BE COME A TEACHER

Becoming A Teacher-Parent - Giving Your Children The Goal Of Success

Executive Summary about be come a teacher by Steve Wickham

Where do noisy people get off? They tend to venture through life completely uninhibited, totally free from responsibility for their boisterous behaviour. It's even worse if you have a friend or colleague who displays this type of behaviour. Now, coffee shops are quite noisy places at the best of times I've found, what with coffee machines and many patrons happily producing a symphony of 'harmonising' decibels together. It was a golden opportunity to observe group human behaviour of young people who'd not yet discovered the art of (or the desire for) containing their egos.
As the meeting progressed, one of the girls said, words to the effect, "Why'd I get sacked (for bad language) from pushing trolleys - why didn't they recognise my 'good' performance (16-25) trolleys." Certainly pushing trolleys at a supermarket fits in the 'working with the public' realm and uncontrolled bad language just doesn't fit into the job description.
Had no one taught her some social graces?
It seems at this age, social life is "it." Ninety percent of the time it only highlights the dysfunction that the parent in question cannot see, after all 'they did a fine job' in raising their kids! I think this young woman's story highlights the value of teachers. Teachers in life provide the basis for learning; academically, socially, developmentally, morally, spiritually. Teachers don't just exist in schools. Teachers are incredibly gifted and loving people in the main; investing themselves in the future of others, leaving a legacy to the world that will exist long after they've perished. A person playing the role of teacher probably helped us get there. Teaching in this way is inspirational-it is the best gift you can give your children-sound, firm but fair, teaching. "It takes fortitude, interest, and love of learning to stay in a teaching career."

Parents have a role as teachers. The good teacher-parent knows this and attends to it; the parent who thinks only teachers teach is crudely unaware of this hugely important life truth, and they're on a highway to ruination of their son or daughter.
Furthermore, the adult parent who isn't a teacher behaves more in their "child state" because they've never matured or been properly weened themselves-there is little hope for kids of parents like this, unless there is someone else willing to step in and mentor them in life. Chances are these kids will attract the wrong types of mentors and friends and will never learn the way to life.

What is Good Teaching?

Executive Summary about be come a teacher by Glenn Schuyler

A foremost characteristic of good teaching is expert knowledge of the subject matter, and of teaching methodologies (Woolfolk, 2004). I personally have seldom ever experienced good teaching by someone with weak knowledge of subject matter information. However, expert teachers with little expert knowledge in subject matter may exude expert teaching through acquired skills and expertise in other areas such as, knowledge of general teaching strategies, proper use of curriculum material, knowledge of characteristics and cultural background of their students, the most appropriate settings in which students best learn, and overall knowledge of the general goals of education (Woolfolk, 2004, p. 6). An example of characteristics mentioned above is supported by a position statement of the International Reading Association in which they argue, "Every child deserves excellent reading teachers because teachers make a difference in children's reading achievement and motivation to read," (International Reading Association, 2000, p. 235). According to the International Reading Association, excellent reading teachers share several critical qualities of knowledge and practice:
1. They understand reading and writing development and believe all children can learn to read and write.
2. They continually assess children's individual progress and relate reading instruction to children's previous experiences. Gore's work (as cited in Montgomery & Thomas, 1998. p. 372) suggests that the ideas of reflective teaching methodology in teacher preparation go back to Dewey (1904, 1933). `What do teachers do that helps? What do teachers do that hurts? What advice do you have for teachers? The students (all females) were divided randomly into two groups. Humor was used in one, and the same teacher taught the second group without using humor. The above-mentioned characteristics of good teaching reflect the feedback from students, results from scientific studies, and reflection by teachers. One more source of input on what constitutes good teaching is derived from those who hire teachers, namely the school administrators. What qualities do school administrators seek in prospective teachers? Establishing positive classroom climate
Building/maintaining rapport with students
Knowledge of subject matter
Extracurricular work
An interesting note about the differences between good female teachers versus good male teachers emerged from a 1993 study by Goodwin and Stevens. Patricia Montgomery (Montgomery & Thomas, 1998) sums it up best:
I told them that I was a college student studying to be a teacher.