Which philosophical and corricular orientations describe your own teaching?
My own teaching has a little bit of positivism and constructivism in it. One one hand, there are certain standards and methods I tend to be very direct about- one answer, one way to get it. However, there are also many standards that we explore as a classroom and arrive at a decision or answer together in many different ways (constructivism). Problem solving is a big deal to me. I want to create students who can think for themselves. When they come across an unfamiliar situation, I want my students to use their knowledge to come to a decision.
Which ones describe the dominant approaches in your school?
My school is very much into the development of the cognitive process. My leadership team likes things to happen in a streamline sequence of events sort of way. Teachers who like to think outside the box and offer students different ways of learning have a hard time adjusting to the leadership. However, to their credit, they are starting to look at certain teachers and realize the value in letting students come to conclusions outside normal processes.
What orientations apply to the problesms you are facing?
Assessment is a big issue at my school. We have so many assessments going on, the kids are overtested and the teachers don't know how to use all the data. A Holism orientation might do us some good. We need to take all the parts and start looking at a big picture. Instead of using the tests as separate entities, we need to look at them as a whole.
