Learn with me #10 "Teaching an Interesting profession."

Knowledge is something that is constant.
We breathe knowledge, we eat knowledge and we live in knowledge.
In ones life, there is need for unlearning, relearning and learning.

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Also, another quality one needs to have is being teachable.
A wise man once said

"if you want to succeed in life, learn a new thing everyday and in one month, you would have learnt 31 new things".

Today I will be sharing my experience on a new knowledge I acquired through a seminar my friend and I attended.

Before I continue, she is a teacher and child counsellor and a price tutor...
So In the corporation she works, they always for an intensive training at the beginning of a session.
Happening in my presence, I had no choice but to join in the moving train.

It was a two week training where we talked about so many topics and aspects of the educational sector that were not even known to me.
Some of the topics handled varies across the intellectual, emotional, psychological and safety of learners. It also entails the preparedness of a teacher as a facilitator of the classroom and not the encyclopedia of the subject matter.

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Some of the topics were:

• Classroom management,

• strategies for productive and respectful learning through effective learning environment,

• understanding the principles and techniques in external examination structure,
  statutory records, mental health and wellness,

• elements to effective lesson planning, communication and interpersonal skills etc

Amidst all these topics one was very profound.
The elements of effective lesson planning, it's fundamentals and classroom management.
As a teacher, planning a lesson is one thing and delivery is another.

There are 3 major characteristics of an effective teacher we where thought

They include:

• What to teach
• How to teach
• Who to teach.

Allow me to explain:
What to teach : The knowledge of the subject matter cannot be overemphasized.
A teacher is meant to be a master of her environment. Knowing the subject from cover to cover and page to page leaving no stones unturned.

That's is why a teacher is a radical reader and researcher because new knowledge is being added everyday and one needs to keep abreast of the new insights and innovations.

Effective teaching first starts from the teacher know what to teach and not just from head knowledge but the ability to bring it into practicality and applicable to life.

A teacher should also not have the knowledge of the subject matter but experience to back it up.
Experience widens you up to what to expect and how to handle it

Next is :

How to teach

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Everybody has a different skills in teaching Just like all faces are not same and learners have different learning speed so does a teacher have different learning methods.
The versatility of a teacher ensure whether learning will take place or not.

A teacher should be geared with different teaching skills and methodology.
Take for instance, learners between the ages of 4-5 should be taught differently from those in upper graders.

If you were a teacher who taught probably nursery 3 and then later moved to grade 4.
It doesn't take any prophecy to tell the teacher that his/her teaching style would change as the learning needs and peculiarities of these two class of learners are different.

This brings me to the third one :

Who to teach
In the traditional method of learning, teachers were the knowledge bank in a classroom.
They enforce learning with little or no intake from the people being taught.
However, modern teaching has chosen to diversify.

The teacher is called a facilitator who brings out the innate abilities of the learners while teaching.
A belief that a learner is not a tabula rasa but someone that has something to offer.
Furthermore, who to teach are coming from different backgrounds.

Learners who have emotional, psychological, interpersonal needs and the teacher has to find a way to ensure that this learner is mentally sound during teaching delivery.
There is something I like to call 'diagnostic assessment '.
In this, the teacher takes the position of a doctor to access the patient (learners) and get to know their strengths and weaknesses.
Who they are, behavioural patterns and how to handle them.

If a teacher gets to know who he or she is teaching on a very good personal basis learning would not only be achieved but fun and memorable.
All these I learnt in the training I went with my friend and this particular topic kept me in a awe.
In conclusion, teaching is a big decision and role.

It takes not just being a professional to teach but a good person at heart.
Because patience and tolerance would be tested and how you resolve to it shows you who you are as a teacher and what you can do.
But from this training, I have been able to get new knowledge on how to appreciate this career well to the best of my abilities.
I believe I shared a whole lot of knowledge and someone has gotten to learn from my knowledge.

I would want to also learn from my other friends @ruthjoe @goodybest @alexanderpeace @ninapanda .