TEACHER DEVELOPMENT CLUB #01: Four Reasons Why Teachers Should Update Their Knowledge

Hello my fellow teachers,

Today, I am going to share with you four reasons why a teacher should update his/her knowledge. One thing we should be proud of is that, in this modern world, teachers do not need to toil and sweat for searching students’ materials or for finding out how to deal with students. In these modern days, teachers (or every subject), can share their views online via educational blogs and social media links. A modern teacher with a smartphone or laptop, for example, should not sweat like pupils or students in our schools. Instead he should join various educational blogs and get updates on how teaching is conducted and how various specific subject’s problems are solved. Simple as it may seem, nowadays, people of various sectors are also learning through new way known as ‘sharing’. Even some people have titled it ‘sharing is caring’ meaning that the one who shares cares about others. A teacher in his/her side does not really need to study like a student. Instead, he/she can enjoy this by sharing and updating the knowledge with other teachers as I’m sharing with you right now. ‘Sharing’ is really a big learning tool now. Even if I’ve made a mistake in writing this article, for example, I’ll still be happy to get criticism from you because I believe that by criticising me on this article, I’ll have learnt a new lesson and I can’t repeat the same mistake later on.

And then, here are four reasons why teachers should update their knowledge:

First, ‘Once a teacher always a teacher’. There is a saying from a novel A Man of the People (1966) that goes ‘Once a teacher always a teacher’ (pg. 10) as it is said by a Senior Tutor at Anata Grammar School. When a teacher teaches a student even for a single period, that student will forever remember the teacher and recognise him/her as his/her teacher throughout his/her life. This is obvious because every time we meet students we taught in the past but they still recognise us as their teachers. In the environment like this, any student expects many things like advice from the teacher. Thus, your ex – student can confront you and ask for advice from you. You cannot fully advise this student about ongoing issues of this world if you have not taken a time to study the world just like a student. That’s why we should agree that ‘once a teacher always a teacher’ or update this saying and say ‘once a teacher always a teacher of the whole world’!

Second, ‘A Teacher is a Student’. There are also those who say ‘a teacher is a student’. Of course, no one has a saved memory that can automatically remind him or her of everything he/she has learned in colleges or universities. And so, a teacher is a student or is always like a student because he/she will have to learn new things everyday so as to perfectly teach his/her students.

Image credit: https://www.newperimeter.com
Retrieved on 10/05/2018

Third, The Issue of Teacher’s 25% of teaching. Although it is unofficially believed that a student should fulfil his/her 75% of the whole learning process while a teacher fulfils his/her 25% of the whole teaching and learning process, the same teacher on the other hand, has to make sure that he/she effectively support his/her students by teaching, guiding, and exposing student’s potentialities in learning. When a teacher implements the curriculum and the current syllabus (25%), he/she is actually in the position of helping or guiding a student to explore the local and global potentialities. The student has to use his time (75%) to explore more on these exposed potentialities. In this aspect, a teacher also has to assess his/her students through various assessments like exercises, tests, and examinations. Therefore, a teacher needs to update his/her knowledge so as to make good use of his 25%.

Image credit: https://www.istockphoto.com
Retrieved on 13/07/2018

Fourth, Teaching Certificate is not enough. It’s undeniable truth that a collage certificate, a college diploma, or a university degree is not enough for a teacher who should educate the ever changing society. Thus, we, teachers need continuous consumption of materials by upgrading ourselves through various sources. And in this competitive world, a teacher should take the concept of upgrading seriously. My materials aim at fulfilling some of the needs of the English Teachers who want to get something for their simplified English Language teaching. To make this upgrading happens, modern devices like smartphones and laptops and other devices have simplified teaching these days. For example, a teacher should not stay idle looking at the new School Projector. Instead he should ask other teachers at the working station or online on how to operate the Projector. The world is changing and the content is largely changing as well.
Thank you very much. You can also check this article Why Do We Say a Student Has 75% in Learning Process?

This is just my viewpoint on this matter. If you have more questions, opinions, comments, suggestions, and other responses, please let me know. Your contribution will not only make this blog better, it will also make this world a better place for all!

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