TDT: Developing Effectiveness in Teaching and Learning
During my time in high school I struggled with finding my passion in certain subjects throughout my A- Levels. After I decided to resit a year at school with an array of completely random subjects (Psychology, Philosophy, Media Studies and Music), I found my passion grow for each subject for no reason other than the way in which these teachers taught them. In particular, Psychology and Philosophy.
In Philosophy, a subject which could be taboo at times, in particular when discussing the existence of God and Evils in the world. Something which was completely new to me in a school environment. My teacher, Miss G would start every lesson with a thought provoking (often controversial) question which she would present to the class. This one question would often take us into the middle of the lesson, discussing all the ins and outs of what we thought with one another and her. Often the class would be split in half with 2 different opinions debating with one another. Of course, we would have lessons where we would study the textbook, but Miss G would always keep the class excited for the following lesson where we may be able to have these discussions again. I think the reasons we may have liked these discussion topics which she presented to us, was because it was so controversial. We felt special that we were in a class where you could discuss things that we wouldn’t necessarily discuss in other subjects like Geography and Chemistry. Seeing as we were a British School in the Middle East, where discussions about religion could be taboo at times, we felt even more special and kept us completely engrossed in the subject matter. I particularly remember that even though Miss G would let her students discuss her thought provoking questions, she would never reflect her own beliefs onto us to change our minds. She would contradict our arguments often with a counter point and lead us to think deeper about her point, however she never revealed to us her own opinions.
Miss G would continuously keep us at the forefront of her schedule, making herself available for any question we may have throughout the week, out with and within lesson time. This also let us know that there was no ‘bad time’ to discuss things on our mind. And that helped us develop our own opinions and thoughts outside of class. This really helped drive my passion for Philosophy and learning as a whole, embedding the idea that learning should ideally occur in and out of the school buildings.
