Work : Teaching Methods/Elements/Profession.

 Friday,2nd October 2020

Name : Kenan Lee

Class : 3.2 English Department

NIM   : 1988203061

A. Teaching Profession

Teaching as a Profession

The continued professionalization of teaching is a long-standing goal of the Teachers. The Association continues to work to advance teaching as a profession. Professionalism is a complex and elusive concept; it is dynamic and fluid. Six generally accepted criteria are used to define a profession. The teaching profession fulfills those criteria in the following ways:

1. Its members have an organized body of knowledge that separates the group from all others. Teachers are equipped with such a body of knowledge, having an extensive background in the world and its culture and a set of teaching methods experientially derived through continuous research in all parts of the world.

2. It serves a great social purpose. Teachers carry responsibilities weighted with social purpose. Through a rigid and self-imposed adherence to the Code of Professional Conduct, which sets out their duties and responsibilities, teachers pass on their accumulated culture and assist each student under their care in achieving self-realization.

3. There is cooperation achieved through a professional organization. Cooperation plays an important role in the development of the teaching profession because it represents a banding together to achieve commonly desired purposes. The teaching profession has won its well-deserved place in the social order through continuous cooperation in research, professional preparation and strict adherence to the Code of Professional Conduct, which obligates every teacher to treat each student within a sacred trust. Teachers have control or influence over their own governance, socialization into teaching and research connected with their profession.

4. There is a formal period of preparation and a requirement for continuous growth and development. Teachers are required to complete a defined teacher preparation program followed by a period of induction or internship prior to being granted permanent certification. This period includes support for the formative growth of teachers and judgments about their competence. Teachers are devoted to continuous development of their ability to deliver their service.

5. There is a degree of autonomy accorded the professional. Teachers have opportunities to make decisions about important aspects of their work. Teachers apply reasoned judgment and professional decision making daily in diagnosing educational needs, prescribing and implementing instructional programs, and evaluating the progress of students. Teacher judgment unleashes learning and creates the basis for experience.

6. The profession has control or influence over education standards, admissions, licensing, professional development, ethical and performance standards, and professional discipline. As professionals, teachers are governed in their professional relationships with other members, school boards, students and the general public by rules of conduct set out in the Association’s Code of Professional Conduct. The code stipulates minimum standards of professional conduct for teachers, but it is not an exhaustive list of such standards. Unless exempted by legislation, any member of the Association who is alleged to have violated the standards of the profession, including the provisions of the code, may be subject to a charge of unprofessional conduct under the Discipline Bylaws of the Association.

The competence of teachers is governed by the Practice Review Bylaws of the Association. The expectations for the professional practice of teachers related to interim and permanent certification are found in the Teaching Quality Standard Applicable to the Provision of Basic Education. The Teaching Quality Standard defines the knowledge, skills and attributes all teachers are expected to demonstrate as they complete their professional preparation, enter the profession and progress through their careers. Additionally, the Department of Education’s Teacher Growth, Supervision and Evaluation Policy (Policy 2.1.5) supports and reinforces the Teaching Quality Standard by setting out basic expectations for teacher growth, supervision and evaluation.

Teachers as Professionals

The certificated teacher is the essential element in the delivery of instruction to students, regardless of the mode of instruction. A teacher has professional knowledge and skills gained through formal preparation and experience. Teachers provide personal, caring service to students by diagnosing their needs and by planning, selecting and using methods and evaluation procedures designed to promote learning. The processes of teaching include understanding and adhering to legal and legislated frameworks and policies; identifying and responding to student learning needs; providing effective and responsive instruction; assessing and communicating student learning; developing and maintaining a safe, respectful environment conducive to student learning; establishing and maintaining professional relationships; and engaging in reflective professional practice. These processes must be free of discriminatory practices and should contribute to the holistic development of students who are actively engaged, responsible and contributing members of a democratic society. The educational interests of students are best served by teachers who practise under conditions that enable them to exercise professional judgment. Teachers have a right to participate in all decisions that affect them or their work, and have a corresponding responsibility to provide informed leadership in matters related to their professional practice.

The Association’s Role in the Context of Teacher Professionalism

The Teachers’ Association is a self-governing body financed through membership fees established in accordance with the bylaws of the Association or State established. The legal framework through which the Association functions is the Teaching Profession Act. The Association, through the democratic interaction of its members, is the collective voice of teachers. It is a unilateral organization that includes as active members certificated individuals employed in public education as classroom teachers, as well as school- and district-based administrators. The profession believes that all professional educators should be members of the Association and strives to accomplish this through an amendment to the Teaching Profession Act that would include superintendents and deputy superintendents appointed by school boards.

