Student-Centered Instruction Philosophy

Rausch

When I first started my teaching courses here at Ferris I never thought about having a
specific approach to my teaching style. My assumption was that Ferris would give me
some guidance and send me on my way into a classroom. Through this course, I see
the significance of having a specific style of instruction and the success it can have in
the classroom. The constructivist approach to teaching begins with the simple concept
that the instructor cannot solely give the students the knowledge. Rather, constructivism
gives the students the ability to discover these concepts themselves. Several of the
teachers I had in high school werent bad, but they just gave us the information we
needed to know and sent us on to the next class. The few teachers that made us work
and expanded my thinking are the teachers continue to make a difference in my life
outside of their classroom. Of course, I want to make a difference in my students lives,
but you can only do this through your teaching. I aspire to teach so I can help my
students be critical thinkers and problem solvers. Successful teaching can be timeconsuming, but its important to take the time and know your students. Constructivism
provides the chance for you to do these things in your everyday teaching and it creates
an effective teaching and learning environment.
The environment of your classroom is as important to the success of your student as
the style of learning you are promoting. Negative physical factors can make it difficult for
learners and teachers to relax and pay attention, (Hutchinson, 2003). In my classroom I
think it is most beneficial to have students at tables. Having students together so they
are free to interact with each other allows them to discuss amongst themselves. At the
same time, all of the tables can face the front of the classroom when you are teaching
the class as a whole. From my experience one of the biggest mistakes teachers make,
especially at the high school level, is pure lecture. In my classroom I want to keep things
more livelily, do experiments, move around, and create work groups. These groups
force your students to use teamwork to accomplish a task. Classrooms guided by
constructivist understandings often have a workshop-like atmosphere, (Falk, 1994). My
goal is to produce a place where the students are comfortable to voice their opinions.
This has to be maintained by providing a place for students to learn when gaps of
knowledge arise rather than a time to be ridiculed by other classmates, (Hutchinson,
2003). All of these things can be controlled by me and it is my responsibility to make
sure my classroom is the best environment for my students to succeed.
The ideal classroom that I would like to be placed in only comes from my experience as
a student. Of course, shorter class periods make it easier to keep the students attention
and focus. However, too short might not allow you to get through a lesson and therefore
your students would leave mid-lesson. A perfect class period would be about an hour
long. It provides enough time for instruction and a hands-on activity to tie everything
together. Ive always been drawn to math and I realize several students despise the
subject, but that is what draws me to it. I aspire to teach those who struggle with math
and change their minds. However, I hope to have those students who excel so I have
the opportunity to challenge them with something new. My major is at the secondary
level, but more specifically I would love to be a high school teacher. Im attracted to this
age because its a critical time in a teenagers life. They are springing out from their
parents and becoming their own person. I want to be able to help the students grow and

Student-Centered Instruction Philosophy

Rausch

learn in a positive way. My high school is from a more rural area and I loved the size of
my high school. It wasnt too big, but not too small, this is an ideal school that Id like to
teach in. The following things are an ideal situation, but as a new teacher I realize that I
am not going to be able to choose exactly the type of school I want to teach in. Rather,
Id like to come with the optimism to create a positive work environment without the
dependency on the idea situation.
Constructivism may not be the easiest approach or the least time consuming, but it is
the best model to give every one of my students the opportunity to be successful. This
type of method means a substantial amount of time outside of the classroom preparing
and truly discovering the roots of your students knowledge. According to Slavin (2009)
cognitive change takes place only when previous conceptions go through a process
of disequilibration in light of new information, (p.231). This is especially relevant to
math, when you learn a new method of doing math it takes previous knowledge and
combines them to create a fresh way of thinking. When Im teaching a new lesson of
math I want to try to refrain from giving my students the theorems or equations they are
going to need. Instead, I hope to derive the theorem or equation together, this way when
they use this new method to solve a problem they will have a better understanding of
how to use it and they will remember it. More specifically I want to incorporate
cooperative learning into my plans. Placing students into cooperative learning groups
and combining instruction with interaction with their peers helps reinforce the new
concept. One important aspect with cooperative learning groups in making sure mixedability groups are integrated in the lesson. This way every member can learn, the
struggling student is able to learn from the student doing better, then the student doing
better is able to better the information he/she is teaching. The power of this is that the
students become comfortable in their own group and are not ashamed to ask questions
about information they dont understand.
Constructivist principles are based on student centered instruction. This is a newer type
of instruction that focuses on developing a student who can think critically and is able to
apply what they are learning to real life (Falk, 1994). In contrast, is a more direct
approach where the teacher tells the students what they need to know. The value of
allowing them to think about it, is that the student expands their thinking process by
discovering the concept on their own and then they can better apply it because the
understanding is so much greater. In addition, cooperative learnings goal is to provide
the students with a comfort place where they can learn at their own pace while having
classmates around them to help. Creating groups makes each and every student take
their own learning into their own hands. It puts a responsibility on the individuals and the
groups as a whole to make sure no one is left out (Glosser). At the same time they are
learning valuable life skills about working together and the principle of working things
out when two group members disagree. The goal as the teacher is to find groups that
can work together well and help each other out. Classrooms are set up to include
cooperative learning and peer teaching situations so that students can talk together
freely as well as question and argue with each other about ideas, (Falk, 1994).
Constructivism uses scaffolding to assist the student to reach the next level of thinking
known as The Zone of Proximal Development. During class discussions I want to use

Student-Centered Instruction Philosophy

Rausch

scaffolding to provide my students with open-ended questions so the student can feel
successful when they arrive at the answer, but if they are having trouble I can assist
them further, however never telling, until they come to the right conclusion. Through this
approach it helps the student better understands the required material in a higher order
manner than just simply telling them. It puts a new perspective on learning for the
student and its a much more interactive approach which ultimately is more effective.
Planning is a big part of constructivism and not just simply planning activities. When
teaching a lesson I want to have a written out plan that has open-ended questions that I
plan to ask my students. This way I can have them already thought out and dont run
into the obstacle of thinking of a involved question on the spot. Implementing
constructivism in my classroom means that I will have to improvise and allow things to
change as needed. It is important that anticipate potential problems a student may
come across when trying to discover a new concept and then already have a plan of
action to help them resolve it. In every classroom you will have students that excel and
students that struggle. Teaching in this approach it could be easy to keep going and
leave behind the students that are struggling, although, this is where the cooperative
learning groups come in. Using mixed ability groups I want to use peer tutoring to help
those who are struggling and those who excel to better understand the material when
teaching it to their classmates. An obstacle that might present itself is time, it is ideal
that when you move on to new concepts that every student understands the old
concept, but this is extremely difficult. It is going to be hard to move on to other topics in
class knowing that some students dont fully understand the old information. Im hoping
this is where after school can come into play. I can provide tutoring or extra help for
them to still master the prior information even though weve already begun to move on.
Constructivism is going to be a hard approach to implement into my classroom, but
hopefully through the proper amount of time and preparation I can allow my students to
be as successful as they can possibly be both inside and outside of my classroom walls.

References
Falk, B. (September 1994). Teaching the way Children Learn. S. C. Curriculum
Leadership Institute in the Art. Retrieved from
http://coe.winthrop.edu/tepc/research/Articles/FALKARTICLE.HTM
Glosser, G. (n.d). Cooperative Learning Techniques. Math Goodies. Retrieved from
http://www.mathgoodies.com/articles/coop_learning.html
Hutchinon, L. (12 April 2003). Educational Environment. ABC of Learning and Teaching.
Retrieved from http://www.bmj.com/content/326/7393/810
Slavin, R. (2009). Education Psychology. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Kevin M.
Davis.