Learning to teach adults

This post is about the third book I've read this days and it is called "Learning to teach adults" by Nicholas Corder.












First of all Nicholas Corder shows us some points of view about defining adult. He presents some entries in which we could define What is an adult, like age, maturity, and life cycle, but we can't define what adult is by these concepts because we could find them in different kinds of people with different ages as well.
Like Nicholas says: "We are all products of our environment, our genes and our experiences" their ages, tastes, perceptions, politics, attitudes, knowledge, experience, aptitude, ability and intelligence are all different.

How will I attend to the individual learning style needs of the students, both instructionally and personally? 

The book show us that there are different kinds of learning styles like :
* Activist learning style.
* Theorist learning style.
* Reflector learning style.
* Pragmatist learning style.

We have to take into account all of them, because every single person learn from different ways and we have to pay specially attention to that.
Recognizing students' needs we'll be able to create a better learning environment for our students, specially adults. We have to motive them with themes of their interest in order to catch their attention.
We have to be prepared instructionally and personally for a good learning of our students and in order to satisfy their necessities in education.

How will I see growth in the learners according to their stated needs/goals, as well as my course goals?

We will see that growth by the results of our students' evaluations, and in their performance in the class as well. Assessment is the right answer, assessment is part of any course and is vital for both you and your students to make judgments about their progress.
Students assessment begins at the very first session, there are 3 types of assessment:

* Formative
* Summative
* Continuous Assessment.

Formative assessment is the kind of assessment that you will do as the course progresses. Summative assessment, on the other hand, takes place at the end of a unit or a course and continuous assessment is the combination of formative and summative assessment, instead of saving everything up for one big final  test, students are assessed at various stages of the course.

Something important is that we have to know that adult students like continuity of assessment. It enables them to set a series of shorter-term goals.

How do I use the learner's experiences within the instruction?

We have to catch our students attention and one important and valuable thing would be using their own experiences, in that way they will feel that their experiences are so important because we take them into account.
Using them in order to have a better learning, that's what a good teacher knows. Topics of their interest and according to their ages is something that we have to know when looking for information and when creating our classes. We as teachers can teach them how to apply English in their everyday life as their own experiences.
Something important: We have to get to know our students....

Learning to listen, Learning to teach.

Today's post is about a book which is called "Learning to teach, learning to listen: The power of Dialogue in Educating Adults" by Jane Vella.

My comments would be specifically about Part 1 (A process that works and why) including topics like "Twelve Principles for effective Adult Learning" and "Quantum thinking and Dialogue Education".

Also I'll be answering the question:

Why does Danah Zohar call dialogue a quantum process?

TWELVE PRINCIPLES FOR EFFECTIVE ADULT LEARNING.

As we know teaching to adults is so different and sometimes kind of difficult, we already know how's to work with kids at kindergartens and to work with teenagers, all of them has different likes and interests.

The approach to adult learning based on these principles holds that adults have enough life experience to be in dialogue with any teacher about any subjects and will learn new knowledge, attitudes or skills best in relation to that life experience.

1. Needs assessment:

This principle is about participation of the learners in naming what is to be learned. It's pretty important to know what they really need to learn because when adult learners are bored or indifferent, it means their themes have been neglected in the design of the course. One important thing that we have to know is: needs assessment not form the course;  it informs it.

2. Safety:

In this principle safety refers to safety in the environment and the process as well. We create a context for learning. That context can be made safe.

Safety is a principle linked to respect for learners as decision makers of their own learning.

3. Sound relationships:

Sound relationships between teacher and learner and among learners involve respect, safety, open communication, listening and humility; by doing this learners feel safe enough to share their true feelings.

4. Sequence and reinforcement:

Sequence means the programming of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in an order that goes from simple to complex and from group supported to solo efforts.

Reinforcement means the repetition of facts, skills, and attitudes in diverse, engaging, and interesting ways until they are learned.

5. Praxis:

Praxis is a Greek word that means "action with reflection or learning by doing".

