My current job as ICT support isn't an actual teacher or in a teaching profession, however, some of the things I do on a day to day basis do involve teaching others how to do things. Most of my experiences I'll be listing in my blog have more to do with my actual teaching. I was teaching English for 6 months in Poland, and all my real teaching experience and the ideas and information I'll be putting in my blog will be coming from this.
The main components I was teaching really fell in to the spoken category. In learning another language, there are 4 main components of learning: speaking, listening, reading and writing. I was mainly focussed with adults on speaking, however, when teaching children and teenagers, focus was upon all 4 of these components.
For me, the main purpose of learning a language is communication: so that you can communicate with others that speak a different language to yourself. Set tests helped to let the students know how they were tracking in learning the language - whether or not their skills were where they should be. However, in terms of learning another language, the benchmarks did not always necessarily indicate where a student was in learning that language. Some students were able to speak and communicate ideas very well, though had less knowledge of grammar and vocabulary.
Some students would take real ownership of their study, and look at dictionaries, and try to learn extra words and then use them in sentences in class - these students would truly excel due to their interest and extra effort put in. They would really start to learn the language and how it really worked, rather than follow a set of grammar rules. The understanding of the language, though not always measured well by the testing, was of the most importance to me.
Our skill sets and attributes change dramatically, each time we change in to a different role. When studying at school, the responsibilty, whilst with the student, is also heavily with the teacher, to give the content and direction. Once we move to university, this changes somewhat, so that the student has far more responsibility for their learning.
Once the student moves to the workforce, it is again different. To learn workplace skills, it is dependent upon the environment they work in, their collaboration with other staff/workmates there and the workplace culture. The skills learnt in school and university aren't all we need, so they must change as well. Skills such as time management, conflict resolution and team work, evolve and change to suit our requirements in the new area of responsibility, and must continue to change and evolve as we go through various careers and changes.
Hi Susan,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of changing and evolving skills and attributes. They are quite environmental, and respond to opportunities and supports for their development. You have identified the importance of attitude, and individual ownership - even from an early age. To me the behaviors that you identify are the initiators of creative approaches to personal and academic development.
You have introduced a number of grounded, practical ideas. For instance, one would expect that conflict resolution and team work would be a given in adult learners. Nonetheless, in undergraduate and postgraduate situations, we still have to intervene when collaborative work goes wrong. Often this is less to do with argument, and more to do with a misunderstanding of roles and group processes that one would consider core knowledge for adults. Your knowledge and experience establish an excellent foundation for further thinking about learning.