Entry 7

Learner-Centered Teaching [LCT}
The reading for this week was focused on Learner-Centered Teaching [LCT] in which I read about from an excerpt along with a chapter from McKeachie.

The excerpt summarized the ways to make a classroom learner-centered as well as giving a list of ways that it is not. There is a type of power or control that a teacher has over his/her students. Although many might believe that this is the way it should be and that there has to be some type of power role in the classroom, it can inhibit the way students learn along with their motivation to do so. The best way to become learner-centered is to brush away the level of power a teacher has over the students.

Before reading this I have only thought briefly about the power role a teacher can play within a classroom, but the excerpt laid out all of the possible aspects that a teach may have power over. Such things included: the timeline of the course and in what order the material is covered, how the assignments and tests and written and administered, any type of policy from attendance to late work, and most importantly- the grading scheme of the course. The excerpt made it clear that such structure, as I listed a few above, can lead to a lack of interest from the students and set forth a standardized method of learning excepted from his/her students.
The excerpt described that learner-center teaching is a way to connect with ones’ students’ and share ‘the power’. This can be done by giving students options about assignments and ways of studying, giving them a variety of things to chose from rather than a specific set of obligations and no room for adjustments. It is also important that teachers focus on how their students are learning, not just how they are teaching. Maybe the teaching method isn’t working for a majority of the students- how can one change that to reach a broader audience at a stronger level?? It could also simply be just letting your students interact in the classroom and open the floor up to discussion and let them ask questions or contradict a topic they might not understand or disagree with.

On a similar note, but not as extent, McKeachie focused learner-centered teaching around the motivation a student has to learn. What does the teacher do to help his/her students become active in the classroom and have a desire to achieve ones’ goals and not just slide by.
Some things McKeachie included as methods of becoming more learner-centered are:
-Interpret how your students are feeling about a lecture. What are their verbal as well as non-verbal language expressing about their interest and understanding of the material?
-Engage your students directly with the lecture by asking questions and getting the involved with a discussion about the material.
-Increase motivation individualistically.


Incorporating learner-centered teaching into my own teaching

After reading both the article and the chapter from McKeachie, I would love to plan a class that focuses a lot on learner-centered teaching. I think that it is important to give students options because they will be more motivated to accomplish an assignment or task if they are able to pick and choose what will work best for them.

I also believe that if students have the ability choose such things, they make take more interest in the class which will result that student being able to achieve higher goals knowing they can correlate what they want to learn, with what they actually get to learn. Allowing students to have just ‘freedom’ may allow them to feel as though they have the chance to actually express themselves along with their interests on a variety of levels and with other students.

In the class I am currently teaching, public speaking, the course is set on a strict timeline as to what needs to be done each class period and when items are due. When it comes to points for the course, there really isn’t too many offered besides the speeches and exams. I find this such an unfair way to grade a course because a simple exam or a speech could really make or break a student’s grade. I would like to incorporate more assignments, that my students would feel necessary to the class, to help them earn a higher grade and to me that they understand the material by being able to represent it in a different format. Although public speaking is a speech-driven course, I feel as though there are so many aspects that make a person good at speaking that get looked over. I want to incorporate my students level of understanding of subject matter and give them the opportunity to explore new ways of learned the material and not just rely on me to have a set list of things that need to be covered, when they’re going to be covered, and how they’re going to be covered.


Why incorporating learner-centered teaching could be difficult
The main idea here is that the power should be shared between the teacher and the students, however it was also mentioned the teacher must still have some power. When first trying to develop such a way of teaching, I think there would be a fine-line between giving your students too much opportunities as well as not enough, depending on what you’re goal might be. It is possible that there would be a lot of diverse opinions, questions, concerns and learning strategies within a classroom which could easily cause chaos and more work for the teacher than expected.

Touching a bit on what the readings covered about allowing students to decide a timeline for assignments; this would be tricky. What might seem as an understandable deadline for one person may not even be near the next person. With only 22 students in my current class, I believe there could be some common ground, but for those who are teaching classes of 40 or more students could end up a complete headache.
Learner-centered teaching can also depend on the age level/maturity of your students. Not all of them are on the same intelligence level as one another and this good inhibit some from learning as many of their peers do. Public speaking is a course that consists mainly of freshman or sophomore level students. At that maturity, I wouldn’t expect many of them to understand time-management quite yet and just how long it could take to get an assignment completed. By this I mean they would be more prone to extend a speech as long as possible. In comparison, those students who are juniors or seniors, may have adapted time-management skills and understand what is or isn’t appropriate for a speech timeline. They take the assignments more seriously as many of them are now in a class where it involves an interest of theirs, such as a class more their major (if it was another course besides public speaking seeing as it is a freshman-level required course).

Trying to incorporate every student’s learning strategies using a variety of techniques could not only be chaos, but a mess for the professor. It could get out of hand if the professor tries too hard to please every student in different ways rather than focusing on the basics. Students may even feel the need to debate a teacher on specific issues; ones’ that they feel are appropriate for the course but the teacher may not find relevant.

As great as this learner-centered teaching probably is and sounds, I think it would be much for difficult to put into action; at least until a teacher has found a way to work out the kinks and pitfalls.


 

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