Teaching Profession and Teaching Element

 Name    : Leni Mawarti 

 Nim       : 1988203053 

 Class      : 3.2

Model dan Pendekatan Pembelajaran 

Lecture  : Dr. Herlinawati, M.Ed

1. Teaching Profession

What Learning and Teaching Should Be

The first thing this book will try is to have you—potential teachers—read its contents with an open mind. This book finds it saddening to see that the culture of learning and teaching has not been the best it can be for many years and in many places. Chances are you have less than nice experiences during your education. 

one of the most common teaching practice we see in classes is PowerPoint presentations of the lesson material. The use of this facility has not shed the most optimistic light on formal education. Some teachers could spend the majority of classroom time sitting on their desk, lecturing and going through slides, barely interacting with the students and expecting them to be able to keep up with mere commentaries. Without enforced discipline, many students could simply sit at the back of the class and spend entire hours whispering to their classmates or sleeping through class. “Social media and mobile phones are distractions in the classroom” is not an unfamiliar statement, and students could go through class chatting and playing games rather than listening or taking notes. 

In contrast, when students are tasked to give presentations in front of the class, some teachers have left them largely unacknowledged in favor of their own personal work or social media, giving little if no feedback to the students’ performance and the result of their research to make their PowerPoint slides. 

There are many instances when if students could not answer questions or make mistakes, teachers might berate them and snidely remark how they should have known about the lesson material from online sources if they bothered to make use of their free time.

Nowadays, we are even seeing regular headlines of teachers bullying students and students molesting teachers. To put it plainly, the sheer lack of respect for each other as lifelong learners is staggering.

Teachers were essential for children to be smart. Teachers were highly necessary for kids to develop an intellectual way of thinking, a philosophical way of self-reflecting. What the teachers know and believe were passed down to the next generation.

Fixed mindset is a huge obstacle for your development as a learner. More importantly, it is a huge boulder for you as a potential teacher. You are not smart and you are not stupid. Whether or not you are smart or stupid is determined by your effort. Read back on Jay Shetty’s script about education on page vi. When you look at other people who you think they have talent so they have it easy to be successful, you are actually under what is called the iceberg illusion.

There is an entire journey behind success. You will work hard but you will fail at one point. You will dedicate and sacrifice time and effort and you might be disappointed sometimes. With a fixed mindset, you will only believe that you are not good enough, that your situation cannot be helped. However, the goal of our current education is not just to make you good enough, but also to make you believe you can be better even after you are out of an educational institution. Failure is not your limit. Failure is an opportunity to grow. With a growth mindset, you will understand that failure and disappointments are normal.

For your students to become innovative, they must take risks. For them to maintain a growth mindset, they must recognize that nothing is ever perfect. This is why respect between you and your students for each other is essential. If students do not respect and accept wholeheartedly of the knowledge you impart to them, they might not grow. If you as a teacher do not respect and give wholeheartedly the knowledge you have, your students and yourself would not grow. The type of education that we all must aim for is when the classroom pushes both students and teachers to adapt and improve

Breaking Down the Profession of Teaching

The division of labor due to social, economic and technological factors create what is known as professions or jobs. Teaching as a profession can be described as a professional occupation in the education sector based on a specialization on a certain field. In the mini society that is the classroom, how teachers teach can make a significant difference, for teachers are the gateway to knowledge… or they at least used to be. Now, however, what human teachers know, the Internet knows much more and can deliver all kinds of information on as many subjects and skills that have been created instantaneously to students. 

● You gotta understand what you teach, and it can’t be what you learned when you were in school a decade ago, it has to be the updated version. So, you’ve to continuously study and review new research within their content area. Just because you are now the one teaching does not mean you are no longer the one learning.

● In the same vein, you have to keep up with and study new instructional pedagogy. Find a way to implement the teaching material to be relevant in daily life to breathe more context into the lesson. 

● Furthermore, you must keep up with the newest technological trends. You, and especially your students, must become tech savvy to stay up with the digital generation.

● But you can’t make the learning goals however you want because s a teacher of an institution you must link your lesson plans onto the learning objectives of the required standards of your institution, which you can find in the curriculum.

