How to be a successful teacher?
A teacher is well-skilled and learns the basic
skills in lesson planning, course organization, active learning techniques, and
assessment strategies related to effective learning and process for the
students and effective teaching as well. A teacher learns everything with
regard to teaching pedagogy and teaching knowledge to the students by attending
various workshops to learn and improve his teaching skills. He develops class
assessment techniques, class management, class assessment techniques through
proper and professional planning of courses and assessment so that the students
would be able to learn and enhance their knowledge easily. A teacher provides plenty of options in a
group work along with other teachers as well as the in group of students to
assess them.
In the early theories of learning, it was thought
that complex higher-order thinking and gaining skills were obtained in small
pieces, breaking down learning into a sequence of prerequisite
skills. When these pieces were memorized, the learner would be able
to accumulate them into complex insight and understanding. But today, we know
learning requires that the learner actively build mental models by engaging in
problem-solving. Knowledge is received not just by getting information, but
also by interpreting the information and linking it to the learner's knowledge
base. What is important is that leaning process should be assessed by knowing
the learner's ability to structure organize and use information in context to
solve difficult problem. Thus for a teacher it is important to plan according
to the base of the learners.
1.
Standardized Assessment
About all the school district now manage
state-mandated standardized tests. All students at all grade level are required
to take the same test. The assessment should be done by assessing the groups.
The students need to be given a prescription if the assessment tests to
complete their tests within the rules and regulations and time set for the
tests. Everything should be managed properly. The country already has act and
laws, which are reinforced to assess the students’ performance on the basis of
the tests. Students’ assessments enable them to move further for higher grades
level. Students’ assessments are an integral part of development of the
educational development of the students, rendered by the teachers.
2.
Alternative Assessment
Alternative assessment, also known as comprehensive,
authentic, or performance assessment, is generally designed by the teacher to
measure students' understanding of material. Alternative assessments of these measurements
are written compositions, open-ended questions, projects, experiments, oral
presentations and portfolios of student work. Such assessments are designed by
the teacher to check the level of the students if t the content of the
assessment matches the content of the instruction taught in the class. The
teacher should have such alternative assessments to see the level of the
students. Effective assessments help the students to see their level that how
well they understand the information and on what they have to improve, also
help the teachers design their instructions in a better way.
3.
Students’ involvement in assessment
The teachers need to involve the students in their
self-assessment. The teachers need to make groups in the class to assess their
level of performance by providing them tasks with such conditions. The students
enthusiastically take part in doing their parts actively to get better scores
in the class. Such assessments provide students an active role in developing
the score criteria, goal setting and self-evaluation. Students readily accept
the assessment process and believe that this would be the way to measure their
learning. The alternative assessments include: observation, essay writing,
interviews, portfolios, exhibitions and demonstrations, performance tasks,
self-evaluation and teacher-made tests.
4.
Group Practices in Teaching
Group Workers dynamically know, understand, and
apply the Standards of best practice; the teachers learn to meet the standards,
and requirements impacting the practice of group work. In group work all the
teachers need to be aware of the requirements so that they would be able to
improve their own skills as well as they will be able to teach and apply those
practices in the class. Teachers as group workers define the scope of practice
related to the core and specialization of the subjects they teach in the class.
Group workers know personal strengths and weaknesses in leading groups as
teachers can learn from their strength and their weaknesses. Also, teachers make
the students develop and enable them to articulate a common conceptual
framework to direct practice and a motivation for use of techniques that are to
be used in the class.
5.
Assessing Group Work
All of the fundamental principles of assessment,
which apply to individual students’ work apply to group work as well. Assessing
group work has many additional aspects to consider.
Firstly, the
assessment depends on the objectives and purposes of the assignment; both
product-related skills and process skills should be assessed. Secondly, group
performance should be translated into individual grades for the students, which
raises issues of equity and fairness. Complicating both these issues is the
fact that neither individual contributions nor group processes are essentially
apparent in the final product. Thus, as a teacher, one needs to find ways of
getting this information as well as he has to make the plans accordingly.
6.
