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.
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!
If you are a STUDENT, TEACHER, PARENT/GUARDIAN,
or an education stakeholder, you can also get various Materials, Teaching
Guide, and Notes for ‘O’ Level English Language (OLE) right here.
You
may also be interested in our products below:
1.
English Language for Secondary Schools
FORME
ONE
FORM
THREE
FORM
FOUR
2.
Our Blogs:
3. Other Useful ‘O’ Level
English Topics: