GOOD TEACHER

How to be a good teacher

2008-08-21T10:26:00.000-07:00

Was not easy to become the good teacher, was admired and honored by the pupil, the community around and the colleague profession. There were several matters that must be done by a teacher to receive the acknowledgment as the good teacher and be successful.
First. Tried to appear in front of the class in a first-rate manner. Controlled true lesson material that will be given to the student. If necessary, when speaking in front kelasa did not open the note or the handbook completely. Spoke that was clear and smooth so as to be impressed in the heart of the student that we really knew all the problems from material that was sent.
Secondly. Was current wise. Realised that the student who was taught by us, had the level of the different skill. There were those who are fast understood, there are those that was, there were those who are slow and there is one that is very slow in fact there are those that was difficult to be able to be understood. If we had this awareness, then could have been confirmed we will have patience that was high to accommodate questions from our pupil. Look for the simple method to explain to the student who had the level of the low capacity with simple examples that often were encountered in the everyday life although possibly the examples were rather foolish.
Thirdly. Tried always cheerful in front of the class. Don't brought problems that did not please from the house or from the other place in the class when we began and was teaching.
Fourthly. Control emotions. Don't was easy angry in the class and don't be easy to be touched on because of the behavior of the student. Remember the student who was taught by us to be the adolescent who still was very labile emasi him. The student who was taught by us to come from the area and the culture that possibly were different one with that was other and was different from our habit, moreover possibly education in the house from his parents indeed not all that in accordance with the conduct and our habit. Angry in the class will make the atmosphere to was not glad, the student became tense. This will be influential in the reason power for the student to accept lesson material that was given by us.
Fifthly. Tried to answer each question that was put forward by the student. Don't reprimanded the student that that too much often asked. Tried to answer each question that was put forward by the student well. If at one time had the question from the student who was not ready to be answered, was current honest. Was promising to be able to answer him correctly in the other opportunity while we tried to look for this answer. Don't felt embarrassed because this. Remembered as our humankind had the limitations. But tried to get the matter like this should not too much often happened. To avoid the incident like this, tried to often read and studied again. Don't be bored studying. Don't covered our weakness by means of very angry when having the child who asked so as to make the child not dare to ask again. If the student already not beraniberta him, don't hope education/our teaching will be successful.
The six. Had embarrassment and the fear. To become the good teacher, then a teacher must have these characteristics. In this case that was meant by embarrassment to be embarrassed to be carrying out the wrong action, while the fear was frightened from as a result of the action was wrong that was carried out by us. By having the two characteristics then each action that will be carried out by us will more be easy to be controlled by us and to be reconsidered whether continuing to be carried or not out.
The seven. Must be able to accept this life as which existence. In this country of many slogans glorified the teacher's profession but the fact is this country still could not/wanted to make the life of the teacher more prosperous. We must be able to accept this reality, don't compare the production from our exertion with the production of the other person/the official from the other agency. Tried to live simple and if still not sufficing tried to look for the other lawful sideline, that not merigikan the other person and did not cause a loss to himself. Don't turn the person's other gossip around, remembered the saying “anjing menggonggong the pedicab passed by.
The eight. Not sombong.Tidak boasted opposite the pupil/don't be proud of himself, good when was teaching or was in the other environment. Don't ridicule the student that not be good at in the class and don't be ashamed of the student (that was wrong although) in front of the crowd. However pangillah the student who be guilty and spoke well, spoke and acted rough to the student.
The nine. Was current just. Tried to be current just in giving the assessment to the student. Don't differentiated between the clever student/well-off and the not cleverer student/not more well-off As Well As did not praise excessively against the student who was clever opposite the not cleverer student.

How to be a good teacher

2008-08-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Over my twelve years in front of those most precious of resources, I've been both a good teacher and a bad one- sometimes in the same day (But, mostly good, I hope). Because I care about doing a good job, I've analyzed which practices make for my better performances and developed this simple list to share with new or future teachers. Basically, if you do the things on this list, you will be a at least good teacher, I think.

Provisos:

I didn't say "great" because being "great," whether at sports, soldiering, mothering, acting, writing, music, or blogging takes an intrinsic talent beyond the capability of training or short "Do" lists. For teaching, it might be knowing when to smile, the look you give a bad or good student, or maybe the discipline to stay until 6:30P.M. planning the next day's lesson.

For the list, I didn't deal with discipline since I have what you'd call an "idiosyncratic" style. Seasoned (those who have seen many seasons) female English teachers usually do best in this area and you'd do well asking them. I also didn't talk about curriculum as, again, it's too varied to summarize. I avoided being overly general (care!) or too specific (Have them lift up red papers for "no" and green for "yes.") Finally, I chose the three tips below not only because I consider them teaching "building blocks," but because all of them, at one time or another, have been challenges for me. On to it, then:

1. Plan:

This is crucial and the more you do it, the better. Some teachers write 7 step lesson plans and rehearse in front of their cats the night before. More power to them. At least look over the book and have the requisite materials ready. Writing down the homework helps the next day and in grading, for not only will planning help you prepare for future lessons, it will also serve as a record of your achievements.

Follow up:

2. Correct work consistently and return on time:

Paper correcting has bedeviled me since I started teaching; I find it incredibly boring. The fact of the matter is, however, that many students won't do work unless it "counts." Correcting work shows you care and allows you to know your students' strengths and weaknesses. Try to get it back quick and you'll see more productive students.

3. Don't sit down during class:

Whether you're lecturing or just observing, walk around the class as they're working. You'll be amazed at the stuff you find. Also, many students who won't ask a question in a large group will let you know their issues as you pass by. This is the most one-on-one most teachers will get with students.

And that's it. It had to be short and sweet: You should see the pile of stuff on my desk.

THE GOOD TEACHER

2008-08-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Act 1: The Pretty Good Teacher wants to be a better one

Once upon a time, there was a Pretty Good Teacher. Her students and her peers recognized that she was a Pretty Good Teacher. Humble as she was, though, she also felt that she was a Pretty Good Teacher, and she was proud to be one.

Still, like all good teachers, she wanted to be an even better teacher.

She spoke with colleagues and they gave her many helpful tips (although she suspected that some of them were holding back a little).

She talked to her students, and their insights were often quite interesting and thought-provoking.

She went to her principal and he gave her some good advice. (Really, he did.)

She read journals and books, joined a ListServ, visited web pages, signed up for courses, attended workshops and conferences, and generally sought knowledge wherever she could find it. She was very motivated.

Little by little, she began to try new strategies and techniques in her classroom. For example:

She began to take multiple intelligences into account in her lesson plans.
She started using cooperative learning in her classroom.
She integrated more project-based learning into her instruction.
She even started using a data projector.

Sometimes, it was a bit overwhelming. Exhausting, in fact. Not everything worked out the way she intended. But she persevered, because she wanted her students to learn as much as possible.

Still, she felt that something was missing. She wanted to do things with her students that she had never been able to do before. Things that were fun, things that were exciting, things that students actually enjoyed doing. Mostly, things that made her students WANT to learn.

But she couldn't say what those things were.

Act 2: The Pretty Good Teacher meets Mr. Dougis

One day, she read an article in her local newspaper about Mr. Dougis, a teacher who was doing great things on the Internet with his students. It sounded exciting and she wondered if this were not what she had been looking for.

She knew the school where he taught, and she left him a telephone message. Would he mind her dropping by one day to chat?

The next day, she received an answer. She could drop by any Thursday to see what was up. But it had to be a Thursday.

She went to her principal and explained to him that she needed a substitute teacher for next Thursday. She told him why and he gladly gave her a professional day in order to investigate. Really, he did.

She went to see Mr. Dougis. He greeted her with a friendly smile.

"Welcome," he said, and smiled. "It's good that you came today. Thursdays, we Moodle."

The Pretty Good Teacher looked around. There were about twenty-five students sitting at computers. They looked about thirteen years old. Most did not notice her, because they were engrossed in what they were doing.

"What are they working on?" she asked.

"Well," said Mr. Dougis, "a couple of things. Some of them are working together to create a glossary of terms used in the current events articles we read each week."

"They know how to do that?" she asked. She thought that creating an online glossary must be a bit complicated for this age.

"Sure," said Mr. Dougis. "It's not hard to do that in Moodle."

"Oh yes, Moodle," she said, "I read about Moodle in a newspaper article. What is it?"

"It's the software we use in our virtual classroom", he said, as he guided her to a monitor.

"See how the students are simply filling in a form to create entries in the glossary?" he asked. "That's Moodle."

It did not look like the students were having any trouble.

"And some of the other students," he said, "are having an online debate about the way the current war on terrorism is being conducted. It's turning into a pretty heated discussion," he chuckled.

"How do you have an online debate?" she asked.

"They are using a discussion forum to talk with each other and are even rating each others' posts according to criteria we developed together," he said.

"Can they really handle that at such a young age?" she asked.

"Some are still learning about how to deal with constructive criticism and how not to take everything that is posted personally," he replied. "But we are getting there. With a little guidance and encouragement..."

"No, I mean the technology," she interrupted.

"Of course!" replied Mr. Dougis. "In Moodle, forums are easy to use."

And throughout the day, that is how it went. Moodle this and Moodle that. The Pretty Good Teacher had to admit that even the younger students seemed to be proficient Moodlers. And almost all the students seemed engaged and interested in their work.

She was impressed, but wondered if all were really as it seemed.

During Mr. Dougis' break, they talked over a cup of coffee and a piece of cake.

"Tell me more about Moodle," she said.

"Well," he began, "I use Moodle to complement and enhance my classroom instruction. I might, for example, just upload a Power Point presentation to the site for my students to review or post links to a good web site. Or we might do something more social, more collaborative, as you have seen today."

"So, Moodle helps you do some things differently?" she asked.

"Not just different," he emphatically corrected, "better."

"How so?" She really wanted to know.

"Let's say," said Mr. Dougis, "that we are discussing the effects of global warming. I can send my students to the library to do traditional research and we can discuss what they find out in class. And I can have the students make posters to display what they have learned. We can break into groups create lists of top ten easy ways to fight global warming. And we can have a debate in class about the effects of global warming, too."

"That sounds fine," said the Pretty Good Teacher. "What is wrong with that?"

"There is nothing wrong with that," replied Mr. Dougis, "but we can, for example, also go to Moodle and create a poll about global warming to administer to students here at our school and to students at our online partner schools in Canada and South Africa in order to see to what extent we all agree on the issue. We can design the survey together, invite our partners to take it, and have a discussion with them about where we see eye to eye and where we don't. And that is potentially a rich, valuable educational experience that we could not have without Moodle, don't you agree?"

The Pretty Good Teacher did agree. She wanted this Moodle thing for her students.

Mr. Dougis showed her how to go to any one of several sites and set up a Moodle classroom. That weekend, the Pretty Good Teacher started learning the basics of Moodle. She even got in touch with the moodle community at moodle.org where she found other teachers like herself and lots of people interested in the moodle thing.

Act 3: The Pretty Good Teacher starts Moodling

By the next Friday, she and her students were in the school's computer room. She showed them how to use a discussion forum and urged the students to discuss the novel they were currently reading.

Some students had a good bit to say about it. Others had very little to say. Some comments were insightful. Others were quite foolish.

The Pretty Good Teacher was disappointed. Was Moodle not really all Mr. Dougis had claimed?

A few days later, she tried again. She set up a chat room and told the students to chat about anything, but to pretend they were characters from the novel. A few students did a really good job, but many students did not seem to take the assignment seriously. And the chat room became very confusing when everyone spoke at the same time. Frankly, the lesson was a flop.

Some of her students must have been talking about Moodle in a less than complimentary way, because the Pretty Good Teacher had to endure some snide comments about it in the staff room. Some of her so-called colleagues actually seemed happy to see her struggle a little. It was incomprehensible to her, but it was undeniable. And she didn't like looking foolish.

Now the Pretty Good Teacher was quite sure that Moodle was not as wonderful as Mr. Dougis seemed to think it was. Annoyed, she sent him an email, telling him so. .

Act 4: Mr Dougis, you've got mail

She received a quick reply. "You sound upset," wrote Mr. Dougis.

The Pretty Good Teacher returned, "I am upset. I am not so sure that Moodle is right for my students."

An exchange of emails ensued.

"Maybe," he responded. "But let me ask you this: Did your students do what you asked them to do?"