It is an ongoing process, of course we use it in our daily lives all the time as we do something, reflect on its implications, and change. In a learning situation; we can use case studies inviting description, analysis, application, and implementation of learning.

6. Respect for learners as decision makers:

Respecting learners as decision makers if their own learning is a principle that involves the recognition that adults are in fact decision makers in a large part of their lives.

7. Ideas, Feelings, Actions.

We know that learning involves more than cognitive material (ideas and concepts). It involves feeling something about the concepts (emotions) and doing something (actions).

Learning with the mind, emotions, and muscles and giving attention to the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects of adult learning is a principle that is often neglected.

8.Immediacy:

Adult learners need to see the immediate usefulness of new learning: the skills, knowledge, or attitudes they are working to acquire.

9. Clear roles:

Another vital principle of adult learning is recognition of the impact of clear roles in the communication between learner and teacher.

Adults students need to reinforcement of the human equity between teacher and student and among students. It takes time for adults to see themselves and the teacher in a new role.

10. Teamwork:

Team work is itself both a process and a principle. Teams provide, in the adult learning experience, a quality of safety that is effective and helpful.

Team work can't be taken for granted. What happens in the team is what is happening every day. As adult educators we must remember that feelings are never simulated.

11. Engagement:

Through learning tasks we invited learners to engage themselves actively in the strategic issues of their organizations and of the community. This is quantum thinking: learning as a process of a participative universe.

12. Accountability

How do they know they know? Who is accountable to whom? First, the design of learning events must be accountable to the learners. What was proposed to be taught must be taught; what was meant to be learned must be learned: the skills intended to be gained must be visible in all the learners; the attitudes taught mus be seen; the knowledge conveyed must be manifest in adult learners' language and reasoning.

QUANTUM THINKING AND DIALOGUE EDUCATION

I would start talking about quantum thinking by answering this question:

Why does Danah Zohar call dialogue a quantum process?

Danah Zohar calls a quantum process, the means of doing quantum thinking.

But, What is quantum thinking? 

Quantum thinking means looking at the world in a new way.

The purpose of dialogue education is to evoke optimal learning with adults. It is designed from a set of assumptions about the nature of society and human beings.

A new semester with Didactic's World.

Far from my blog since a couple of months I would start today with a new post :)
This semester is for Didactic 3 and I'll be sharing with you all the new and important knowledge that I will be acquiring through the days.
Today's post is about some chapters of the book "Teaching by principles" by Douglas Brown, specifically chapters 13 and 14 of the old version of the book.

I've been reading this chapters and they're so interesting because they show us a lot of information pretty helpful for us as teachers. There are some things that I already knew it but there are some other information that I didn't know as well.

Chapter 13 is named: Classroom Management
and
Chapter 14 is named: Strategies-Based Instructions.


After reading them, I had to answer these questions:
1.How is order set up and kept in learning environment?
2.What is the impact of strategies-based instructions on teaching English as a foreign language?

Now I present  my thoughts about these questions.

1.How is order set up and kept in learning environment?

There is a full set of points that are necessary  to set up and kept order in learning. First of all class environment  is very important because when students have a well-decorated classroom they would feel encourage to learn the language. Physically the classroom must be neat, clean, orderly in appearance and if it's possible free from external noises.
Talking about seating arrangement, student's desks should facilitate interaction within them and group or pair work. Another very important point is your voice and body language; you should know how to use them in order to have and understandable class.
Being prepared to work under adverse circumstances is something so important as is to play all the roles a teacher has. A good learning style contributes to order because if you use a good one, you would have all your students attention and primarily their learning would be in the best way. A positive classroom climate and the balance between praise and criticism would create self-confidence in the students, so it means order, behavior and participation would be better.

2.What is the impact of strategies-based instructions on teaching English as a foreign language?

The impact of SBI is that focusing in our teaching techniques and methodology we can encourage, build and sustain effective learning in our students.
By teaching them how to look at themselves and how to capitalize on their talents and experiences, they would learn lessons that would carry them beyond any language classroom. So it means they won't just stay with what they have learned in class and they would look for information by their own.
Learning strategies are germane to the eventual success of learners.