● You as a teacher must arrive at school early, stay late, and spend part of your weekend to make sure you’re prepared. Not to mention, you’re the one setting a good example for your students. If you’re habitually late, they’re going to copy that bad habit at some point (and kids copy pretty quickly).

● Organize your classroom in a student friendly way, meaning that the seating arrangements maximizes learning and gives breathing room, without creating any unnecessary hassle for them and you to move around the class.

● Develop ways to differentiate instruction to challenge all students without frustrating them while still ensuring that everyone meet the learning objective.

● You must decide whether or not a seating chart is appropriate. They must also decide when a change to that seating chart is necessary.

● You must monitor students while they are working independently. You must walk around the room, checking student progress, and assisting students who may not completely understand the assignment.

● Decide on a behavior management plan, which means “gaining mastery” over classroom management, procedures, and expectation. By “gaining mastery” we mean that you must hold students responsible for what they do by determining an appropriate consequence when they disobey to the point of disrupting the learning environment. 

● Try to formulate questions that require both higher and lower level responses so every student have the opportunity to participate in the discussion; also by giving them an appropriate waiting time and rephrase questions when necessary.

● You must break down data from assessments to self-assess whether or not the new content is successfully taught or if it needs changes.

● You gotta grade and record every student’s papers in a timely manner. In addition,

● Sometimes, these obligations might make you miss a class. Therefore, you must prepare a backup plan so you can adapt and change on the fly. 

● Also, keep your kids’ parents informed of their progress on a regular basis (by calls, emails, or face-to-face conversations). This is so you can engage the parents in students’ learning process.

● Plan with other grade level and/or content level teachers to determine common themes, objectives, and activities. This will be particularly fruitful when your students could relate what they learn from other subjects to yours and vice versa. 

● Another duty a teacher has is to serve as a sponsor for a class or club activity. As a sponsor, you have to organize and oversee all of the activities.

● Oversee classroom fundraising opportunities, including tallying and submitting orders, turning in and counting money, and sorting and distributing orders.

● At some point, you’d also have to organize and schedule class field trips. These field trips are important to cement student learning because you can use them to give the kids first-hand experience.

● Extra-curricular activities include your presence because it demonstrates institution pride and support for the students who participate in these activities. ● Sit on committees to review and oversee critical aspects of the school such as budget, hiring new teachers, school safety, student health, and curriculum.

● You must have empathy for every student. Be willing to put yourselves in your students’ shoes and realize that life is a struggle for many of them. 

● Health is also something teachers must pay attention to. You should monitor the health and safety of all their students. Look for signs of abuse or neglect, and report it anytime you suspect or believe a student is in any potential danger.

● If you found one student or some in risk, complete referrals for individual needs and services (e.g., counseling, special education, speech-language or occupational therapy, etc.).

● You must counsel students when they bring a personal issue to them. Be a willing listener capable of giving students great life advice that can help lead them to the right decisions.

● You must help students identify their individual strengths and weaknesses. Then help them set goals and lead them on the path towards reaching those goals. This’ll make it easier for you to create and lead small group activities focused on helping students acquire specific skills.

● This is often unmentioned at first because it’s something most teachers realize in the middle of the way, but you should make enough paper copies for your students. Fix the copy machine when there is a paper jam, add new copy paper when it is empty, and change toner when necessary.

● You should change the decoration on your bulletin boards, doors, and classroom at various points in the year. Variety is always nice while monotony is inviting boredom, you know~

● As a teacher, you must be a role model who is always aware of their environment and does not allow themselves to be in a compromising situation—so no unprofessional or abusive relationship with the kids you’re supposed to teach!

● You must pause from lessons to take advantage of teachable moments. Use these moments to teach valuable life lessons that can carry on throughout their life.

● Go the extra mile for your students offering tutoring or extended help for students who may be struggling.

The Challenges of Teaching

This job is difficult and draining—anyone who had ever been a teacher would tell you this. In the process of writing this book, we have engaged with multiple people with teaching experience to compile a list on the things that makes the profession of teaching challenging. Like we mentioned, teachers don’t just teach.

⬥ The job salary will never make you rich. Teachers are sadly underpaid (except in Finland). Most teachers work take a side job to supplement their income. This condition can change though, if you’re clever to spot opportunities to create lucrative outputs with your teaching.

