Philippine Normal University

National Center for Teacher Education

Faculty of Arts and Languages

Taft Avenue, Manila

A Teaching Framework Based on the Constructivist Theory

Submitted by:

Angelie T. Magdasoc

II – 17 BSE English

Submitted to:

Prof. Maria Sarah Palma

I. Introduction

In my 12 years of studying, I have already experienced different strategies or

approaches implemented by my teachers. Well, I could say that some of those were

effective, and some were not. As a future educator, I was challenged to decide of what

approach I will use in teaching that will nurture my students’ minds to absorb and

understand what needs to be learned. I must choose the one which I think would really

ensure my student’s learning. At this point, I consider constructivism as the basis of my

teaching frame work, because I believe that it will provide my students a distinctive

educational experience through processing schemas and formulating new ideas by

themselves.

II. Background on Constructivism

Constructivism is basically a theory -- based on observation and scientific study

-- about how people learn. It says that people construct their own understanding and

knowledge of the world, through experiencing things and reflecting on those

experiences. When we encounter something new, we have to reconcile it with our

previous ideas and experience, maybe changing what we believe, or maybe discarding

the new information as irrelevant. In any case, we are active creators of our own

knowledge. To do this, we must ask questions, explore, and assess what we know.

In the classroom, the constructivist view of learning can point towards a number

of different teaching practices. In the most general sense, it usually means encouraging

students to use active techniques (experiments, real-world problem solving) to create

more knowledge and then to reflect on and talk about what they are doing and how their

understanding is changing. The teacher makes sure she understands the students'

preexisting conceptions, and guides the activity to address them and then build on

them.

III. Teaching Framework

A. Preparation

1) Setting concrete goals to achieve at the end of every discussion

It is already given that in order for every task to be successful, there are

certain goals which should be met. Teaching doesn’t just occur for nothing. We teach

because we want the students to learn. My goals are to make sure that my students will

be engaged in various activities that would make them construct their own ideas.

2) Preparing suitable instructional materials

Since I want them to be engaged in various activities, I should be able to

provide appropriate instructional materials. These materials should be something

manipulative, appealing, and are accessible to various levels of ability of the learners.

3) Preparing student assessments

Aside from typical written and oral examinations, student assessments

may also be concrete, meaning something that can be experienced by learners. I think

activities such as hands-on experiments, portfolio making, journal writing, problem

solving, and even those tasks involve in multiple intelligences will be very effective.

4) Mastering knowledge about the lesson

Letting my students construct their own ideas doesn’t mean that I will not

master my lessons anymore because the children will still need my help. Though I will

not give them the exact answers, I should still be there to support them so that they will

not come out to wrong ideas.

B. Learning Environment

1) Exposing students to a classroom environment that is full of respect

A classroom full of respect will definitely produce not just students of

knowledge but also students of values. It may create a harmonious relationship

between me and my students, and most probably between my students and their

classmates.

2) Establishing House Rules

I believe that creating something which students are obliged to follow will

develop their sense of responsibility, as well as their discipline. But of course, those

rules should be reasonable. I could also consider punishments but these should be

appropriate and should not be beyond the limit.

3) Maintaining the cleanliness and orderliness

An ideal classroom should always be kept dirt free and organized because

this affects the learning of the students. Unhealthy surroundings may disturb the

children making them uncomfortable while studying, so its better if I will prevent this to

happen.

4) Establishing a classroom routine

A routine is simply a set of procedures for handling both daily occurrences (e.g.,

taking attendance, starting a class period, or turning in assignments), and minor

interruptions of instruction, such as a student’s broken pencil or the arrival of a note

from the main office (Kosier, 1998; Savage, 1999). The essence of establishing routines

is to practice students to complete tasks without the teacher’s assistance. In this case,

two objectives will be accomplished according to Colvin & Lazar (1995):

(a) Students have more opportunity to learn.

(b) Teachers can devote more time to instruction.

