How Can You Grow Yourself As An Educator

1. Establish an in-school PLN

Create a ‘personal learning network’. Connect with other teachers/learners at your school and share ideas, bounce off each other, listen to each other, criticise each other, learn together.

2. Interact with someone who thinks differently than you do

Work closely with someone who doesn’t always think like you. Listen to their perspective. Share yours. Provoke each other. Argue. Defend your opinion. Compromise. Don’t compromise. Learn from each other.

3. Listen to TED talks

Keep up to date with TED talks. There are some incredible, inspirational thinkers and presenters on TED. Watch the ones that are not about education to broaden your learning and thinking. Consider how you might be able to apply the ideas in education.

4. Make global connections

Learn about other people, other schools, other cultures. Connect with them online. Be a learner first. Then make global connections for your students too.

5. Join Twitter

Find someone to help you get started (I will, if you like). Follow topics, not just people. Participate. Ask for help and offer help. Be patient, it takes time to build an online network.

6. Create your own opportunities

Be a risk taker. Start a focus group. Participate in online conferences. Explore new ideas. Experiment with new tools. Initiate something new in your school. Do something that’s not in your job description.

7. Subscribe to blogs

Set up an RSS feed for educational blogs you find interesting. Or start by subscribing via email. Ask for recommendations. Comment on blogs you read and get involved in conversations.

8. Write your own blog

Seriously, anyone can do it. It’s great for reflection and helps synthesize and clarify your thoughts. It’s not about the readers as much as the process.

9. Work in an IB school

Teaching through the PYP makes you think. It challenges the way you do things. You shift from facts and topics to conceptual ideas. You plan collaboratively across disciplines. You become an inquirer.

10. Be part of a learning community.

Or three. Learn from and with your students. Learn from and with your colleagues. Learn from and with other educators online.

Teachers Are born but Good Teachers are made

GOOD TEACHERS are now rarely found in academic institutions. Some teachers feel nervous about their profession. Some others concentrate on research. Few regard teaching as a noble vocation. This scenario must change. Oscar Wilde once said, “Nothing worth teaching can be taught and all that is taught is not worth teaching.” Teaching is a demanding occupation. It is rarely a dream job and most of the time it is a nightmare. Teaching may be a fascinating experience but few teachers actually know how to teach. Brilliant students may not always become brilliant teachers. Teaching is really a tough job. At one time students took to teaching because there was nothing else to do. Time was when parents never wanted to look up teacher-bridegrooms in the matrimonial columns of newspapers. Bank officers or engineers or doctors were in heavy demand. Teachers (even of the college or university kind) were rarely wanted. Talented students never used to take to teaching. Poor salary was another reason behind poor quality of teaching. Idealism is good but not always saleable. The education system paid the penalty for this unprofessional attitude. We have all respect for teachers but never want our own children to become academics.

Teaching is less attractive than medical or engineering professions. It is an ordeal for many. In the classroom, the teacher has to face hundreds of students every day and every hour. Teaching involves externalisation of one’s personality and psyche. Few can stand the ordeal. To teach is to be battered, scrutinised and drained day after day. Some teach animatedly and with unaccustomed eloquence while hordes of students rush purposefully. They wait for notes and suggestions and bother little for the spontaneous wisdom flowing out of the teacher’s mouth. Today this trend has become conspicuous and education is now a commodity.

While facing the students for the first time, novices are a nervous and diffident lot. One problem some teachers face is communication. Some teachers, for example, cannot speak good English but have been appointed in universities and colleges where they should teach only in English. Given such a situation, either such teachers quit the profession or gradually find ways to overcome their nervousness and inadequacy. Eventually, they evolve a teaching style of their own.

Despite recent efforts to improve the training of college and university teachers in India, the myth of ‘born teacher’ and the mystique surrounding good teaching as the natural complement of scholarly research still undermine departmental commitment to preparing graduate and post-graduate students for a career in teaching. There is no ideal way to teach and the prospect of tomorrow’s classrooms seems hopeless. Teaching is a skill that can be learned and teachers need to ensure adherence to fair play while teaching. Teaching is an art and lends itself to improvisation. A teacher can borrow ideas and methodologies from colleagues and predecessors.

We Learn lots of things from our teachers

Our very first memories might be of our parents but sometimes they are of our teachers. We attend nursery school at merely two or three years. Our teachers are remembered like our second parents. As years pass by we leave our first teacher and move onto our second. Most of the time we never realize what we are leaving behind when we let ourselves get swept in a rush. More often than not, we never even get a chance to thank our teachers for the time they take. We don’t even realize that we have copied their habits.

