In an academic world setting, several researchers and teachers have been searching for the best methods of teaching, which is certainly quite a complicated task as it involves choosing the appropriate way of teaching that corresponds to the certain age group or the each individual particularly. According to Daniel D. Pratt there are five main perspectives on teaching which are used as a tool for professional development, a means for institutional change and a research instrument with new and experienced teachers (Pratt, Collins and Selinger). Daniel D. Pratt considers perspectives on teaching to be “a lens through which we view teaching and learning” (3).
The perspectives on teaching may vary depending on the subject, the types of assignments, the age of your learners, and the aims of education. According to my opinion, the main goal of education is to teach learners to think, reason, analyze and make conclusions themselves. Learners should be provided with a set of skills to deepen their understanding about the subject matter, yet at the same time enable them to develop their own viewpoint of a particular issue (Fox, 29). Experienced learners should be good selectors of information. They should realize what they need to learn. Moreover, helping people unlearn is one of the most important goal for teaching – as painful as the process can be for many people. If learners want to improve their skills and acquire more knowledge, they should always be open-minded, always ready to change/adapt their mind, thus rejecting their previous knowledge and beliefs. There are a lot of methods to achieve these aims. Every teacher has his/her own means of achieving these results.
The main perspectives on teaching include a Transmission Perspective, a Developmental Perspective, an Apprenticeship Perspective, a Nurturing Perspective and a Social Reform. All these perspectives on teaching are important for achieving the best results in teaching. The degree of importance of each of them depends on the age of your learners.
Educating adults is extremely a difficult task, therefore designing and implementing a course content suited for adult learners should be conducted carefully. The Apprentice Perspective and the Developmental Perspective are very essential for teaching adults. As far as, the adults have more experience than adolescents/teenagers and they are more motivated.
I use these two basic perspectives for teaching adults. I always take into consideration their previous experience. The main complication for me is that all these students have different experiences and I look for a special approach to everyone. Students should be prepared to enlarge their previous experiences painlessly. In order to know the students’ experience, I prepare not only lectures but debatable discussions which help us together to come to the right conclusion. It is not appropriate to say students forget that they have been taught earlier. They should come to the right decision themselves. It is very important for me that my students are not afraid to ask questions and express their own points of view. They should not be afraid to seem silly and make mistakes. It is a normal process of studying. It is a normal process of study. My role as a teacher is only to direct these discussions in the right direction without interrupting them. Teachers should not impose their point of view on the students, but on the contrary, they should try to convince them to make the right decision with the help of discussion. Such discussions help me to practice developmental perspectives. I provide more opportunities to my students to talk during the lesson, it helps me to know more about themselves, about their points of view which I take into account during the process of the study.
In addition, adults have the need to understand the importance of knowledge in their life. When they study something, they do it better when they are motivated. When I introduce a new subject, I begin with the relevance of this subject in my students’ life (Lewison). I do all my best to make my introduction the most appealing part of my lecture. The first part is the most important because it helps to attract the students’ interest. If you don’t succeed to do it in the first stage, it will be more difficult to take their interest later.
The success of education depends on the teacher as well as on the learners. Success is guaranteed if there is a collaboration between good teachers and good learners. Good learners should be motivated and ready to acquire knowledge and change their behavior. If the process of the study is successful, learners improve their performance and proficiency, change in knowledge, attitudes and skills.
There are a lot of different characteristics of good teachers. Good teachers should have a passion for their subject and their teaching which is infectious for the learners. I believe that good teachers possess a skillful ability of connectedness. “They are able to weave a complex web of connections among themselves, their subjects, and their students so that students can learn to weave a world for themselves” (Fox 11). Good teachers make the process of study interesting and provide a fun classroom environment. They are informative and try to give students what they want. They are available for students to ask questions.
My belief about good teachers is that it is not within the method that they use to teach students, but it is “in their hearts-meaning, heart in its ancient sense, as the place where intellect and emotion and spirit and will converge in the human self” (Fox 11). The basis of my teaching methodology is my passion and deep interest. If I want to awaken the learners’ interest, I should be interested in this subject myself. When the teacher doesn’t like his/her work and isn’t interested in the subject matter, it is noticeable by the learners. Every good teacher should be able to arouse the learners’ interest in the subject. During my preparations for the lecture, I think about what is interesting for my learners. I use modern technologies to make my lectures more captivating. Bright and colorful presentations in PowerPoint with pictures and sound effects make the lectures more interesting. When it is possible, I use different video presentations, documentary films and social advertisements to attract the learners’ attention to the subject.
According to Parker Palmer’s article Courage to Teach, “good teaching cannot be reduced to technique; good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher” (10). To be a good teacher means to have a talent. More than that, the efficiency of your teaching depends on your personal characteristics. It is called “a fourth of energy that deep and lasting learning requires” (Palmer).
There are a lot of different researches concerning the efficiency of the study process, overloaded with different methods and pieces of advice for improving teaching and learning skills. To my mind, your learners will never like your subject if you don’t like it and are not interested in your job. My key point in good teaching is my personal interest and passion for my subject. I do my best to achieve good results in teaching trying to use different perspectives and methods of teaching. To be a teacher means to have a talent.
Works Cited
Fox, Paula. Heart of a Teacher. USA: Bethany House, 2005. Print.
Lewison, Dana and Blouse, Ann. Delivering Effective Lectures. Washington: JHPIEGO, 1996. Print.
Palmer, Palker. The Courage to Teach: the inner Landscape of a Teacher’s Life. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2007. Print.
Pratt, Daniel. Good teaching: One Size Fits All? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 2005. Print.
Pratt, Daniel, Collins, John, and Selinger, Sandra. Development and Use of the Teaching Perspectives Inventory (TPI). Netherlands: Springer, 1998. Print.