Well I guess it is time
for round two of my blog, and although I am still very uncertain of what
exactly I am doing, I think I have more of a handle on things. I should begin
by explaining that all throughout my experiences in an educational setting I’ve
come across nothing but projects, tests, essays, presentations or standardized
assignments and yet look at where I am today, in my fourth year of university and
considerably close to having an undergraduate degree this upcoming April. But let’s
take a step back for a second and reflect on what I mentioned in my last blog.
It is becoming seemingly obvious that there is an evolving shift from the
traditional model of education to a more student – centered constructivist
approach within the classroom. However, that previous traditional model of
instruction is what has worked for me so far, so why should I not keep using
and enforcing it in my classrooms? But it is not that simple anymore, and I
think this image sums up pretty accurately why society and educational
professionals are trying to move away from the traditional style of teaching:
I mean, I was taught from a young
age that I was to sit quietly when the teacher was talking, study for tests and
quizzes that came at the end of a unit, complete my homework at night and hand
in my assignments on time; it’s just what I did. Every assignment was given a
rubric with clear expectations, and if you did not complete what was asked you
didn’t get the grade you hoped; simple as that. If I follow more closely my educational
experience thus far, even my university up until this year it has involved
assessment that revolved around one or two projects throughout the year, a
midterm and a final; even in education classes. All of these classes involved
listening to a professor be the authority figure at the front of the classroom
and lecture for two or three hours This makes it obvious that up until now, I
have been stuck in an assessment of learning type of environment; where the
assignments I have completed were teacher directed with very minimal individual
decision making. These assessments came at the end of the term for the teacher
/ professor to see how much I had retained, memorized and spat out on a piece
of paper after four months in the same class. I guess I have “played the game”
of education fairly well then. I remember learning last year in one of my
education classes that as a future educator I am most likely going to teach the
way I learnt best and the way that worked for me; well that would have to be
the traditional model of instruction. However, going into my fourth year now I
am being introduced (in almost all of my classes) that this is the wrong approach
and that I must change what worked for me into a new constructivist approach that
uses assessment for learning and gets students engaged and involved in their
own learning process.
Even writing this blog
right now, I have an understanding that it is mandatory to complete but I still
have no idea what is exactly expected of me, or if I am even doing this right.
And yet, it is still getting graded and I thought this class was supposed to
help anticipate what is happening during this shift in education from grading
(assessment of learning) and encourage learning (assessment for learning). If
our goal as educators is to promote learning instead of revolve around grading,
I think one of the most challenging aspects is how to put this into practice, and
create adequate assessments when I have had almost no experience with it. Even
in my physical education classes I am now being presented with multiple
alternatives to teaching, which is not direct teaching (what I have grown up
with). Instead of being taught skills and graded based on how you participated
and grasped concepts we are introduced to certain models called: sport
education and Teaching Games for Understanding (TGFU). This model of
instruction incorporates six different aspects to express a more students
centered approach to teaching formal games and allows for more self –
assessment, but if this is part of the curriculum, how am I supposed to assess
or even assign a grade to the students if there are no clear expectations;
except helping student to become games literate. Therefore, creating rubrics is
especially important and when they are subjective is where I think there will
be huge conflict.
I know when I completed
an assignment in my games course which was to make up a game using three rules,
it is apparent there was very little instruction and vague components, and yet
I received a below passing grade. Even after conversing with the professor and
trying to understand where I went wrong, to this day I still do not know why I received
that grade and that mark is what brought my class average down. We all know
that if you get above an eighty average you get on the honours list which I am
sure most of us are striving for; therefore pointing out that are final grades
are the only ones that matter. Although it is great that student - centered
approaches are becoming more recognizable and promoting learning instead of
grading, in all honesty report cards are still given out and that’s what the
students and parents generally only care about; what the mark is on that piece
of paper. If there is no balance between students creating their own learning
and clear expectations on how they are assigning grades, they could be stuck
like I was with very little direction and yet a very low mark. So, if I have
not practiced this new constructivist teaching strategy and the only time I
did, I received a low mark how am I going to be qualified in the next year to
teach this to students?
YouTube video on TGFU model
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