requires meaningful classroom interactions between students and teachers. The objective is to help pupils build on prior learning and advance skills and attitudes. For teachers, the objective is to present the curriculum in a way that’s relevant to learners’ needs. Shaped by the teacher’s own experiences, pedagogy has to take into consideration the context in which learning takes place and with whom. It’s not about the learning materials used but the strategy and the process adopted to accomplish meaningful cognitive learning.

There’re numerous pedagogies that can help teachers engage students. Here’re some major pedagogical approaches that help pupils acquire higher-order thinking skills and offer a more nuanced comprehension of how their learnings fit into the real world.

Constructivist pedagogy: These teaching strategies help learners comprehend the meaning of their learning materials rather than just passively ingesting content. Instead of focusing on the lesson or subject being taught, teachers are encouraged to concentrate on how the students learn.

Inquiry-based learning: This approach encourages pupils to ask questions and finish research while learning different concepts. It focuses on helping students acquire the skills necessary to build their own ideas and question group members and themselves in a constructive way.

Problem-based learning: Here, learners acquire knowledge by coming up with solutions to real-world problems. As they do, they acquire communication and collaboration skills and knowledge.

Collaborative pedagogy: Collaborative pedagogy declines the notion that pupils can think, write, and learn effectively in isolation. It’s a learner-centered strategy that aims to maximize learning, writing skills, and critical thinking through interpersonal engagement and peer-to-peer interaction.

Integrative pedagogy: Integrative learning refers to the process of establishing connections between experiences and concepts so that skills and information can be applied to complex and novel challenges or issues.

Reflective pedagogy: Reflective pedagogy encourages the teacher to reflect upon assessments, lessons, and projects, with the objective of improving them for future use. Learners are also encouraged to think carefully about their performance on assessments and search for areas where they can improve.

Critical pedagogy: It asserts that issues of democracy and social justice aren’t distinct from acts of learning and teaching. It’s a theory and practice that helps pupils question and challenge widespread practices and beliefs, which help them achieve critical consciousness.

Culturally responsive teaching: It’s a more modern pedagogy that accepts, responds to, and honors fundamental cultures. It strives to provide students from all cultures with equitable access to education.

The summer slide occurs when students who have gone on a long break from school begin to gradually forget the knowledge they gained during the school year. It only takes a couple of weeks for the summer slide to start affecting students. However, learning loss doesn’t impact every student equally. Younger students are prone to maximum learning loss because they’re at an important stage in their development. Things like letter knowledge, word reading skills, and decoding are very likely to decay without regular practice, as are math facts such as addition and subtraction. 

Also, according to summer slide statistics, some demographics are more susceptible to falling behind than others. For example, kids of under-resourced families are more prone to lose more knowledge during the summer than kids from wealthy families. Kids with learning disabilities are also susceptible to learning loss because, during the summer break, they don’t get the instructional support that they receive throughout the year.

Fortunately, the basic skills aren’t difficult to maintain over the summer break. Parents can use the following ways to keep children engaged in reading and math.

Parents should find something that their kids can read every day. They should encourage children to read online resources while playing on the computer or the comics in the newspaper every day. Kids won’t gain much from summer reading if they’re not enjoying it. Therefore, parents should ensure that children have access to different types of books that they enjoy reading and can fully understand. Parents can ask the librarian at their local library for recommendations based on their kids’ age, interests, or reading level.

Math is another subject that often gets lost over the summer break. Research shows that pupils lose around two months of summer skills over the summer break if they don’t participate in some kinds of activities during it. Here’re some tactics parents can try to incorporate math learning into their children’s summer activities.

·    Searching for summer camps that use skills learned in math, such as space or robotics camps.

·      Encouraging students to take science- or math-related jobs that will help them improve their academic abilities while learning crucial job skills.

·      Encouraging students to tutor others in math subjects they’ve already mastered.

·      Letting teens participate in trip-planning actions by calculating fuel needs, figuring out the distance between destinations, or setting a budget.

·       Finding ways to incorporate math into day-to-day activities.

·    Helping struggling pupils discover remedial summer work they can perform to improve their skills.

Also known as DCD (developmental coordination disorder), dyspraxia is a learning disability that is characterized by an inability to perform activities that require heavy use of coordination, motor skills, and balance. Children with this disability are often considered to be clumsy. They can learn to manage this disability with the help of an occupational therapist. Verbal dyspraxia is a condition where an individual has difficulty using speech sounds.

Many times, people with dyspraxia have language problems and sometimes a degree of difficulty with perception and thought. However, dyspraxia doesn’t affect a person’s intelligence, although it can trigger learning problems in kids. People with dyspraxia often have other challenges too. These may include ADHD, mental health issues, sensory processing issues, autism, slow processing speed, etc.

An occupational therapist, a pediatrician, an educational psychologist, or a clinical psychologist can diagnose dyspraxia. The evaluator will require details regarding a kid’s gross and fine motor skills, intellectual ability, and developmental history when performing an assessment.

·         Gross motor skills: These include how well the kid can use large muscles that coordinate body movement.

·         Fine motor skills: These include how well the kid can use smaller muscles.