"What do you mean?" asked the Pretty Good Teacher.

"Well, when you asked them to discuss the novel in the forum, did they do that?" he asked.

"Yes, I suppose most of them did," she replied.

"And when you asked them to chat about the novel," he continued, "did they do that?"

"The majority of them did," she answered.

"So, why are you unhappy?" asked Mr. Dougis.

It was a good question.

"Well," she wrote, "the students did not seem very excited about the lessons and I am not sure that they learned much, either."

"Does that ever happen in your traditional classroom?" asked Mr. Dougis.

Now she was offended. "Almost never," came her indignant response.

"Why not?" asked Mr. Dougis playing with fire.

She planned a very icy and angry response - but after 5 minutes or so, she cooled down and started thinking about it seriously. Normally, her lessons had something like a beginning, a middle and an end. They were well thought out and the students understood just what she expected of them. So that is what she wrote in her response to Mr. Dougis' question.

"Can you honestly say the same of your two Moodle lessons?" he wrote back. Mr. Dougis was definitively a daredevil.

She knew he was right. She had expected Moodle to work some sort of magic on her students, but she had not really designed the kind of good, effective lessons she normally planned.

"What would you advise your students to do in a situation like this?" asked Mr. Dougis.

She decided to give Moodle another chance.

Act 5: The Pretty Good Teacher strikes back

This time, she asked herself, "What do I want my students to learn?" And she wrote down her objectives.

Then she asked herself, "What resources will we need to make the lesson work?" and she collected and organized her resources.

Finally, she asked herself, "What is it I want my students to actually do in order to be successful?" And she designed her activities.

The Pretty Good Teacher wanted her students to recognize and identify the importance of conflict in the novel.

She located a couple of good online resources to give students the information they needed to do this and she posted her own notes to help them better understand what they found on the web sites.

In addition, she wanted them to create a web page for each major conflict in the novel, describing the conflict and suggesting several possible ways the conflict could be resolved. Then she set up a wiki where her students could do this.

Before going to the lab, she discussed the lesson with her students and showed them how to work in a wiki. She used her cool, new data projector for that.

She posted clear instructions about the lesson to the web site, reinforcing what she had said in class (and unconsciously stating a contract with her students).

The next day, they went to the lab.

The Pretty Good Teacher was gratified to see how much better the lesson went. While a few of the students did have a little trouble the first few minutes getting used to the wiki, most of them actually caught on very quickly, and it was a pleasure to see how they helped each other get up and running.

After about forty-five minutes, almost all students had contributed to the wiki. Some of their web pages were surprisingly good.

As the Pretty Good Teacher circulated around the lab, she encouraged the students and complimented their work. Of course, she also had to remind a couple of students that playing card games on the computer was not part of the lesson.

While she could not say that the lesson was perfect, the Pretty Good Teacher was pleased. The students had not only learned a lot, they seemed to enjoy doing so.

That evening, she went back to the wiki to reread some of the pages. She was surprised to see that some students had continued to work on their pages from home. They had added graphics and links and some shocking, but enthusiastic, text formatting. She had not assigned this as homework, they just wanted to do it.

And the Pretty Good Teacher smiled a little.

Act 6: The next day

When class met the next day, several of the students were quite excited about Moodle. One said, "When my father asked me what we had done in school, I showed him the wiki. He thought it was great!" It was obvious that she was proud of the work she and her classmates had done.

The Pretty Good Teacher was feeling pretty good.

"Can we go back to the lab today?" one student asked.

"No," she replied, "not today, but we can go back next week. Do you all want to do that?"

When they said yes, she was not very surprised.

"In the meantime," she suggested, "maybe we should think of a name for our online classroom."

They thought of several good possibilities and decided to vote to pick the best one. The Pretty Good Teacher said, "We do not have to vote right now. I will post a choice to our new web site and you can take a few days to decide."

Almost everyone agreed that this was a sensible idea. But a couple of students looked unhappy about it.

"What's wrong?" the Pretty Good Teacher asked one of them as the class was leaving.

"We don't have the Internet at my house, so I can't vote," said the student.

The Pretty Good Teacher hadn't thought of that. But she had an Internet connection in her classroom. And there were quite a few online computers in the school's media center.

"Why don't you stop here right after school and use our computer when you want to Moodle?" she suggested. "Or I can write you a pass to the media center during class one day when we have a few extra minutes."

The student smiled. "Thanks! I'll stop by after school", she said and headed to her next class.

When she returned at the end of the day, she had a friend with her. "You're not in my class," teased the Pretty Good Teacher. "I know," said the friend, "but it sounds like fun."

And the Pretty Good Teacher was pretty happy.

Act 7: She kept on moodling

And so it went. Over time, Moodle came to be an important part of the class. Soon, the Pretty Good Teacher was posting lesson plans to Moodle. Not very exciting, but the parents seemed to appreciate it. After a while, she began setting up little practice quizzes to help students prepare for tests. Together with another class, the students collaborated on articles for the school newspaper. They submitted rough drafts of papers for peer review and discussed class matters online. Some students even used the chat room for occasional online study sessions. And once they discovered instant messaging and blogs, things really got crazy.

After a few months, Moodling became second nature to them. It felt natural. It was fun.

And other teachers at the school began to Moodle. Sometimes, they met with their wireless laptops at a local cafe for "Moodle and Coffee" sessions. The teachers began to look forward to spending this time together--even a couple of the teachers who had made negative remarks in the staff room.

Act 8: The assistant teacher

After some time, colleagues began asking The Pretty Good Teacher for help and advice. The Pretty Good Teacher was happy to put on a few workshops. She even taught a professional development course in the evening. It was called, "Moodle Mania" and was quite popular.

One of her colleagues even asked about becoming an assistant teacher in one of The Pretty Good Teacher's classes. The Pretty Good Teacher was not sure about that. On one hand, she was always happy to support a fellow teacher. On the other hand, she did not want a new teacher "messing up" a course. No telling what kind of damage a newbie could do to one of The Pretty Good Teacher's beautiful courses! But she did not want to disappoint a colleague, especially one who was an enthusiastic Moodler.

And then she heard about roles and the problem was solved in a matter of minutes. First, The Pretty Good Teacher created an "Assistant Teacher" role with limited privileges. Then, she assigned that role to her colleague. As her colleague became more and more proficient, The Pretty Good Teacher made the assistant teacher role more and more powerful. After a few weeks, the assistant teacher was just another teacher in the course. She had almost the same privileges as The Pretty Good Teacher. It worked out very well.

In fact, she learned a thing or two from her assistant. It turned out, for example, that her assistant was a bit of a Smart Board fanatic. She showed The Pretty Good Teacher how to save whatever appeared on the Smart Board as an image and to upload those images to Moodle. The Pretty Good Teacher began to upload her lecture notes to a forum where students could discuss them. The night before a big test, that forum was always quite busy.

The Pretty Good Teacher liked collaborating this way. And like all Pretty Good Teachers, she especially liked learning from her students and her colleagues.

Act 9: Unexpected role-reversal

One day, the Pretty Good Teacher ran into Mr. Dougis at the grocery store. She told him how well things were going. And she thanked him for Moodle.

"Glad to share," he said, and smiled.

"Know what I like best?" she said. "It is cool that we can do a weekly podcast for our new partner class in Australia! My students love that podcasting module!"

"So there's a podcasting module? I didn't know that," said her Moodle mentor.

"Really, well, we should set up a forum where we can share on a regular basis," she replied, secretly thrilled at this unexpected role-reversal.

"Yes, that's a great idea. Let's do that," answered Mr. Dougis, who was clearly pleased. "You know, it sounds like you have become a Very Good Teacher."

And he was right. She had, indeed, become a Very Good Teacher.

Epilogue

She had to convince the school faculty council and the school director, but she finally succeeded in getting some free days for her trip to the next MoodleMoot. Her school administrators even covered the expenses of her trip, writing it off as "professional development" and wishing her well as she represented them to other schools attending the Moot. Once there she, the Good Teacher, gave a speech to other Moodlers about her Moodling experiences.

The Good teaching method

2008-08-19T13:37:00.001-07:00

Like whether the ideal teacher? Anyone could put forward the long list contained criteria to answer this question. This list could be still referring to various referensi—kesiapan material, the method treated the pupil, the behaviour, and other-lain—yang could become different for anyone. But, than the headache compiled various criterion sorts, why not we asked children about the teacher who was good according to them? EENET Asia filed a report about the ideal teacher in the view of children in China and Pakistan, but apparently was current also was universal.

Take note several of children's comments in China.

The mother of the Gao teacher like the mother for me. He heard all the problems and the complaint kesah we as well as helped us to resolve the problem.
The teacher Shan always joked in the class wrote us and made us really was interested in the lesson. Without being realised by me, I so really liked wrote and in stages, I studied several tricks to write well.
He treated each student by being equal. In his kindness, he had not taken sides. As the pupil, this was the matter that was most valuable about guru… in the teacher's class Chen, we felt relaxed and lived (was enthusiastic). He always “tanpa sengaja” put forward the question or made the mistake so that we could correct him. If we said something that was wrong, did not blame us. He will in fact say while smiling: “Kesalahan Bagus! The mistake helped us found problem-masalah”. Was not as old afterwards, in fact the shyest student wanted to lift the hands and to answer his question.

Idealism of the Teacher's Profession

2008-07-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

The quality of education in Indonesia generally still was becoming homework that was not yet finished. The low level of the quality of our education could be seen from: (1) the HDI data (Human Development Index) in 2005, where Indonesia occupied the level 110 from 117 countries that were surveyed. (2) the IEA Report (International Educational Achievement) mentioned the capacity read the student the Indonesian PRIMARY SCHOOL was in the place 38 from 39 countries that in the survey, and (3) the PISA Data (Programmed for International Student Assessment) in 2003, placed the academic quality of the IPA field in the level 38, whereas the mathematical field and the capacity read occupied the level 39 from 41 countries that in the survey.
Various steps were followed by the government to improve the quality of our education, among them the changing frequency of the educational curriculum of each changing time the minister, programmed him the National Standard school and the International Standard, the ICT program was to the program increased by him the value of the National Exam of the passing. But this step still met kebuntuan or to be precise did not yet have the big benefit in boosting up our education.

THE PROBLEM
Why was our education still being buried? The problem actually not was located to the educational curriculum that often changed each changing time the minister, not in the increase program in the quality of the school/the quality of education went through SNSI that uptil now became the Depdiknas policy target, and not also was located in the Nasional value of the Exam that always increased each year that precisely to polemic between the government and the community. According to the writer of the most important problem in fact was to be located in was not owned by him standard competence or did not yet satisfy him the teacher's professionalism as the symbol of profession idealism, as that was entrusted in No. UU 14 in 2005 about the teacher and the lecturer.

THE TEACHER'S PROFESSIONALISM
Bambang Sudibyo (Mendiknas-2004), had proclaimed that “pekerjaan the teacher was as the profession as in the case of the doctor, the reporter and the profession lainnya”. Like the doctor then the teacher then in demanded had competence and the academic capacity that were adequate in carrying out his profession. Not everyone could act as the doctor because menyangut the safety someone, in spite of that with the teacher's profession: not everyone could act as the teacher because meyangkut the nation's future. still the number of teachers taught was not in accordance with the background of education or kelimuan him was one of the real proof not terstandar him the quality of the educator. According to Sumargi, (1996) “Profesionalisme the teacher and the educational power did still not satisfy especially in the matter of his scientific field. For example the teacher Biology could teach Chemistry or Physics. Or the teacher IPS could teach the Indonesia” Language.
Seen from the feasibility spectacles pembelajaran could be was said did not have problems, but from the completeness spectacles or the demand of the curriculum possibly the concept pegajaran him became the ray, ngambang, and was not directed because of might be material that was taught to the student was limited by what in knew the teacher then. This condition that encouraged the teacher developed the concept of the origin taught and mengugurkan the task, without wanting to know the curriculum target that was programed.
According to the writer, the weakness of the teacher was (1) Still many teachers who had an unprofessional attitude as being not owned by him the creative and innovative spirit in sending lesson material, the frequency of the teacher extended-extended time studying-taught, or situational the teacher who felt confused and was not yet ready to teach. (2) Most teachers felt Most teachers was enough scientifically that has they could in the classroom, so as the teaching program that increased would always like that and will continue to like that, in fact the development of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY of each kind of time always changed in the calculation of the second, in spite of that with the demand of the student's competence of each kind of time always increased together with the development of information technology. This weakness that escorted the teachers to gagap towards technology and knowledge that up to date. (3) Most teachers taught without the program that was clear on the basis of them felt memorized apart from the head against material that would in delivered. This view that made the teacher taught not systematize and far from the method of thinking analytical that his tips will have an impact on the decline in the studying interest of the student.
Idealism and the constructive commitment of the teacher's profession were the key to the answer from the problem of education that in faced uptil now. The implementation of No. UU 14 in 2005 became strongest hope in boosting up education to the side of that more went up, so as to be able to equate himself with the other country, like the year era set where Indonesian education was far more better from Malaysia. According to the writer, apart from the educational qualification, the teacher's professionalism could in saw from: (1) the height of the feeling of responsibility and the teacher's commitment in developing high-quality education; (2) the existence of the will and the teacher's seriousness to develop the educational potential or basic competence in accordance with the demand of SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY; (3) the capacity to think analytical, systematic and had an active attitude, creative as well as innovative in developing the educational program; and (4) the capacity to develop the studying concept was significant, interesting and pleasant by making use of the sophistication of information technology.

