Monday, February 16, 2009
My Beliefs:Teaching/ Learning- Catholic School
My Beliefs

My beliefs on Catholic school learning and teaching are predicated on my own learning experiences in Catholic schools (grades K-undergraduate), which were very Industrial Age (I.A.), and also my own teaching in secular schools. In the days of my early learning, the focus was on intellectualism/"reason," without a New Age (N.A.), holistic approach to the individual student. (This is a true generalization. There were definitely wonderful exceptions.) There were traditional adherence to assessing a student solely on his or her test scores. The teacher played the classic role of autocratic expert and enforcer. In high school students were placed in the "A," "B," and "C" groups. The students in "A" were the smartest, etc., smart/dumb labeling and stratification at its height. Subjects by and large were taught as individual compartments; a rare field trip exposed us to the outside world of books. Still, I thrived in this environment and thought my academic learning experience was superior, despite its rigors. So, when I started teaching, I followed this classic I.A. model. I was somewhat of a tough, rule-oriented teacher, viewing students as a general group, evaluating their overall accomplishment largely on test grades or major assignments. I definitely emphasized highly structured book learning, with students rarely doing collaborative assignments. I expected them to produce on their own, just like I had. Worked for me, why wouldn't it for them?

Implementation

Times have changed. It didn't long in teaching for me to realize, that the more effort you put into understanding an individual student, the more he or she would derive and meet expectations. Gradually over the years, I shifted my attention from the "whole" group to individuals via increased office hours and availability right before and after class. A very important and apparently effective N.A.-type teaching vehicle I began to increasingly use was specific, constructive suggestions on student writings and tests. This was to become hallmark as it was almost like a private tutoring session, but just on paper. This is standard fare now, but at the time, it was quite a switch in emphasis for me. I instituted small group exercises and student peer-review. Adding mini-assignments of writing and oral presentation gave the students room to shine outside of their tests. Students were allowed to choose the topics of their writing assignments where appropriate. That always made the learning experience more meaningful. As far as grades, I didn't even want to give them anymore because I increasingly came to believe that lower ones did stigmatize the students. Grades still had to be assigned. (There must be a better way.) Further, I encouraged comparative studies, especially of the impact of religion on the laws of individual nations. We were going global. In sum, I will incorporate these N.A. approaches and as well some I.A. methods in my teaching in Catholic schools. Structured outlining is still important to know; discipline in studying is still needed! In any event, the key facet of my teaching there will be conveying the spiritual component in all learning, with a view to the importance of interfaith understanding, a holistic approach all the way.