Becoming a successful teacher

Pattern of teaching and learning are changing from day to day with change in students behaviour. In olden days, teacher is one who inculcates the knowledge in learner through instructing, but as the generations changed, teaching profession has also seen lot of changes; it has become one of the most important professions that have lot of impact on society. Teaching has become more of sharing than just instructing. As a future teacher, I should be able to cope up with this changing learner’s behaviour and should teach them in the way they understand better and show maximum output. In the words of former Indian president, Scientist and now serving as professor at one of the top universities in India, Dr. A.P.J Abdul Kalam “Educationists should build the capacities of the spirit of inquiry, creativity, entrepreneurial and moral leadership among students and become their role model”. These were the main motivational factors that created the passion of teaching in me. I believe that I can build confidence in students to come forward to express themselves, encourage them in excelling in studies and their field of interest. From my experience as a student, I learnt that not all the students will be participating in the same way in the class and it is difficult for teachers/ professors, to concentrate on particular students’ progress. Hence, I believe that, I as a teacher should be capable of handling these type of problems sensibly and make sure that all the students improve their skills and participate actively in classroom.

Personal Biography

As a student and good observer, I have been observing different techniques and methods used by teachers to involve students in the class. As an MBA student in international business school, I got the rare opportunity of learning different teaching skills of professors from different countries round the world. The way they teach, their interaction with students, their handling of different cultural issues (as students are from different parts of world), their handling of subject and assisting students in applying the theory to present business world made me more passionate towards taking this teaching course. Their presence in the class would make students delighted and more interested towards subjects.

Ideas, beliefs and values

Teaching has changed from just accumulation of facts through instructing procedure to developing learners’ ability by assisting them to think critically and experiment. I still remember the college days, where my teacher Mrs. Fareed used to take special care of every student personally. She is one of the most powerful teachers I have ever met. She has all the qualities that a teacher has to have. She just doesn’t used to teach us, she used to show a virtual concrete picture in front of our eyes and thus making it easier and interesting. It’s been long time, I departed from her, but her influence is still on me. . This pattern of teaching through imagination is a proven success factor. Whitebread (1929), a famous philosopher from Harvard University, in his work “The aim of education” stated “Imagination cannot be measured or weighted and then supplied to student. It is an art that should be possessed by teacher and communicated to learners in an orderly way”. Whitebread (1929) work on education system is still taken as standard by many authors and philosophers. I would be combining my experience as a student with the learning from these course and mold myself into good teacher.

I will try to create an environment where students can interact with me (teacher), and other students regarding subject and improve their ability in the areas that they are excited about. Because I believe that the learning would be successful, only when it is meaningful. Here, I would like to mention about my HRM professor Mrs Marian Sullivan (guest faculty) from Coventry, who has 25 years of industry and academic experience is so down to earth, that she is always ready to welcome new ideas from students and even learn new things from them. These characteristic in her, taught me that the ability of teaching lies in the ability of learning. I will try to learn new ideas from students and would encourage their participation in class to bring out their creativity. While reading through one of the articles by philosopher Mitchalak (1986), I noticed him pointing out this art of making students participate in classes is most crucial for being a successful teacher. He quoted “Students should be motivated to become active learners in class, or else, they will neither develop thinking skills nor engage in the class”. I will assist in building confidence in the students and make classroom activities more interested by adapting the teaching pattern, in which students are interested in.

I also strongly support parents / guardians involvement in student learning skills. I don’t hesitate to be in regular contact with parents about students’ progress and their involvement in community activities. Learners get inspired by parent’s activities, roles and surroundings (neighbors, and friends). According to me, parents are the first teachers in one’s life. Hence, I encourage parent’s participation in students learning life. This is not just my idea towards education, but it’s a proven fact. In one of the research conducted by William and Chavkin, they found the fact that “The more parents participate in schooling, in a sustained way, at every level, the better for student achievement”. Before joining the course, I had the basic ideas of teaching from my teachers and professors. These ideas lighted the fire of passion for teaching in me. After joining the course, I realised that it’s not just about teaching, but about sharing knowledge, learning new things every day, changing with day to day and motivating myself and many people around me. According to me, learners are influenced by many factors around them. Few of them include social safety, classroom environment, their personal needs and most importantly social life.

I have also learnt that my ideas towards teaching are not just enough to be a good teacher and these ideas needs to be changed according to today’s and in fact everyday changing individual behavior. Teachers play a crucial role in every one’s life. Students and society look at teachers for changes in present generation. They would be the first person to be pointed out at, when learners doesn’t perform well in community.

While reading through different articles on teaching and todays educational changes, I have come across my philosophy of teaching is just what is followed by most of the teachers around the world. The philosophy “The art of teaching lies behind the art of learning” is implemented by many teachers around the world. Brookfield (1990), in his work “the skilful teacher”, explained this philosophy as one of the best philosophies possessed by teachers in present generation. He mentioned that “the successful teacher is one who is able to learn from student and make student participate in class activities successfully”. Teacher, who has excellent teaching skills won’t get success until student participates in classroom activities. By the end of this course, I would prove myself to be successful teacher and learner and start my new career by assisting learners to achieve their goals.

In today’s world, where technology is playing key role and teachers have to adapt with these growing technology to reach students well. At higher secondary schools, almost all students, might miss giving a reading to their notes, but not miss their inbox in mail. Teachers in US and UK are following up with this trend. Some teachers are using twitter to remind students of their homework and some teachers are using Facebook to contact students, clarify doubts and mentor them. Governments are also taking initiatives by conducting extensive researches on education system. They are in continuous negotiations with education providers (schools, colleges, universities) to make sure that teaching is up to standards.

Encouraging student creativity is also important for today’s changing world. Students should be given chance to experiment theories. They should be allowed to share their ideas with everyone. This environment encourages innovative ideas in learners, which helps development of country. In words of A.P.J Abdul Kalam, “Teachers play crucial role in developing nation with beautiful minds”. By the completion of this course, with the skills gained I can go against any challenge in Mauritian education system and impart learners with confidence and skills.

There have been many debates against the teaching system in schools. Students are afraid of making wrongs or giving wrong answers, which ultimately is making them to lose their confidence. Sir Ken Robinson, in his talk show on TED, blamed schools and education system, for killing creativity in students by not encouraging them. He further added “you will never come up with something innovative and useful, unless you are not prepared to be wrong”. Students should be encouraged to speak out in the class, from these little beautiful minds, creative ideas develop in future.

Here, I would like to remind the words of Linda Lumsden(1994), who has done a lot of research on student motivation towards learning. According to her “Motivation is successfully gained by general experience, but mostly, it is directly related shaping and communication of expectations, and direct instruction or socialisation through others(mainly, parents and Teachers)” As I stated before, to achieve good results, teacher and learner should work together. As a teacher, I will always keep in mind that both teaching and learning are directly related to each other and when tied together properly and planned well, they can lead to excellent outcome.