Activity 1
Student profiling and the importance of relationship
Powell (2011) identifies, that effective profiling of students can be challenging, and if teachers are to form effective relationships with students they must explore deeper within our students psyche rather than just relying on general social information. Having positive teacher relationships with students is becoming increasingly important, as it has proved to provide a platform for the educator to facilitate many other strategies (Churchill, 2011 & Connell, 2007). However, if this does not occur the ability to help students to perform well, will ever so diminish as relationship building is the cornerstone of the implementation of enhanced learning strategies (Ragnar, 2014 & Churchill, 2011). Current neuroscience research suggests that students become more engaged when positive relationships are formed, when relevance and meaning is embedded within learning, have a social and emotional connection with learning, and are not having the feeling of boredom (Powell & Kusuma-Powell, 2011). These factors identify the importance of profiling our students. As Powell (2011) highlights, that there are five important dimensions of learning identity: learning preferences, social factors, academic performance, and biological traits, having a profile tool that enables the access of this information via the delivery of specific questions can allow for the collaboration of this essential information (Powell & Kusuma-Powell, 2011). This activity is designed to “Know your learner” .Educators must know their learners to be able to understand,” how students learn”, which is standard 1:2 of the AITSL standards (Aitsl.edu.au, 2011). The information that this activity will provide, will enhance your ability to create personalised learning strategies and the Ability to “Establish challenging learning goals” standard 3.1 (Aitsl.edu.au, 2011).
The Profiling tool can simply be a form that can be given to the students within class, emailed to students or can be embedded in Wiki which is part of activity 2 within this document. There is no specific rules on how this document can be created although the questions used must correlate to the five learning identities above. The main goal is to collate information about each student that is unique to their individual aspects of life and learning preferences.
Some key points on the delivery of this activity:
· Firstly use a Teaching and learning by colour activity (link provided below),
http://campusrec.unc.edu/sites/campusrec.unc.edu/files/Personality%20Test.pdf
This activity will form as an ice breaker, as students will have an emotional connection as they will learn a great deal about themselves, while identifying their personality traits. Allow students to share the results within class if desired. Participate in the activity yourself, and share the information about yourself with the class. This will provide a more comfortable environment for students to share also, creating a “feeling of being at home”, that will assist in repour building (Connell, 2007). It will also highlight personality traits that contribute to the way you teach. The information that you will gain from this activity, will allow for a personalised learning approach and the identification of diverse learning goals (Ragnar, 2014).
· Explain to the students what the activity is, and the importance behind the information that you will be receiving. This will highlight to the students that you care about their learning and will instantly contribute in forming positive relationships (Churchill, 2011 & Connell, 2007).
· Highlight to the students that it can be a discrete and private process so that students will actively participate on an emotional level to deepen understanding of the student (Churchill, 2011).
· Allow students to contribute to the activity by giving them options with how they would like to complete the activity. Again having the students decide how they would like to complete the activity will create a sense of ownership, in turn enhancing engagement (Churchill, 2011).
· Give the students appropriate time to complete the activity, as the deeper the thought process the more understanding you will gain about each student (Churchill, 2011 & Connell, 2007).
· There are no wright and wrong answers.
Student profiling and the importance of relationship
Powell (2011) identifies, that effective profiling of students can be challenging, and if teachers are to form effective relationships with students they must explore deeper within our students psyche rather than just relying on general social information. Having positive teacher relationships with students is becoming increasingly important, as it has proved to provide a platform for the educator to facilitate many other strategies (Churchill, 2011 & Connell, 2007). However, if this does not occur the ability to help students to perform well, will ever so diminish as relationship building is the cornerstone of the implementation of enhanced learning strategies (Ragnar, 2014 & Churchill, 2011). Current neuroscience research suggests that students become more engaged when positive relationships are formed, when relevance and meaning is embedded within learning, have a social and emotional connection with learning, and are not having the feeling of boredom (Powell & Kusuma-Powell, 2011). These factors identify the importance of profiling our students. As Powell (2011) highlights, that there are five important dimensions of learning identity: learning preferences, social factors, academic performance, and biological traits, having a profile tool that enables the access of this information via the delivery of specific questions can allow for the collaboration of this essential information (Powell & Kusuma-Powell, 2011). This activity is designed to “Know your learner” .Educators must know their learners to be able to understand,” how students learn”, which is standard 1:2 of the AITSL standards (Aitsl.edu.au, 2011). The information that this activity will provide, will enhance your ability to create personalised learning strategies and the Ability to “Establish challenging learning goals” standard 3.1 (Aitsl.edu.au, 2011).
The Profiling tool can simply be a form that can be given to the students within class, emailed to students or can be embedded in Wiki which is part of activity 2 within this document. There is no specific rules on how this document can be created although the questions used must correlate to the five learning identities above. The main goal is to collate information about each student that is unique to their individual aspects of life and learning preferences.
Some key points on the delivery of this activity:
· Firstly use a Teaching and learning by colour activity (link provided below),
http://campusrec.unc.edu/sites/campusrec.unc.edu/files/Personality%20Test.pdf
This activity will form as an ice breaker, as students will have an emotional connection as they will learn a great deal about themselves, while identifying their personality traits. Allow students to share the results within class if desired. Participate in the activity yourself, and share the information about yourself with the class. This will provide a more comfortable environment for students to share also, creating a “feeling of being at home”, that will assist in repour building (Connell, 2007). It will also highlight personality traits that contribute to the way you teach. The information that you will gain from this activity, will allow for a personalised learning approach and the identification of diverse learning goals (Ragnar, 2014).
· Explain to the students what the activity is, and the importance behind the information that you will be receiving. This will highlight to the students that you care about their learning and will instantly contribute in forming positive relationships (Churchill, 2011 & Connell, 2007).
· Highlight to the students that it can be a discrete and private process so that students will actively participate on an emotional level to deepen understanding of the student (Churchill, 2011).
· Allow students to contribute to the activity by giving them options with how they would like to complete the activity. Again having the students decide how they would like to complete the activity will create a sense of ownership, in turn enhancing engagement (Churchill, 2011).
· Give the students appropriate time to complete the activity, as the deeper the thought process the more understanding you will gain about each student (Churchill, 2011 & Connell, 2007).
· There are no wright and wrong answers.