Губар Н.В. Effective teaching strategies students need to maintain to become successful teachers
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Губар Наталія Вікторівна – студентка Педагогічного інституту Київського університету імені Бориса Грінченка, спеціальність «Початкова освіта», кафедра іноземних мов і методик їх навчання Київського університету імені Бориса Грінченка
У статті розкрито роль професії вчителя в сучасному суспільстві. Визначено зміст поняття «успішний учитель»; підтверджено ідею, що вчителювання – це робота, що надзвичайно чутлива до найменших змін в суспільстві. Розглянуто деякі ефективні стратегії і методи навчання, якими студенти повинні оволодіти у процесі навчання, для того, щоб стати успішними вчителями.
Ключові слова: стратегії навчання, методи навчання, ефективне навчання, студенти, успішні вчителі.
В статье раскрыта роль профессии учителя в современном обществе. Определено содержание понятия «успешный учитель»; подтверждено идею, что учительство – это работа, чрезвычайно чувствительная к малейшим переменам в обществе. Рассмотрены некоторые эффективные стратегии и методы обучения, которыми студенты должны овладеть в процессе обучения, для того, чтобы стать успешными учителями.
Ключевые слова: стратегии обучения, методы обучения, эффективное обучение, студенты, успешные учителя.
The article reveals the role of a teaching profession in modern society. The meaning of the concept “a successful teacher” is defined; the idea that teaching is a job that is extremely prone to every bit of change in society is affirmed. Some effective teaching strategies and techniques which students need to maintain during their academic years to become successful teachers are observed.
Key words: teaching strategies, teaching techniques, effective teaching, students, successful teachers.
Зміст |
Relevance of the topic
Teaching is both an art and a science. Able teachers always find ways and means to improve their teaching techniques. With a change in time high school teachers are asked to employ newer methods of teaching their students more effectively so that they must be able to cope with the demand of the age. The education system of any nation is a mirror through which can be seen the image of the nation being shaped and likely to be shaped.
The question of how teachers learn to teach is clearly basic to the enterprise of teacher education. However, this question has been systematically framing and studying by researchers not for so long. Mostly, attention in teacher education has traditionally been focused on what teachers need to know and how they can be trained, rather than on what they actually know or how that knowledge is acquired.
The key to create an enabling environment to effective teaching is, to our mind, multitudinous effective teaching strategies and techniques students are to acquire during their academic years.
The analysis of research
Analysis and research of contemporary scientific, educational, and methodological literature suggests that lots of investigations are devoted to the teacher preparation problem. Many articles and publications have been devoted to this subject by P. Ramsden, G. Rana, R.P. Singh, L. Layne, K.A. Feldman, G. Brown, M. Atkins, W. Pauk, D. Ellis, S. Divaharan, J.H.L. Koh, L. Darling-Hammond, J. Bransford, A.U. Chamot, S. Barnhardt, J. Robbins, and other scientists.
P. Ramsden says that a great deal is known about the characteristics of effective university teaching. It is undoubtedly a complicated matter, there is no indication of one “best way”, but our understanding of its essential nature is both broad and deep. Other educators argue that effective teaching needs to be highly interactive and should vary depending on the needs of each learner. Effective teaching is sensitive to students’ needs and backgrounds and should be viewed as a creative act [2, p. 363].
The purpose formulation of research
It is generally believed that a teacher is a nation builder. Teaching is the noblest profession for it involves the cultivation of selfless love and sharing and showering that love. A successful teacher is an architect of happy homes, prosperous communities, and peaceful nations. He has not only equipped himself with knowledge and skills to inform and instruct, but also the vision and insight, to inspire and transform.
Thus, the aim of our research is to summarize effective teaching strategies students need to maintain to become successful teachers.
The main material
“Teaching is taken to mean delivery of the thorough knowledge a teacher has of a subject which has no place for theoretical knowledge about nature of teaching”. Stones calls this approach a gross over-simplification and non-appreciation of the complexities teaching involves. Focusing on teaching facts is to overlook the process and problem solving which teaching implies. Teachers are not “assembly line workers implementing programmers decided upon at higher levels” [1, p. 45]. The efficiency of the theory taught in teacher training institutes is doubtful.
Teaching is not only a job but is a way of life. It is a sublime task one can ever be entrusted with. Teachers educate generations of learners and in their hands lay the faith of any nation. A well developed country is a country whose citizens are well educated and this is done only by effective teaching strategies.