C. Professional Responsibilities

1) Reflecting on my teaching style

I think this is one of the important things that I should do – to reflect on my

own way of teaching. I should do this from time to time so that I will be aware weather

my strategy is still effective and if it still suits my students’ learning ability because if not,

I should immediately seek for another strategy to perform.

2) Keeping accurate records

Records are so essential to monitor students’ performance so this should

be kept accurate and consistent. This will also help me identify the students who need

more attention.

3) Ensuring communication with students’ parents or guardians

As a teacher, I should keep in touch with my students’ parents and

guardians because I know that they also want to monitor their children’s school

performance. Moreover, communicating with them will help me understand my students’

different personalities.

4) Being professional always

Being professional means conforming to the customs or rules of my

chosen profession. One of these rules is making myself always available every time my

students’ will need me for consultation. Teaching profession does not end inside the

classroom because there are some instances when my students will need me even

we’re outside the academic context.

D. Manner of Instruction

1) Preparing suitable activities

Since I am building a constructivist classroom, my goal is to let my

students learn by doing. I should implement activities which will exhibit discovery,

hands-on, experiential, collaborative, project-based, and task-based learning. In this

case, I think I could use activities such as Brainstorming (e.i. the students will share

their schemas and insights with each other), Reciprocal Questioning (e.i. students work

together to ask and answer questions), Jigsaw (e.i. students become "experts" on one

part of a group project and teach it to the others in their group), Structured

Controversies (e.i. students work together to research a particular controversy)

(Woolfolk 2010).

2) Using questioning and discussion method

After involving my students to different activities, I will now proceed to

questioning and discussion method. First, I will ask them to share what they learn from

those activities, and then I will form good questions. In that case, every answer from

those questions will be discussed further.

3) Peer scaffolding and teacher-directed scaffolding

As a teacher I should create opportunities for peer scaffolding and

teacher-directed scaffolding. Scaffolding is a concept closely related to the idea of Zone

of Proximal Development. It is changing the level of support to suit the cognitive

potential of the child. In this case, peer and teacher-directed scaffolding is the process

of allowing interaction that encourage knowledge building, and therefore connects the

differences of knowledge levels within a classroom.

IV. Summary

The world is getting more advanced as time goes by. We, as future teachers are

challenged to also have advanced strategies in teaching to compete and adapt with the

present norms. But of course, that will be made possible by considering the different

theories developed by early scholars. As for me, I prefer the constructivist theory (or

constructionism). By using this as the basis of my teaching framework, I am building a

classroom which has students who create and discover ideas from their experiences.

I divided my teaching framework into 4 phases. First is reparation. This includes

setting concrete goals, preparing suitable instructional materials, as well as

assessments, and mastering my lessons. Second is building an ideal learning

environment which means creating a classroom full of respect, establishing house rules,

maintaining the cleanliness and orderliness and establishing a classroom routine. The

third one is professional responsibilities. It involves reflecting on my own teaching style,

keeping accurate records of my students, ensuring communication with my students’

parents or guardians and being always professional. And lastly I included three

manners of instruction and those are preparing suitable activities that would imply

discovery, hands-on, experiential, collaborative, project-based, and task-based learning;

Questioning and Discussion Method; and lastly, the peer and teacher-directed

scaffolding. I hope I could really implement these in the future for the sake of my

students’ learning.

REFERENCES

Cey, T. (2001). Moving towards constructivist classrooms. Retrieved October 14, 2013

from http://ed.fnal.gov/lincoln/el_constructivism.html

Ciesemier K., Gatz S., Meehan S., Marszalek C., & Pentek P. (2006). Assessing your

student’s learning (your project). Retrieved October 14, 2013 from

http://ed.fnal.gov/lincon/el_assessment.shtml

Constructivism (philosophy of education). (n.d.). Retrieved October 14, 2013 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constructivism_%28philosophy_of_education%29

Constructivism. (2004). Retrieved October 14, 2013 from

http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/constructivism/exploration.html