I remember trying to balance my chair on two legs while the teacher kept advising me not to. In the end it flipped and I fell down with the chair. He helped me up and wiped my tears. A few years later another teacher put her saliva on a classmates newly formed bruise. I watched with fascination. Time passed and I ripped my book in half against my teachers orders right in front of her. I remember like yesterday when my ninth grade teacher screamed at me for a misunderstanding between us. When I apply for a job in the future I will write ‘resume’’ because it was my A’ level English teachers pet word, and on the very day of leaving school , on my graduation speech the teacher correcting it replaced ‘school’ with ‘Alma Mata’ and in the future I am sure I will unconsciously do the same thing.

At the last exam of our A’ level exam we all smiled. We were ecstatic about leaving school. Going to jobs and doing our own thing. The teachers smiled and watched as we left. They were happy that we took what they had to give. The same thing happens with our parents. When it is time to leave the nest, they accept it and let us go with their blessings. We find is hard to even come back and visit them. Same happens to our close friends whom we find no time to talk to or even greet as we rush by trying to live our lives.

Teachers are the real nation builders

The teacher is one of the pillars of the society and the country. Without good teachers, no country can progress. The importance of teachers in the life of a nation cannot be overlooked. The teacher influences the immature minds of-the youth. He treats and moulds the young mind into various forms. The future of the nation is built him through the process of education. As nation which tries to march ahead on the road to progress must do so with the help of able teachers. A nation cannot afford to leave its future in the hands of incompetent teachers. According to a philosopher, “The world of tomorrow will be born from the schools of today.” Thus the teacher is very significant as the builder of the nation.

India is known for its great teachers. In the past, there were highly competent teachers. They were held in high esteem by all sections of the society. Even the kings and rulers paid great respect to them. They used to look up to their teachers for guidance and advice in the hour of crisis. In those days, teachers were the true benefactors of society. They were the trustees of common welfare. History is full of examples that great decisions of vital importance were taken by kings on the advice of their teachers or gurus. Alexander, the Great was indebted to his teacher, Aristotle for the knowledge and advice given to him from time to time. Thus teachers in the past enjoyed a place of esteem and reverence.

However, those times have passed. Now the teacher does not hold as much esteem as he did in the past. Teachers have lost their old glory. Now they are looked down upon in society. Their economic condition is also miserable. We know that our country is economically backward and the standard of the masses is very low. Burin this system, the teacher stands on the lowest rung of the ladder.

Moreover, the nature of society has changed. We have become materialistic. In this society, only those people command respects that have power and money. Thus an illiterate minister gets more respect than a highly qualified and scholarly teacher. The society of the past which respected teachers has vanished. The poor teacher does not enjoy much prestige in the society of today. The proliferation of private schools, which are merely teaching shops, is another reason of the decline of a teacher’s prestige. These schools employ teachers at very low salaries and the teachers cannot give his best to the students. The teacher suffers in many other ways also. A person who fails in getting a job and is rejected by his employers, blames his teachers for his own failures. In this way also, the teaching profession has been disgraced. As less attention is paid to education these days, he teacher has also lost prestige.

Child’s Development depends upon their parents and teachers

A child has a distributed time for school and home thus he is distributed amongst parents and teachers. We can say that parents and teachers play a very important role in shaping child’s future. Education is basically a process that leads to mental and psychological growth of a child. Apart from leaning the academics a child learns various other things like team work, table manners, sharing, unity, teamwork. A school is a form of institute for a child; some say parents are the first teacher for the child however I feel teachers are the second parents for children. Since kindergarten a child is handed over to the teachers and teachers nourish him and bestow him with the love support and good habits.

Parents on the other hand are responsible for the overall development of the child; they play a very important role in the socializing process of the child. Right from the bed time stories to the behavioral habits parents play a very important role in making a child a responsible citizen. A successful teacher always has a keen ear on parents. Such teacher normally asks the parents about the behavior of the child, his habits and activities and behaves accordingly to him; she is responsible for his growth and development and thus tries to bring out the best in him.

She is always alert with the cultures and family values of the child and thus tries not commenting or passing any judgment on the parenting styles. She thinks widely and makes sure that at any moment she may not hurt the mind of the child. Communication is best medium to solve problems. A successful teacher is always ardent at talking to the students and solving their problems, she is always approachable by almost every child of the class. Instead of blaming the child for not completing particular thing or being incapable of working on particular project or achieving bad grades she tries to find out the reason behind child’s failure or incompetency.

