Problem
Read the following case study and write a detailed response to following question:
Evaluate the positive aspects of what the teacher does and the impact of these on the learners (implications). The implications need to be linked to relevant theory and research to substantiate their evaluation and discussion.
Jake is in his third year of teaching and has been teaching his Year 3/4 composite class for six months. The class is a mixed ability class of 28 students, including 5 students he considers to be "gifted" and 8 students who need additional support for a variety of academic and behavioural concerns. 3/4J is generally well behaved, although Jake has spent a lot of time during Term 1 setting up routines that the class regularly follows. He has observed that routines and structure seem to help several of his students who have behavioural concerns.
Jake believes strongly in the principles of constructivism and the importance of students being active participants in their own learning. While it isn't always easy to translate this into practice, he has had some success with inquiry-based learning in subjects like English and Science. He generally follows these steps, but ensures that students have the space to direct their learning:
• Instructions. At the beginning of class, Jake distributes a sheet of instructions regarding the task. The sheet explains the task and gives clear steps for students to follow.
• Student-selected groups. Jake has allowed his class to choose their own groups to work with (seven groups of four students each).
• Task allocation. There are tasks for all four members of each group, but these are to be allocated by the group members.
• Guidelines for positive social interaction. Jake gives verbal and written guidelines to help students work as a team. He introduces the task as a 'team activity' and emphasises the characteristics of good teams.
• Wrapping up the task. The task sheet includes instruction for wrapping up the task 10 minutes before the end of class. Students are given a group-evaluation sheet to complete in the last five minutes they spend with their groups. This is followed by five minutes of summarising by Jake, which includes the whole class.
When he teaches in this way, he notices that his students are particularly engaged in their learning, particularly those who have mastered the basic concepts. There are some students who struggle with inquiry tasks, and Jake spends more time with these students to break the tasks down into smaller parts. While he knows this is essential to help these students, he sometimes worries that he is not able to share his time amongst the class more evenly.
One area of teaching that Jake is less confident about teaching is maths. Personally, he found maths difficult in high school, and it is his least favourite subject to teach. He notices that his students are most disruptive during maths and often complain that maths is "the most boring subject ever!". While Jake makes sure that he asks a variety of students to answer questions during the lesson, several students refuse to do so.
These students appear to have poor confidence in their ability to answer these questions, and Jake notes that they do not seem to lack confidence in other areas (suchas English and History). Jake is concerned about his students' negative attitudes towards maths, so he invites his mentor teacher, Kathryn, to come and observe one of his maths classes.
Kathryn observed three of Jake's maths lessons over two weeks, and provided the following feedback:
1) Jake accurately and thoroughly taught maths concepts to his students
2) Jake's teaching of maths was entirely teacher-directed (i.e. There are no tasks that were student-centred)
3) The tasks were heavily rote and drill worksheet-based, requiring students to answer similar questions many times
4) Approximately half of the class finished the work quickly, while the remainder of the class needed more help from Jake. Jake was able to provide this assistance to those who needed it, but the students who finished their work sometimes became disruptive (they were instructed to read a book if they finished early).