UNIT 2: CHALLENGES OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION Unit 2 · UNIT 2: CHALLENGES OF THE TEACHING...

UNIT 2: CHALLENGES OF THE TEACHING PROFESSION

Unit 2

Challenges of the teaching

profession

Have a look at the cartoon. Think about the challenges teachers face today and the knowledge and competences teachers should have or develop to be able to cope with these challenges.

STUDY QUESTION: BOOK PAGE 18

Sample Student Answers

Challenges

Stress/pressure from students and parents

Large and complicated workload

Increasing amounts of new media introduced into schools (whiteboards, iPads, mobiles)

Keeping up with the constantly changing teaching methods and curricula

Growing generation gap

Dealing with the changing image of teachers - from ‘position of authority’ to ‘reason for child’s bad grades’

Has to look for and/or create new materials to make the lessons engaging and to meet the ever changing requirements

Changing laws and views on what is right and wrong to teach in schools (religion, ethnicity, political correctness)

Knowledge/competences

Good communication and people skills

Well organized and can handle stress well

Good adaptability to changing circumstances

Professional development (keeping up to date with new rules, laws and methods)

Patient and un-biased

Level-headed and not easily provoked


Unit 2


profession

Discuss why these characteristics are important (pgs. 21-22). Choose three that you consider most important and elaborate on your choice. Tick the characteristics that you can honestly say apply to you.



These characteristics are all important in order to produce interesting and successful lessons

E.g. enthusiastic - an enthusiastic teacher can turn even the most boring of subject matters into something interesting and captivating for the students

E.g. well-organized - a well-organized teacher prevents lessons from becoming mixed up and confused, even if things do not go according to plan

The three most important characteristics:

Engaging: an engaging teacher can capture and hold the attention and concentration of a class, even with difficult or monotonous subjects

Flexible: a flexible teacher will remain in control and adapt his/her teaching to meet changing situations in the classroom

Fair: a fair teacher will correct, criticize, and discipline only when appropriate, and not according to his/her own mood or preferences, e.g. won’t downgrade a good piece of student work simply because that student was disruptive/insulting in a previous lesson


Unit 2


profession

Take a critical look at the table above (pp. 21-22). Discuss how easy or difficult (1 = very easy, 2 = rather easy, 3 = rather difficult, 4 = very difficult) it would be to adhere to this code of conduct.

STUDY QUESTION: BOOK PAGES 21-23


In general, this code of conduct should be rather easy to adhere to, with only one or two principles being a little more difficult to keep up

E.g.: clear teaching structure - (1:very easy) let the students know what and how things will be done from the beginning

Content clarity - (1:very easy) clearly instruct tasks and content, explain what will be taught and when

Individual support - (3:rather difficult) dependent on individual students/classes, some are more time consuming and difficult than others; students with special needs require more support than others, more planning/assistance, a fact that can interfere with individual support for other students

Variety of instructional methods - (2:rather easy) mostly doable; teachers can often use different methods for the same task, but some tasks/content can only sensibly be done with one sort of method


Unit 2


profession

Imagine teaching an EFL lesson with an interactive whiteboard. Use the TPACK model to describe the knowledge and competences necessary to teach effectively using a whiteboard.



Content knowledge: All teachers need a deep understanding of the subject content in order to teach effectively

Pedagogical knowledge: All teachers need to know how to teach content effectively to different learner types

Pedagogical content knowledge: All teachers need to know how to teach the subject content and which methods and materials to use in order to teach effectively to all different learner types

Technological knowledge: All teachers wanting to use a whiteboard in the lesson need to know how it works and what it can be used for

Technological content knowledge: Teachers using whiteboards need to know which technology can be used most effectively for which content, and how a whiteboard can affect or change the subject content

Technological pedagogical knowledge: Teachers using whiteboards need to know how it can affect both the learning and teaching of subject content, and which other technologies or methods work best

for which learner types


Unit 2


profession

What is problematic about Frank’s code of conduct in class? What should he change about himself and his perception of teaching and learning? What could help him to add fun, motivation, and enthusiasm to his English lessons?



The interest, motivation and progression of Frank’s students, and not keeping in control of the lesson, should be the most important factors

Frank needs to change his priorities

Teaching and learning processes do not always go to plan

He needs to learn to be more adaptive with lessons: if things are not going to his original plan, he should ask himself why, adapt, and change to something that works just as well, in order to reach the same goal

Frank should try to relax and enjoy his job more. Instead of having a single solid plan, maybe he should try leaving the lessons a little more open, allowing room for change and adaptation

Possibly widening the range of teaching methods, learning resources and interactions could help to add fun, motivation, and enthusiasm to his English lessons

Staying in control of the classroom is the most important thing for Frank, who describes himself as a perfectionist. In fact, he hates it when things get out of control and do not run as smoothly as he planned at home when preparing his lessons. However, reflecting upon his English lessons today made him feel very uneasy. It struck him that his obsession with staying in control had affected his relationship with his students negatively. Sure, he was in control of the classroom, his students received good test results and he got his work done. The problem was that there was no humor, no enthusiasm, and no real motivation for learning English in the classroom. It just wasn’t any fun for him or his students.

Case Study 1


Unit 2


profession

What is problematic about Katharina’s expectations for this lesson on literature? What should she change about her approach in order to invite all students into the discussion?



