What is Teaching and Learning?

I decided to undertake the required training to become a teacher aide in 2005 and chose to study externally. This method of study was ideal for me and it continues to be as I progress through the BLM course. I find I work very well in an external capacity but I probably didn’t always understand how others weren’t able to. Working with other students at university has allowed me to see various different learning styles and how they work for the individual.

I undertook the teacher aide training in order to work with teenagers in the learning environment and my placement for workplace training was at a special school. I enjoyed the challenge of this work and felt I would learn skills for the future. A few years later I worked in an enrichment unit at a large Brisbane high school and felt that what I had learned at the previous school provided me with a good grounding to sharpen and develop my skills. Working as a teacher aide prior to studying to become a teacher was good for me, as I was able to develop communication skills and some strategies which I use in the classroom today. I can honestly say I learned something new each time I walked into the special ed. classroom and I think that continues today. Practice is so important and even then there is no guarantee that you’ll get it right! Just keep learning from the experience, even if it was a bad one.

Teaching and learning require a great deal of reflection and this reflection is used for improvement. I learned a lot from the HOD in the enrichment unit; she was a great support and offered much encouragement. She was always forthcoming with positive advice, which helped me to stay on track. This teacher was my inspiration to become a teacher myself.

Students’ learning is continuous and certainly not confined to the classroom. An effective teacher needs to be able to tap into the other learning experiences students may be having, or at the very least be aware of them and the influence they could have over the more formal learning. If students are effective learners in informal settings, they certainly have the potential to transfer that ability to the classroom, with help from the teacher. The challenge for the teacher is to harness that motivation and re direct it. Relevance to real world settings is vital as is catering for all learning styles. Students definitely categorise “school learning” as being different from any other learning the experiences they have and often don’t value it as highly as being an expert surfer or X Box player!