Negotiating with learners – initial assessment, agreeing goals and actions
Why is this topic relevant to my teaching?
Negotiating with learners is a key process that teachers and learners must undertake jointly for agreeing about learning goals and action plans, which should move the learner forward on the pathway of learning. As a result, the learners’ gains a sense of responsibility for their learning and is less likely to drop out or disrupt the class through lack of interest. (www.teesidesilversmith.com; accessed on 19 / 01 / 11). Involving learner in this process aids the ownership of the targets and creates useful discussion to inform the most appropriate goals and targets for the learner. I teach chemistry to learners seeking to achieve their A- levels over a period of two academic years. As explained above, a topic of “negotiations with learners” is very much relevant to my teaching, because it helps me to understand - how to obtain an optimal educational environment and curriculum that meet the needs of learners, teacher and curriculum provider through discussion and compromise.
How might I research this topic?
I might have researched this topic in the following ways: (i) discussing this topic with my colleagues – their experiences and methodology for negotiating with learners; (ii) performing and analysing the target setting exercise with learners at the workplace; (iii) preparing a questionnaire and asking learners to express their opinion; (iv) referring to relevant books available in the College library; and (v) referring to relevant websites by using internet.
How did I actually research this topic?
I have actually researched this topic by: (i) referring to relevant books and websites, which are recorded under the reference; (ii) at the College, I carried out an exercise of agreeing goals and actions in November 2010, and in January 2011. The short term goals agreed in November were mainly related to January modular examination; and were...