Teaching Perspective Self-Test Results

This is the result I got from my TPI graph. It appears my nurturing perspective is a dominant feature, while apprenticeship is just above the mean and social reform just below the mean. Transmission and developmental are both almost recessive traits according to this test.

I am not surprised that nurturing is a beyond exceeding trait for myself as I often find myself being a very caring person and focused on social and emotional wellbeing of others as well. I was surprised at how apprenticeship was a little above the mean. Apprenticeship refers to teachers being able to know what learners are capable of and where they may need guidance. As teachers mature and become more competent, the teacher role changes and may offer less direction and give more responsibility to students (Pratt & Collins, 2002, p.3). When educating students, I like to let them ‘struggle’ a little bit when solving problems rather than giving them the answer immediately. The development was also not a surprise. Pratt & Collins (2002) refer to developmental as effective teaching planned and conducted “from the learner’s point of view” (p. 4). During my practicum, I noticed that I was sometimes explaining concepts a little more advanced than my students could understand; likely due to my additional knowledge coming from post-secondary math experience. It is important that as an educator, I teach concepts that could be understood by my students at a level to their understanding.

Given this information provided from the TPI test, I am curious to see how my results change after a few years of teaching and whether or not I will still score the same results. I hope to still score high on nurturing aspect, as I believe that one of the first avenues towards making math fun, is for the students to see that through a caring and passionate individual.

 

Source:

Pratt, D., Collins, J. (2002). Summary of Five Perspectives on ‘Good Teaching.’ TPI – Teaching Perspectives Inventory.