As a professional teachers’ association, the Teachers’ Association performs a wide range of activities related to the enhancement of teaching as a profession, the improvement of public education and the well-being of its members. The Association furthers the professional status of teaching by policing the conduct and competence of its members through its Discipline Bylaws and Practice Review Bylaws, ensuring high levels of practice for students and public assurance in the teaching profession. The Association also has a responsibility to appraise the expectations of society and to recommend changes to current education system to meet changing needs. Thus, it maintains an active interest and a position of leadership in all areas of public education. This includes systematic long-range planning in such matters as the processes of teaching, working conditions for professional service, organization and administration of schools, teacher education and certification, curriculum, educational research and development, early childhood education, and education finance. Through its committees dealing with these topics, as well as through representation on many departmental committees and boards, the Association stays at the forefront of the most recent developments and represents the interests of its members. To accomplish this, the Association should have adequate representation on all Department of Education committees, boards and advisory bodies dealing with matters related to teaching and learning, and all members representing the profession on government advisory bodies, boards and committees should be named by the Association.

What is the key role of a teacher?

Remember those classes where your teachers would share stories with you; explain complex topics through fun activities, and share their experiences and love for their subjects? They are not ordinary teachers. They are your mentors. They are the ones who inspire students, not just by teaching a subject, but by sharing a bond, exchanging thoughts, and building upon them. If this is what you want to reflect in your teaching career as well, then teaching career could just be the perfect profession for you.

Several studies show that subject matter knowledge, teaching skills, and personality are the key factors that influence students’ learning patterns. Become a great mentor and teacher for the students and achieve milestones. Thinking of how to go about teaching as a profession? Read the academic path mentioned below to understand various entry pathways.

Rewards of Teaching as a profession

A career in teaching can be rewarding. It not only offers you a chance to impact young minds but also makes you immensely satisfied with the work you do.

• Teaching as a profession is immensely gratifying as it gives you the satisfaction of working towards empowering young minds.

• Teaching allows you to shape the future of young generations and thus you contribute towards building a cultured society.
• Teaching as a profession is not only limited to teaching in universities/ institutions. You can also get a job as a Subject Matter Expert. (SMEs are experts in a particular discipline and hold a master’s or even higher degree qualification in their area of specialization.) As an SME, you can work in various organizations that are involved in online education.
• If you are looking for jobs in the teaching profession other than teaching at schools or universities, you could also look-up for opportunities in entrance examination coaching institutes.If you have a Master’s or Ph.D. level education qualification, you can expect attractive salary packages.

Challenges of Teaching Career

With great opportunities come greater challenges. But these challenges should not define your decision; they should prepare you for what the future holds. Since no job is easy, every profession has its own set of challenges and teaching as a profession may have a few road blockers too. Therefore, before you venture into a teaching career, you should keep in mind the following important points:

• Changing technology trends in teaching: Adapting to the newer methods of online learning, teaching methodologies, online examinations, smart-classroom teaching, etc. could be challenging and may interrupt consistency and uniformity in teaching unless you are comfortable in using technologies.

• Dealing with Gen Z: Teaching as a profession has never been so challenging. Now, Teachers need to adapt to smarter and interesting ways of teaching as students these days have a limited attention span and they are more comfortable in using gadgets than listening to class lectures. Students in schools often use mobile phones and other gadgets in schools.

• Nowadays, with the advent of diverse teaching methods, it has become extremely crucial for teachers to manage student behavior both inside the classrooms and on live online classroom sessions.

• Continuous self-learning about subjects: Teachers need to keep up with the emerging tenets, theories, and knowledge in various subjects. Knowledge in various subjects continues to emerge such as in economics, business studies, biology, etc. A teacher, especially the college teachers have to study continuously and keep updating their knowledge base.

• Conflict Management: One of the most challenging parts of the teaching profession is to manage classroom conflicts among students. Teachers need to understand and carefully tackle short-tempered students and other students who interrupt classroom discipline.

Conclusion

If you are focused and passionate enough to take up teaching as a profession, then dealing with such challenges can be a cakewalk for you. Not only does a career in teaching give you the power to nurture the leaders for tomorrow, but it also instills in you the need to never stop learning.

To pursue a career in teaching, you must be aware of both the rewards as well as the challenges. Teaching career teaching gives you the chance to inspire and empower the brightyoung minds and build a better tomorrow.

However, before you decide to become a teacher, it could be a good idea to assess your personality, interests, and aptitudes to be sure of yourself. 

B. Teaching Elements

Student success depends on effective teaching— not just occasionally, but every day in every classroom and school. Effective teaching impacts students’ academic, physical, socialemotional, and behavioral well-being. Effective teaching occurs best when all education stakeholders, including parents, policymakers, community members, and educators, share responsibility for continuous improvement and student achievement. For teachers in classrooms, effective professional learning is the single most powerful pathway to promote continuous improvement in teaching.

