Hong Kong Baptist UniversityEDUC 1080

“To Sir With Love”Group 2

Introduction of the main characters(Role play ) Brief introduction to the movie Highlights of the movie Scenario and underlying philosophy discussion Related education issue discussion Messages from the film Limitations Feelings and Conclusion

Agenda

comes from British Guiana holds a degree in Communication

Engineering has had no prior teaching experience

Role Play (1) Characters - Mark Thackeray

student of Thackeray’s class troublemaker against Thackeray

Role Play (2)Characters - Bert Denham

Student of Thackeray’s class has a crush on Thackeray

Role Play (3)Characters - Pamela Dare

looks down on the students in North Quay, doesn’t care about the students at all discourages Thackeray from being a teacher

at North Quay

Role Play (4)Characters - Theo Weston

was scared of the students supports Thackeray on outings

Role Play (5)Characters - Gillian Blanchard

Brief introduction to the movie

It’s about… Mark Thackeray’s teaching experience Classify teaching as a temporary job Using different teaching methods to teach his

students Building trusting relationships with students Abandoning his engineer offer and deciding to

be a teacher

Racial discrimination and teaching Racial discrimination was still existed in the UK

during 1960s A student’s racial discrimination against Mr.

Thackeray was unintentionally

Unprivileged background students Came from unprivileged families Rejected by other schools Bad discipline and making troubles Ignoring rules and instructions Challenging teachers’ authority Not mature

Should they get more supports from society?

Highlights – minorities under education

At beginnings After adjustments

Methods Lectures (traditional and one-way)

Discussions (interactive)

Curriculum Stick with Curriculum(topics are restricted)

Free Curriculum(topics are free)

Materials Textbooks (limited in classroom)

Life experience ( field trips)

Focus Knowledge delivery only

Mutual respects and moral standard development

Teacher and students relationship

strange close

Highlights – Teaching methods

Which one is better?

Every student was studying under the same curriculum in the movie.

They all experienced the same, despite their different interests and abilities.

The curriculum was not suitable for all students! (e.g. A fat students was forced to do some exercise which was unachievable for him! Finally he was injured because of it!)

Both Pragmatism and Post – modernism reject all students studying under same curriculum!

Highlights - curriculum

Learning experiences

Learning outcomes

Attitude Discussion and Q & A section in class

RationObjectiveCalm

Skills Cooking class Cooking skills

Knowledge Travelling Museum Life related knowledge

Highlights – Learning experiences

What can students take away from their educational experiences?Are they similar to pragmatism’s idea?)

Mr. Thackeray

Mr. Theo Weston

Miss Blanchard

Mr. Bell ( PE teacher)

Pay respect to students

Yes No Yes No

Effective organizing

Yes No Yes No

Enthusiastic

Yes No Yes No

Students’ nature

Not mature but can be changed

Rubbish Naughty Rebellious

Highlights – comparison among different teachers

Let’s watch some video clips and discuss!!

Scenario and underlying philosophy discussion

Which Teacher do you agree with? Why?

Scenario 1

Do you support this teaching approach? Why?

Scenario 2

Should the teacher force the student to do the exercise which is beyond his ability?

Scenario 3

What do you think about the lesson?

Scenario 4

How would you assess Mr. Thackeray after watching the video?

Scenario 5

Do you think Mr. Thackeray’s change of methodology shows

his change of philosophical stance?

He want students to follow his instructions (to read the book).

Have high expectations and set high standards of achievement for their students.

Idealism

He use the same curriculum for all students regardless of their low-ability backgrounds.

Realists believe that subject matter knowledge and liberal education are for all people regardless of ethnicity, race, gender, or socioeconomics class.

Realism

In the beginning

Changed the traditional lecturing into interactional class.

Human intelligence comes about through a process of interaction.

Pragmatism

Breaking the traditional lecturing class and using a brand-new teaching method.Questioning the authority of canons, Postmodernists challenge their validity and see them in limited terms.

Post-modernis

m

After adjustments

Are you in favor of Mr. Thackeray’s change or

not?If you were him, what

adjustments would you make?

If education is not for achieving high grades and going on to University, what is it for then? Attitude? Skills? Knowledge? Any others? What do you think?

Issue based discussion one

If education is not for achieving high grades and going on to University, what is it for then?

Different answers provided by philosophy

Idealism : develops the mind and self of the learner

Realism :  prepares the practical man and women of the world

Pragmatism : helps students become more effective members of democratic society(Growth)

Post – modernism : provides quality of opportunity, and thus encourages social and economic mobilityProduce citizens with critical thinking abilities

Which is the most important role that teachers should play in education? A person who helps students construct

knowledge? A trainer of students’ knowledge? Knowledge deliverer – transmission to the learner? A mentor for the students as they learn?

