Focus of Lesson 2

Advantages and disadvantages (challenges of teaching)

The art and science of teaching (what is teaching?)

Advantages and challenges in teaching Advantages Challenges

In groups at your table, please fill out the T-chart on the advantages and challenges

Advantages Enjoy/past experience with children Desire to make a difference Family support/pressure Enjoyment of school setting/style/structure Rewarding Desire to improve education for the communicatively

disordered/special ed. Influence/inspiration from past teachers Enjoy the challenge Lifestyle Working with children Love for learning Lifelong learning Disposition Working as a team 

Advantages Helping children Weekends/summers off Working with children Influential teacher Sharing your knowledge Enjoy teaching Encouraging students through new teaching

strategies Interaction with children very rewarding Creative and fun ideas to be explored Passion for teaching and watching students grow

academically  Fun Advice/encouragement

Advantages

Always challenging and new Great work environment Good work schedule Experiences in classrooms Believe that literacy/education is important Proud to become a teacher Empower students to empower others Been told I would make a great teacher Help struggling students  Influencing students/finding fulfillment/rewarding job Like to work with children/ prefer children to adults Career accommodates to having a family life Pension/holidays Great benefits Undergraduate degree has limited possibilities

Challenges of teaching Classroom management Lack of discipline Increasing violence( fighting and gangs) Teacher/student ratios Student mobility rates Substance abuse Selling of drugs at school Teen pregnancies Homelessness

Challenges of teaching Child abuse and neglect Poverty Family distress Suicide Health problems such HIV/ AIDS, Fetal

Alcohol Syndrome Depression among younger children Truancy Learning difficulties Low productivity / lack of effort

Challenges of teaching

Diverse populations Aboriginal education Lack of support from parents Long working hours Recess duty to parent conference Calls home Professional development (time and cost)

Challenges of teaching

Unpredictability of outcomes Difficulty of assessing students’ learning Expectations from society Public trust Teacher accountability Teacher competency and effectiveness

Realities of teaching

1. “the interminable nature of teaching” (i.e. Their work is never completed)

2. “the intangible and often unpredictable characteristics of teaching results”

3. “the inability to attribute results to a specific teacher’s instruction”

Teachers’ need to tolerate ambiguities and reduce their anxieties.

What essential knowledge do you need to have in order to teach?

Reflection and

Problem-Solving

Essentialskills

TeachingSkills and

Techniques

Inter-Personal

skills

“Becoming a Teacher”: Parkay, Stanford, Vaillancourt, Stephens

Essential Knowledge- knowing self

“If teachers are knowledgeable about their needs (and most important able to take care of those needs), they are better able to help their students.” Arthur Jersild (1955,3)

“One can feel helpless, not knowing what to do, not even knowing how to get the frustrations out of mind let alone knowing how to resolve it in practice.” (Hansen1955,60)

Essential knowledge-knowing self Teachers can experience isolation, loneliness Teachers need opportunities for professional

collaboration and networking Teachers are behind classroom doors,

immersed in their lesson but should seek feedback from one’s peers

“How can a teacher learn that she or he is talking too much, not providing sufficient time for student reflection, raising low-order questions, or simply boring students? Teachers unaware of such features of their own performance are in no position to change them.” (Elliot Eisner 1998,160-61)

Essential knowledge-self knowledge “Being a teacher is so much more than

an extensive repertoire of strategies and techniques. To be a teacher is to find a way to live within an environment filled with dilemmas”. (Hole 1998,419)

Essential knowledge- studentsImportant to know students’ characteristics

such as their: aptitudes talents learning styles stage of development readiness to learn new material

Essential knowledge-students “to teach a kid well you must know a kid

well” (Henry, 1995,124-25

Teachers’ expectations of students directly affect student achievement.

Essential knowledge- subject With the title of teacher comes the

assumption of knowledge . Those outside the field of education expect a teacher to be a ready reference for all sorts of information.

However knowledge of subject matter does not translate into an understanding on how to share that knowledge with the students

Essential knowledge- Subject “some prospective teachers may come to

teacher education unaware of how they have learned the process they use and that render them expert. Unaided by their disciplines in locating the underpinnings of their expertise, these skilled, talented and desirable recruits may easily become, ironically, those who can do but who cannot teach.”

Holt-Reynolds 1999,43

Essential knowledge- Subject Extensive knowledge of the subject matter

is, by itself, insufficient. Effective, successful teachers possess

what is called pedagogical content knowledge

They have an understanding of how students can efficiently learn facts, concepts, generalization and skills

They have learned how to use various teaching techniques—such as simulations, demonstrations, and illustrations—to maximize student learning.

source: “On Becoming a Teacher” , Parkay, Standford, Vaillancourt, Parkay

Knowledge of Methods for Applying Educational Theory and Research Theories about learners and learning help

guide the decision-making of professional teachers. Not only do they know that a certain strategy works but they also know why it works.

“Research on students’ learning is not intended to set forth, in cookbook fashion, exactly what teachers should do to increase student learning.”

Source: “Becoming a Teacher” Parkay, Stanford, Vaillancourt, Stephens

Standards What are the standards and

expectations for teachers in Ontario?

Who sets these standards?

Where can I find these?

How will I be assessed on or by these standards?

Ontario College of Teachers

The Foundations of Professional Practice outline the principles of ethical behavior, professional practice and ongoing learning for the teaching profession.

http://www.oct.ca/publications/PDF/foundation_e.pdf

Foundations of Professional Practice

Foundations

Foundations of Professional Practice Numbered heads 1-4 We are going to do an “Expert Jigsaw” You will become the expert of the section

given 1,2,3 or 4 There will be two groups of experts Once you know you know your section, you

will be the expert and be responsible to go back and teach your table

There may be two experts per group, please share the role

Foundations of Professional PracticeGroup #1 The Ethical Standards

Group #2 The Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession

Group #3 The Context for the Standards

Group #4 The Professional Learning Framework for the Teaching Profession