Interview Mrs……knowing free essay sample

The interview took place on the 7th March 2018 at Laerskool Oost-Eind primary school where I chose to interview Mrs†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. who is the Vice Principal. I chose to interview Mrs†¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦knowing she has been a teacher for a long time and she is experienced as she is now a vice principal she will be able to answer all questions directed to her adequately of which she did. The purpose was to know more about teaching as a profession, all that it entails and the challenges faced by teachers on an everyday basis and how they deal with those challenges. To learn what it takes to be a good teacher and the qualities that a person should have as teacher as well as the strategies that teachers use to accommodate all learners in classrooms to make sure they understand what they are taught.Questions asked during interview1. what is your definition of a good teacher?2. with your experience what would you say are the barriers to effective learning and teaching?3. what methods does teachers use to ensure effective learning and teaching?4. what is PLC and its importance?5. the importance of having a relationship with learners?6. what do you like most about teaching as a profession?A good teacher is best defined as someone who has the desire to change peoples lives or has the desire to invest in someones life. A good teacher is someone who likes working with people, a person who gets motivated by other peoples success. To be a good teacher, passion and patience needs to be part of you as an individual because not all learners learn at once. One need to have potential for teaching, have the ability to look after learners as individuals and the ability to develop their potential. A good teacher has the ability to change how learners think of themselves and make them believe that they can no matter the circumstances of life. A good teacher is the one who make learners believe in their dreams and have the ability to change the mind set of learners.Teachers and learners are exposed to different challenges that have a negative impact to the learning and teaching processes on a daily basis. Some of the issues that have an impact on learning and teaching include conditions of school buildings, some of the classrooms are damaged and have not been repaired examples are leaking roofs, which disrupt lessons during rainy weather conditions. Number of learners in a class also plays a vital role to effective teaching and learning, learners are overcrowded which result in lack of concentration that will result in a decline in the school pass rate. Lack of books is also identified as a barrier to education, learners have to share books and sometimes other subjects they don t have books at all which disrupt lessons. Lack of books has a huge effect on learners who are slow that most of the times teachers have to teach at a much slower pace of which can be a waste of time if done all most all the times. Having to deal with undisciplined learners is also a challenge for teachers and lastly poverty as a socio-economic factor has an impact on teaching and learning, sometimes learners from disadvantaged background comes to school with empty stomach and no lunch they end up losing focus in class.Learners have different ways of learning or they have different ways of understanding. Some learners are quick while some are slow, some may understand better through visual and some understand by just listening to the spoken words, it is therefore of utmost importance for teachers to use different teaching methods in order to accommodate all learners. One of the methods that can be used is to teach some concepts as a class then from there go to mentor teaching where the teacher pair the learners. The teacher may choose to pair a learner with high mental level with the one with low mental level without letting learners know. Sometimes allowing learners with low IQ to explain some concepts to tho se with high IQ make learners believe that they are achieving something. Another method that can be used by teachers for effective teaching and learning is questioning, ask learners questions in order to know if they understand what they are taught and if there is a necessity for a teacher to repeat some lessons, open class discussions, it allows learners to understand the concepts even better as sometimes learners may understand their peers more than their teacher. Professional learning community is seen as a way of teachers trying to improve their skills and knowledge of which will in return serve as an advantage to improve the academics of learners. It is therefore of utmost importance that the school and the teachers have PLC in place. Teachers have regular meetings in order to share ideas on how they can improve where they are lacking from other experienced teachers. The importance of PLC is that teachers will have improved skills and knowledge, teachers learn from each other. Newly qualified teachers have the opportunity to learn from experienced teachers, it also gives teachers a sense of belonging, knowing that should they encounter problems example not knowing which teaching method to adopt, they know that they will get help other experienced teachers through the ideas they share.It is important for teachers to have relationship with their learner, it makes learners to be open and build trust between the teacher and the learner which ma kes it much easier for learners to approach the teacher whenever they are experiencing difficulties be it academically or personally. Teachers should not be strangers to their learners they need to be friendly as much as they can, have time for jokes during lessons this will increase the number of learners participating in class. Address the learners privately if there is any behaviour you dislike unlike embarrassing the learner in front of the class.Knowing that people are different and that not all learners learn the same way, it is important to adopt different methods of teaching/ teaching philosophy in order to ensure effective learning. The teaching philosophy I will adopt as a teacher to ensure effective teaching and learning is progressivism which will make me prepare lessons that are relevant to my learners which will help them digest the information quicker and easier. Progressivism is said to address the needs and interest of learners highered.mheducation.com/sites/0072877723/student_view0/chapter9/index.html. By addressing their needs and interests and teaching what is relevant is a key to effective teaching and learning.BibliographyA. Bame Nsamenang and Therese M.S Tchombe handbook of African Educational Theories and Practices: A Generative Teacher Education Curriculumhttps://www.edglossary.org/professional-learning-community/highered.mheducation.com/sites/0072877723/student_view0/chapter9/index.html