⬥ Teaching isn’t glamorous, are undervalued and underappreciated by many people in our society. 

⬥ Since students themselves also have general lack of respect for their own teachers, classroom management is even worse. 

⬥ Education could be too political. Politics affect the local and state levels including educatio    n, and unfortunately many politicians continue to push mandates on schools and teachers without truly seeking input from educators themselves or consider the potential impact of a mandate 5 years from now.

⬥ Some other teachers might not make it easy on you. New teachers might be intimidated with “veteran” teachers, and some “veteran” teachers might even be cold to collaborate or provide support such as lesson plans and ideas.

⬥ The way kids communicate is different. This younger generation has their own lingo and slangs; be prepared to feel old and try not to take too much offense if they send you texts, tweets, or Facebook comments that are too casual. Reprimand and remind them first.

The Rewards of Teaching

This profession is hard, but also bore the best fruits. This book has also asked many teachers to share what they found rewarding in their profession.

⬥ You're a contributing member of society. This may sound basic, but you'll really feel it when you look around the street and see people who are just getting by selling street food and toys or cleaning the road in the heat. It tugs the heartstrings and motivates you to do better for your community.

⬥ You'd look around at your fellow teachers and realize you're surrounded by some of the most caring and dedicated people in the world (even if some of your colleagues not easy to work with). As much as teachers find things hard, they still stick to the job because they are invested for the future.

⬥ You and other teachers share the same experiences of this emotionally draining job. When there are too many responsibilities, teachers can share the duties based on each other’s weaknesses and strengths. 

⬥ At some point, someone might make you cry. 

⬥ Your kids will come up with some of the funniest statements and the laughter you all shared in the class will be one of the most memorable experience. During breaks, you might have and even give endless “you'll never guess what this kid said.”

⬥ Many students might claim their lessons were boring, but for you teaching would never be a bore.

⬥ Your students learn stuff, obviously. But there's a difference between giving a student an A or 100 and knowing that this kid had worked hard to bring up their Ds to As. 

⬥ You learn stuff. Sure, you learn so you can teach, but you also learn surprising responses from your kids to things that adult-you may take for granted. 

⬥ You can be legit nerds. Awesome teachers teach enthusiastically with a passion that’s like a motivational virus. 

⬥ Teaching rarely makes you rich, but you can pay your bills. The salary generally isn't so bad, plus you get health insurance and a pension pretty much guaranteed. That's more than a lot of professions can say. 

⬥ You can build a vocation, not just a way to pay the bills, because you’d be pushed to build your skills and innovate new ways to teach.

⬥ The job market is both flexible and permanent. Teachers are a necessary part of our society so this job will always exist. 

⬥ The best reward most teachers agree on is when they found those students who really love to learn. The ones who have passion for a subject and a work ethic to accompany it. Help them and give them the best opportunities to grow. 

⬥ Years later, you might get a blast from the past when your ex-student sent a thank you card or a picture of them making it big in their lives.

What Makes a Good Teacher?

Students’ teacher’s philosophy will influence you. When you are learning, your mind is open, and whoever your teacher may be, their ideas, body language, way of speaking, etc. may affect you, the student. Ideally, learners should be able to choose their own teacher. But in conventional education, students have limited choice. Learning and teaching should not make life as a job training. Both students and teachers have many values to pass down beyond simple knowledge, and so should be open-minded to accept them wholeheartedly. 

🗶 Do not yell at or call a student in front of their peers. If you expect them to respect you, you must respect them too. Don’t berate or humiliate a student! If they answered a question incorrectly, remind them that getting something wrong is normal in learning and teach them the right way again, don’t make them embarrassed in front of the class by calling their wrong answers silly or stupid. If they displayed poor behavior

🗶 Don’t accuse a student is “just lazy.” When students are repeatedly told that they are lazy, it becomes a part of who they are. 

🗶 Don’t dismissively say “I’ve already gone over that. You should have been listening.” Each student understands differently and your job is to make sure everyone understands. Some students may require more explanation or instruction than others.

