In his book “How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character,” Tough (2013) brings out another explanation as to why children succeed. Tough believes that skills, intelligence, readiness, and wit do not lead to success. According to him, a character, which is integrity, self-control, curiosity, and confidence, determines the success of a child. Tough goes on to explain that character is gotten from life’s experiences and challenges. The ability of a person to stand beyond their failures and challenges generates character, which in turn leads to success.
I have learned from this book that hurtful experiences during childhood can alter the development of character in a child but attentive and nurturing parents or guardians can help children overcome everyday challenges, and in turn, children develop a strong character that leads to success in all aspects in life (Tough, 2013). Situations such as poverty or loss of parents in childhood may affect the development of character in a child, though, in some situations, children may be forced to stand up beyond their challenges and obstacles and hence the development of character. On the other hand, children born to very rich families may also have a problem developing character as they are spoilt, and they believe that they can easily inherit success from their parents without having to work hard.
I also learned that nurturance in older adults doesn’t necessarily lead to a growth in character. Older adults should be allowed to explore and handle situations on their own in order to build character. Parents need to only guide them and act as role models but should not make decisions on their behalf (Tough, 2013). When young adults are given time to explore and learn on their own, they fail, they make mistakes, and they face obstacles that lead them to seek ways that help solve all these issues. By so doing, they build character traits such as persistence, self-concept, integrity, confidence, perseverance, hard work, and problem- solving skills.
These modules will assist me in various ways as I become an excellent teacher of common core standards. First, they will help me learn various ways of creating a positive learning environment (“CCSS Professional Learning Modules for Educators – Common Core State Standards (CA Dept of Education),” n.d.). A learning environment should be conducive and positive for all learners, irrespective of their individual differences. A positive learning environment will ensure comfort, safety, participation, and motivation in my class; hence students are bound to gain and retain knowledge from the lesson.
Second, they will help me improvise and utilize instructional resources. Instructional resources are materials that teachers use to assist learning and also to increase learners’ interest in learning. The modules provide various instructional resources such as audiovisuals, which the teacher can use to enhance learning during the lesson. The modules also give a guide on how the teacher can improvise instructional resources that is to adapt materials for use other than buying the items commercially. Resources enhance students’ participation in class, and also arouse learners’ interest in the class, making teaching and learning effectively.
Third, they will help me choose the best teaching strategies that will focus on the students’ language learning needs. A teaching strategy refers to the way in which content is presented in a learning environment. Various factors need to be considered when selecting a teaching strategy which includes the abilities of the learners, size of the class, nature of the topic to be taught, time available, the level of the learners, resources available and the objectives to be achieved by the end of the lesson. These modules are divided into units where each unit outlines how teaching at each level should take place, which will assist me in choosing the most appropriate teaching method; teacher-centered or student-centered.
Fourth, the modules will help me to plan my lesson. The modules offer a deeper insight into the needs of students and how they should be taught. With this knowledge, I will be able to plan my lesson by identifying the learning activities that is a brief description of what the learners will be doing during the learning-teaching process such as reading, taking notes, reciting English passages and answering oral questions. Planning will also help me avoid under teaching or over teaching, whereby I present less content to the students or a lot of content that the students cannot handle. Planning will also enable me to manage time appropriately as a plan will guide me in and during the lesson. It will help me in introducing the lesson, building the lesson, and concluding the lesson and will spare me from dwelling so much on the introduction, body, or conclusion of a lesson.
The modules will help me cater to students’ individual differences. Individual differences are the characteristics of an individual, which bring about a uniqueness in them. In the classroom, differences are related to intelligence, skills, habits, emotions, experiences, goals, interests, and readiness. By understanding the individual differences of the students, a teacher is able to choose teaching methods that are appropriate, and that ensure effective teaching and learning. The modules also assist me in getting effective teaching strategies from colleagues as it provides a platform where I can engage with other teachers online and learn one or two things from them.
The module helped me acquire knowledge on how to teach in a sequential manner from the simplest to the hardest concepts and from the known to unknown. This arouses the learners’ interest and increases the participation of the learners. It also helps learners link what they learn with their personal experiences and hence more retention.
While completing the module, I felt excited as I couldn’t wait to implement the many strategies I had learned in my lesson. The module was an eye-opener as I saw the various loopholes that exist in effective teaching and learning of English and how I can become an effective teacher. The module gave me more knowledge of evaluation and how to conduct an evaluation, which will help me in becoming an effective teacher.
I learned various things from the module, such as planning, catering for individual differences, evaluation, utilizing instructional materials, characteristics of different learners at different levels, and new ways of making instructional techniques effective. From the module, I learned the needs of students in all grades and how I should cater to their needs. Students in different grades cannot be taught in the same way as their intelligence, readiness, comprehension, and understanding is different. I learned how to focus on students’ needs explicitly by using a variety of techniques to teach, providing tutorials and remedial, and making assignments flexible.
References
CCSS Professional Learning Modules for Educators – Common Core State Standards (CA Dept of Education). (n.d.). Web.
Tough, P. (2013). How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character. New York: Mariner.