To Make Students the best teachers development is important

Teacher Preparation

The best teacher-preparation programs emphasize subject-matter mastery and provide many opportunities for student teachers to spend time in real classrooms under the supervision of an experienced mentor. Just as professionals in medicine, architecture, and law have opportunities to learn through examining case studies, learning best practices, and participating in internships, exemplary teacher-preparation programs allow teacher candidates the time to apply their learning of theory in the context of teaching in a real classroom.

Teacher-Induction Programs

Support for beginning teachers is often uneven and inadequate. Even if well prepared, new teachers often are assigned to the most challenging schools and classes with little supervision and support. Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession in their first five years, so more attention must be paid to providing them with early and adequate support, especially if they are assigned to demanding school environments.

Mentoring and coaching from veteran colleagues is critical to the successful development of a new teacher. Great induction programs create opportunities for novice teachers to learn from best practices and analyze and reflect on their teaching.

Why Do teachers become angry and hostile

You have to admit that over the years, school has changed.And not just in the things students learn or how they are taught,it is also how they act towards teachers.Back then a teacher asks you to do something you do it whether you want to or not.Now the students respond with attitude.And i have to give it to the teachers when they keep calm when students do that kind of thing or say things they shouldn’t because i know that is hard to do.But sometimes i know teachers who are way to hard on the students,and don’t get me wrong the students have no right to talk to the teachers the way they do,but the way the teachers act now a days it is like they forgot about when they were a kid.

I was volunteering to help a teacher and he literally was just handing out pink slips for detentions for things that i thought was absurd.One day the class was taking a test and i heard the teacher say that if they had a question to come up and ask him at his desk,1 student did that and got a pink slip for getting out of their seat during a test.I was shocked.

And you know that made me think of how many teachers now a days do things like that just to discipline a child.I know teachers who have gotten fired for that kind of stuff.Now i don’t really have an answer to my question because to me i guess it depends on the situation,i mean it could be the teacher but yet the student should be able to control their actions.

Why do we need to study and learn

Aspiring teachers spend fours year going to college to become a well-trained teacher and then as soon as they do their student teaching, some turn their backs on teaching and want to be social workers instead. I come in contact with many teachers in training who think that their number one calling in life is to dig deep into the lives and homes of their students, ostensibly, so they can better understand them to teach them, but in fact, the purpose has little to do with education.

I responded to one of my teacher prep students in the following manner when she expressed surprise and great concern for all the problems students deal with at their homes:

* You started off your post [it's an online class] with an emotional plea regarding the dire situations in which your students live. Let me remind you that of course we care for the students and their plights at home…but the best way we can help them is not to solve their home problems, but to help them learn in the very best possible way. These students know that education is the solution for many of their problems and make tremendous sacrifices to come to school.

* Also, we have to be realistic too; some students may play “woe is me” to a naive teacher…Does this mean that I am unsympathetic to the plight of many students who find their way in to public schools today? No. What it means is that I am more sympathetic with their most powerful needs and I desire to use my skill and expertise as a teacher to provide a tremendous service that is more valuable than money, food, shelter or clothing. I desire to satisfy a ravenous need that every child born with in this world. It is more urgent than hunger and thirst, more pressing than warmth or shelter. It matches and sometimes eclipses the important need to feel loved.

* I am talking about the need to learn. This is something hardwired into our physiology… and our psychology. We are by nature, learning machines. Therefore, if I am a true teacher, then that is the greatest need that I can help the student to satisfy and if I do my job correctly, I will enlarge and enhance that ravenous need to learn in each student.

Tips For Student Teachers

1. Be On Time
Punctuality is very important in the ‘real world’. If you are late, you will definitely NOT start out on the right foot with your cooperating teacher. Even worse, if you arrive after a class has begun which you are supposed to be teaching, you are placing that teacher and yourself in an awkward situation.

2. Dress Appropriately
As a teacher, you are a professional and you are supposed to dress accordingly. There is nothing wrong with over dressing during your student teaching assignments. The clothes do help lend you an air of authority, especially if you look awfully young. Further, your dress lets the coordinating teacher know of your professionalism and dedication to your assignment.

3. Be Flexible
Remember that the coordinating teacher has pressures placed upon them just as you have your own pressures to deal with. If you normally teach only 3 classes and the coordinating teacher asks that you take on extra classes one day because he has an important meeting to attend, look at this as your chance to get even further experience while impressing your dedication to your coordinating teacher.