Other things that a professional teacher should not commit might be:

🗶 Being afraid to apologize or admit when you make a mistake

🗶 Treating students differently based on personal interests

🗶 Ignoring a student

🗶 Creating unfair rules

🗶 Misusing your authority

🗶 Having a negative attitude on a consistent basis

🗶 Never giving control over to your students

🗶 Being hypocritical

🗶 Using profanity (swear/curse words)

🗶 Violating a student’s personal space

🗶 Giving vindictive or counterproductive threats

🗶 Holding things against a student that is beyond their control, such as a grudge on their mother or father who was an alumni and had been a bad student or such reasons

Here are several things that an awesome teacher should do:

 Have a positive attitude. In fact, be funny. Students will naturally look forward to coming to your class and learning if they know that you aren’t uptight and rigid, and a motivated teacher would make students fired up.

 Be consistent. Students must know what your expectations are on a daily basis. You’ll quickly lose their attention and attention with inconsistency. For example, you asked students to use or buy a certain book for the course, so align your tests with the material in that book because kids often get angry when what they’re asked isn’t the same with what they’ve studied.

 Be fair. Treat everyone equally. Giving a different set of consequences for the same actions will undermine your authority.

 Give students control. Give them options. Student autonomy makes students more likely to engage.

 Be flexible, else both you and your students would keep failing because of your unwillingness to adapt.

 As new teachers you might want to be all friendly and not stern, but teachers must assert authority so classroom would run smoothly throughout the semester.

 Know your resources. Where’s the school’s list of rules? The library? The office to send an injured kid? Get information of these in advance.

 Be specific. “For homework, do your handout,” you ordered. Well, are they supposed to just write the answer on the handout, on their notebooks, on a separate paper? You need to give clear instructions because kids like to avoid doing assignments by claiming “I didn't get what the homework was so I didn't do it.” Even better, tell them the goal of the assignments to make students feel the relevance of doing them.

 Notice how kids learn, react, and interact in different ways—Be creative. No students want their studies to be mind-numbing instead of mind-stimulating. 

 Don't forget that kids are people and not just vessels to absorb the history of Tuanku Tambusai or Fundamental Values of the Constitution and regurgitate the information on test day. 

The Status Quo of Education in Indonesia

• A constitutional mandate to spend 20% of the national budget on education. However, since national budget is 15% of GDP, Indonesia’s spending for education is only 3% of GDP, one of the lowest in the region. An increase is needed because if you think education is expensive, you should try the cost of ignorance.

• Decentralization of education sector functions to the district and school level

• The Teacher Law in 2005

• Increase of resources to schools with the School Operational Assistance Grant (Bantuan Operasional Sekolah, or BOS) program

• Support for parents enrolling their children in schools through the Smart Indonesia Program (Program Indonesia Pintar, or PIP).

Improvement of our education is demanded because our population in the near future will be—nay, already is—expected to have the four skills that are desired, essential, and the 2020 Target of Education are Critical Thinking, Creative Thinking, Computer Speak, and Collaborative Competence. A classroom in which teachers and students’ highest goal is merely to memorize facts so they can correctly answer the tests to past the standard grade (KKM) is now considered left behind. Building more secondary and tertiary schools to accommodate elementary school graduates will take a very long time, but what we can do now is to improve the quality of all our students so they can learn and survive outside of school.

To Teach or Not to Teach

In this modern world, if school teachers don’t teach, can children be smart?

Yes.

They have the Internet. They have books. They can self-learn all sorts of subjects, languages, skills and specific professions if they so choose. So, what are teachers for? 

To give focus. To monitor. To assess.

Internet, books, all those resources are simply tools that store knowledge for children to reach. But they neither know how to reach for them yet nor the best way to grasp them. It is frustrating to see students who have tremendous potential but do not want to put in the hard work necessary to maximize that potential. The journey is hard, but it doesn’t have to be void of fun. Education is no longer as monotonous as it used to be when primary education started to become compulsory all over the world sometime after 1775, but it still has challenges from so many different factors because while your job title is ‘teacher’ you have to do more than just ‘teach’. You have administration duties, you have to manage things beyond lessons, and beyond teaching you also have to learn just like your students.

