Teaching and Learning

A significant learning experience for me were my senior years in high school - Year 11 and 12. I was at a new school, in a bigger town and having come from a school with only twelve students in my grade, I found it quite a distressing experience.

Although I fitted in well, I was having trouble getting used to the lack of one on one teaching and gradually fell behind in the subjects I was less interested in or just plain didn't understand (Maths and Economics). This was a new experience for me, as I had always had straight A's and just expected that this would continue.

Over time, I got used to the style of teaching and the sheer size of the class. However, the two subjects I had originally had trouble with both ended up with very different outcomes by the time I finished Year 12.

I excelled in Economics thanks to my teacher giving me more explanations and meaningful tasks. He explained significance, drew diagrams, watched movies, made us discuss concepts until we could talk about them in our sleep, related to real life, gave us BIG questions. He never just gave us the answer - we had to work it out ourselves. Every lesson or task was a challenge that helped us understand that little bit more. He scaffolded us until we could do it by ourselves. He always put so much effort into each class and had a great relationship with every student. Even to this day I remember almost everything he taught me and he is the reason why I wanted to become a teacher.

On the other hand, my marks continued to drop in Maths. I couldn't connect with the teacher, I didn't understand the relevance of what I was learning and I had to work so hard just to try and look like I was keeping up. I didn't understand even the basic concepts and ended up just doing the problems that I could do over and over again. I was lucky my friends were in the same class and they all came to my aid so that I would just pass each exam. On the end of every exam the teacher would write 'You're obviously not doing your homework'. I felt defeated, but my marks would always just get me over the line.

When I think back, I can't believe how much a teacher and subject matter can influence learning. It makes me realise that teachers need to notice what their students need. One on one is so valuable, as are meaningful, significant and engaging tasks.