4. Follow the School Rules
This might seem obvious to some but it is important that you do not break school rules. For example, if it is against the rules to chew gum in class, then do not chew it yourself. If the campus is ’smoke-free’, do not light up during your lunch period. This is definitely not professional and would be a mark against you when it comes time for your coordinating teacher and school to report on your abilities and actions.

5. Plan Ahead
If you know you will need copies for a lesson, do not wait until the morning of the lesson to get them completed. Many schools have procedures that MUST be followed for copying to occur. If you fail to follow these procedures you will be stuck without copies and will probably look unprofessional at the same time.

6. Befriend the Office Staff
This is especially important if you believe that you will be staying in the area and possibly trying for a job at the school where you are teaching. These people’s opinions of you will have an impact on whether or not you are hired. They can also make your time during student teaching much easier to handle. Don’t underestimate their worth.

7. Maintain Confidentiality
Remember that if you are taking notes about students or classroom experiences to turn in for grades, you should either not use their names or change them to protect their identities. You never know who you are teaching or what their relationship might be to your instructors and coordinators.

8. Don’t Gossip
It might be tempting to hang out in the teacher lounge and indulge in gossip about fellow teachers. However, as a student teacher this would be a very risky choice. You might say something you could regret later. You might find out information that is untrue and clouds your judgement. You might even offend someone without realizing it. Remember, these are teachers you could be working with again some day in the future.

Practical Tips For Teachers To deal with students and their parents

1) Teachers are usually in the best position to identify kids who later turn out to be violent. I have had numerous teachers tell me ” I knew Johnny was aggressive since he started preschool at the age of three.” As you are probably aware, good teachers often have a second sense about their students. These kids are usually the ones slapping other children and teachers and throwing temper tantrums in the classroom at an early age. You might even be astonished by the changes in a child’s behavior: cold calculating and aggressive behavior towards others one day and then the next day, they are sweet as can be. It can be exasperating. What can you do?

2) Request that your school have in-service programs for teachers specifically for the purpose of identifying the symptoms of at-risk children. Kids may act in ways that we don’t expect. For example, many times boys who are depressed will act aggressively by yelling, bullying etc. If you see a child with signs of aggressiveness or one that holds everything in and then blows, talk to the parents or school staff about referring the child to the school psychologist or for a psychiatric evaluation.

3) Teach critical thinking skills: they can prevent violence. There has been research showing that youthful impulsiveness may be linked to younger teenagers’ frenetic brain activity in the amygdala, which is primarily linked with emotions and instinctual reactions. Older teens and adults show more activity in the frontal lobe–the brain tissue involve in planning, insight and organization. Teachers can encourage young teen-agers (and younger) to develop the frontal lobe by teaching them to think more rationally (Yergelun-Todd, 1998). This may translate into integrating more critical thinking skills into school curriculums to teach kids more logical ways to solve problems. Paradoxically, school curricula aimed at helping teens get in touch with their emotions may actually make things worse–given the emotional makeup of many troubled teens–while programs that substitute rational thought for emotion may help them deal with their problems constructively. Star Trek’s “Mr. Spock” turns out to be right: cool logic is the enemy of hotheaded violence.

4) Set a good example. Use your clout as a teacher to call into question administrative rules in your school that might be leading to misbehavior. These regulations may start out with good intentions, but often create other problems. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act is one good example. Many kids with behavioral problems are in special education classes. As you know, because of this, there are restrictions on how many days they can be expelled from school even for very serious and violent acts. Meanwhile, the kid in regular education is expelled for misbehavior of a less serious nature. Zero Tolerance works the same way: Kids who are no threat are often expelled from school for bringing a butter knife or model rocketship–getting the same consequences as the kid found with a gun. What is this teaching children about adults’ abilities to think critically? Administrators who cannot distinguish between right and wrong teach children that all acts of misbehavior are identical. This sends the message that you might as well commit a serious crime because you’ll get the same punishment. Vocalize these concerns to school administrators or even to your legislators. On a smaller scale, provide students in your classroom with consequences that are comenserate with the misbehavior displayed. Allow your students to see you performing critical thinking in action.

5) If your school does not already have a violence prevention program, talk with administrators about putting one in place. Education is the key in helping students to identify other potentially dangerous students. Several recent school tragedies have been averted by other students telling school officials that someone has a weapon. Get to know your students and establish a trust with them. You might just be the one they turn to if they or their friend is thinking of violence.