Afternoon Session (22 May 2013)
Prof. Jack asked to write 5 line long texts describing cutural factors that might influence my teaching practice. First thing came up in my mind is a Thai value called seniority. Kids are taught to listen to the senior and follow his or her teaching strictly. The seniors have gone through, overcome and leart from bad experience. They could give the young a shortcut. If the young ignore and challenge the senior's teaching, they are blamed and regarded as being disrespectful. The value of seniority is passed from one generation to the other. It has influenced Thai classroom atmosphere. The good students are prefered not to talk or ask anything in the classroom. They must listen, jot down everything on the blackboard, keep their mouth close at all times. It was very prominent protraits of Thai classroom in the past and still pretty common in the present day. I am not surprised that why Thai students love to listen, feel inconfident or even nervous when asked to share ideas in the public.
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Hello...
My name is Ajarn Pun. I am working as a lecturer of science education at Kasetsart Univeristy, Bangkok, Thailand. Now I am attending a workshop on Action Research run by Prof. Jack Whitehead from Liverpool Hope University, UK.
He has guided me to conduct the action research by asking me to answer thought provoking questions. Please find the following my answers to his questions,
1) What do I want to improve?
I think I am talking too much in the classroom left no room for students’ thinking and participation. At the moment, I am trying to tell them everything I know. This is superficial of teaching because it educates the learners to facts, instructor’s interpretation and opinion. I should have thought them to think and construct their knowledge.
2) Why do I feel that something could be improved in what I am doing? This is concerned with what really matters to me in terms of the values that give meaning and purpose in my life. These are the explanatory principles that explain what I do what I do)
Partly from the results of my grad students’ defense examination, they could not defend their project to the committees. They were critiqued that they did not truly understand they were doing. There were illogical statements floating in their work. They were not critical enough in the discussion part. They may have given too little chance to think, express idea and interact in the classroom. The rest, I think, is from their intermediate response in the class. When I talk too much, they lost interest, felt bored, starting to misbehave etc.
