My Views as a Teacher
My views as a teacher reflect the views of Abraham Maslow and Jean Piaget.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs theory indicates that people are motivated when their needs are met, and these needs are classified as physiological needs; safety needs; needs of love, affection, and belongingness; needs for esteem; and needs for self-actualization (Jelencic, 2011). When applied to teaching and education, students are motivated to learn when their needs are met.
As a teacher, I apply this theory by ensuring that my students’ basic needs are met. I will allow them to eat or drink in class under certain conditions (e.g. if I’m holding an extraordinarily long class) or will allow them breaks as needed. This will enable their basic needs of food, drink, and space to be met. I will also make the classroom a safe place for them by ensuring that discrimination and prejudice are not tolerated in my class. I will also make sure that I make myself approachable for my students so that they know that they don’t have to be afraid of me and that they can come to me whenever they encounter difficulties. In addition, I will help fulfill their need for love, affection, and belongingness in class by promoting camaraderie and teamwork through group projects and other group activities (Hanson, 2012). I will also address their needs for self-esteem by ensuring that the students are recognized for their achievements and by giving them a good word for their good work. Finally, I will help them fulfill their need for self-actualization by creating activities that will enable the students to get involved in the community (e.g. tree planting).
On the other hand, Piaget’s theory indicates that intelligence consists of two biological attributes, namely organization and adaptation (Simatwa, 2010) and that cognitive development in children occurs in stages. As such, I will try to determine how my students learn so that I can fashion my teaching methods to their learning styles. I will also teach them metacognitive skills that will enable them to improve the way they learn (“Educational Implications of Piaget’s Theory,” 2010). In addition, I will allow autonomy with the students through physical knowledge activities. I will create activities that are appropriate for their age, and I will implement individual assessments where the students will be assessed based on their own course of development instead of on the class’ overall performance.
Orientations
My teaching style reflects the behaviorist and cognitive orientations. In particular, I apply the behaviorist orientation by designing activities that will allow the students to apply their learning and develop their competencies. Examples are reading and writing tasks, as well as class projects, that will allow the students to test their skills and that will also allow me to assess how much they’ve learned. On the other hand, I will apply the cognitive orientation (“Four Fundamental Orientations,” n.d.) by creating activities that will allow students to use their previous knowledge and experience in the learning process and at the same time build new knowledge. Examples of activities are the classification of things with the use of graphic organizers or activities where the students are able to relate their present learning to previous learning or experiences such as activities that make use of analogies. This will lead to the development of new schemata, which the students will be able to use in their future learning endeavors.
References
Educational implications of Piaget’s theory. (2010). Retrieved from
http://wps.ablongman.com/ab_slavin_edpsych_8/38/9951/2547688.cw/
content/index.html.
Four fundamental orientations (perspectives) for learning theories. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.lifecircles-inc.com/Learningtheories/orientations.html
Hanson, J. (2012). How to apply Maslow's hierarchy of needs to education. Retrieved from
http://www.ehow.com/how_7771899_apply-maslows-hierarchy-needs-education.html
Jelencic, M. (2011). Motivation theories – An overview. Norderstedt, Germany: GRIN Verlag.
Simatwa, E.M. W. (2010). Piaget’s theory of intellectual development and its
implication for instructional management at presecondary school level. Educational
Research and Reviews, 5 (7), 368-371. Retrieved from
http://www.academicjournals.org/err/PDF/Pdf%202010/July/Simatwa.pdf