Teachers have also their peaks and valleys, happy moments and sad times. A small conjugal problem can severely affect how a teacher performs in the classroom. Teaching is such a sensitive job that embodies the entire societal, intellectual, and cultural values and being a successful teacher is a challenge that every single player in this field recognizes as the most daunting task. Leading a successful teaching job requires a high sense of adaptability, for what used to be a successful teacher in the 20th century is now an outdated teacher in the 21st century. Most of us, who are still practicing, have stared with a certain teaching strategy only to end up with a complete different one. Teaching is a job that is extremely prone to every bit of change in society and unless we equip ourselves and our students with the right swimming suit we will definitely be swept away by the power of torrents.
One of the pivotal facts we should keep in mind is that we teach in a different milieu, a digitally focused environment where technology has the lion’s share. This means that we need the relevant digital skills that can help us seamlessly blend in and leverage the power of technology to improve both teaching and learning.
The role and importance of teaching strategies vary according to the degree of which they emphasize the innovation versus efficiency dimensions.
There are a variety of teaching strategies students need to maintain to become successful teachers. P. Ramsden organizes essential knowledge into six strategies, unique for the way he relates them to students’ experiences.
Strategy 1: interest and explanation. Students do so much better when they are interested in the topic. “When our interest is aroused in something, whether it is an academic subject or a hobby, we enjoy working hard at it. We come to feel that we can in some way own it and use it to make sense of the world around us.” Coupled with the need to establish the relevance of content, instructors need to craft explanations that enable students to understand the material. This involves knowing that students do understand and being able to forge connections between what is known and what is new.
Strategy 2: concern and respect for students and student learning. P. Ramsden starts with the negative about which he is assertive and unequivocal. “Truly awful teaching in higher education is most often revealed by a sheer lack of interest in and compassion for students and student learning. It repeatedly displays the classic symptom of making a subject seem more demanding than it actually is. Some people may get pleasure from this kind of masquerade. They are teaching very badly if they do. Good teaching is nothing to do with making things hard. It is nothing to do with frightening students. It is everything to do with benevolence and humility; it always tries to help students feel that a subject can be mastered; it encourages them to try things out for themselves and succeed at something quickly” [4, p. 98].
Strategy 3: appropriate assessment and feedback. This principle involves using a variety of assessment techniques and letting there be different ways for students to demonstrate their mastery of the material. It avoids those assessment methods that encourage students to memorize and regurgitate. It recognizes the power of feedback to motivate more effort to learn.
Strategy 4: clear goals and intellectual challenge. Effective teachers set high standards for students. They also articulate clear goals. Students should know up front what they will learn and what they will be expected to do with what they know.
Strategy 5: independence, control and active engagement. “Good teaching fosters a sense of student control over learning and interest in the subject matter.” Good teachers create learning tasks appropriate to the student’s level of understanding. They also recognize the uniqueness of individual learners and avoid the temptation to impose “mass production” standards that treat all learners as if they were exactly the same. “It is worth stressing that we know that students who experience teaching of the kind that permits control by the learner not only learn better, but that they enjoy learning more” [4; p. 102].
Strategy 6: Learning from students. Effective teaching refuses to take its effect on students for granted. It sees the relation between teaching and learning as problematic, uncertain and relative. Good teaching is open to change: it involves constantly trying to find out what the effects of instruction are on learning, and modifying the instruction in the light of the evidence collected.
Conclusion
Therefore, we have come to understanding that teachers educate generations of learners and in their hands lay the faith of any nation. A well developed country is a country whose citizens are well educated. So, it’s a great need in successful teachers nowadays.
At the same time, it’s clear that teaching is a job that is extremely prone to every bit of change in society. Leading a successful teaching job requires a high sense of adaptability, for what used to be a successful teacher in the 20th century is now an outdated teacher in a digitally focused environment of the 21st century.
Thus, to become prospective teachers who are able to engage in effective lifelong learning modern students should maintain and practice different effective teaching strategies and techniques some of which we have observed in our article during their academic years. We can’t but claim that these strategies will definitely help them to become more proficient teachers, architects of prosperous communities and peaceful nations.
References
- G. Rana, R.P. Singh. Teaching Strategies. – New Delhi, 2004. – Pp. 45-55.
- L. Darling-Hammond, J. Bransford. Preparing Teachers for a Changing World. – San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005. – Pp. 357-366.
- L. Layne. Defining Effective Teaching. – Journal on Excellence in College Teaching, 23 (1). – Pp. 43-68.
- P. Ramsden. Learning to Teach in Higher Education. – London: Routledge, 1992. – Pp. 88-102.