Tutorial 1

Do you know how to fish?????


    

HOW A TEACHER CAN HELP BECOME LIFE LONG LEARNERS? 

"Give man a fish, feed him for a day. Teach man to fish: Feed him for a life time".(Laa Tzu, spoke these words 2000 years ago). These few words tell us about the importance of teaching and learning.

Teaching plays a huge role in making someone learn about new things. Learning doesn't mean memorizing, but it is to apply what has been taught, in real life situations. eg: learning to add 1+3=4 / 4-3=1, shows that the person knows the way of  calculating, but if he/she knows the balance received after payments,it tells us that he/she has learnt what she has been taught.

 It is also believed that early childhood education is important for learning better in the future.

In order to become lifelong learners, it is necessary to be aware of how students learn and what they need to learn. The usage of  internet and latest technology could be an effective way of motivating students to learn, when it is being taught.

Using of chalks and blackboards as teaching aid have become history. Teachers need to improve themselves to challenge the changing lifestyle of the students who become lifelong learners.

Imitations also play a huge role in learning. Kids and students always take teachers as examples and they imitate what they do. Making students believe that their teachers know and has learned a lot inspires them to be one of them. As stated by Thomas (2007) "students see our passion - it gives them the proof that we enjoy learning".

As a teacher, it is necessary and important to know students' talents and what they are good at. Forcing them to do certain things won’t be effective ways of making them learn Eg: If a student is good in art, teachers need to identify them and open doors for them to achieve their goals rather than advising her to do something else.

These are very few but very important things that a teacher needs to think about and practice to help students become lifelong learners.

IN WHAT WAYS DO YOU THINK TEACHING HAS BECOME MORE PROFESSIONAL THAN IT WAS IN THE PAST? 
 

Go back and think how we have learnt. Was our classroom the same? Was the teaching method same?

A lot of you must be agreeing that it’s not. There is a difference.

With this changing world, teaching needs to be more professional than it was in the past, and this need has made it to do so. 

If we look into the diversity of students we know that unlike earlier days classrooms are filled with students of different cultures, language and tradition, and so teaching is more challenging than it was before. Teachers who teach these classes need to be more aware of their needs. They  plan their lessons and tasks in a way that all students actually understand. Teachers must also learn how to communicate with students whose English language is limited.

Now a days it is also experienced that normal classes are being carried out with students with disabilities. This raises new challenges and more hard work in providing the needs of individual students. Even if the teachers are not trained as a special education teacher, they need to work on helping these students to learn as much as possible and make students experience school life as much as the other students. 

Making posters, drawings and writing every single word on the black board are days teachers have forgotten. Teachers talking and students listening every time have also passed. The world has developed and technology is used in everyday life. Students have access to internet and it has become part of their lives. For these varieties of reasons teachers need to learn and come up with more creative ideas by using technology. With the help of the internet it is easy to come up with pictures, audio and video clips to make the class room a better place to learn.

From all these changes we know that the needs of the society have made the teachers to be more professional than it was in the past.