Reflections on Teaching

It has been a pretty quick two weeks, starting with a short presentation on educational topics and (almost) ending with microteaching. As someone who is vocationally engaged in education, though many of the concepts and theories are not new to me, it is good to be refreshed in them and rethink my teaching routines and practices through the lessons and class discussions.

Self-Regulation

From the start, the concept of self-regulation, which my team was assigned to present, is a concept relevant to both my vocation and personal life. Many of my considerations on my teaching approaches as a teacher (which need to be continuously evolving due to the unique context of each classroom) can be reduced to choosing between a teacher-directed, transmission-based method which efficiently deliver the subject content, and a facilitation of self-regulated learning practices on the part of the students. Much of my struggle with the students is between letting students indulge in a teacher-dependent learning environment where I am the one initiating learning, and expecting more self-regulation in the students (for their own benefit). Having a clearer conceptualisation of self-regulation – especially the three phases of pre-, during and post-learning – is certainly useful in my planning for future lessons. This is definitely relevant for Christian education, where we encourage believers to regulate their own biblical and practical learning.

            On a personal level, the concept of self-regulation is certainly good reflection and evaluation for my own life. Regulating my own motivation to learn used to be something I readily do in my younger days – by framing my reasons for attending training, taking up courses, or even self-learning; but in recent years (or decade!), I have become lazy (despite still maintaining an eagerness to learn), and had let myself be readily satisfied by following a routine workflow in both ministry and work, and by letting the structured programme in AGBC (more recently ACTS College J) carry me along. Furthermore, there is much room which I could work on concerning monitoring and evaluating my own learning progress. Though not all personal learning processes need to be passed through a stringent monitoring and evaluation (that would be real’ tiring!), but certain major personal goals could do with more deliberate supervision.

Models of Teaching

            Without delving into the nature vs nurture debate, I believe we all agree that we are very much influenced by our nurture. Of this, one very significant element is the educational process we went through. The contrast between “violent” and redemptive models of teaching lends to me a clearer perspective on the connection between education and my Christian faith. While I had previously been conscious of the effect of the fallenness of man in the structures and processes of education, the lesson on the models of teaching highlight specifics in our educational practices which reinforce our alienation from each other. Grading students through ranking necessarily dictates a competitive view on education, and on a macro level this promotes an inequality in knowledge and success. I believe this plays a role by extension in contributing to the competitive culture in work culture. Of course, all alienation is ultimately rooted in our human fallenness and not any external structure, but societal structures serve to reinforce on a macro level what already exist at an individual level.

            Alienation does not occur just between students as fostered by a competitive attitude, but also between the students and the world they live in as education is viewed mainly as a tool to better life for oneself instead of understanding one’s relationship to the environment of the world (as pointed out and extensively elaborated by Palmer in his To Know as We Are Known).

Considering the significance of education in impacting students’ thinking and orientation to life, a clear view of the effects of educational practices would be highly beneficial for selecting those who inclines towards a redemptive model. This is especially true of Christian education, which is supposed to be transformative in nature.

Contextual Challenges to Teaching

The lesson on contextual challenges to teaching is a practical reflection on approaches to education. The world has certainly changed tremendously in the past century, and it will definitely continue to do so, perhaps even at a faster pace. One challenge for educators is to engage younger generations through the culture and language native to them. As much as I try to speak in the language of my students, I need to guard myself against inner resistance to certain changes which might hinder connection with young students. In the church, experienced believers are often guides and mentors to the younger church members, but they could only exert impactful influence to the extent which they could connect relevantly with them.

            The use of technology is certainly a challenge, especially with the fast pace of development. This challenge is particularly acute for the older generation where information technology is a recent phenomenon which they have not engaged with for a large part of their student and work life.  I could certainly expect similar development in my life time, and the challenge is for me to continuously keep in touch with new innovations which are relevant to educational approaches.