The Teacher's profession

2008-07-30T13:32:00.000-07:00

Did I really love my profession? If I turned again time that passed by, was I still choosing the profession as the teacher? Initially was hesitant enough, I carried out this profession, I well-off? Because I went to class in the technological faculty with the Information System route. Earlier indeed not 100% were certain of my choice, in my marrow in fact I wanted to go to class the route akuntasi, but his university far from my residence and my workplace, moreover all of us knew that his route of cost accountancy quite expensive. Finally was severed by me to take the Information System route in a private university that his location off the residence and my workplace.
Exact in the semester of five, there was the teacher's TIK vacancy for the level of the PRIMARY SCHOOL in the Foundation Ms the Kudus Heart, I tried applied, and I was received. I began to undergo the profession as a teacher. I must often study about how taught. Evidently pleasant also, I felt I was needed by very funny and very plain children. I became someone who held the control in the class, could communicate with parents of the pupil, spent time all day long with children. It seems very varying lived this. To a teacher was the special challenge. Moreover now I was believed to teach the level of SMA. I think very happy….. bore he replied. Sometimes I felt could not but apaboleh for that was the belief, and I must try to undertake the belief. I must try to make my pupil understand what was taught by me. Moreover for the level of this SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL I must think and do to prepare my pupil who could not continue to go to class to had skill or skills to look for the work or other efforts, not merely taught and taught.
How with professional colleagues, had doubted the teacher's profession as the choice of the exact profession? Please renungkan and thought again about your reason for choosing to become the teacher the first time. If you were someone who liked to study new and happy to help the other person by teaching new matters to them, matters meant the career as a teacher was the career that was exact for you. After my seven years were involved in my profession and knew that someone who had been taught by me to become someone who succeeded in being the extraordinary gift and being unlimited he thought. It seems was not in vain if I previously with great difficulty led him.

Morality and the Teacher Profession

2008-07-30T13:25:00.000-07:00

ALTHOUGH only one, but prila I deviated elements of the available teacher in this area, joined in urged increasingly dropped him moralitas the teacher generally. At least, what was shown off by an element of the teacher who was 'arrested wet' in a hotel in Padang, increased long the list of the element of the teacher that encored kemuliaan his profession. The teacher was the noble noose. The teacher became noble because he peletak the base and the development of human resources. Because of the teacher so, the world was still advancing. Because of our teacher so knew bad and good, because our teacher knew the reward and the sin, because of our teacher could process nature into the potential that was useful to increase welfare of humankind. Because of noble him the teacher, no-one that might insult and humiliated they dedicated.

How if martabat that was humiliated and insulted personally by the element of the teacher, like that was made by the element of the sport teacher to one of the junior high school in the Padang City? Here we were in the position complicated to give the certain answer. On the one hand, we were required guarded martabat the teacher, but on the other side, the element of the teacher personally that humiliated martabat him. Must was realised by us, the teacher was the educational champion, from kakok the hands of the teacher were born the president, the minister, the governor, the conglomerate, the trader, the driver, the professor, the rector, the dean et cetera. Therefore, the teacher did not deserve humiliated martabat him himself.
Scrutinises the world situation of our education today, actually we began to be hesitant, morality has begun dinomorsekiankan in appointing someone to be appointed was the teacher. As diketahui, lately the teacher's profession began to be interesting the circle mahasiswa and some people that graduate from pendidikan him in the tertiary institution. Because, the teacher's profession was one of the works that still was opening space that was quite wide to be able to be accepted was the civil servant (PNS).
Yun-duyun the person took the certificate taught the IV Certificate to educational broad tertiary institutions, certainly not something that was extraordinary. Unfortunately, agencies that gave the legality someone to be able to have the teacher's profession, too much did not put the element forward moralitas in the process of his education. Therefore, natural if if out put--him often produced the tattered teacher, the asymmetrical teacher, the teacher who controlled education knowledge, but not the teacher that berlapiskan moral, not the appropriate teacher ditiruteladani. Elements of the teacher like this, already is not considered to be the amount now.
A connection with increasingly the number of elements of the teacher who broke through the morality gate, the element of the teacher that menghinakan his noble profession personally, certainly we were concerned. We made a plea, especially to still thoughtful teachers clear, motivated pure to educate and taught, honored the field of education, in order to continue menjunjung morality. With so we could say, that this country was still having the teacher who deserved to be honored and honored. If being just the same with the crowd, certainly has been did not deserve again we placed the teacher in the noble profession. Placed the profession in line with the other profession, the driver, the parking attendant, the thug et cetera.
For elements who polluted the good reputation of the teacher, we urged to related sides in order to take decisive actions. Officially Pendidikan might not maintain teachers that not bermoral. Officially Pendidikan might not also appoint moral scholars dilapidated to be the teacher. It is hoped the teacher continue to the teacher, the tall worshipper the moral and morality.

The teacher and the Demand of Profesi Competence

2008-07-30T13:23:00.000-07:00

one of Education Minister's work programs (Mendiknas) Bambang Sudibyo that will be realised early December this was the proclamation and the stabilisation of the teacher as the profession. Through the motto ”Guru as Profesi” Depdiknas planned to increase the quality of the teacher and to at the same time develop the teacher's profession in line with the other profession that it was considered ”terhormat” in the middle of the community. Uptil now in the community's view - especially the urban community, or the area that his territory experienced the progress of economics - the work of the teacher it was considered did not promise the future. For the alumnus of the tertiary institution, the teacher's profession only the work ”sambilan”, than completely was unemployed. In the area of rural areas that the IQ in general the community still ”rendah” the teacher was honored, but this appreciation was felt by appearance. Because of the community will be far honored the richer village elite in a manner material and had the power in the government in the village.
the idea mendiknas Bambang Sudibyo to consolidate ”guru as profesi” was the idea that was constructive for the increase in the teacher's Indonesian professionalism that uptil now was very worrying. The teachers in Indonesia - that was the core component pembelajaran in the school - for the last two decades increasingly dihanyuti culture of pragmatism. Culture of laziness to continue to learn to develop knowledge and the social concept, culture of the charm mumpung by being involved in the practice ”korupsi” small-scale in the school (gave the private course with compensation ”uang” and thought, active as the broker of textbooks, through to the business of the student's uniform), as well as culture ”birokratis” that was so obedient to the superior and the educational bureaucrat so that fast was promoted. As well as many other subjective behaviours that did not reflect the character ”ideal” as the educator's noose and the teacher that necessarily high integrity.

TEACHER

2008-07-27T11:34:00.000-07:00

More than 20 school years, the teacher's profession had almost been not in my marrow. But apparently I had met various characters of the teacher or dosen,. From that greated really, that was really good, that the understanding, that was enthusiastic and his concept was wide, that was really devout and "by the book", that was really unique and "super improved", that was unfriendly and stern, that killer and liked to damage the thing if angry, that was straight and ga wanted busy, that was flirtatious or cunihin, that ngajar him that again-that again, or that ngajar him was really fast like ngejer the deposit, that often was in a dazed him, or that if being trapped ga once ngajar…dll. Just for the last 2 years my educational period met lecturers that asik… that also could make me think and be tempted to teach was finished I the school later, because I want to be able to as they, most did not produce the studying atmosphere like that. His atmosphere was relaxed, like discussions between the colleague a work, and his class small made me wanted did not want 'must appear'. I did not feel I was taught in the passive meaning/was dictated, but in my class as attending the forum for discussions that made my ideas springing.
For the last 3 year because my child began to be school, but especially after being active in the world of the child and education, I again observed the world of the school, including also his teachers. It was re-that I met the heterogenous pre-school teachers; that was calm, that was busy, that was creative, that was stiff, that gloomy, that was spontaneous, that was cheerful, etc.. The world of education that I thought still same evidently has been far changed. Especially in the level of preschool education and the foundation. The teacher no longer just sends knowledge that was same from the year to the year and makes the pattern uniform thought like the Oemar Bakrie time, but was demanded to want to develop and learn to continue, as well as more personal in facing his pupil that each one of them was the unique individual.
I just afterwards began understood that the good teacher the call, so as they could enjoy/liked what was done by them every day. That the teacher that greated that the talent, so as they could make the atmosphere study that was interactive and pleasant; made the person be interested to find out more far, gave knowledge clearly without felt menggurui…
that the good teacher the good friend also; the playing friend for children (because playing was the affair was most serious for children), the friend chatted n the place said (because when being heard and appreciated by each child will have the story that a great number). He also a person comforter that could understand, afterwards helped the child to face the feeling of being sick both physical and emotions. And he also a person role the model because of the child often will study by pay attention to and following the teacher. That taught that needed the continuous long process that was far more long and complex from what happened in the class then.
In Smipa, our teachers called the older brother, to more constructive the atmosphere of the studying house that was not too formal. By this second academic year had 5 older brothers as the official teacher. All of them were the young teacher who had the intention that was high to become the teacher, and definitely still must study many to be able to become the older brother at the same time the teacher that baik.Tapi evidently I myself also often learned from these older brothers. I was still beginning to understand what was meant with the hero's term without the sign jasa… the Statement that was felt really the cliche, that often was heard by me without really understood whether his intention. But now I felt that the good teacher, quite like that adanya…
In time 6 months went in Smipa, many changes happened without being realised; the child that earlier hesitant and embarrassed to have dared to appear, the child who earlier was busy and mischievous could have taken part in the activity calmly was trapped, the child who earlier must be accompanied by the mother or Mbak could have entered personally, the child that earlier slavishly the friend could have had the idea and the opinion personally, the child who earlier still could not hold the stationery correctly so liked menggambar… still was also that still was liking to ask "today me the school ga Ma?" but afterwards the time came home he will sulk, ga wanted pulang… but that was deepest for me was when the child that earlier not pedulian, liked ngambek, liked struck and could not be asked by communication to change to the child who could be asked to speak, liked the story, spontaneous apologised if being wrong, no longer struck the friend or the older brother, and liked tertawa… renyah very much: It Seems without the understanding and love that was sincere the change will like that be difficult very much happened.
Yes his name the teacher yes indeed must him begitu… possibly would many people every like that, but whether already all the teachers like that? If remembering the importance of the role of the teacher as the figure that was listened to by a child from since he learned to go, speak, think and act, that indeed became the consequences of the teacher's profession. Heavy responsibility indeed. But when being undertaken sincerely and pleasure apparently will produce results. Quoted few words from the poem of Prof. Winarno Surahman, [When our school better than the chicken coop? ] "without a falseness" of the "teacher meaning that religious duties." Without a hypocrisy of all the pledging teachers served humanity...