Working in a group as leader
Some characteristics of leaders are natural like a
pleasant or pleasing attitude towards his fellows. A teacher needs to be able
to provide the best of his leadership qualities to the students as well as his
fellow teachers. This is a significant element in attracting the students and
fellow teachers as a role model. Other popular methods used by the teacher as
leaders to deliver the information are: Apprenticeships, Famous Speakers,
Formal Education, Manuals, Internet guides, off-the-job conferences, teaching
and seminars etc. For managing and developing the fellows and students the
teacher as a leader should not teach the students and other fellows too many
new procedures at once. Training should be considered as an ongoing process. A
teacher should be patience and willing to answer the questions and he should be
realistic in his expectations.
7. Developing
students and other fellows
The teachers as a leader in a group of other teacher
should have the ability to train and develop them. A teacher will find that
developed and more civilized people will respond and learn and work in a better
way as compared. In this world of development the teaching and coaching are the
best methods for supporting the fellows and particularly the students to
enhance their skills and improve their talent in order to achieve their
potential goal. Successful coaching and mentoring gives many more benefits. In
training or teaching the level of learning, among students, increases, the
ability of decision making and proper planning of assessment rises and also the
motivation level of other group fellows also increase. When the teacher teach
the students and train his fellows from time to time, he will be able to know
the nature of his students as well as the other teacher.
8.
Organizing the Group
Group should be organized by setting the objective,
which is to develop the teachers and develop a better learning environment to
the students. Two ways should be adopted to organize the group: first, to lead,
for organizing the group, the members of the group should be directed and
guided. The guide should work as a team leader for the group in order to lead
the members for a purpose of educational development; second, to recruit: the
people particularly the ones, who have interest in teaching and developing a
career in teaching and educational development, should be invited to join the
team for a better cause and instigate real-world action from them. They should
be aware of the importance of the cause of the group and you need to spark
their interests so that the cause would be important for others.
9.
Structure of the Group
The structure of my group would be on four key
components: roles, authority, attraction, communication. As the leader of the
group, you should assign the members tasks and roles in accordance with the level
of their ability. You need to provide certain members the authority to do their
parts and coordinate the activities of the group. Then you should define and
focus on the relationship between the rank and group members’ file in the
attraction. Finally, form a communication network so that the group members
will be able to communicate and interact easily through a communication
network.
10. Background factor
considerations
For the purpose of forming your group to develop
educational structure of the institute as a leader, you need select well-qualified
people to multiply your efforts and eagerness into action from other people.
The other people seem to be biased towards people that team up for a common
cause and speak with one voice. You need to see all the factors involved in
forming group such as the downside and upside. The downside of this is that
other people with values would be conflicting with my group to successfully
change the things in their favor. However, the upside is that by organizing
other people into a group, you can change the world for the better in your favor.
11. Leadership style
For the purpose of leading, you should give
the group focused and achievable goals to organize the group. You have to set
some goals, which should have measurable success to keep yourself and others
members engaged in a task. Enthusiasm is essential for running the group, you
should motivate the members to make them enthusiastic of completing their
target and do target-oriented work to keep the members focused and increase
their commitment. As a team leader, you would stay on message and task on time
to be a role model for them and give the group members a sense of
responsibility. You should give the members responsibility in accordance with the
capability they have and you should give them roles to develop students’
performance level. As a leader of the group, you must try to know the concerns
of the members and involve them in decision making.
12. Forming Stage of the Group
In order to form the group, you should go through
Tuckman’s theory of the stages of the group forming, such as forming, storming,
norming, performing and adjourning. In the first stage, you should not give the
members defined roles. They are not clear what they have to do. In the first stage, as they do not have a
clear mission, you have to guide them about the group’s mission. In the second
stage, personal relations are characterized in the group perspective. Members’
ideas are considered. In the third stage, you should let the members know about
their roles and the process required to find solution to problems. At this
stage, you will be able to make your team a high performing one. The team
performs in accordance with the mission and members’ defined roles will
actively be seen at this stage. At the last stage, you should be involved in termination
if the team does not perform well.