S. Anuki Turner
Mathematics and Media Teacher
My Teaching Philosphy
I believe the essence of education is growth. The environment of education should be life itself. Growth through experience is the open-ended goal of education. We need to provide an education for the “whole child”, attending to all the needs and interests of each student. Learning takes place through the experience of problem-solving projects by which the students are led from practical issues to theoretical principles. I believe in developing a growth mindset by helping students to believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
Teachers are role models, who inspire and encourage students to strive for greatness, live to their fullest potential and see the best in themselves. Much of what students learn from their greatest teachers is not detailed on a syllabus but realised in all areas of school life. Teachers who help students grow as people are responsible for imparting some of life’s most important lessons. School is as much a place of social learning as academic learning, and this is true, not only in our early years of education, but all the way through. Teachers are people who students admire and people they aspire to be like. Students learn through teachers, through their commitment to excellence and through their ability to make students realize their own personal growth. Teachers are looked to for advice and guidance. In school students learn to become responsible citizens.
I am a maths teacher. This statement is perceived very differently in different cultures. In the UK it is often met with disdain by adults and students who say, “I am not good at maths” or “I can’t do maths”. In Asian cultures parents are excited to meet a maths teacher, a lot of times they see maths as a necessary step on a ladder to success in higher education or they are focused on the benefits maths offers in financial careers. I think maths is more important than this, it teaches people the vital skills that are essential for all careers. Flexibility, communication, team-work and sheer persistence are all qualities that employers are looking for and building these skills is the most important aspect of maths.
Developing a growth mindset in my students is important to me, helping students to believe that everyone can do well at maths. Encouraging and showing the benefits of mistakes and what we can learn from them creates a positive atmosphere in my classroom. Using low-floor high-ceiling tasks to build up problem solving skills and differentiate for all levels helps students to realise enrichment and deeper learning is more valuable than speed. Using coaching experience I choose to nurture my students to achieve their full potential, help them to overcome obstacles and barriers to their growth in learning, and to help them to see finishing tasks and challenges as a means to fulfilment.
Since then I have moved on to use Google-forms and Google-Spreadsheets to give personalised feedback to students for every test or internal examination. I created a method where every student receives a traffic lighted percentage for each question on a test. Not only can they see the questions they struggled with but they also see a description of the topic and a link to an online task for each question to help them move forward. This new form of test and exam feedback has been highly regarded by the members of the department and I have helped them to implement it with their classes.
The use of technology in schools is growing everyday, but knowing ways to use it efficiently where it helps to introduce or consolidate or even approach a concept from a new perspective is a skill that I have acquired. As a Google educator currently in the process of gaining certification as a trainer, I help others in the school to use technology in their lessons and also show others how to use it to quicken admin tasks and formative reporting. I am always interested to see how technology can improve a student’s learning. One of the first things I did when joining South Island was to introduce the department to mymaths, which has now become a staple that we use especially for topic revision. Over the last six years our school has been changing most of its resources to apple mac based programs. I did a lot of research for the department into new programs that we could use which included Geogebra and Scratch. I also offered one-to-one teaching sessions for some members of the department. I always try to include and showcase on-line resources that the students will enjoy such as Manga High and Lure of the Labyrinth, both of these teach Maths through games and offer a very different perspective to a topic. To improve communication with students and parents I have been using educational social networks. I use Edmodo with all my classes and use Blendspaces, which incorporate online notes, podcasts, videos and links that relate to what the students have been learning. Students have started to use the page as a place where they feel comfortable asking questions and helping each other with Maths related problems. The parents have also really appreciated using this social network as it helps them to see what the students are learning.
Flexibility, communication, team-work and sheer persistence are all qualities that I have helped to build up in other aspects of school life as well. Our year 7 students are taken on a five-day camp. The students are split into tribes with two teachers assigned to each tribe. From the start I encouraged my tribe to work together from setting up tents to supporting each other in the team-building tasks such as building a raft. In all the activities I helped them learn how to depend on each other as well as to assist when others struggle, this was clear in the gorge walk when the physically stronger students helped some of the others to climb up the larger rocks. In the dance activity week I organised, I encouraged my students to ignore their inhibitions whilst learning the new dances, to work as a team and coach others, to strive to produce the best performance they could.
I promote of the ideals of peace, respect and understanding both in school as well as out of school. On the two recent international schools trips I co-led we incorporated service; in New York the students worked in a Soup Kitchen and in Paris the students helped in a retirement home. The students in both cases learnt how to serve and care for the sick and the suffering with the spirit of humanity. I have taught PSE in several schools; both as a tutor as well as a separate subject. I know the importance of equipping children and young people with knowledge, understanding, attitudes and practical skills to live healthy, safe, productive, fulfilled, capable and responsible lives. I try to bring these principles into other lessons as well, in my media lessons students are creating infomercials on the dangerous effects of cyber-bulling. Also in these lessons I have shown students examples of how media has affected the world we live in, and the way we perceive it. I have encouraged them to be knowledgeable of media sources and to ensure that they are active citizens of an informed society.
Whether it is running CPD sessions for other teachers on technology and growth mindset teaching or being a member of the curriculum group in the CIS/WASC accreditation I am involved in bettering the school in all the ways that I can. In my previous leadership position in the department my role was Assessment for Learning. This meant that I was in charge of all the rubrics for our new gateway reporting system (ARR). I made sure to take on board ideas and improvements from each teacher and I used this to make the system more user friendly.