TEACHER EFFECTIVENESS TRAINING

2008-07-27T10:56:00.000-07:00

Training this was held because uptil now the concepts that were accepted by the teacher in his education were too abstract to be applied. For example the concept 'honored the requirement' for the 'pupil', 'education afektif', 'humanistic education', the 'two-way communication', etc.. These concepts were true, but to avoid confusion was needed by the explanation that 'returned to earth' and 'was' practised'. In training this the teacher was supplied with skills and the method through to his relations with the other person, in this case the pupil, could create an aim himself (self direction), responsibility to himself (self responsibility), the self-determination (self determination), the controlling himself (self control) and evaluated himself (self evaluation). The method that was developed was the alternative to the game hoop-jump-biscuit where the pupil who succeeded in jumping until the certain height got the biscuit gift. This game indeed caused the motivation to the pupil, but the pupil's response could differ. A pupil possibly regarded that jumping too much was difficult for him so as he refused to jump. The other pupil could be still leaving the game because of his friend who could jump higher will ridicule him as the weak person.
The core from training this was relations between the teacher and the pupil. Must be paid attention to that the pupil, with the IQ difference, the origin, the color of skin, the capacity, the social status and economics, had one important similarity. They were humankind that had the characteristics of humankind, the feeling of humankind and the human response. So left classified, tested, evaluated, gave the label and grouped the pupil in certain stereotypes as the doctor gazed at his patient. Remembered with this method the teacher will become the effective teacher, not the upholder of discipline.
In seeing the relations model teacher-pupil that was effective before a teacher must leave the myth about the good teacher. The teacher was also humankind with all the surpluses and his lack, with all the feelings of his humanity. Don't developed two identities, one identity to teach (close) and his one again to control. In gazing at the behaviour of our pupil could mengangankan a behaviour quadrangle of the pupil, both that we received and not. Must be remembered that the line that restricted the acceptable behaviour with the unacceptable behaviour could keep changing because of the matter along with: * Perubahan in himself (the teacher), for example during the day (tired) more behaviours were unacceptable. * the Difference of the feeling towards the different pupil, was humane enough like why chose X as the wife not Y. * the Influence of the situation or the environment, for example to shout in the page be different from in the classroom.
Pretence, in received or refused, must be avoided because the pupil will become confused or felt the existence of the falseness. The pupil could comprehend the verbal message, the "body centipede", and more trusted him. In saw the problem that obstructed the process studying-taught also must be paid attention to who the owner of the problem. Certainly his handling will be different. If the problem was property of the pupil, like Great often escaped, Mira daydreamt in the class, the teacher should not send the centipede that communicated that the action was unacceptable so as the teacher wanted the child to change or do seem like-by did not have the problem. This refusal language, that was the obstacle komuikasi, could be grouped in 12 categories as follows: (remembered this was the obstacle if the pupil experienced the problem, to the free area of the problem of the bad influence of matters below this far decreased. )

Good Teacher

2008-07-23T09:08:00.000-07:00

Already this month, we were affected by the fever made the bracelet from the thread, and so one of the we ngasih the idea to hold fund raising with bracelet merchandise. *halah*. In fact I had learnt to make this kind bracelet PRIMARY SCHOOL time and the JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, but forgot bo, his method. The fever already through – for other people – but not yet for me. Now I still liked for the fun of it berprakarya and hard-working patrolled loja* Rose in the Colmera road to buy various colours of the thread,
Really the opium. And I always blamed Suze, one of the friends who taught us to make the bracelet from the thread. Anyway, made the bracelet from the thread be easy and to improved was easy because of the Suze teaching method, the professor, pleasant. Only very much gave the example, we immediately could. And that was most impressive was, every time we succeeded in following what was demonstrated by him, he will always say, ‘You can do it,’, ‘Good job! Keep going! ’ and when being finished, he always every; ‘This Is nice. You’re great! ’. Urging that made ‘para murid’ competed to complete their tapeworm. The case prakarya the bracelet has from this thread been seen by us since two months ago, when having the person who was engrosseding in making the thread with colours pastel that was interesting. Spontaneously several friends asked how to make him.
This person afterwards taught us. But his method taught that right, not greated. Apart from not sabaran, he often very much every ‘Gampang gini how come not could! ” and was here, that more ngeselin ‘Cuma people with intelligence above in general then that could quickly the technique tied the thread like this. Gusrak. She’s definitely the note a good teacher. The proof is, not there is even one of the we who succeeded in controlling the technique that he taught, because on the way we one by one went [while misuh-misuh]. Not because his technique was difficult, but because of his teaching method that made lazy.

TO THE TEACHER THAT GOOD OR NOT COMPLETELY

2008-07-23T08:59:00.000-07:00

Entered the age to our 21 faced big changes and very fundamental dilingkungan global. The change in the strategic environment in this global order was reflected in the formation of forums like GATT, the WTO, and APEC, NAFTA and AFTA, IMG-GT, IMS-GT, BIMP-EAGA, and SOSEKMALINDO that were efforts to welcome free trade where definitely will take place the level of the very tight competition. A change in the regulation that originally the monopoly (monopoly) became the free competition (free competition). Likewise, happened to the market that initially was oriented to the product (product oriented) changed in the orientation of the market (market driven), as well as from the protection (protection) moved to the free market (free market).
The progress of economics diberbagai the country, really was related to the quality of human resources. For example Singapore and Japan. Although nature resources that were owned by him limited, but because the quality of his human resources was superior, the two countries became the leader of economics in the Asian region. So must anticipate this situation by reinforcing the competitive capacity diberbagai the field with the development of human resources. Unfortunately our human resources at this time worrying, according to UNDP. Indonesia occupied the level 109 from 174, the level of competitiveness to –46 that was lowest in the South-East Asian region, Singapore the 2, Malaysia the 27. Phillipina to –32, and Tailand to –34, and including the most corrupt country in the world.
Towards the increase in human resources, the role of quite prominent education. From the experience of several countries showed that in heading the structural change, with the increase in the development of economics happened the proportion of manpower under basic education that increasingly became smaller, whereas the proportion tengan the work was educated middle and high increasingly increased. Was different from the other country that experienced remained at the base, the educated proportion the foundation and middle in Korea mid the 70 's was big enough that is 19 percent to be not educated, 43 percent were educated the foundation, 31 percent were educated middle and 7 percent were educated high (Macharany, 1990). Further, Swasono judo and Boediono (Macharany, 1990) said that the structure of Indonesian manpower during 1985 was 53 percent was not educated, 34 percent were educated the foundation, 11 percent berpendidiian middle and 2 percent were educated high. When we want to reached remained at the base like Korea, it was estimated the structure of manpower according to education in three growth scenarios of the GDP per capita, that is low 6 percent, while 7 percent, and high 8 on 2019.
In the autonomy era of the area of the strategic policy that was taken by Directorate General Pendidikan Dasar and Middle in increasing the quality of education to develop human resources was: (1) the Management of the increase in the based quality of the school (school based management) where the school was given by the authority to plan personally increase efforts in the quality on the whole; (2) Education that have as a base in the community's participation (community based education) where the interaction that was positive between the school happening to the community, the school as community learning center; and (3) By using the studying paradigm or learning paradigm that will make students or learner became humankind that was empowered. Moreover to the government announced a national movement for the increase in the quality of education, at the same time delivered the expansion of the Broad Base Education System approach (BBE) that gave the provisioning to the student to be ready to work built the prosperous family. With the approach of each student was expected to get the provisioning life skills that contained the understanding that was wide and deep about the environment and his capacity so that close and gave mutual benefits.

The Good Teacher

2008-07-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

According to me, the good teacher was the teacher could identify the aim study him well, afterwards used the strategy that was effective to achieve the aims this study. To succeed in in the two matters on the teacher must prepare examples that will help the student to receive the understanding that was deep about the topic that was presented by him. The teacher must also trigger the student to be involved in a manner was active in study that the implementation.

The student will take part in being involved actively and will give engagement time if the teacher helped them by giving the positive and proaktif orientation was based on the belief and the conviction the teacher that all the student can be successful in thus study. Further the teacher must also have the feeling of responsibility so that all of his student could achieve the potential for their maximum was their respective. The good teacher showed the existence of the important characteristics that were very essential to trigger a climate of the class that could increase studied and his student's motivation. These essential characteristics for example, the teacher must have the enthusiasm, the warmth and empathy, as well as hope was positive towards his student.
The teacher who had the enthusiasm really cared about what was taught by them and explained to his students that what was studied by them at that time was something that was very important. The teacher could show the existence of the enthusiasm towards the lesson by using the voice, the eyes, the gesture, the movement of the body. The teacher who had the warmth and empathy would with all of a sudden gave greetings, addressed to his students during the first time taking a step entered his classrooms. Or even showed the warmth and empathy when asking Anita to take the lime or to remove the blackboard. The warmth of a teacher could be demonstrated with the interest in the student and really regarded that the student also ‘Human’. The teacher who had empathy all of a sudden will understand the feeling of his student, how the view or the pattern thought his student.
It was to be difficult to become the good teacher if we did not care about our students. The student could possibly accept the difference of the identity of each teacher who taught them, but the climate and aura the negative class that was created by the teacher who did not have heart (did not have antusisme towards the lesson that was taught by him, did not have the warmth and empathy against his students).

Making of a good teacher

2008-07-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

TEACHERS ARE born and not made. A teacher is a social entity. A poor teacher tells. A good teacher teaches. An excellent teacher demonstrates. An outstanding teacher motivates. Time and again we hear these proverbial sayings from various sources at different occasions, especially as we near a teacher's day. If any of the above is correct, how can one find a teacher through a test, whether it is conducted by the UGC (National eligibility test) or by the States ( state eligibility test)?

In a democratic country like India, any one with a medical degree from a recognised institution and medical council's registration can practise as a doctor. One can practise as a lawyer, if he has degree in law and completes the formalities of bar council. Engineers can get a job right away from the college campus through campus placement cells. But to become a teacher a person has to write a minimum of three examinations. A post-graduate degree examination followed by one for a degree in teaching and then the so-called eligibility tests. Even this does not get one a job, but only qualifies one for it!

Teaching needs three qualities. Knowledge is the first. The ability to pass it on to others, what we usually call communication skill, is the next. Aptitude is the third. Which quality of a teacher is tested in the so-called eligibility tests? Is it the first one? That is unbelievable. Any recognized educational institution in India offers a post-graduate degree after completion of a minimum of semester course. The incumbent is then examined at the end of each semester by a qualified and experienced faculty appointed directly by the supreme body of the university called the syndicate. One has to prove the ability before these examiners. A post-graduate paper is valued independently by two experts. If necessary, there will be a third evaluation as well. In science subjects, the performance in the practical examinations has to be satisfactory. There will be a project evaluation. And then, there is the viva-voce test. One has to go through all these complex and difficult manoeuvres before getting the degree. Then, which knowledge not proved in the above is tested in the eligibility test in just around three hours, even if it is a UGC standard test or eligibility tests run by the states?

We must also recall that these tests, in at least some states, are reduced to the level of an ordinary entrance examination for engineering and medicine. There is a group of expert educationalists who believe that an objective model entrance test is inadequate even for engineering and medicine. They recommend IIT model entrance tests. Then, how can we justify the objective model teacher eligibility tests now in force in some states?

The second quality, that is, communication skill, cannot be found through a test either. It would be like studying acting through post. Either you have it or you do not. It is as simple as that. One can never create this. You can only discover whether you have it or not. But if it is within you, it grows with experience. So to have this you have to become a teacher. But to become a teacher you need this. Looks like a vicious circle, isn't it?

Which component of the teaching is more important? Is it the knowledge or the ability to pass it on? Well, it very much depends on the class one is teaching. If you are in a post-graduate class, knowledge is more important than presentation. The students of the class are filtered stuff. They expect information from the teacher. Half the knowledge is where to find it. If this it true, they need only know where to find things much more than the thing itself. But if one is teaching in a school or plus two class, the ability to communicate is more important than the knowledge itself. Here `teaching is innovation' become true.

We have to find independent, natural and new methods for presentation of the subject and the topics. The emphasis has to be more on how to tell than what to tell. The classes have to be interactive. Teaching has to be a dialogue and not a monologue. This would mean we should have patience towards questions, no matter how silly they are. Those who are successful in these respects alone can become good teachers at this stage. Even with a limited knowledge a person can become a good teacher, if he/she has these abilities. Here you study to teach and then teach to study more.

The aptitude for teaching too cannot be found through a test. It can be decided only by the persons themselves. Here again, it comes to your mind that you want to become a teacher, or you would never. Only those motivated to this profession opt for it. Others withdraw from the race. The motivation sets in early. Sitting in a good teacher's class, those with aptitude always probe whether they can teach like this and then believe they can. Similarly, sitting in a poor teacher's class, the experience might dissuade even those with possible aptitude to opt out of the profession. Thus our aptitude is well influenced by the classes we sit in and the teachers who teach us in our student days from primary school to college.