Educational Books that May Inspire You

Burgess, S., & Houf, B. (2017). Lead like a pirate: Make school amazing for your students and staff. Dave Burgess Consulting, Incorporated.

⮚ In this sequel to bestseller Teach Like a Pirate, the PIRATE technique is applied to school leadership. Whether you are a current or aspiring school administrator, read this book for sustaining a culture of excellence in your school.

Goldstein, D. (2015). The teacher wars: A history of America's most embattled profession. Anchor.

⮚ The history of public education and women as educators in America. Goldstein looks at the historic roots of teaching as a women’s profession. Especially compelling is her extensive historical research; she takes the reader on a journey of public education in America from the 1830s to the present day. This book is perfect if you want to learn about how gender disparity in teacher salaries came to be.

2.  Teaching Element

A. Instructional Planning

Teachers plan. Good teachers don’t simply “wing it”. Teachers have to organize their lesson plans by considering the curriculum, school resources, student motivation, student ability and other variables that will affect all instructional decisions teachers must decide before they actually teach. Below is a comparison of what excellent and poor planning may look like. 

You as a teacher must have a solid lesson plan not only so you will not flounder during teaching, but also so the superior evaluating your teaching performance will have a solid idea and expectation of how you will run your class. Your lesson plan is your “script” which gives you confidence and reduce the anxiety beginning teachers typically have. The above example is not a concrete guideline. Lesson plans differ depending on the subject, the model, the class, and many other factors including the teachers themselves. You and a co-worker may be teaching the same lesson topic, but the way you personally teach are different thus you cannot simply copy another’s lesson plan is it is highly likely unsuitable for you. Teaching is a personal endeavor, so you must plan on how you will run your class. Below is a diagram summarizing the most important variables that you must plan for:

which emphasizes teachers to use certain activities to stimulate students to behave appropriately and learn the information given to them. Behaviorists view students as passive recipients, like an empty bottle that respond passively to teachers’ cues who will be rewarded if they behave and punished if disruptive. Overtime, education has realized students in reality actively respond to their environment based on their background knowledge, motivation, and strategies. Society now sees learning as a development of strategies to encode and retrieve information, learners as active participants who try to make sense of their environment using strategies, and teachers as partners in the process of interpreting information. This perspective is called as cognitive psychology (Brunning et al., 2004). 

Therefore, instructional planning nowadays is based on cognitive psychology, and at the core of it is teacher thinking and teacher knowledge, which are the way you think and what you know respectively. These two different factors are interdependent because the way teachers think depends on what they know. In this type of planning model, the most fundamental question you must ask is “what is important for students to learn?”

B. Your Topic: Curriculum and Syllabus

The lesson topics you will teach is typically already determined by the school curriculum, which is a set of standardized learning goals across grades. A curriculum is the guideline of the course/program, covering the knowledge, skill, behavior, and performance that will be taught to and expected of students. In essence, a curriculum is what an educational institution offers to students. It is well-planned by the government and educational institutions for a long duration. Teachers do not make the curriculum, but adhere to its objectives.

A curriculum contains all factors involved in an educational program, and one of it is called a syllabus, which covers the portion of what topics should be taught in a subject or content area. Subject syllabus is a unit of the curriculum containing 7 primary segments: instructor data, general class data, course targets, course arrangements, grading and assessment, learning assets, and the course calendar. The table below details the differences between curriculum and syllabus.

C. Your Learning Objective: Taxonomy and Task Analysis 

Teachers are not directly or solely responsible to create a school curriculum and syllabus, but you will be responsible to determine the goals of your classes. Specifying learning objectives is commonly difficult because schools generally have a broad spectrum of goals and individual teachers prioritize different things. For example, imagine this scenario of three physical exercise teachers discussing their goals:

 A wants the students to develop their muscle strength and flexibility so no matter what kind of other exercises they do, they’ll have a good foundation. 

 B prefers students to know many different kinds of exercises so they will be able to differentiate aerobic and anerobic exercises. 

 Meanwhile C is concerned about when the students will inevitably leave school and wants students to be motivated to continue exercising for life so they will not end up as couch potatoes. 

All three of these objectives are equally important, but attempting to reach all of them for one class is nigh impossible so teachers must select on a specific learning objective. One topic could have dozens of goals, so make it easier to select them, teachers can use two conceptual tools: taxonomy and task analysis.

