Monday, December 1, 2008
An Effective Teacher; an Effective School

As I reflect on Friday's lesson, many things strike me.
Firstly in her lecture on "Modifying LE Instrument Dr Quesk talked about why we modify and how to modify. As she talked about the characteristics in a classroom, a question that was asked is: student centeredness need not be shared control. Is this possible in the local context?

Well, I guess this is possible in some schools, namely the better schools where the pupils are confident in making decisions or gathering conclusions after a group work. But in the neighbourhood school, even in the student-centered atmosphere, teachers are not ready to share that control or give the responsibility to the children, possibly because they feel that the pupils are not up to it yet. Our Asian culture has also a part to play as students are taught from young that their teachers are their source of knowledge and they should listen to the teachers, hence control lies in the hand of the teachers.

Presentation of case study
After our lunch we had an interesting sesson where we had to present our response on the case study of three schools. My group had to present on School C, supposedly a school that any parents would refrain. Having stated our stand on the school's appeal factor, I want to step aside and take a humanistic view. I believe that the school can attract parents and their children, provided certain processes are in place. After all the teachers there are happy. Don't happy teachers create happy students? The principal is empathetic and he doesn't impose his demands on the teachers. He is approachable. Isn't that a plus point? Yes, it is true that the Principal sets the tone but the teachers can come together and work out a system where they revamp their teaching styles. After all, many of the teachers are there longer than the Principal, hence am I wrong to say that their sense of loyalty is stronger?

As an educator, i would be able to gather more information about a particular school before sending my child there. How about parents who are less educated and have no time to do their homework on checking out the credibility of the school? With low academic ranking and parents who are predominantly blue-collared job holders, the school would be caught in the vicious cycle of academically-poor students and poor results. Who can help these children if the teachers can't?

Wubbels' article on Discipline problems of Beginning teachers, 1985 (article link)
The more I thought about School C, Wubbels' article made sense to me. He mentioned "the kind of relationship which is built up between the teacher and his students " is important and "values, attitudes and emotions play a more important role." In short, he was emphasising on SEL, social and emotional learning. As he discussed the problems the beginning teacher faces, I liked the part where he mentions that it is more important for the beginning to realise that they lack the necessary skills; particularly the leadership skills, to achieve their ideal but at the same time they should learn to choose appropriate form of classroom organisation" to create a manageable classroom. In the local context, the senior teachers are there to lend support and with that they can work their way up to become an effective teacher.

An effective teacher (with the support of the P and fellow colleagues) can change the school landscape, hence making it an effective school. Haha! this is my thought of the day.


|Sakun:D| 12/01/2008 10:02:00 PM|

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