So these tests cannot really test knowledge. They cannot test communication skills or aptitude either. The tests are reduced to the level of a mere common test for various people who come from different streams and who have obtained degrees from different institutions. But if we have a method to measure marks obtained from different recognised institutions by the same yardstick, these tests become superfluous.

The Birla Institute of Technology, commonly known as BITS Pilani, is one of the country's leading educational institutions. There is no entrance test for admission to courses here. They have got a method to standardise marks from different institutions. We should adopt something like this to dispense with eligibility tests. These tests never determine any eligibility. If ever they do test anything, it is only the luck and time of the person.

Didn't we have famous devoted teachers before entrance and eligibility tests were even thought of? They live in our minds for ever. What eligibility test did they write? This leads us to a simple straightforward truth.

No matter who conducts the tests be it the state or the UGC and no matter how transparent and credible it is, the ability of a teacher is decided in class rooms and that too by students and not by entrance and eligibility tests.

Good Teachers = Good Students

2008-07-16T11:41:00.000-07:00

Strip away all the rhetoric about whether teachers should be paid more and you leave one fact: Nebraska students consistently rank among the very best in the country in all measures of achievement.

For instance, in 1999, Nebraska students as a whole ranked 13th nationally on the ACT. When compared with other states where 70 percent or more students took the test, Nebraska was first.

On the 1998 SAT tests, Nebraska ranked 10th. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress tests for fourth grade, Nebraska students ranked ninth in the nation in 1992 and 10th in 1996. On those same NAEP tests for eighth grade, Nebraska students ranked fifth in both 1992 and 1996.

And the coup de grace: Using a composite of the NAEP, SAT and ACT scores, the American Legislative Exchange Council ranked Nebraska schools fifth overall in terms of academic achievement.

Those rankings, of course, relate right back to the quality of classroom instruction those students receive. Good teaching translates into that kind of high achievement.

NSEA's Jay Sears says such success is to be expected, given the quality of students that enter the 17 teacher education programs across the state and the quality of those programs.

"The candidates we get for teacher education programs are those who are taking all the courses they can in high school. They've already had four years of math in high school. They aren't starting with remedial math at the university when they've already had calculus," he said.

Sears, director of instructional advocacy for the NSEA, says it is a known fact that teacher quality is a key to good education.

"Most of our teachers are coming out of our high schools, so the process is just building on itself. Because we have quality going through our system, it regenerates and improves the quality we have in the classroom," he said.

But that culture of continuous improvement doesn't just happen. Becoming a teacher in Nebraska is a rigorous process, with quality control throughout.

To qualify for a teacher education program, a college student must carry a grade point average of 2.5 or better and then pass a basic skill test. After acceptance, those students must have 100 hours of supervised contact with students in a school setting. That's before their 14-week student teaching stint in their final year of college.

Perhaps the biggest quality factor, said Sears, is the state's demand that all teachers who have a grades 7-12 endorsement have a major in their certification area. Thus not only have they learned teaching skills, they have the content knowledge to back up those skills.

Equally a quality factor is the requirement that those at the elementary level enroll in as many hours as possible in all the subject areas they will teach. Many teachers with elementary endorsements have enough content to earn the equivalent of six or seven minors in college.

At all endorsement levels, "our people have qualified in both the content and the instruction piece," Sears said.

Nebraska also offers more than 90 certification areas and standards for those areas are very specific about the skills and knowledge teachers must have. Most states require only very broad certification areas.

"Our grads don't have any trouble getting certified in other states," Sears said.

Unfortunately, more and more Nebraska teachers are lured to other states by higher pay. But those who choose to teach in Nebraska must constantly improve their skills. Teachers must constantly learn in order to renew and update their certifications. And they must undergo constant evaluation.

"It's a whole culture of continuous improvement. You can't have started teaching in 1971 and keep teaching until 2021 without improving," Sears said.

In Search of a Good English Teacher

2008-07-16T11:38:00.000-07:00

Thailand abounds with English teaching positions. Adverts swamp the daily newspapers, and language schools outnumber McDonalds. Private academies and universities continue to increase their focus on English with positions opening all the time. And teaching English seems like a job that almost any English speaker can get. Backpackers with time and no money. Diploma-holders with career aspirations. Thais with English degrees. But like any profession, an English teacher needs qualifications, the least of which is being human. As one of the lowest paying, easiest-to-get expat jobs in the Kingdom, teaching attracts a hodgepodge of native speakers.

How do you spot a good one? Educational background could indicate a good candidate. Certainly someone with an MA in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (MA-TESOL) sits high on a university's short list. At the other end stands the native speaker with a certificate in welding. Hardly ajarn material, but a Thai engineer might enjoy a conversation course taught by a fellow tradesman.

A variety of degrees, diplomas and certificates float around the English-teaching world. Someone with an MA in English or linguistics can discuss deconstruction philosophy, language acquisition theories, and Faulkner's use of the past tense. Thai's sometimes call these people "Experts." Education grads know things like monitoring and managing. A person with a bachelor's degree in anything should easily be able to follow a "Teacher's Book."

Educational background also reflects abilities in behind-the-classes work. University ajarns draw on theories and concepts to prepare upper-level classes. They must also design and assess materials, courses, textbooks and exams. However, not all English teaching in Thailand occurs at the university level.

Many businesses and individuals turn to language schools. This is where acronyms and initials run wild. Potentially, most native literates can teach some level of English as a Second or Foreign Language (ESL/EFL). After all, history abounds with examples of languages spreading without

EFL teachers. The Romans and British probably didn't staff their empires with teams of linguists specializing in ESL. However, in these modern times--this era of globalization--certified instructors teach English at international language institutes.

The alphabet soup of credentials sets the standards for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL). At the base of this certification heap is acknowledgment from the Royal Society of the Arts (RSA). RSA certificate holders generally have a secondary education. Wavers of TESOL, TEFL and TESL papers answer to more rigid specs. Reputable language schools gobble these people up.

Unlike the university ajarns, these teachers travel around Bangkok and work odd hours. Some spend as much time on a bus as in the classroom. They can have a conversation course for salesmen at 7:00 a.m. in Bang Na and a student preparing for a university entrance exam at 6:00 p.m. on Silom. These instructors tend to use textbooks and cassettes from one of the popular series of general English courses. Specialized materials for English for telephoning, tourism and business also occupy language schools' shelves. Unfortunately, many of these books and teachers don't fulfill the needs of a particular industry or company.

For example, a construction firm's middle management writes a variety of documents in English. They also have to read material filled with technical jargon. A TESOL instructor could teach them how to write memos, elevate their vocabulary, and develop reading skills. Many exercises would be based on fictional scenarios. But these workers require classes and materials that focus on their particular needs. Enter English for Specific Purposes (ESP).

As the title suggests, an ESP course is not general English. Nor is it English by telepathy (although most non-Thai speakers have tried). It is a course specially tailored to fill the learner's needs. In the construction example, building-terminology learning might utilize the reading of relevant technical reports or engineering articles. A memo writing class could use previous situations encountered by the students. The teacher would have to create his or her materials and logically structure the course. This preparation takes much more time than teaching it.

To design such a course, knowledge in construction would help. A few years pounding nails or a minor degree in architecture wouldn't hurt. The same applies for any ESP class. Experience in the hospitality industry would give an edge in teaching a course for restaurant or hotel staff. Therefore, schools seek instructors with work experience on top of teaching qualifications. Although this may exclude some academics, ESP rewards career diversity and honors the Renaissance Man.

The ESP explosion has provided niches including English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English for Occupational Purposes (EOP), English for dScience and Technology (EST), English for Agricultural Technology (EAT), English for Business and Industry (EBI) and English for Information Technology (EIT).

This, in turn, has led to specialized teaching areas within the ESP arena. For example, the hotel industry is an ESP sector. Many Thai hotels hire full-time English teachers, and they receive stacks of CVs with entries like bartender and waitress. Some teachers design curriculums reflecting the English used in their hotels. Class materials employ hotel policy, facilities, menus, tours and theme. This may sound like overkill, but a five-star resort requires excellent English and no misunderstandings as part of their service.

However, it's one thing to teach a waiter or a guest receptionist. It's quite another to instruct a financial analyst on writing research in English or helping a fund manager to understand it. Business English contains loads of terminology and concepts not privy to laymen and has grown in demand in Thailand. It's a secret language. Many who know it, use it to make (or lose) lots of money.

A top-shelf business English teacher-or any advanced ESP teacher-instructs experts. Playing "Business Hangman" with a bank vice president might not be effective. Execs need English to cut billion-baht deals. Generally, the biggest deal an English teacher swings is a 4,500 baht-a-month rental agreement. Still, Thailand has teachers with a decent understanding of business, though successful brokers may not be racing to toss in the towel to teach. The best teachers don't just understand the meaning of business jargon, they comprehend basic economics and concepts used in big business. They follow business news and can carry on a decent conversation about business. Many have worked in large offices. Any familiarity with business is a plus as it helps keep the subject matter at a productive level.

Where does all this leave an inexperienced backpacker? Once, it was simple for random native speakers to get jobs teaching business English or otherwise. Educational background played a small role; a natural teacher can adapt. Qualifications consisted of simple preferences such as British vs. American speakers or women over men. Wages were--and still are--low, but come-ons like "It's cheap to live in Thailand" or "Live and learn Thai culture" enticed young travelers into short-term jobs. Backpackers looking for money to survive on Khao San Road played "Hello. How are you?" for 100-baht an hour. They fit the bill: energetic, young, and the able to have fun.

"Able to have fun" remains a prerequisite for successful teaching in Thailand, and the backpacker jobs have survived. Much has been written about "fun" in the Kingdom. The workplace, above all else, must be fun. Likewise, classes must be fun. Fun, in this sense, isn't uncorking champagne and singing karaoke. Fun means "not serious." Thai-taught classrooms may or may not be serious, but expats have "not serious" drilled into their heads. Therefore, an easy-going candidate should be more successful than the stereotypical nitpicking old maid.

A relaxed, patient and open-minded teacher avoids frustrations and tries to keep a light atmosphere in-and-out of class. Experience in Thailand helps refine these qualities so necessary in Thai classrooms which differ greatly from those in the West. Thai students filling those seats have worn uniforms and memorized formulas. A proclivity towards rote learning produced students who never asked, "Why?" Thai society also doesn't fit the sample exercises and conversations found in most textbooks. Cultural nuances often crop up during a lesson such as ranking expressions by politeness. A teacher experienced in Thailand can integrate different country's customs into the class.

For example, the front desk staff of a southern Thai hotel was learning how to handle complaints in English. The teacher asked what the class would say to an angry guest at two in the morning concerning loud music coming from the next room. The immediate response, "Is the noise coming from foreigners or Thais?" Thai staff would never dream of confronting a Thai guest. In the foreigner's case, diplomacy was okay.

This double standard might offend some Westerners, but a teacher who appreciates this cultural predicament can easily get through it with a sense of humor and flexibility. The students immediately saw this societal clash. No doubt many had played middleman in some awkward scenes. The teacher had never considered it. What the staff needed was a way to handle the problem in English. In other words, how could they satisfy the foreign guest without interrupting the Thai merrymakers? The teacher ad-libbed and guided role-playing through various "what-if" scenarios. Having lived several years in Thailand helps in teaching situations like these.

All these characteristics are vital when a teacher's workload can include several three-hour classes a week. Delivering marathon after marathon requires more than a stack of diplomas. Sitting through a half-day class can be excruciating for students. Enthusiasm keeps things rolling. Class interaction helps students stay awake. Careful preparation keeps the class flowing. A teacher with several long classes is like a musician who gives daily concerts. But unlike the musician, a teacher might have to perform a different show every day of every week. It requires endurance and the ability to entertain. Most of all, a teacher must capture the attention of the crowd.

Educational background, diverse knowledge and an easy-going personality are all ingredients for a good English teacher in Thailand. Living for years in the Kingdom is a bonus. But teaching experience carries plenty of weight. Forty years in a classroom, regardless of the subject, has advantages over an extroverted kid with a box of books. Time-tested teachers have put theories into practice and battled administrations. They've taught anxious learners, bored know-it-alls, inquisitive wizards, hopeless try-hards and emerging talents all in the same class. They've won some and lost some, and throughout, they, too, have learned.

