Introduction
On the way to become a professional, an individual has to improve one’s skills and education continuously. For a successful teacher, it is crucial not only to learn something new but also to help young students to study. The teacher has to advance both personal skills and the skills of students who want to know more. Teaching is a complex system which relies on the specific methods and unique techniques to create a productive environment for both parties involved. The interaction brings together teachers and students in close analysis, cooperation, or debate. To make the interaction engaging for teachers and students, it is necessary to analyze and apply the values of educational development as a part of professionalism, context of education, core knowledge, and types of learning activities.
Professional Development
The Teaching Skills Enhancement Program (or TSEP) is an educational program for the graduate students who want to participate in a teaching apprenticeship, create a convincing portfolio, and learn new strategies to interact with students and educate them. The program focuses on the establishment of engagement between students and teachers. It is a foundation for effective and influential education (“Examples of learning activities”, 2018). However, the step requires a lot of preparation and background. It is not enough to communicate with students only; it is vital to show confidence and qualification of the teacher. TSEP gradually develops confidence in teachers’ abilities and skills. Most importantly, the young teachers themselves might be uncertain and hesitant about their experience and capabilities (Huang & Hu, 2016). The program reduces the uncertainty and replaces it with confidence.
One of the most common strategies to build the trust in one’s abilities is to simulate a realistic setting. However, the participants typically start to participate in real teaching situations. For example, many graduate students work as the apprentices while they are monitored and guided by more experienced teachers. It helps to overcome lack of confidence and earn basic experience. The participants can apply the theoretical framework in practice for the first time. The apprentices do not work for a full-time day; instead, they can have several hours per week. The realistic experience and real students will help the future teacher to adjust to the environment.
Furthermore, the credible communication is a core element of teaching. As stated above, interaction is an influential tool to teach the students. The teacher should initiate communication on a broader scale. The method refers not only to the oral type of communication but also to written forms. The researches, analyses, responses, tests, and other written works are in a way a form of a discussion between the teacher and the students. There has to be a purpose behind communication (“Examples of learning activities”, 2018). The teachers have to motivate, provoke, or challenge students according to their personal traits. Inexperienced apprentices cannot recognize the communicational patterns as it is a type of knowledge which comes with experience.
What is more important is the fact that the experienced teachers can help apprentices to correct mistakes, give useful advice, and motivate them to improve the skills ones have. Apart from that, the professionals can correct the strategies apprentices use incorrectly. The program helps to overcome basic mistakes the participants do. After the graduate student completes the program, the competence of the individual increases as well as qualification does (Kudryashova, Gorbatova, Rybushkina, & Ivanova, 2016). The TSEP prepares apprentices for the real-life situations, challenges, and routine events. As a result, the apprentices have higher chances of being hired and are more competent, compared to the students who do not complete the TSEP.
Context
I teach technology as a primary subject at an associate level. I have a bachelors degree in technology and have a relatively small experience in teaching. The students are primarily inexperienced; however, they are familiar with the topics and disciplines I teach. In other words, the students do not have a professional background of working in the field of technologies, but their awareness is relatively high about the field. It is because the students choose the education and qualification they want to obtain in the future. Even though they lack professional experience, it is not an obstacle for them to learn and receive an educational degree. The absolute majority of the students show advanced skills in English; however, during the courses, they improve their language skills significantly. I use some of my experience to provide a context in which students will have to work. It helps to learn from the real mistakes people make in a workplace.
Learning Activities
First of all, all of the learning activities have to be meaningful, useful, and intentional. The learning activities have to be carefully developed for a specific group of students because activities are not universal. For some individuals, it is better to have an additional control, while for others, it is easier to work without any. One of the duties of the teacher is to identify the necessities of the group and create a reliable system of learning activities, which are effective (“Examples of learning activities”, 2018). Typically, teachers use a combination of different learning activities to achieve the best result possible in educating the students. It is impossible to apply only a single strategy; however, what is more difficult is to keep the knowledge updated and useful.
The most popular activity is providing students with assigned reading (Riddle, 2016). Education requires a lot of reading; however, it has to be interactive and engaging. To make it effective, the teacher has to explain the reasoning behind it. In some cases, the students cannot simply understand the reason why they read an article or a journal (Huang & Hu, 2016). Thus, it is highly recommended for teachers to provide reasons for reading specific literature. Furthermore, to assure that the students understand the material and interact with it, it is possible to have a list of questions or to ask to write a review, a reflection, or any other type of written critical analysis (Kudryashova et al., 2016). In this way, the teacher establishes a certain degree of independence and consideration of students’ opinions.