1. Taxonomy

This tool divides the broad selection of objectives into 3 domains:

a. Cognitive Domain 

This domain consists of objectives concerned with obtaining knowledge, understanding, and skill, such as teacher B’s goal. Researchers have developed Bloom’s taxonomy to classify the different student outcomes that are in the cognitive domain

Knowledge Students can recognize, define, recall specific information

Comprehension Students understand content by being able to summarize, translate, or give examples

Application Students can solve problems and properly convey the information

Analysis Students can break down the topic to reveal in organization and structure

Synthesis Students can create a unique (for them) product/output using the information

Evaluation Students can judge the value or worth of something by comparing it to predetermined criteria

b. Affective Domain 

Objectives of this domain is aware that school doesn’t exist simply to make students smarter as teacher C said. Schools also aim to internalize students with healthy views, moral values, and good manners

Receiving Students are willing to listen passively to the message/advice

Responding Students act on the message by responding, discussing, or obeying

Valuing Students show preference by voluntarily displaying/sharing the message

Organization Students incorporate the value to their outlook and everyday habit

Characterization Students act consistently with their beliefs

c. Psychomotor Domain 

This domain involves the development of coordination and physical skills (Harrow, 1972), which is the goal of teacher A. The physical activities aren’t limited to physical education, but can also include typing, music, home economics, arts and crafts.

Reflex movements Unconscious behavior

Basic fundamental movements Early age behavior (e.g., grasping, walking)

Perceptual abilities Muscular movement coordination with outside world

Physical capabilities Strength, endurance, flexibility, agility

Skilled movements Complex movements (e.g., skipping rope, shooting basketball)

Nondiscursive communication Using bodies to express feelings or ideas

D. Your Learning Activities: Lesson Plan

The last item on the table above is perhaps the most difficult to control. Allocated time is the amount of time teachers assign to different learning activities. Depending on which activity you’d prioritize, the time allocated to specific activities can vary. To understand how you can maximize your classroom time, you must understand its 3 dimensions:

Lesson plans focus your efforts on a specific day and class, so it is commonly personalized for each teacher. It needs to be specific enough to give you structure and a solid idea on how you will proceed with your class, but also general enough to give you room to be flexible and adapt to unexpected circumstances (e.g., interruption by other teachers, unruly students, malfunctioning technology facility, students taking too long to finish their assignment).

There are some types of assignments you can choose for the class activity:

 Whole-class; you lecture the class as a whole and have them all participate in discussion.

 Small groups; you have students to work on assignments in groups.

 Workshops; you get students to perform various tasks simultaneously.

 Independent work; you ask students to complete their assignments individually.

 Peer learning; you ask them to work together and learn from one another.

 Contractual work; both you and your students come to an agreement of what kind of assignments students should do and what their deadline will be. 

When you choose the type of assignment, you must choose the type that would provide the most benefit for the students based on your assessment measures (Biggs, 2011). Try to ask:

• What level of learning are my students at now?

• What level of learning do my students need to get to?

• What’s the amount of time I want them to use to complete the assignment?

• How much time and effort to grade and give feedback?

• What’s the purpose of the assignment?

• How does the assignment fit with the rest of the lesson plan? Does its content knowledge or does it require application in a new context? 

• Does the lesson plan fit a particular framework?

E. Your Evaluation: Assessment

You should be intimately familiar with this portion. As students, you have to participate in quizzes, do your exercises, and submit your home assignments. Now, as teachers, you are the one who will prepare and create them. Though in recent years, you may even ask your students to create their own questions and answer them on their own so the students can provoke their own knowledge.

This is called instructional alignment, which is the matching of learning objectives, activities, and assessment (Anderson & Krathwohl, 2001). You can’t aim for students to be able to create an essay when your learning activities focus on isolated grammar skills. Without this alignment, it will be difficult for you and your students to understand what is being learned (Bransford et al., 2000).

How do you make your teaching elements align?

Step 1 : Develop learning objectives

Step 2 : Identify how you would assess if students reached the learning objectives

Step 3 : Design the way you would teach the material so students can reach the learning objective. 

Thank you