But have they learned how to be good teachers or cynical lecturers? Teachers must instill knowledge. In the English teacher's case, that knowledge is language use. There are hundreds of methods for doing this from memorizing to following a structured curriculum to total immersion. What works for one teacher may not for another. The same goes for the students. The learner's ability to communicate is the ultimate judge of success.

No doubt, methodology affects a teacher's success. The easiest and most widely used approach follows lesson plans in standard textbooks from prominent series. Many exercises rehearse common structures allowing students to fill in the blanks. For example, "Where is the post office?" Additional vocabulary and patterns for situations like asking directions, going shopping, and making new friends raise a student's level from "Beginner" to "Intermediate" and finally "Advanced." There are also sub-levels like "Advanced Intermediate." Tests in the four skills--reading, writing, listening and speaking-assess their ability. Much of the stress is on grammar. The grand finale is passing the TOEFL test which Western universities and many businesses rely on as an English gauge.

One problem with this pattern-approach arises when someone leaves the pattern. A flight attendant interviewed by a graduate student commented that she had studied hard and scored high on the TOEFL test. The airline's English training course covered all conceivable verbal volleys an attendant and passenger might have on the flight. Her gripe was that travelers wanted to talk about the Thai economy or lifestyle and all she could do was offer them a magazine.

Rather than return to a language school, she watched VDOs with subtitles. Years later, the airline demanded another round of TOEFL tests. The attendant didn't study and received a higher grade.

Because of this, many teachers have adopted a "content-based" method. It concentrates more on vocabulary and getting the message across. Grammar can be refined along the way. Most passengers wouldn't mind a broader conversation in broken English. A boss might rather have a comprehensible memo with all the facts than a grammatically correct note without details. A tourist might learn more from a local guide uttering fragments than from a programmed, script-reciting escort. On the other hand, many times, foreigners mistake grammar ability for intelligence, however no hard statistics can back this up.

Also, as previously mentioned, there is the current ESP wave. Actually, this has been around much longer. Grocers taught American immigrants how to sell tomatoes. Sahib taught the Indian cook food terms. Experts have only begun to examine ESP as a viable tool for teaching. The less idealistic wonder where it will stop. English for Street Vendors, English for Noodle Shops, English for Tuk-Tuk Drivers. Imagination is the only limit.

Obviously, this is an incomplete list of teaching techniques. There is probably no "best" teaching method in the way that great baseball pitchers throw differently. This is where situations and materials come in. A person usually has a reason for learning grammar, syntax structures and reading skills. A geek may swim in a sea of scientific abstracts. A phone-toting woman might sell real estate in Bangkok. A construction veteran might write daily reports. There are scores of textbooks with chapters touching on these subjects. A good teacher can collect, modify and expand existing material to fit situations for specific students.

Some instructors are experimenting with authentic materials, another trend in English teaching circles. No one is exactly sure what qualifies as authentic. Is a recent science article used in a reading class more authentic than one from a collection sold in book form? Is an import/export document in a workbook any different than one sent from the Ministry of Commerce? The jury is still mumbling about that one.

Authenticity of materials and situations probably isn't black or white but something measured in degree. Everyone teaching business English is familiar with inventing and running a fictitious company using only English. But there is also the real-life supervisor who needs to write a memo on a problem now. If an English teacher happens to be around, their class content is 100% authentic. It is called "work."

And how does a Thai ajarn fit into this recipe for a good teacher? Can a Thai make as good an English teacher as a native speaker? After all, there are more Thai than foreign English teachers in Thailand. Thousands of English-using Thais never took a course from a native speaker. One resort hosted interns from Krabi's Technical College who had always learned English from Thais. These students spoke circles around some of the seasoned receptionists who mixed daily with real English speakers.

There could be many reasons for a Thai's success in teaching English. For one, they can explain things in Thai. A university class in English for Science and Technology uses some difficult vocabulary and advanced sentence structures. A native speaker will attempt to break concepts down to very simple English. When this doesn't work, they try pantomime. A Thai has the luxury of Thai.

In grade school, Thais usually teach English. This can follow through graduation from a university. A doctor, who had always studied with Thai teachers, practiced conversation with an American. In fact, before hiring the tutor, he had never spoken to a Westerner. His pronunciation was polished. Through classes, books and the media, he had gained an interesting and diverse command of the language. He could talk about anything. His tutelage was the last step before dropping into New York City's surgical district. From a language perspective, there was no problem. Unfortunately, he was shy around foreigners and refused to hold an authentic class at an expat gathering point.

In another case, an elementary school teacher in a tourist area sent students out to converse with foreigners. Timid, disarming groups crept up to vacationers in this right of language passage. After jostling and mumbling, one would blurt out a rehearsed introduction. It was a start. A kid learning German in Arkansas might not get this chance. For Thais, it could be a necessity. Long ago, Thais in tourist areas learned to translate English into baht.

Universities use mostly Thais to teach English. Many have degrees from Western universities. Like their native-speaking counterparts, they have varying degrees of success though possibly for different reasons. Students may view a Thai ajarn differently than a foreign one. Culture might also affect material presentation and classroom management. Expats tend to behave more like vaudeville characters in front of a class. Thais present material much more formally. A student with a problem usually approaches a Thai professor much more cautiously than a foreigner who may encourage them to speak freely. Cultural influences aside, many Thais make good teachers.

For someone looking for an English teacher, this brief look has probably caused more confusion than relief. Luckily, a good university or language institute has high standards in hiring and does their best to match the appropriate teacher with a specific class. Most universities publish their staffs' credentials and courses. It isn't poor taste to ask language schools about the qualifications of their teachers. First, one way to judge a school's quality is by the credentials of their staff. Further, a brief inquiry into the teacher allows you to shop for the best deal.

Look around. Inquire about education and work experience. Feel out a teacher's personality. Do their materials and method suit your expectations? Do you want a grammar person or a content person or someone to design an ESP course? Will a language-school teacher suffice or do you need a degree from a university?

Browse the dozens of daily advertisements that appear for teachers and pick the ones that describe a person you'd feel comfortable learning from. Notice which qualifications different schools seek. Different needs require different teachers. What makes a teacher good is matching their abilities with the students' needs.

Note: The author holds an MA in English from Binghamton University in New York. He currently lectures at King Mongkut's Institute of Technology North Bangkok and is a committee member of the Department's MA-EBI program. Using the ESP approach and authentic materials, he has designed and implemented various graduate courses in Business English.

GOOD TEACHERS

2008-07-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

What makes good yoga teachers? Is it the amount of time they devote to study or to their own daily practice or classroom teaching? Is it the number of workshops, teacher training courses, and certifications they have acquired over the years?

Surely, these quantitative expressions of teaching ability can have a positive effect on a teacher's individual development. A teacher's own daily practice comes especially to mind. But we should not attach too great an importance to such measures alone.

This is particularly true for certifications. Although teachers here at Sun & Moon Studio have received various certifications, I believe there is much wisdom in what French essayist, poet, and philosopher Paul Valery had to say about official certifications. "The diploma gives society a phantom guarantee and its holders phantom rights. The holder of a diploma [who] passes officially for possessing knowledge . . . comes to believe that society owes him something."

Good teachers possess much more than mere quantitative tokens of learning. The have a qualitative character that often expresses itself in boundless enthusiasm, or a passion for translating their knowledge into practical good for their students. Their positive energy makes them the kind of person we all enjoy being around.

They recognize their spiritual center and stay in touch with it on a daily basis. Feeling their poses and the effects from deep within, good teachers are able to exploit what they have learned about anatomy and physiology and combine it with these feelings and sensations to offer unique and particular insights to individual students. This capacity comes from developing a keen eye for each individual student's needs

Effectively communicating the benefits of yoga doesn't come automatically, nor is it guaranteed by virtue of what a teacher has learned. The catalyst for effective communication is that qualitative dimension that flows from the heart, not the didactic expression of what a teacher has learned through however many courses of instruction.

In my yogic career, I have studied with several teachers who possess that special gift of teaching from the heart. They have become quite popular teachers in their own right. I have also experienced teachers from whom I have learned a great deal. They had incredible knowledge to share; yet, something was lacking. I think it has something to do with not being able to let their students develop on their own after they have absorbed the knowledge they have offered. I am reminded by something I had written in my notes that Patricia Walden said last year at the Women's Retreat in New Orleans: "Sometimes you want to imitate the people who inspire you. That works for a while to a certain extent. Then, find what YOUR practice is so you're authentic."Francis Bacon probably comes closest to capturing what I believe are reciprocal responsibilities of teacher and student, when he said: "Disciples do owe their masters only a temporary belief, and a suspense of their own judgment till they be fully instructed; and not an absolute resignation nor perpetual captivity." Teachers may teach in a particular school or method only temporarily. Sooner or later they must become their own school or method and inspire their own students to do the same.

Sun &Moon Studio has a Teacher Certification program that involves one year of close study under my direction. Often, I reflect on why I'm trying to teach prospective teachers. I know that when I began teaching yoga nearly a decade GOOD teachers I spoke of before, and from my own heart. Those who begin the Teacher Certification program each fall start out knowing more than I knew when I began the process of becoming a teacher. Though I truly believe that the Teacher Certification program offered at Sun & Moon Studio is excellent, I don't kid myself by thinking that the teachers we turn out will all become truly good teachers. I know that only time will tell which ones shine, not just in imparting the knowledge they accumulate but in shining from the inside out.

7 Habits of Good Teachers Today

2008-07-16T11:32:00.000-07:00

By Dorothy Rich

If I were starting out as a teacher today, I'd have to be a different teacher from what I was in 1956. I thought I was really good then. I'd have to be a different kind of "good."

It used to be that we'd put a teacher, a set of books, and a set of tests in one room and say, "Go to it!" That's what happened to me as a beginning teacher. But teaching has become a much more complicated business. To woo and win students today involves a lot of words with "ing" endings--innovating, motivating, facilitating.

It's not all that hard to get kids moving along when they're starting out in school. Almost all of them come to kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd, even 3rd grade, fresh, eager, and wanting to please. But walk into a 4th grade classroom and immediately you sense the difference. It's puberty and more. It's the outside world barging into that classroom--like a beast devouring our children's attention and interest.

Not so many years ago, the school was the source of all information. Parents used to say to kids, "Ask your teacher." Today, thanks to the telecommunications revolution, information is not embedded in the school and then sent out to the rest of the community. We all get our data at the same time--and the pace at which it comes is mind-boggling, confusing, even frightening.

Let me describe what I'd have to do differently to be a good teacher today. I'm prepared to use myself as a "before" example.

When I walked into the classroom in my first teaching year more than 40 years ago, I assumed (actually had been taught to assume), that the students before me were ready to learn and that my job was to move them through the appointed steps to the next grade.

I can see those students even now. I was a 22-year-old teaching senior English. The students were barely four or five years younger than I was. But the difference in those days was enormous. I was the figure of authority; I was automatically supposed to get respect. The seats were arranged in straight lines; it didn't even dawn on me to change them. About the only thing I didn't do regimentally was to seat students alphabetically.

I was assigned the seniors, despite my inexperience, because even then it didn't matter much what kids did in the 12th grade. Their main event, the regents' exam (this was New York state), was taken in the 11th grade. That's where the experienced teacher was placed.

Today, if I walked into the same classroom facing the grandchildren of those same students, an important difference for me as a teacher would be that I'd have to assume that many of the students before me might not be ready to learn. Some would not have completed previous grades successfully. Some would be too tired or too hungry; some would be too discouraged, too distracted, too upset about what's going on in their lives outside the school walls.

As a teacher today, I'd have to do what most teachers didn't really do before. I'd need to pay far more attention to my students and what they brought to my classroom. In the '50s, I was all caught up with teaching, and not enough with learning. Even though I was considered a good teacher by all the usual measures, the unwritten ground rules in those old days were these: If the day went poorly, you blamed the students. If the day went well, you praised your teaching skills. When I walked into my classroom then, it was my domain. The door shut behind me, and I didn't talk to another adult all day. And I suffered from the traditional teacher affliction: I talked too much and used up too much class time and attention.

