Reflection

Primary school was largely an enjoyable experience for me. I liked going to school and was reasonably good at it, especially at music. I was interested in most subjects, and even though the approach was teacher centred, one could say that, in my case, much of it was also learner centred, since it was suitable for me, though it is very unlikely that it was intentionally designed for my interests and learning styles.

There were some students who could not stay engaged. I remember a couple of boys who were oftentimes made sit on a chair facing the wall and sometimes sent to the principal. I always felt that this particular teacher, who taught me from grade 1 to 4, preferred the girls. I may be wrong in this, but thinking about it a little more takes me to the first of the five dimensions: Attitudes and Perceptions. If a teacher has a less than great attitude towards groups of students or individuals, how can these students have a positive attitude towards this teacher's lessons?

I do find it interesting that I have the fondest memories of experiences where we actually 'did' something, rather than just sitting still and listening, like excursions, sport, singing and doing projects. Yes, I remember the things that were relevant to real life!

However, I also have strong memories of the grammar exercises. This may be so because I disliked them, or perhaps because we did so many of them, I'm not sure.

Thinking about Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it was well intact then. I had several friends, a happy home-life with my three siblings, and parents who took us on camping and canoeing adventures on weekends and in the school holidays.

When I did some of the personality and learning styles tests a couple of weeks ago, I learned a lot about myself:
According to Jung's Typology test I am apparently a feeling and judging introvert.
On Felser's scale things were reasonably well in balance.
Emotional Intelligence: average
According to Gardner's Multiple Intelligences test, I scored the highest in musical intelligence, followed closely by naturalistic, then intrapersonal and kinaesthetic.

Okay, I 'get' it, I am an introvert. But no! This cannot not true, I love people! But I do think that I learn well when working by myself.

What do these experiences tell me about my own teaching design, or should I say my own design or way of managing student learning?

Should I teach no grammar and get the kids out of the classroom?

The answer to this question would be no, but I couldn't imagine that kids nowadays would find folk songs too interesting, or the identification of trees. A lot has changed in the last forty years. Many parents don't let their children roam and climb trees anymore. Children now are exposed to ICTs from a very early age and we, as learning managers, have no choice but to use ICTs in schools, and use them extensively if this is going to help students become engaged, but it not only that. We need to make sure that children become skilled in many different ways in which ICTs can be used, and this has been changing rapidly and it seems obvious that it is going to continue to do so. It is our responsibility to gain ICT skills ourselves, keep up with the latest, continually expand our knowledge and skills, yes, be life-long learners. Someone like me has to work harder at this since I have only started using computers reasonably confidently about six years ago.

Furthermore I need to get to know the children, get to know a little bit about their home-lives, their interests, the styles in which they learn best. I will then need to design my lessons in a way that they cater for the different learning styles and the different interests of students, in other words student centred. I imagine this will not be easy, and if a certain lesson plan or unit works one year, I will have to review it and perhaps make changes before using it a year later with another class, a class with students of again different interests and learning styles.

Going Back, Primary School

My own schooling took place in a small town in Germany in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In primary school (grades 1 to 4) our school day began with the singing of German folk songs, our repertoire ever increasing, which I loved, but some children hated.

Apart from the usual chalk and talk language and mathematics lessons we learned about where the food we eat comes from e.g. milk, cream and cheese, followed by a visit to the local milk factory. We did projects on the different grains grown in Germany.

We learned about the area we lived in, the timber industry, and I remember being completely impressed by an excursion to a place where attractive quality puppets are created, their heads hand-carved from wood.

Wild animals were covered, the deer, hare, hedgehog and birds including the nightingale, the different wood-peckers and birds of prey. I recall doing a project on sqirrels and spending seemingly hours on drawing this pretty little creature.

Once we went on a nature walk as part of a unit on common trees. We learned to identify the different trees by their bark, leaves, flowers and seeds. There were oak trees, beech, birch, willow, maple trees and many more.

The German Geography was covered with important cities, rivers, mountains, forests and industries.

Sport was fun, though I was never really good at it, and mostly indoors in a huge sports hall. Only on fine days (in Germany there are about as many fine days as there are rainy days in Australia) would we go outside and practice for the yearly athletics carnival or play team games.

I only have vague memories of maths and language lessons, however, I do recall teachers giving us hours and hours of grammar exercises, in order to get us to understand the ever so complex German grammar.

A little bit about myself

I have been teaching violin and guitar for more than thirteen years and I absolutely love it! In 2004 I decided to do formal study in order become qualified for the work that I do. I was fortunate to be able to do a music degree through the Mackay Conservatorium as an external student while at the same time continuing with my work.