The Teacher's Role in Teaching and Learning

Teaching Unit Overview

• This unit describes the role of teachers in the teaching and learning process
• After completing this unit, learners will be able to:
  • Explain teaching as a science and an art
  • Describe six teaching competencies
  • Explain the roles of the teacher in the teaching and learning process
  • Discuss factors promoting effective teaching and learning

Definition of a Teacher

• A teacher helps students acquire knowledge, competence or virtue.
• A teacher's function is to help others learn and develop new ways.

Qualities of a Good Teacher

• Strong communicator
• Good listener
• Focuses on collaboration
• Adaptable
• Engaging
• Shows empathy
• Patient
• Values real-world learning
• Shares best practices
• Lifelong learner

What is Teaching

• Teaching includes situations like a mother teaching her daughter to prepare food or a carpenter teaching an apprentice.
• Teaching also occurs in schools where a professional teacher trains pupils to read and write professionally.

Institutionalized Teaching Types

• Formal teaching: The teacher controls the class and decides what and how to teach
• Informal teaching: The teacher is a facilitator, engaging learners with the material in a way they please

Informal Teaching Details

• The teacher guides, counsels, and motivates
• The teacher and learners may set problems together
• Informal teaching is less structured and more flexible than formal teaching

Teaching Explained

• Teaching involves imparting knowledge, skills, attitude and values to learners
• It creates situations to facilitate learning and motivating learners
• Teaching requires a learner
• Teaching is the role of those in the "teacher" position

Teaching as Art or Science

• Teaching as an art depends on the individual and their personality.
• Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and other prominent figures were teachers
• Modern teaching should be considered a science more than an art.
• Teaching as a science has a body of systematized knowledge

Modern Teaching Info

• Teaching methodology, human development, human learning, and educational psychology inform teaching
• Teaching knowledge comes from scientific investigations
• Researchers test teaching methods for classroom recommendations
• The effectiveness of teaching is not left to chance

Teacher Role in Teaching

• 21st-century teachers facilitate student learning and create productive classroom environments
• Students develop skills they might need at present or in the future in these environments
• A teacher's primary role is delivering classroom instruction
• Accomplishing this involves:
  • Preparing effective lessons
  • Grading student work and offering feedback
  • Managing classroom materials
  • Navigating the curriculum productively
  • Collaborating with other staff

Traditional Roles of the Teacher

• The controller
• The prompter
• The resource
• The assessor
• The organizer
• The participant
• The tutor
• Interpreter and designer of learning programmes and materials
• Leader, administrator and manager
• Scholar, researcher and lifelong learner
• Community, citizenship and pastoral role

Additional Notes on Teacher Roles

• As Controller: The teacher is in charge of the class
• As Prompter: The teacher encourages students, prompting and guiding
• As Resource: The teacher offers help when needed and makes themselves available
• As an Assessor: The teacher observes performance and gives feedback
• As the Organizer: The teacher organizes activities
• As a Participant: The teacher joins in to enliven classes
• As The Tutor: The teacher acts as a coach and guide, especially in project work

More Teacher Roles

• Interpreters design learning programmes with suitable resources.
• As Leaders: Teachers manage learning and participate in school decisions
• As Scholars: Teachers pursue ongoing personal and professional growth
• Community figure: Teachers promote ethical attitudes and democratic values

Teaching Competencies, Skills and Knowledge

• Teaching competencies enable a teacher to be successful
• Teachers require expertise in the environment and critical decisions every day

Classes of Teaching Competencies

• Instructional delivery
• Classroom management
• Formative assessment
• Personal competencies (soft skills)

Personal Competencies Example

• Establishing expectations, encouraging a love for learning, showing empathy, being culturally sensitive, etc.

Phases of Teaching

• Teaching is a complex task requiring systematic planning.
• Steps include:
  • Planning stage -Execution stage -Evaluation stage
• Teaching is divided into three phases, each creating a learning situation.

Phases of Teaching Explained

• Pre-active: Formulation of goals, selection of content, instructional methodology, etc.
• Interactive: Setting up the class, knowing the learners and starting teaching.
• Post-active: Evaluation activities, summing up teaching tasks, and changing testing strategies.

Reflective Teaching

• A process where teachers think over their practices to improve learning outcomes Is a self-assessment of teaching
• Instructors examine their approach and identify areas for improvement

Consideration Points for process reflection

• What is currently being done?
• Why is it being done?
• How well are students learning?

Importance

• Operations in different phases of teaching focus brings about desired behavior changes and provides the scientific basis for instruction
• The classroom teaching and interaction can be made effective this way

More Info

• All three teaching phases are interrelated
• Teaching starts before the classroom and continues after both classroom time and interaction occur

Advantages of Reflection

• Reflective teaching develops continuous improvements with new feedback and reflection
• The teacher is able to share feedback with team members and other educators

Becoming a Reflective Teacher

• Record lessons and share with mentors or colleagues
• Invite colleagues to observe
• Ask students for feedback.
• Maintain a reflective journal and diversity metrics

Curriculum Examination

Curriculum Evaluation Approaches

• Bureaucratic Evaluation: Initiated by the government or the Education Ministry
• Autocratic Evaluation: Evaluates educational needs by independent evaluators.
• Democratic Evaluation: Focuses on experiences with the initiatives from curriculum initiators
• Norm-Referenced Evaluation: Evaluates students’ performances relative to others Criterion-Referenced Evaluation
• Measures performance compared to syllabus objectives

Functions of Curriculum Evaluation

• Informing decision-makers
• Enabling teacher self-evaluation

Self Evaluation

• The curriculum process leads to contributed decision making processes
• Teachers conduct evaluations to correct deficiencies and establish priorities

In Summary

• Meaningful curriculum decisions are supported by evaluated exercise and feedback, as well as teaching development

Evaluation Focus

• Evaluation focuses on curriculum aspects, such as: Objectives Content Methodology Outcomes.

Curriculum Objectives

Evaluate on the basis of foundations Are they worth/achievable?

Other Pointers

• Objectives are a necessity, as teaching is designed to fit these objectives
• It also fits with the classroom activities, so evaluation needs to be high quality

Curriculum and Evaluation Objectives

• Content is to contribute to establishing relevant information
• Effects should be determined in a way that impacts learners
• Methodologies need to be able to determine the consistency of objectives

Curriculum Evaluation Focus

• The evaluation has the objective and design in mind for the entire curriculum process
• The aim is that the curriculum uses the findings to create information

Forms of Evaluation

• Formative and summative evaluations are in the context of the curriculum
• Both provide great information to the decision making process

Detailed Forms Example

• Formative Evaluation Information- designed for evaluation and learners with good quality and knowledge
• Summative Evaluation- the type of evaluation is well intended with great focus cost effectiveness, programmes and good training

Formative Evaluation

• A process that looks for evidence of success during implementation.
• It answers -is the instruction successful and can it help avoid failure?

Other Pointers

• These evaluations can ensure all success is achievable and stops anything doubtful from being implemented These physical exercises are carried out before

Summative Evaluation

• Assessable- in terms of designers training and implementation
• Cost effective processes- in terms of costs and new programmes In general the entire operation is designed to be conducted at the end

Evaluation Methods and Tools

• The evaluation tools offer great methods for the curriculum techniques that are used
• The programmes are selected based on structured testing

Another Perspective

• Performance- is evaluated based on the quality and needs
• Subject content- may have students in testing environments
• Results- come from curriculum to have a great impact on a area and great evaluation