No, those "good old days" were not so good. Public opinion polls tell us that there are really few among us who enjoyed school then. When asked about a major disappointment in their lives, many adults tell pollsters "school." Should that be a surprise? When teachers get together, we sometimes tell a certain secret--that we went back to the classroom because we were the only ones who really liked school.

Teaching has always been a demanding job. Many of us, however, did not know how extraordinarily complex it was. Children and adults don't learn simply because they are taught. There isn't a parent or employer alive who doesn't know this. Yet somehow we have this faith that just because teachers cover the subject children are learning it.

Many parents ask me, "How can we know when our child has a good teacher?" It's an inevitable question and an important one, because it lays the base for judgments about the entire school experience. While there is a great desire to simplify education, to reduce it to formulas and test scores, education really is and always will be "messy." It's about relationships between people, hopes and dreams, and about a future we can't even envision. Kids need good test scores, but they need even more to be protected and prepared for the messy and exciting world in which they'll live.

For parents who ask the question: "Does my child have a good teacher?" and for teachers who ask themselves: "Am I a good teacher?" I've come up with a list of seven criteria. I'd like to call these the "Seven Pillars of Classroom Wisdom," but in less pompous terms, the compilation really is the "Watch Out for These" list. The list does not include bricks of technology. It asks us to look at what's happening between people, in and out of the classroom. This has always been the make-or-break measure in education and never more so than today.

Here, then, are my seven habits of good teachers:

1. Marketing the subject. The assumption used to be that schoolwork was known to be important and that everyone recognized this, coming ready to the classroom to do his or her best. Yet, today, the message from home may not reinforce the school, and the messages from the media are often anti-school. They say to children: Do it now, have it now, don't wait, rush, don't defer your gratification. School, in the older years, is often seen as an interruption in the real business of life.

Teachers today have to start out assuming that they must win over the hearts of their students. It is not an automatic buy-in. We can't just tell them school's important. We have to go beyond that to persuade them. Teachers sell through enthusiasm, making the subject's relevance clear for student's lives, if not now, then in the future. This future, we need to say, is not so far away. These points need to be made over and over, just as they are on the TV when students are being asked to buy a product. A good teacher has to be a good salesperson.

2. Knowing the subject: Teaching it with encouragement. Nothing takes the place of knowledge about and commitment to subject matter, whether it's teaching reading in the 1st grade or teaching Shakespeare in the 10th grade. But it's not enough to know the subject. We have to be able to put it across. What we've learned in recent years is that encouragement goes a long way. To meet high standards, children need a high level of encouragement.

Oh, how I remember those many English papers I graded and my sense of completion when I had circled in red every misspelled word. My standards were high, like many of my teaching colleagues'. And, also like many of my colleagues, I was not encouraging enough. How I would like to go back and mark those papers again. I would spend far more time looking for what the students did right and working to build on those strengths, rather than pointing to weaknesses.

Raising students' self-esteem, of course, is not enough either. Without solid content, it's like a house with a crumbling foundation. Solid standards mixed with encouragement is the cement for real learning.

3. Using a variety of teaching styles. I really didn't understand how we all learn in different ways. Today, we know so much more about the brain and a myriad of ways to reach different students. I lectured a lot in my early classroom days. I tried to use thought-provoking questions, but I did very little with small groups, or case studies, or role-playing. The use of audiovisual equipment was in its primeval stage then, and the machines never seemed to be available. Some of those problems still have not changed.

I ask parents to look for a variety of teaching techniques when visiting a classroom. Does the teacher use examples? Are students physically moving about? Does it look like children are paying attention? And I ask parents to respect their own gut feelings. Would they want to be in this classroom?

4. Building on family and outside-of-school experiences. As a beginning teacher, I had no idea what my students brought with them to class--if they worked at a job, if they collected stamps, or if there was a divorce going on at home. The word "family" was not mentioned. I knew nothing about their lives outside of school, except if by some happenstance someone mentioned it casually. Today, we know better. Major research studies indicate that readiness for learning, all through the grades, begins at home and that we've got to enlist all families as real partners in the education of their children.

As a good teacher today, my work would be to build a bridge -- connection between school and home so that information, ideas, and people move freely from one place to the other. The "hidden curriculum" of the home and community is not hidden anymore.

5. Involving students as learning partners. I used to leave the classroom exhausted at the end of the day. Actually, I was exhausted by noon. Teaching is hard work, but as I look back, I see now that I made it harder because I was doing almost all of the work in the classroom--my work and the students' too. I would come in with all of the assignments (the lesson plan for the month) and lay them out. I was conscientiously doing my job. But one important part never got done. I never thought to ask for any feedback from these almost grown-ups. Maybe I was afraid they would say they didn't like my plan.

All my students had to do was complete the assignments. If they didn't do them, I would nag or come up with some appropriate grading demerit. This was the business-as-usual style of the classroom. It may have worked or been thought to be working before, but today the routines need to change, if we expect change in our students.

As a new teacher today for students in the middle elementary grades and above, I'd start out my school year outlining the course but then ask--yes, require--students to think about what they want to get out of the course. I'd expect them to have learning goals. And if they couldn't come up with any, even with advice from their parents, or if they were unused to figuring out these kinds of things on an individual basis, we would do it as a group.

Since my lesson plan would be available in advance for students to review, this would not be a majority-vote kind of thing. A teacher does hold the ultimate responsibility, but it would be a discussion of the curriculum that would involve student thinking. A good teacher today has to expect more from each student. The "more" does not just mean more homework; it means more involvement.

6. Collaborating with other adults. When I went into my classroom, I closed the doors behind me. I rarely spoke to another adult, except at parent-teacher open houses, and then I did most of the talking. At faculty meetings, the principal did most of the talking. So as a teacher, like so many others, I was alone.

That's no way to succeed in the often discouraging job of education. Teachers need support, parents need support, the community needs support--and we need it from each other.

Students by and large receive better support from one another than adults do. Teachers need to be able to talk with and learn from each other. Parents need to be able to come to the school to meet not just with the teacher but with one another. One of the major outcomes for parents and teachers when they come together is finding out what works for others--and receiving the encouragement to believe that this can work for them too.

7. Making sure students know they are cared about. When I am asked today about the key factor that makes students like school, study hard, and stay in school, the answer is a "C" word, but it's not "curriculum." The word I choose is "caring."

The problem today is not that our children don't learn to read. Education research has indicated that most children do learn the basics of reading and math in the early grades. Many, however, do not continue these efforts in later grades. One explanation for this, perhaps truer today than ever before, is that to reach people enough to school them, we must meet their deep human need to feel cared about.

The days of you-do-it-or-else are over. Children, as well as adults, need to be persuaded. There is a personal search for caring and for recognition. There is a sense of higher expectations about how we will be treated, even by institutions, and especially by the school.
There are easy ways for teachers to show children and their families that they are cared about: Notes telling the children what they've done right. Calls home asking about the youngster when the child is out ill. "We missed you" comments when the child comes back to class after being out. How I wish I had known to do these in my early classes. I thought I had to be so formal, so stuffy, to establish my authority.

Students have to feel they are needed. Feeling needed can be a tricky business today. Many children seem to have too much time on their hands, while adults seem to have so much less time. Getting kids more involved at home is vital, but so is getting them more involved at school. I remember from my own school days how important it made me feel to clean erasers or to monitor the bathroom or to chair a committee--in short, to be somebody. This is a feeling every child can have and needs to have.

Teachers and parents may well have more points to add to the list. It is meant to be only a starting point. The exciting part about teaching today is that there are so many more opportunities for learning. The hard part is that, even with all the time-savers we have invented, it feels as if there is less time than there used to be.

When parents ask, "Does my child have a good teacher?" knowing what we do today about the importance of the home in children's achievement, I ask, "Does your child have a good parent?" We don't have to be perfect to be good, but we do have to be a team and we do need to make time to do our job together.

Good teacher, bad habit

2008-07-14T04:25:00.000-07:00

'Half Nelson' finds an engaging teacher locked in drug and alcohol abuse

By Arthur Salm
ARTS WRITER

Dan Dunne (Ryan Gosling) is the history teacher you always wanted in middle school: funny, intense, committed, not only willing but also downright eager to spin lessons off into long, involved, fascinating but ultimately related tangents.
That's not how we first see him, however, in Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden's moving, jangly film “Half Nelson.” He's in his underwear and in a daze, sitting on the floor of his semi-crummy apartment, bathed in the soft light of either dusk or dawn. An alarm clock goes off: dawn.

Dan's had a hard night, but then, most of them are. He's a druggie, although not a particularly discriminating one; cocaine, alcohol, even crack will do. It's crack, as it turns out, that gets him small-time busted – by Drey (Shareeka Epps), his most promising student, who catches him with pipe in hand.

But “Half Nelson” is too smart a film to plod along the rutted trail of the standard drug flick. Dan, of course, claims to have his problem under control, and the truth is, he almost does; somehow he manages to get to class every day and summon enough verve to do his job and do it well. (“The kids keep me focused,” he explains.) Fellow teacher and occasional girlfriend Isabel (Monique Gabriela Curnen) tolerates Dan's mercurial attentions, but only up to a certain point, after which it's so long, pal. The dealer Frank (Anthony Mackie), friend to Drey's family, isn't a heavy but a lighthearted, basically centered fellow pursuing his version of an inner-city capitalist dream. An idealist to his shaky core, Dan is consumed with the notion of dialectic – the struggle between and ultimate reconciliation of opposites, or, at least, opposing forces. It is the touchstone of the history lessons he imparts to his (at least partially understanding) students, and of his life as well. A committed if mostly bystanding leftie, he perceives himself as ineffectual and not especially worthy of happiness; hence the broken love affairs, the solitary existence ... the drugs.

It's to the filmmakers' credit that none of this – not even the students' brief oral reports on significant contemporary events on the world stage, from the CIA-engineered assassination of Salvador Allende to the Twinkie-engineered assassination of Harvey Milk – comes across as either overly strident or lazily half-baked. If sometimes it doesn't quite gel, it doesn't have to: Everything within the movie turns on the budding friendship of the slowly sinking Dan and the remarkable Drey, coolly appraising onrushing adulthood and, from the look of her, ready for it.

Their scenes together have a soft electric hum; nothing sexual, to be sure, yet at the same time something deep and telling and true. In his car together – he gives her a lot of lifts home after basketball practice – they settle into their seats and seem almost to exhale in unison. It's nothing a whole lot more complicated than that they feel comfortable in each others' presence. They're friends at a time when each of them needs one.

Not that the film makes this out to be a universal panacea, or even the answer to anyone's overarching problems. But it's student and teacher, adult and child, man and very young woman coming together in a touching reconciliation that would do any dialectician proud.

Mark of a good teacher

2008-07-14T04:22:00.000-07:00

All of us will remember a teacher we consider great. some way may be termed as being "good" teachers; and a small percentage may be great teachers. It is possible that we may have learnt under great teachers. What are the at tributes that go into making a great teacher? The list may not be complete, nor is it based on formal research. But will hopefully form the basis of further discussion.

Emotional Attributes

It is teaching that is considered important; money is secondary. This motivates him to spend hours preparing for a class. At the end of his career he counts his success by the success of his students.

Empathy and Patience :He has an unlimited supply of empathy. He understands the need of the student and acts accordingly.

Humility: A great teacher is a constant learner. To say "I dont know" takes courage and humility from the teacher.

Overall Attributes

Passion for the subject : She has a deep passion for the subject she handles, whether it is nursery rhymes in kindergarten or biology in middle school.

Encourage ability to think : This means that she encourages in students the ability to analyse and think. She acknowledges that the students have the ability to comprehend, question and analyses.

Self-statement : The emphasis is on the students understanding, encouraging self-statement, along with the ability to question, think and analyse, improving the students thoroughness of the subject. Ordinary teachers look for the right answers, great teachers encourage thinking skills.

Tells a great story : Subjects taught great teachers seem to have a story-like quality to them. They rarely need to use discipline to keep the class under control. Mr. Thomas was an experienced professor. He never took attendance and gave everybody the same grade at the end of the term. Yet every class of his would have a 100 per cent attendance and several students wanted to specialize in his subject. Mr. Vasan, taught geography. He taught them for three years. At the end of it several boys were considering majoring in it.