The evaluator will need to know how and when developmental milestones, such as crawling, speaking, and walking, were reached. The kid will also be evaluated for touch sensitivity, balance, and variations in walking activities.

Scientists don’t know what exactly causes dyspraxia. However, experts believe that the affected individual’s nerve cells that control muscles aren’t developing properly. If motor neurons cannot develop proper connections for any reason, the brain takes much longer to process information.

Although dyspraxia isn’t curable, a person can improve with treatment. However, the earlier a kid is diagnosed, the better his/her prognosis will be. Specialists that generally treat people with dyspraxia include:

Occupational therapy: An occupational therapist evaluates how the kid manages day-to-day functions at school and home. The therapist will then help the kid develop skills specific to everyday activities that the child finds difficult.

Speech and language therapy: A speech-language pathologist conducts an assessment of the kid’s speech and then applies a treatment plan to help the child communicate more effectively.

Perceptual motor training: This involves improving the kid’s language, movement, auditory, and visual skills. The individual is given a series of activities that become more advanced over time. The objective is to challenge the kid so that he/she improves, but not so much that it becomes stressful or frustrating.

Dyslexia is a disability that lowers a person’s ability to recognize letters and associate them with sounds. Individuals with dyslexia usually have a normal intelligence level yet still experience this language development problem. Although it is now treatable, students with dyslexia often suffer from long periods where their literacy skills make it hard for them to perform academically before they are diagnosed and provided with support.

The signs of dyslexia may be difficult to spot until a child begins school. A teacher may be the first person to notice the symptoms, especially if a kid struggles to spell, read, and follow instructions in the classroom. The symptoms change at different stages of life and ages. Each kid with dyslexia faces distinct challenges and has unique strengths. However, there’re some general symptoms that a child may need some additional help in school.

Preschoolers with dyslexia may exhibit symptoms that include:

·         Finding it difficult to remember or learn the letters of the alphabet

·         Having trouble recognizing letters

·         Mispronouncing familiar words

·         Being unable to identify rhyming patterns

Grade-schoolers with dyslexia may show symptoms that include:

·         Reading more slowly than other children of their age

·         Being unable to tell the difference between particular words or letters

·         Writing numbers or letters backward

·         Having trouble sounding out words when reading

·         Struggling to follow a series of instructions

Middle and high schools pupils with dyslexia may exhibit symptoms that include:

·         Having trouble writing clearly (making errors in grammar, punctuation, and spelling)

·         Taking a long time to complete tests or finish their homework

·         Having messy handwriting

·         Using the wrong words

·         Avoiding reading aloud

Adults with dyslexia may find that they have a hard time:

·         Spelling, remembering, or memorizing words

·         Reading at a good pace

·         Copying things down or taking notes

·         Learning another language, doing math, or remembering numbers such as pin numbers or passwords

·         Meeting deadlines and staying organized

Scientists haven’t yet pinpointed the exact causes of dyslexia. However, they do know that brain differences and genes play a role. Brain differences between persons with and without dyslexia happen in the brain’s areas involved with crucial reading skills. These skills include identifying what written words look like and understanding how sounds are represented in words. Many times, dyslexia runs in families. A significant percent of siblings of people with this condition also struggle with reading. Researchers have also found genes associated with problems with processing and reading language.

Dysnomia refers to a learning disability that lowers a person’s ability to remember important things such as names, words, etc. Because they’re unable to recall important information, learning activities become difficult, and their academic progress is slowed down significantly. Their use of written and oral language will be labored and can cause them to lose confidence in their abilities. Dysnomia can also make it difficult to label visual information. For instance, people with dysnomia may struggle when they don’t know an individual’s name (even though they can recognize the individual’s face). Because it’s difficult to name things, the condition often slows processing speed and interferes with memory.

Dysnomia is often considered a symptom of difficulties associated with learning concerns, executive functioning, concerns with inattention, or language processing concerns. Typically, it’s a symptom that some other concerns are occurring. If a child receives a diagnosis of only dysnomia, it’ll be important to talk to the clinician to see if other concerns such as ADHD, learning delays, or language delays have been ruled out.

Common symptoms of dysnomia include:

·         Difficulties with recall

·         Difficulty completing tasks quickly

·         Trouble naming things

·         Inconsistent recall of fundamental things like letter names or math facts, and problems on timed tests

·         Using fillers often

Delayed maturation of the prefrontal cortex, particularly those areas concerned with word-finding, is considered to cause dysnomia. Therefore, it often arises with problems regulating behavior and attention, or those observed in ADHD.

Many things can be done in the classroom to help children with dysnomia. First, parents need to ensure that their kid’s school knows about the condition. Naming ability is a precursor of reading, so difficulties with the skill can interfere with reading, writing, and other academic activities. Second, kids with dysnomia often benefit from accommodations in the classroom. These may include using cue cards or resource notebooks during exams, using multiple-choice questions during oral questioning, conducting take-home or open book exams, etc.

Because dysnomia involves difficulties accessing words and language, many people with the condition find that speech and/or language therapy can be an effective part of working through the difficulties. The therapist can teach the patient strategies to practice finding words and help to make speech production more fluent. If anxiety or symptoms of ADHD are also present with the signs of dysnomia, parents should consult with a child therapist or child psychologist who also works with those issues.