Early in my career when I started teaching without any formal learning on education and theories of knowledge, I used to follow certain elements of behaviorism that mostly include organizing and managing the classroom through various reinforcement techniques. In my early years I used to struggle in finding a balance between my teaching and engaging students. After a certain time I realized that things were not going my way and started planning on strategies to shift my approach towards a more student centered approach. I started emphasizing on lesson planning and understanding how children process the information that shows a strong connection to cognitive theories. This change came when I started my bachelors degree in education and learned the concept of educational psychology. This has helped me to move towards cognitive learning and got to know about children’ cognitive process and clear understanding on why some students struggled with simple concepts. These understanding allowed me to adapt cognitive theories in my teaching.
I remember one incident, when I was teaching in grade 2 and one girl raised a challenging question. Earth is known as a blue planet because its made up of water and you told water has no color has made me think again about my approach. I realized that teaching is not about delivering information but it’s about engaging and facilitating their critical thinking. This has led me to move towards a constructivist approach.
Over these years of my teaching career, my beliefs have changed significantly with the experiences. In the initial days I was more focused on delivering content and believed that subject mastery is important to be an effective teacher. With experience in the social sector and working for the improvement of underserved community children’s education has nurtured me the importance of inclusivity and holistic development of children.
Hi Aatif,
Its great to see how your teaching journey has evolved over time. Your teaching journey shows that teaching is not just imparting knowledge but engaging students in meaningful learning and fostering their critical thinking. I completely agree with you that its all about creating an environment where every child should feels valued and supported. Also, I love the way you have used your pictures in the blog and I am inspired from you that’s why I have also used my own pictures in my blog.
Thanks,
Gagan deep kaur
Thank you for sharing your journey, Aatif ! What fascinated me is that like me, even your teaching philosophy has evolved over time, especially your shift from a behaviorist to a more student-centered, constructivist approach. Your example about the Grade 2 student’s question really highlights the importance of fostering curiosity and critical thinking in the classroom. I love to see how your experiences and further education have deepened your understanding of cognitive processes and inclusivity. Good Post!
Hi Mohammad Aatif
You described your professional experience, explaining how you moved from a behaviorist approach to a cognitive approach and then to a constructivist approach to education. You mentioned that addressing student choice initially led you to critically consider various teaching strategies. Similarly, by motivating your students to ask more and more questions, you have effectively developed critical thinking in your class. I really appreciate the way you integrated educational psychology to develop cognitive approach in children which shows how a teacher needs to constantly update the various teaching methods as per the needs of the student and your experience of working in the social sector has also significantly shaped your perspective on the holistic development of children.
Thanku
Prabhdeep Kaur