Consistently great teaching — every day, in every classroom, and in every school — emerges from a clear vision for teaching and learning. This vision is then translated into an instructional framework that details rigorous outcomes for student and educator performance. The framework and outcomes form the basis for the system for professional learning that makes them possible.

A vision for teaching and learning describes how students experience learning and the role of teaching in achieving that vision. Such a vision is grounded in learning theories and models selected to explain how learning happens, who the learners are, and the context in which students learn. The vision emerges from communitywide conversations among stakeholders who come together to describe the learning experience they want for students to prepare them for the future.

The following sample vision, based on the work of a national task force, describes teaching and learning based on the possibilities available through technology. Once a district establishes a vision, an instructional framework moves the vision from a dream to reality by describing how to achieve it.

“Imagine a high school student in the year 2015. She has grown up in a world where learning is as accessible through technologies at home as it is in the classroom, and digital content is as real to her as paper, lab equipment, or textbooks. At school, she and her classmates engage in creative problem-solving activities by manipulating simulations in a virtual laboratory or by downloading and analyzing visualizations of real-time data from remote sensors. Away from the classroom, she has seamless access to school materials and homework assignments using inexpensive mobile technologies. She continues to collaborate with her classmates in virtual environments that allow not only social interaction but also rich connections with a wealth of supplementary content. Her teacher can track her progress over the course of a lesson plan and compare her performance across a lifelong ‘digital portfolio,’ making note of areas that need additional attention through personalized assignments and alerting parents to specific concerns” (National Science Foundation Task Force on Cyberlearning. 2008. p. 5).

Whether an instructional framework is detailed or simple, it guides instructional decisions and builds accountability and consistency into learning experiences to improve results for students. See the sidebar below for examples of what such frameworks might include.

Visions for teaching and learning and instructional frameworks must be coupled with rigorous outcomes for student learning that specify what students are expected to know and be able to do as well as performance standards for educators. The Common Core State Standards in English language arts and mathematics become an essential component of effective teaching because they specify the expectations for student learning. Without clearly articulated outcomes, teaching may be fragmented or unfocused. These standards have been fully adopted in 44 states and the District of Columbia and partially adopted in one additional state; variations of these standards exist in other states or in individual school systems.

ASSESSMENT MATTERS

Generating a vision, developing an instructional framework, and delineating student learning outcomes by themselves are insufficient to produce effective teaching. Effective teaching requires not only explicit performance standards for educators but also processes for improving and assessing effective practice. Performance standards for teachers define instructional expectations and inform the individual improvement and criteria for measuring effectiveness. The Interstate Teacher Assessment and Support Consortium (InTASC), a collaborative of more than 30 states, provides model teacher standards for individual states and districts to use in developing their own performance standards (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2011). Others have contributed standards for effective teaching that are used as the basis for developing performance criteria such as those defined in Enhancing Professional Practice: A Framework for Teaching (Danielson, 2007) and Classroom Assessment Scoring System (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008). For school leaders, the Interstate School Leaders Licensure Consortium provides model standards for school leaders (Council of Chief State School Officers, 2008). These standards contribute to a rich vision for leadership, teaching, and learning to establish a process of continuous improvement. See the diagram that demonstrates this relationship on p. 11.

Effective teaching emerges from a vision for teaching and learning, an instructional framework, standards for student learning, and performance expectations for educators coupled with a convergence of policy, planning, and goals at the state, school system, and school levels. Educators, policymakers, community members, and decision makers work collaboratively to develop and implement these components that serve as the backbone of effective teaching. Yet without professional learning to support implementation, these components are relegated to words on pages rather than actions in classrooms.

Effective teaching is possible in every classroom by ensuring every educator experiences substantive professional learning within a culture of collaboration and shared accountability. Effectiveness in teaching is a journey, rather than a destination. Each year, teachers experience new challenges to refine and expand their teaching practices. Each year, teachers face new students with different learning needs. They strive to implement new technologies in their classrooms to accelerate learning. Benchmarks for student learning continue to change. New research on effective instruction is released. New colleagues and leaders join the faculty to support teaching practice and student learning. Systems of professional learning are the only way to ensure these challenges become opportunities to improve student and educator performance.

Absent professional learning, teachers lack access to the information and support they need to refine and enrich teaching throughout their career. At each stage along the career continuum, effective teaching broadens from the core elements of teaching to include expanded responsibilities of a master or mentor teacher whose work includes supporting peers and assuming leadership roles within their schools and beyond that focus on improving student learning. Professional learning is the only strategy in school systems that moves the vision, instructional framework, standards for students, and standards for educators into action.

COMMON ATTRIBUTES

Effective professional learning for effective teaching has seven core attributes, which Learning Forward has defined as Standards for Professional Learning . Professional learning that doesn’t include these attributes is unlikely to produce the same high level of results for educators and their students that effective professional learning will. (See the full list of the Standards for Professional Learning below.)