Or any other role? What do you think?

Issue based discussion two

Which is the most important role that teachers should play in education?

Different answers provided by philosophy

Idealism : a role model for students to emulatea moral callinga skillful questioner who encourages students to think and ask more questions facilitating learning

Realism : present material systematically, encourage the use of objective criteria, and be effective and accountable

Pragmatism : identify the needs of the learner and to serve as a resource person

Post – modernism :Inclusive constructorCurriculum creatorWithout traditional authority

What are the reasons for misbehavior of students? We may take reference from “To Sir with

Love”! What do you think?

Issue based discussion three

What are reasons for misbehavior of students?

Different answers provided by philosophy

Idealism : poor moral development

Realism : Lacking observable role model

Pragmatism : rebellious nature of human without appropriate control

Post – modernism : Challenging the cannons and authorities

Should every student study under the same curriculum? We may take reference from “To Sir

with Love”! What do you think?

Issue based discussion four

Should every students study under the same curriculum?

Different answers provided by philosophy

Idealism : yes

Realism : Yes

Pragmatism : No

Post – modernism :

No

Which one do you think is more important in education? Equity or Equality? We may think about the situation in Hong

Kong nowadays! What do you think?

Issue based discussion five(The most open end one!)

Aims of education is Holistic education!

Holistic education/ Whole person education The suggestion from “To Sir with

Love” on the aims of education is similar to HKBU!!

Messages from the movie(1)Introduction of Holistic education!

not about teaching academic knowledge only learn to be a whole person with body, mind,

emotions and spirit (e.g. Adult approach by Mr . Thackeray )

include a wide range of students of different learning abilities(e.g. cooking skills)

a variety of learning approaches to meet their diverse learning needs(Q&A and disucssion)

Holistic education

Finding identity, meaning, and purpose in life (As Mr. Thackeray explained the meaning of studying in school to his students)

Emphasize experiential learning (field trip in museum) Direct engagement with the environment (society) Using real-life experiences

Teacher is not a person of authority, but a friend, a mentor, a facilitator (Mr. Thackeray as a good example)

Cooperative learning instead of competitive Do you support holistic education?

Holistic education

Do you agree with the movie?

Messages from the movie(2)Should Meritocracy and Tracking be used?

Teachers should choose the suitable and different teaching approaches according to the abilities and characteristics of their students

“Adult approach” by Mr. Thackeray He used student - oriented approach instead of the

traditional teacher – oriented approach (Chalk and talk approach)

(It is similar to both Pragmatism and Post – Modernism!)

Do you accept this view?

Messages from the movie(3)Teaching should be student oriented!

Teachers are responsible for excavating/fostering students’ Innate abilities rather than instilling skills and knowledge only

“The majority of our children could be generally classified as difficult” Mr. Thackeray

(It is similar to Post – Modernism!) Do you agree with the above messages?

Messages from the movie(4)Discovering student’s

potential rather than instill knowledge!

Although “To Sir with Love” reveals the beliefs of idealism, realism, pragmatism and post-modernism to a certain extent, it only covers the western philosophy of education.

Other important philosophies of education are absent. The traditional Chinese philosophy of education was

not be mentioned The Confucius's educational theories are the

important philosophical theory that we should not neglect in teaching

Limitations of the movie

“ To Sir with Love” is classic and legendary! It has plenty of educational issues which are worth our deep discussion and reflection . Although it was produced in 1960s, we can still learn much from the story. I wish to be as successful a teacher as Mr. Thackeray someday! ” Keyman

“A teacher should know the students’ situation, what students really want to know or really want to learn as well as what really useful to their future. Teaching student in accordance with their aptitude practically is important. In this movie, the teacher Mark Thackeray let the students learn more practical skills rather than the traditional knowledge taught in school, which really remind me of the original aim of education. In my point of view, the aim is to let students equipped with ability to survive and live a better life.” Daisy

Our feelings

“ ‘To Sir with Love’ is quite interesting and instructive, I suggest that people who want to be a good teacher should watch this movie. I hope all of us can learn from Mr. Thackeray.” Isaac

Our feelings

Conclusions

http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/realism-in-education-1319851.html

http://www.parvez-video.com/idealism_theory.asp

http://www.conti-creations.com/PHIL.htm http://

oregonstate.edu/instruct/ed416/PP2.html http://research.kcg.gov.tw/Upload/EpaperFile/

634637955450822413.pdf

Reference

Thank You~To you with love!

End