Katharina’s expectations seem to be too high and leave no room for other interpretations of the story

Literature is a very wide field and can be interpreted in many different ways by different people

She should stay calm and not start shouting, but rather discuss the ‘totally off’ interpretations with the class in a positive way, inviting the students to expand their views

Encouraging the students to join the discussion by explaining that there is no right or wrong interpretation

Inviting the quiet students to add to the discussion by recapping the gist of what has already been said

Driving home after a long day at school, Katharina was at the end of her rope. She felt that the high expectations she held for students were interfering with classroom interaction. All she had wished for her English lesson today was to have a good conversation with her students about a short story they had read the lesson before. But she ended up getting very angry at some of her students whose interpretations of the short story were totally off. Other students just would not talk at all. Instead of having a productive conversation about the short story and its meaning, conversation in class stalled.

Case Study 2


Unit 2


profession

Mark is obviously very focused on meeting what is required of him by the curriculum. This seems to interfere with his relationship with his students. How could he have handled the situation differently? Should teachers judge themselves or be judged by others solely on the basis of whether or not they manage to comply with curriculum requirements? Elaborate.



By focusing too much on the curriculum, Mark leaves no room for adaptation or change in his lessons to meet students' needs

The curriculum is a guideline for teachers but is open to interpretation and change

Mark could look for objectives in the curriculum that the song meets ('bottom-up')

Teachers should not judge or be judged solely on complying with the curriculum

Teachers should be judged on how they use the curriculum and teach the required subject matter in the most appropriate way to their individual students

In order not to disappoint his mentor and make a good impression at the school, Mark made a point of moving through the topics exactly as they were outlined in the curriculum and scheduled in the in-school syllabus for grade eight. Recently, a couple of his students had suggested to discuss a popular song in one of his English lessons. While the students made a convincing case for discussing the song, Mark turned them down, telling them that the song did not fit in his overall plan and that there was simply no time to stray from the syllabus. The students were very disappointed, word got around, and, consequently, many of his students gave Mark the cold shoulder during the next couple of weeks.

Case Study 3


Unit 2


profession

What should Stefanie have done differently? Make suggestions for improvement with regard to preparing students for presentations as well as making the grading process more transparent



Stefanie could have discussed important aspects and contents of the presentations before learners were asked to present in order to eliminate major problems and mistakes

She should have made her grading process more transparent by telling the students why they are doing the presentations and which skills she would be focusing on

She could have provided a copy of her marking scheme

She could have given them a presentation outline to work from

She could have given short individual feedback after each presentation to help improve further presentations

In order to improve her students’ oral skills, Stefanie had set presentation topics for her students to prepare and present. During the presentations, Stefanie noticed that many of them lacked structure and language accuracy. Some of her students even quoted directly from Wikipedia and others just read out their notes. After the presentation days, Stefanie realized that none of her students had received a good grade. In fact, most of the grades for the presentations were average or below. What was even worse, students were angry about Stefanie’s grading and claimed that they did not know what was expected of them beforehand.

Case Study 4


Unit 2


profession

What could Marie do to improve her knowledge about teaching in mixed-ability classes? What should the school do to support its teachers? Which adjustments need to be made to teacher education, if teachers and schools are to meet the challenge of successfully integrating students with disabilities in mainstream schooling?

STUDY QUESTION: BOOK PAGES 31/32


Marie could improve her knowledge about teaching by asking teachers more experienced with mixed classes for tips and methods

Online teacher forums are great for ideas and problem solving

Attend advanced training courses for teaching mixed-ability classes

The school should offer or fund courses on coping with these situations

The school should support its teachers by providing assistants in the form of another teacher or specialist

Didactics courses should be improved by using more examples, if possible from real life situations

Earlier and more experiences with both mixed and non-mixed-ability classes for university students

More evaluation, discussion and information about the methods used

Marie works at a school that has recently begun to put the concept of inclusion into practice. While Marie is convinced of this concept, teaching English in one of her mixed-ability classes was becoming more and more difficult. The students in this class were just so heterogeneous and Marie’s teaching methods did not reach all of them. In fact, too many students were falling behind. Sure, she did some pair and group work here and there, but in order to meet curriculum requirements most of her teaching was teacher-centered. She felt that her university education had not really prepared her for what it meant to teach mixed-ability classes; she just did not know what to do and felt completely left alone.

Case Study 5


Unit 2


profession

Discuss the proposed changes and modifications to education with regard to, for example, questions of implementation, practicality, effectiveness, and long-term success.



Some teachers may prefer to stick to well-known methods because it is easier for them and seems to allow them more control in the classroom

Teaching multiliteracies and using a variety of projects and assessment methods are an excellent way of adapting curricular content, textbooks, and written tests in order to meet learners' needs in the 21st century

Introducing new methods and materials into schools should be easily doable by individual teachers – if they see the advantage of innovation and are willing to put in work

The proposed changes seem to require a radical change of our school system so that it may take a little while to spread these changes throughout all schools and education boards


Unit 2


profession

Get a clearer idea of the teaching profession and assess

whether your personality, experiences, and interests

match a career in teaching: www.cctgermany.de or

http://www.self.mzl.lmu.de/self-starten-sie-hier/ (short

films).

.



Visit and explore the website Research and assess

Space for notes:

http://www.cctgermany.de/

http://www.self.mzl.lmu.de/self-starten-sie-hier/

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