Side lanes : The "side lanes" and "by-lanes" in the lession become just as important and he will freely traverse these roads. Mrs. Nath, a primary teacher did a lesson on Dasara Festival in Mysore for her Standard II students. After the class, the youngsters wanted to know where Mysore was. So in the next class she brought a map. The youngsters then wanted to know more about other festivals in India. This led to a term of learning. The children set the pace; she motivated them.

Scheme to motivate : Great teachers scheme to motivate their students to perform. One middle aged man remembered his maths teacher; Mr. Sampthhad a "scheme" that those who got more than 90 percent in the tests need not do their homework the following week. To ensure he got his 90 percent his students had to work hard.

Develops me as a person : This is best summarised by these words of Swami Vivekananda "The end of all education, all training, should be man-making. Education is not the amount of information that is put into your brain and runs riot there, undigested all your life. We must have life-building, man-making, character-making, assimilation of ideas".

Facilities : You need a teacher and a student for teaching to take place. Even the shade of a tree is a good enough place for it to happen. Everything else is a facility.

Technical Attributes:

Mastery over the language : A great teacher has a clear knowledge and understanding of the nuances of the language being used. The teacher is attempting to explain concepts and abstract thought in terms that the student can understand.

Systematic Thinking : The teachers skill lies not in his possession of knowledge alone, but in translating them for his students assimilation.

Subject knowledge : In a progressive subject, where one lesson leads to the next, the teacher is ahead of his students. These two points though seem obvious have been found to be present to a greater degree among great teachers.

This happens because of her involvement with the subject. If you fare compared to the great teacher who taught you and made a difference in your life. See if you can make that difference.

Articles for Teachers

2008-07-14T04:17:00.000-07:00

The teacher every student loves…

There are many qualities that make a good teacher.

Do I make classes interesting so that atleast 90% of my students pay attention to my teaching?

Whatever may be the subject you teach, it is important how you present it to your students. A good teacher knows which topic needs more attention and which one doesn’t. A good teacher knows where to pause and where to increase the pace. A good teacher always knows what the students need to know.

Do I love the job?

We produce best results when we love what we do. If you don’t love teaching, you can never be a good teacher. Either you adapt yourself or quit. Why should I make my life and my students’ a hell?

Do I hide my personality from my students?

Don’t be ashamed of your personality. Not all teachers are the same. You need not hide any of your qualities – good ones. If you are yourself, you can reach out to your students easily. If you try to imitate someone you admire, you will not be able to impress.

Do I talk about general things in classes, besides my own subject?

Sticking to your subject alone cannot produce good results. Update yourself by reading newspapers and magazines. Remember interesting incidents and stories and share them in classes.

Do I enjoy jokes?

If yes, you will enjoy teaching young people. Students love jokes. They love teasing you too. A teacher must be able to enjoy jokes and share some.

Am I short-tempered?

Welcome to hell to those who are short- tempered. Practise controlling your anger. Find ways to express your anger in positive ways. Don’t think yelling will make things right.

Do I offend people when correcting?

Students will remember you all their lives not because you taught them but you offended them. Take control of your words. Be firm but cautious. One wrong word can cost you dearly.

Do I try to impress students all the time?

If yes, you are wrong. You cannot say ‘yes’ at all occasions. Be firm in classroom ethics. Diluting classroom rules can never be accepted.

You don’t need gifts from any students. Respect is best gift a student can ever give you.

A good teacher is someone who makes me realize what I am and teaches what I need to know.

What do you think are characteristics of a good teacher?

2008-07-14T04:11:00.000-07:00

I have been a student for many years and studied with a lot of teachers, so I reckon that teaching is a difficult career. In my opinion, wide knowledge and suitable behaviour to students are two factors required of good teachers.

To begin with, wide knowledge is the priority because it plays an important role in their teaching. Their knowledge is not only restricted on what they teach in class or what is in the textbooks, but it is also what they gain from research, further study, sources and materials, etc. With such knowledge, they can teach every student in every level, from elementary to advanced. They can explain the lessons in the most thorough way, so that the lessons become adequate and concise, and their students are able to take in everything without difficulty. They can easily answer all queries from their students as well as become a good and reliable counselor for them. In Vietnam, there are many yearly teaching contests, for example “Golden Chalk”, which only good teacher will be qualified enough to take part in. If they win the competition, their names will be known, which makes a good fame for them in their profession.

Teaching often goes along with training, so their behaviour to students is taken into account. To good students, they need to pay attention to them and keep an eye on their process so as to help them better their study. By contrast, to lazy and disobedient ones, a strict attitude is needed. At that time, advice, punishment, and connect with their parents should be combined. My literature teacher is a typical example. She had a mischievous student about more than ten years ago. However, he becomes good and successful now, and he is always grateful to my teacher for her education.

I maintain that good teachers must be knowledgeable and sensible in the way they behave to their students. With such characteristics, they are able to make their students good in knowledge and conduct. I also depend on those factors to choose for myself an ideal teacher.

Qualities of a Good Special Education Teacher

2008-07-14T04:03:00.000-07:00

Have you ever wondered what makes a great special education teacher? What separates a mediocre teacher from a terrific teacher? It's not easy to define, however, here's a list of qualities listed by parents, principals, educators and students.

Are you a Top Special Education Teacher?

1. You love your role, you love being with your students and you couldn't imagine doing anything else. You were meant to teach special needs children, you know this in your heart.

2. You have a great deal of patience and know that little steps in learning go a long way.

3. You know your students well and they are comfortable and at ease with you, they enjoy having you as their teacher and look forward to going school each day.

4. You provide a non-threatening, welcoming environment that nurtures each of the students you work with.

5. You understand your students, you know what motivates them and you know how to scaffold activities to ensure that maximum learning occurs.

6. You take each student from where they are and provide experiences that will maximize success. You're always discovering new things about your students.

7. You are very comfortable working with exceptional learners and learners with diverse needs.

8. You thrive on challenge, can easily build relationships with your students and your student's parents.

9. You are a life-long learner and committed to the profession.

10. You have a never ending willingness to ensure that all students reach their maximum potential. You constantly strive to 'reach and teach' every student under your care.

Goog Teacher

2008-03-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

1. Sifat
The good teacher must have the enthusiastic characteristics, stimulative, pushed the student to advance, warm, was oriented in the task and worked hard, tolerant, polite, and wise, the ray was believed, pleksible, and was easy to adjust, democratic, was full of hope for the student, only did not look for the personal reputation, could overcome stereotype the student, was responsible towards the studying activity the student, could deliver pereasaan him, and had good listening.
2. Knowledge
The good teacher also had knowledge that was adequate in the subject that in emban him, and continued to follow the progress in his knowledge field.
3. What the material
The good teacher could also give the guarantee that material that was sent by him included all the discussion units that were hoped for by the student maximally.
4. How to teach
The good teacher could explain various information clearly, and obviously, pushed all the students to participate, monitored and even often visited the student, monitored the student's seat, did formative test and post test, used several traditional materials, could participate and give the improvement towards the conception mistake that was carried out siswa
5. Hope
The good teacher could give hope to the student, could make the student akuntabe, and pushed parents's participation in promoting the academic capacity his student.
6. The reaction of the teacher to student
The good teacher could receive various masuka, the risk, and tantanga, always gave the support to his student, consistent in agreements with the student, wise towards criticism of the student, could provide time that deserved for the student to ask, fast in gave feed the back for the student in helping them to study.
7. Management
The good teacher also must could show keahliandalam planning, had the capacity to organise the class since the first day he was assigned, fast began kel; the USA, passed the transition period well, could meminimalisasi the disturbance, could accept the atmosphere of the class that was noisy with kesiatan pembelajaran, had the technique to control the class, gave the punishment with the most minor form, could maintain the atmosphere that was calm in studying and continuing to be able to take care of the student to stay studying towards the success.

The teacher's crisis

2008-03-16T09:35:00.000-07:00

The list of the Indonesian leader who became the teacher could be very long if one by one was named here. Mentioned like Ki Hadjar Dewantara, Djuanda, or Ratulangie (Daniel Dhakidae had written by attracting the quality of the teacher in himself Ratulangie). With intelegensi (cognition) above in general and the attitude lived (affection) that was sincere served in the independence goal (that often was raised by the social experience like Tan Malacca), did not surprise if leading figures like Soekarno, Hatta, and Tan Malacca easily changed places from a teacher afterwards was the leader of the mass.
If in their room taught the subject to count, read, and wrote, in the field, their movement educated the awareness of the people would the importance of independence. And, the pupil of the teachers who changed clothes to the leader was throughout the Dutch East Indies inhabitants, with the classroom along Sabang-Merauke. With the structure of the awareness of the kind, it is not surprising that in Indonesia the term the founding fathers easily was bartered just like that with the "national leader's" term.
Don't be surprised also if George Washington or Thomas Jefferson in America only was mentioned as the founding fathers and had not been acknowledged as the "national leader". Because the national leader's term, my foreknowledge, was not printed in the structure of the awareness of the American nation.
With the teacher's qualification like that has been explained by me, each good teacher in fact was the midwife who could give birth to the good leader. With this kind train of thought, we could put forward the further question: if now we experience the leadership crisis, maybe this indicated we were experiencing the teacher's good crisis? Or the transformation in our awareness about the meaning and the position of the teacher was happening to not more as the teacher?

The history as the teacher

2008-03-16T09:28:00.001-07:00

We must only read again the Indonesian history to know how the social and historic role of the teachers in the big project achieved independence. The teachers in the movement period, especially them that taught in the private school, had the significant role. Often related that could be heard by us about the role of the private school teachers.
From several Pramoedya articles, for example, like in novelet Not Pasar Malam and the collection the short story Relate from Blora, we knew how the activity of his father in the Boedi Oetomo Primary School not only in teaching his pupils, but also in the organisation of the movement. The colonial government had finally realised the subversive character of the private school.
In September 1932, was launched by Wilden Scholen Ordonantie (the Sekolah Liar Ordinance) that banned the operation of schools that was established without permission. What was done by the father Pram not the unique case. If reading the biography of the leaders in the beginning period of the Indonesian birth, we will realise how many of the they that evidently the teacher, at least had become the teacher.
Soekarno, when being kept in Bengkulu, taught children there several subjects; starting from when counting, Dutch, to the history. In Bandaneira, Hatta and Sjahrir intensively and was arranged was children's teacher in their detention centre environment. Both of them did not only give the formal lesson, but also non-formal, like political education secretly, among them by painting the boat with the red-white colour and being taught struggle songs.
From the "left" group, Semaoen, Alimin, to Tan Malacca also had the experience as the teacher. Tan Malacca had in fact become the principal in a plantation region in East Sumatra and to the teacher almost in all of his place of escape overseas. Torque as the teacher in fact to metanoia, a kind of complete enlightenment, for Tan Malacca.
During taught in the colonial plantation, Tan Malacca witnessed how indigenous people who worked in the plantation seriously were treated not properly humankind. The social understanding caused Tan Malacca to plunge itself into the world of the movement and to gather with Communist Party Indonesia and then was assigned managed the party's school that then was famous as

Obstacles became the Professional

2008-03-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Many obstacles that were dealt with by a teacher to become the good teacher.
Several obstacles among them were:
First
The too barely adequate pay in fact possibly not all that. The barely adequate pay forced a teacher to seek a living in addition after the working hours. This result in did not have the opportunity to make preparations taught with read repeated lesson material that will be taught tomorrow the day. This could reduce readiness and the appearance in front of the class.
Second
The tasks of incriminating administration. Since the implementation of the curriculum 2006, many tasks of administration that must be done by a teacher that his aim of increasing professionalism of a teacher. Evidently these tasks became the quite difficult burden and almost did not have his benefit to increase the appearance and readiness of a teacher in front kaelas.
Most tasks of administration were made by half be forced only to please the heart of the superior. For example, a teacher was obliged to make KTSP, Silabus and mbegek that was other, that forced the teacher wrote the analysis that was same in the first task and was written repeated in the second task and the third task. All these had not been worn to alleviate the burden taught in the class because of these tasks not pernaha was read again when would/and was teaching. A teacher more liked to open and read the handbook taught than brought the Satuan Mengajar Program, Analisis of Pelajaran Material or the Pengajaran Plan.
These tasks were indeed very useful for a student teacher.

To be a good Teacher

2008-03-16T09:05:00.000-07:00

Qualities of a Good Special Education Teacher

2008-02-08T02:28:00.000-08:00