“First impressions are very important and no less so for teachers introducing themselves to their class for the first time” (Bosch, 2006, p.23) This session was our first session with Mark and therefore we started with an introduction from him in order to get to know him as a tutor and also allow him to find out who we are as individuals.
Mark was extremely interested in getting to know myself and my peers as individual people during this first part of the session also, this allowed us to understand that Mark takes a very humanistic approach to teaching by allowing the students to have the chance to talk and portray their ideas thoughts and feelings. Martin and Loomis (2013) back up this statement by identifying that a teacher who takes a humanistic approach to teaching does not focus solely on the material which is to be taught, they also focus on the class and their interests, thoughts, feelings, likes and dislikes as an individual.
We were then introduced to the new module, 21st Century Identities. This past of the session was extremely important for myself as although I has researched the module through moodle, I was struggling to feel confident with understanding what the module’s outcome were and needed this clarification.
Abraham Maslow, developed a theory in which he states that for an individual to reach their potential, they must first meet other basic needs. These needs are displayed in a pyramid with the most basic needs at the bottom leading up the self-actualisation (Jarvis, 2005). In order to reach self-actualisation, an individual must first satisfy the needs below. Therefore, once an individual has met their most basic needs such as food and warmth, their safety needs then become paramount, followed by their love/belonging needs.
This session runs from 1pm and therefore myself and my peers had already had their dinner and given the opportunity to fulfil our most basic needs. The next need on Maslow’s hierarchy which needed to be fulfilled is safety. Being introduced to mark at the beginning of the lesson and being given the chance to ask questions allowed me to feel comfortable and safe which then allowed me to focus on my belonging need, the next need on the hierarchy. Steere (1988) identifies that a student will fulfil this need when they feel accepted by their class friends for example.
Following the initial introduction, we were then asked to take part in a ‘KAHOOT’ quiz which was based around company logos. I really enjoyed this part of the session and using technology to emphasise learning within the classroom. I also believe that this part of the session eliminated all our first session nerves with the use of technology. The ‘KAHOOT’ quiz made everyone feel included within the group while also allowing a fun, low pressure environment.
This part of the session allowed me to build relationships with my peers and fulfil the ‘belonging’ need on Maslow’s hierarchy as it sparked fun conversation with my peers allowing me to feel accepted. I also believe that this task also impacted the next stage of Maslow’s hierarchy, ‘esteem’ as I found myself feeling confident and engaging well within the session. Steere (1988) states that a student can develop their ‘esteem’ need when receiving recognition. During the KAHOOT quiz, the scores for each question were displayed on the board and each time a student got into the top five we were praised by both Mark and our peers which definitely helped me to feel recognised and boosted my confidence. Legge and Harar (2000) state that humanist educators improve self-esteem by making student feel cared for and giving them positive feedback.
I feel that following the introduction to the online, game-based learning platform, I will enjoy using it again. ‘KAHOOT’ is a fun, interactive way of learning or assessing students in a number of environments. It is also up to date with society as users are able to access and take part in the quizzes via modern smartphone technology. This is also another benefit of this digital learning platform as it is accessible from anywhere.
For the next part of the session we were shown ‘ten things’ which reflected Marks attributes. This part of the session allowed us to get to know Mark more and build a relationship by discussing these ten things and how they reflect Marks personality. Kyriacou (1997, p.101) reports that “The relationship between teacher and pupils is of fundamental importance to effective teaching”.
During this part of the session we were able to discover that honesty and trust are two of Mark’s personality traits which he finds very important followed by being sensitive and empathic. These personality traits are described by Legge and Harari (2000) as those which a humanistic teacher will hold. This insight into Marks personality also allowed us to understand our boundaries and Marks authority without being given this information directly.
This part of the session also catered for our learning needs as it enabled us to understand our homework task in more depth which was to create our own presentation containing ten things which reflect ourselves.
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Reference List
Bosch, K. (2006) Planning Classroom Management: A Five-Step Process to Creating a Positive Learning Environment. California. Corwin Press.
Jarvis, M. (2005) The Psychology of Effective Learning and Teaching. Cheltenham. Nelson Thornes Ltd.
Kyriacou, C. (1997) Effective Teaching in Schools: Theory and Practice. Cheltemham. Nelson Thornes Ltd.
Legge, K. and Harari, P. (2000) Psychology and Education. Oxford. Heinemann Educational Publishers.
Martin, D. and Loomis, K. (2013) Building Teachers: A Constructivist Approach to Introducing Education. Belmont. Cengage Learning.Steere, B. (1988) Becoming an Effective Classroom Manager. New York. State University of New York Press.
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