A common attribute of effective schools is collaboration among educators. Engagement in one or more learning communities provides teachers opportunities to moderate their practice and expectations with their peers, to examine and reflect on their work together, to learn from one another, to challenge one another professionally, and to solve complex problems within the context of their unique work environment. Learning communities generate collective responsibility and accountability for effective teaching and student learning and engage teachers in school-based, ongoing learning focused on strengthening teachers’ day-to-day practice and reducing variation in the effectiveness of teaching from classroom to classroom within a school so that every student, regardless of his or her classroom, experiences the same high level of teaching each day.

Students benefit when teachers learn from peers. C. Ki-rabo Jackson & Elias Bruegmann (2009) report that when the quality of a teacher’s colleagues improve, the students of that teacher benefit. These results occur most likely because teachers organize the focus of learning within their communities on challenges relevant to their students’ success. Effective teaching and student learning are the benefits that spread from classroom to classroom and even from school to school.

Effective teaching requires skillful leadership to build capacity and structures to support learning. Leaders, both administrators and teachers, advocate professional learning as a key lever for continuous improvement of teaching and student results. While individual teachers may engage in professional learning aligned to their professional goals, universal effectiveness in teaching depends on making it a priority within a school or school system, creating a culture and systems to support it, and developing teacher leaders to skillfully facilitate collaborative learning.

In addition to leadership, successful schools and school systems invest resources to support effective teaching. Some of these resources include time for professional learning and collaboration, classroomand school-based support in the form of coaching, technology to seek information, models, networks, and research, and access to external experts who provide specialized knowledge and skill development when the needed expertise is unavailable within the school or district. The effects of these resource investments can be measured in increased student achievement.

Measures of increased effectiveness in teaching and student achievement depend on the use of formative and summative assessments that provide data about teaching performance and student achievement. These data plus data gleaned from examining student work and engagement, individual and collaborative teacher reflection, coaching, and other forms of peer interactions provide both informal and formal data the inform decisions related to improving teaching. These data also provide information to link results for students with changes in teaching practices. Without a regular stream of data about multiple variables related to effective teaching and student learning, teachers, their peers, and supervisors lack valid, reliable, and tangible evidence about effective teaching. These data provide a continuous stream of information against which teachers benchmark their progress and continuous improvement. Because of the significance of data in teaching and professional learning, effective teaching requires extensive assessment literacy and skill in using data to identify, plan, and measure the effects of ongoing professional learning.

Data allow teachers to identify the focus for their professional learning. The effectiveness of the learning experience is measured not only by the content, but also by the design of the learning experience. When professional learning for teachers models effective teaching practices, particularly those that are aligned with the vision of teaching and learning and the instructional framework, those engaged in the learning have an added advantage of learning both the content and processes about learning.

Effective designs integrate learning theories and research and foster active engagement and collaboration with colleagues. Learning designs vary to accommodate the expected outcomes, learners’ preferences, experience levels, school culture, and other factors. Teaching practices are enhanced through mentoring, coaching, and team learning that focus on clearly defined outcomes for teachers and their students.

Learning transfers to practice when mentors, coaches, and team members provide schooland classroom-based support sustained over time that draws on research about individual and organization change. Frequently, efforts to refine or extend teaching practices fail because the improved practices are not fully implemented with fidelity to the design. The use of constructive feedback based on predetermined criteria that describe effective teaching is also essential to continuous improvement of teaching.

CONTINUOUS LEARNING

Performance standards such as those described by Charlotte Danielson, Robert C. Pianta, Karen M. La Paro, and Bridget K. Hamre, InTASC’s model core teaching teaching standards, or state or district performance standards become an integral part of efforts to increase teaching effectiveness. Standards such as these align closely with the vision for teaching and learning and the instructional framework and define excellence in teaching. Coupling performance standards with student learning outcomes such as those defined in the Common Core State Standards creates a coherent set of criteria for both practice and results of effective teaching.

Effectiveness in teaching is a process of continuous learning that occurs over time without a termination point. As described in the InTASC standard 9, Professional Learning and Ethical Practice — “The teacher engages in ongoing professional learning and uses evidence to continually evaluate his or her practice, particularly the effects of his or her choices and actions on others (learners, families, other professionals, and the community), and adapts practice to meet the needs of each learner” (Council of Chief State School Officers, p. 18) — effective teaching includes reflection using data, engaging in professional learning, and adapting practice to meet the learning needs of students.

School systems have responsibilities to develop and embrace a vision for teaching and learning, adopt an instructional framework that guides how the vision moves into action, and establish standards that serve as the criteria for measuring effectiveness. Effective teaching results from comprehensive efforts of the entire community who come together to create the core components of a state and local system for teaching effectiveness. This system is fundamental to guarantee that every student, not just some, experiences effective teaching every day, and every educator, not just some, understands his or her role in increasing student achievement.