With the constant technological
development and globalization of our world, many professions have to keep up
with these changes. Teachers are ones of them. They take responsibility not
only for themselves but also for their pupils as their main task is to prepare
their students for an independent life. Consequently, teachers are to keep up
with all the novelties including innovative methods of teaching and development
of new skills.
Let us look through the main skills that
are a necessity for modern educators.
Important skills for a modern teacher
Each teacher has to possess many vital
skills to be a professional. Many of them have been known to people for many
years already, the others have been formulated quite recently because of
changes in our society. In any case, each contemporary teacher should:
1. Be committed to his work.
The teacher is one of the most difficult
professions as their representatives can't lose interest as without constant
engagement it is impossible to perform your work efficiently. If a teacher is
committed, it means that he has fallen in love with his life choice and is
dedicated to teaching.
2. Have education and training
Several centuries ago only those people
could become teachers, who could prove a deep knowledge of the certain subject.
Now it is not enough to be fluent in your field, as without special academic
training you will not be hired by any educational establishment. Moreover,
without some additional knowledge of psychology or methodology, for example,
you will not be able to cope with teaching at all.
3. Be organized
Modern educational institutions require a
detailed teaching plan from each staff member for the following academic year.
It means that a quality course planning is much more productive, especially if
it is combined with a premium organization of each lesson.
4. Be tolerant
Patience and tolerance differ a
professional teacher from the amateurs. Only an experienced and dignified
person can bring up such important for a teacher skills and treat all the
students equally without any prejudices. Moreover, such teacher will entrust
students to make their own decisions instead of imposing his own viewpoint on
them.
5. Be open to questions
Young learners are rather inquisitive and
the number of questions they ask may be enormous. The teacher must be ready not
only to listen to this questions but also find time to answer them. It will not
only show his or her competence but also be a good encouragement for students
as they value honesty and desire to be helpful.
6. Be innovative
Each new generation that comes to school
brings a variety of novelties with them. Apart from the numerous devices, these
are also different relations with each other, new habits and attitudes to the
customary things. Such children think in a completely different way, so the
process of study should also be changed. Teachers not only have to follow all
the innovations appearing in the society but also should have a desire to adopt
them personally. That also includes the use of the abundance of new
technologies at the lessons and for home assignment. Students will be more responsive
to the contemporary teacher than one, who got stuck in the last millennium.
7. Be social and sociable
Communication of a teacher and student
should not be restricted only by the wall of a classroom. Modern children would
preferably choose to ask some personal questions through the social networks
than do that face-to-face. Another way to become closer to students is to
organize a group, where you can discuss interesting topics, or make your
studying more interactive issuing them online tasks or some extraordinary
assignments. It is a perfect way to make education more appealing to the modern
youth.
8 Be curious and develop
It is impossible to call a teacher
experienced if he stands in one place, uses the same teaching methods and
conspectus for many years and does not wish to make any changes. This
description suits better for a tree, but not a teacher. Curiosity is an engine
that makes a person develop. If one is not interested in anything that happens
around him, it means that this person lives in his own world and he will never
be interesting to other people including pupils. Even the tiniest details from
the surrounding world can draw students’ attention and then it is much easier
to hold it during the lesson if you accompany rules with funny life examples,
isn’t it?
New methods of teaching
Pedagogy as a science has existed in
ancient Greece yet, so teachers have been refining teaching methods for not one
century already. With the development of society, teaching methods have been
also changing. Modern methods mostly reflect an improved understanding of the
psychology of children as well as acceptance of the technological leap forward.
Modern teachers prefer such new methods as:
1.
Contextual
learning
Only a dozen years ago most of the schools
were committed to factual learning. The main evidence of good knowledge was the
ability to repeat learned information by command. Everything has changed since
that time, as now pupils have to analyze, find pros and cons, make conclusions
and find evidence but not only memorize. This method has made schooling more
productive and appealing.
2.
Various
approaches
The modern school has little in common
with traditional lectures that were considered the main kind of lesson in the
past. Modern lessons differ much as the variety of approaches used impresses
even adults, who finished school not so long ago. Apart from lecturing,
teachers use storytelling, group work, individual assignments, games,
presentations and numerous other activities within one lesson. Constantly
changing the activities on the lessons they manage to promote a working
atmosphere in the class and lessons do not seem to last so long.
3.
New
technological devices
Of course, there are numerous arguments
about advantages and disadvantages of various devices in education, but still
their benefit makes them useful for the lessons. They enhance the learning
system making it developed and contemporary. Children have acquired various new
tasks that are available on the Web, can learn through video conferences or
live chats, receive notifications from teachers etc. Parents have also
appreciated the contribution of the innovative devices into the schooling as
now they can control their children’s grades online and visit school less
often. Teachers also use modern aids as they simplify the preparation process
and add color and diversity to simple lessons. Any device like a speaker,
online streaming video, interactive whiteboard, visualizer, projector,
educational software, CD player can be useful for teaching and is used by
tutors at the lessons making them more appealing to modern pupils.
4.
Active
learning
Some high school educators try to avoid
active learning projects as they lose a sense of silence and students’
obedience when those ones start their discussions. At the same time, active
learning makes the student think, talk and share information. This way of
learning involves peer instruction, discussion groups and collaborative
solution of the problem. Using this innovative method, students get the most of
schooling and inspiration for further development.
5.
A
desire method
A typical teacher uses a standard
procedure to start the lesson. He welcomes pupils and tells what they are going
to learn today. But these statements can’t grab students’ attention from the
very beginning, so scientists offer to use headlines, some kids of promise.
Formulating the statement in a completely different way teacher shows his
students how they can benefit from the content of the lesson and as a result
students’ desire to listen to the teacher increases.
6.
VAK
teaching
Learners are divided into three main
types: visual, audio and kinesthetic. Of course, it is impossible to gather
learners of the same type in one class, but a teacher can take this fact into
account presenting information. Some students need to see new data, the second
ones – to hear and the third ones - to feel. That means that the same material
should be presented in different ways. Each student will percept his amount of
new information, while the others will have a chance to repeat what they have
already learned.
These are only some of the innovative
methods used by modern teachers. Many of them are unique for each field of
study. Nowadays, teaching has gained many new features and continues to
develop. Characteristic of natural sciences methods are used in humanitarian
sciences, while many approaches to learning languages can also be applied to
maths or physics. The only key personality that manages all these processes
remains the same – it is a teacher. And a great part of students’ success is in
teacher’s hands. That is why apart from the modern approaches each person, who
dares to call himself a teacher, should possess a number of skills that will
contribute to the effectiveness of education. Development of these skills and
use of the best innovative methods are the key components of the successful and
efficient education and only a teacher is responsible for both of these two
constituents.
Originally published at blog.noplag.com
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