Quentin's e-Portfolio

EDUC 540 (TWU): Christian Perspectives on Teaching & Pedagogy

 

I took EDUC 540 just prior to the MET program and is linked to the community I am regularly part of.  It is important to share recipes with our communities closest to us. In fact, it is within my faith community that I will be sharing most of what I have learned.  As such, it is important to me to have this community provide some framework for some of my recipes.  It is also an integral part of the cultural viewpoint that I bring to the rest of my dishes.  Moreover, as I noted, I took this course before MET and this whetted my appetite for what was possible in learning and growing. Moreover this course has enabled to me join two integral committees which are shaping the future of Chrisitan education in BC.  (You can read more about that here)

Artifact 1 Fostering Classroom Community within a Faith-Based School

 

The crux of this course was focusing on what it means to be a Christian who teaches with sound pedagogy.  That is to say, what does it mean to be a faithful follower of Jesus in teaching and learning?  This is a question that I contemplate at the start of each year.  I believe it is a question that I would ask regardless of my teaching context. In a faith-based school, however, my response is somewhat more overt than it would be in a public setting.  However, the second part of the question in regards to learning is something that I have continually mulled over as I have journeyed through the MET program.  Each year, with new technological changes and trending pedagogies, I find that my worldview will always inform my education choices.     

 

And so, this paper addresses my perspectives on this topic as related to other research I did regarding student motivation (See Artifact 2).  I strongly believe, and my overall MET journey echoes this, that a healthy classroom community matters. At the end of the day, the technological and pedagogical choices we make must seek to foster the best learning environment possible for the students.  When students see that they are part of a learning community, they will seek to work to ensure that that community flourishes.  

Artifact 2: Research Posting re: Student Motivation 

 

During this course, I had an opportunity to focus on researching an area of my own interest.  I decided to tackle the subject of motivating high school students.  In this brief research paper, I outlined a few of the findings that I found.  Overall, finding ways to motivate students is a daunting task.  Yet, as I pondered and read through some helpful material, I found that educators cannot be burdened to motivate students. Rather, we must focus on creating (or re-creating) the circumstances or learning environments for our students to again flourish.  

 

Children are naturally curious and want to learn.  Children do not need to be motivated to learn about the world around them.  In many cases, the education system takes out the motivation.  What educators need to do is create learning spaces for students which are conducive to students intrinsically motivating themselves.  So it comes back to creating a welcoming community where learners flourish. 

 

This mini-research project was a good reminder for me to always seek to foster community-building in my classroom.  There are some great reminders and links to excellent resources within this document that I invite you to peruse.