The modern technologies created an entirely new platform for education. For many disciplines, there are online lectures and presentations which help students to learn something new. In recent years, the online courses have become very popular among the teachers and students (Riddle, 2016). It provides a certain degree of flexibility and freedom. The students have a deadline and they have to read the lecture and answer some questions to complete the course (Huang & Hu, 2016). Additionally, the teacher can interact with students online and update the materials or tests. At the same time, the students can also communicate with the teacher and create discussions which depend only on technological and software limitations.
Moreover, the Internet has enabled students to work with multimedia content as well. For instance, the teacher can provide tasks like charts or graphs which are based on the assigned readings and students can complete this task online. Typically, the multimedia content method can be used when there are short thematic modules. In order to memorize and apply the useful material, the practical tasks can significantly increase the effectiveness of education. Apart from flexibility, the students can avoid unnecessary paperwork. Instead, they are habitual with modern gadgets and can complete the work more conveniently (Kudryashova et al., 2016). The multimedia content is a modern and influential tool as the students can improve their knowledge of information by completing relevant tasks.
The teachers also can create a discussion and facilitate it. For example, one gives the students a topic or an article related to the question before the lecture. The students can prepare their personal responses to the subject or show their opinion in any other way (Riddle, 2016). The teacher gives enough time for preparation and the productive discussion. Instead of improvisation, the students can use references in their responses, create outlines, or presentation to discuss the topic (“Examples of learning activities”, 2018). The debate occurs among students while the teacher might only maintain the environment of interactions. At the same time, the teacher can comment and intervene in the debate to adjust the productive conversation.
One of the most engaging tools to encourage communication and cooperation is a group task. The teachers assign group tasks for large products; however, the format depends on the topic and educational program. For students, it is important to develop skills for cooperation and communication. The only simple but effective way is to assign them to the tasks which require large materials and resources. Each member of a group has a specific role which is defined by the teacher or can be determined among the students themselves (Huang & Hu, 2016). However, the purpose of the group task is to help students to share the duties and to be able to rely on one another.
Learning Design
For me, it is important to encourage students for the critical thinking and problem- solving skills. I firmly believe that these features are the most valuable traits of a successful professional in any field. Critical thinking analyzes, criticizes, and provides an alternative to the established results. However, it also allows to consider various ideas and options that can be opposing to the ones that students have (“Examples of learning activities”, 2018). In its turn, it can help to maintain a productive dialogue between different parties in the future. The problem solving skill has various applications; nonetheless, the truth is that any job is a chain of challenges which have to be solved. The students utilize all of the resources they have to resolve a problem and move forward.
A case analysis is a useful technique for the development of critical thinking. The topic of the case analysis can be different as well as the task. For instance, the students might identify the existing problem within a company, they might analyze the factors which caused the specific situation, or the individuals have to see the situation from different perspectives (“Examples of learning activities”, 2018). Case analysis provides a good opportunity for students to get used to working with the literature and materials. The individuals interact with the sources and use them in the way to convey information most effectively. Additionally, students have to find useful and relevant data to support their claims or views. The method is highly effective because it forces students to use all of the tools they have.
The problem-solving skill can be developed while simulating a realistic situation. In fact, the students can face for the first time the challenges with which they will encounter during a professional career. The teacher simulates the case based on the real event with all of the crucial factors. It helps to emerge the students and focus on the unpredictable issues or factors which exist in the real world. Even though it might be stressful for some students, it prepares them for the struggles they will face later. The most important part of the simulation is to allow students to make mistakes (Kudryashova et al., 2016). It is inevitable for everyone to make something wrong as it is the basis of learning. The simulations remove the risks and long-term consequences of the mistakes the students can make.
Furthermore, it is also possible to use the specific limitations and conditions which can replicate the real environment in which the students will have to work. Moreover, it is a great opportunity for the students to test their skills and knowledge at the current level (“Examples of learning activities”, 2018). In other words, simulation reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the students. The simulation can be focused on a specific skill or a topic and it can be a complex task which will check the knowledge of students which they received over an extended period of time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the teaching methods and learning activities define the nature of the class. Students and teachers have to engage in mutual activity which helps both parties achieve their goal. The teacher has to motivate and provoke students to develop as personalities as well as professionals. However, one has to force them in challenging tasks to reveal the true potential of the students. Apart from that, it is a safe environment where the future professionals can experiment, make mistakes, and learn from the consequences.
References
Examples of learning activities. (2018). Web.
Huang, X., & Hu, X. (2016). Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of classroom activities commonly used in English speaking classes. Higher Education Studies, 6(1). Web.
Kudryashova, A., Gorbatova, T., Rybushkina, S., & Ivanova, E. (2016). Teacher’s roles to facilitate active learning. Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 7(1). Web.
Riddle, R. (2016). Making the most of assigned readings. Web.