The Role of a Teacher

The role of a teacher in today’s world is a complex and diverse one. It is to provide intellectual and social development, to have integrity, to be honest and to always provide appropriate conduct in the classroom and the community.

In addition to these attributes, the role of a teacher is to acquire professionalism and ethics and abide by their own moral code and that of their school, while maintaining a commitment to confidentiality between students, colleagues and the community.

A very prominent role of a successful teacher is to plan and implement learning activities that will benefit the intellectual needs of all students. Some guidelines for the teacher to teach the curriculum would be to have suitable and appropriate content and process in the classroom, to have resources which complement the content areas, to make the curriculum appealing to the imagination and to hold children’s interest, and the structure of a discipline. Taking into consideration that there may be many different learning abilities, styles and behaviours of students in the one classroom. When a teacher knows their students well they will understand their capabilities, strengths and weaknesses and to acknowledge and support those needs.

A modern day teacher should be at the forefront of new technologies and have a continual appreciation for learning. Professional development is the process by which teachers achieve higher professional competence and expand their understanding of self, role, context and career (Duke & Stiggins, 1990).

The following is an additional check list (Whitton 2009) of guidelines for an effective educator and emphasizes the role of the teacher in the classroom today:

Listening – students need to be acknowledged as valuable contributors, this is a very positive experience for a student.

Clarifying – ensure that instructions are understood.

Encouraging – reassurance to the student that you understand their message.

Reflecting – review process for continued learning.

Problem solving – maintaining a process for solutions to problems that may arise in the classroom.

Negotiating – probable solutions, considering priorities and investigating options.

Directing – explaining choices and making decisions.

Standardizing – criteria assessment and equitable assessment in all aspects of learning.

Reinforcing – being aware of consequences and presenting them in a positive manner.

Keeping classroom activities creative and fun can help to keep students enthusiastic and follow planned activities smoothly without distraction. Including the 5E's, if teachers are able to Excite their students to Explore their world and then be able to Explain with knowledge in order to Expand their understanding of concepts with the aim to Evaluate accurately comprehension; then we have an amazing teacher and very lucky students.

In conclusion you need all areas to work together to create a stimulating enjoyable learning atmosphere for the students to learn and the teachers to teach. As every area affects the other for example if a teacher had all the qualities of a productive teacher but had an exclusive and non accepting curriculum to follow it would not be a enjoyable stimulating working atmosphere, from this we can clearly see that all areas are of equal importance.

Reference:

Whitton, D. (2009) et al: Learning for Teaching, teaching for learning, Chap 5

Renzulli, J.S. (1994). Schools for talent development: A practical plan for total school improvement. Mansfield Centre, CT: Creative Learning Press. p. 19

Whitton, D., Sinclair, C., Barker, K., Nanlohy, P. & Nosworthy, M. (2004). Learning for teaching: Teaching for learning. Victoria: Thompson. p. 4 6

Renzulli, J.S. (1994). Schools for talent development: A practical plan for total school improvement. Mansfield Centre, CT: Creative Learning Press. p. 19