CHAPTER -3 TEACHING PROFESSION: RESPONSIBILITIES
3.1 PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES Teacher's professional responsibilities are as under:
1.Teachers' Instructional Responsibilities:
Despite the diversity of roles that teacher must play, teachers' instructional responsibilities are the most important. Without instruction, there would be no schools. It is this function that the institution of the school grew up to serve. Though the mix of other responsibilities that teachers have varies greatly from school to school, it is fair to say that all classroom teachers share a common responsibility for instruction.
In years gone by, teaching was thought to be generally synonymous with telling. The teacher was viewed as a dispenser of knowledge. Typically the teacher transmitted information by standing in front of the learners, who were arranged in neat rows of floor-bolted desks, and lecturing. Lectures were supplemented with related assignments. Tests were administered periodically to assess progress. To function in this kind of arena, teachers needed a good grounding in their subject matter, a strong speaking voice, and an appropriate delivery style.
In recent years, this traditional style of teaching has been challenged. Critics of this old and familiar model of teaching have pointed out that today we live in the midst of a knowledge explosion. Because of accelerating rates in the development of new information, it is alleged that teachers cannot possibly be expected to keep up with all the current developments in their academic field. Teachers who followed the old style of acting as the single source of all information would be transmitting to youngsters a good deal of obsolete knowledge. These criticisms have led to a revision of professional educator's understanding of the instructional role of the teacher. Today teachers tend to be viewed not as exclusive sources of information but as "instructional managers". As instructional managers, they may use computer- assisted instruction, television, and a host of other information. sources to transmit current knowledge to their youngsters.The task of the teacher who functions as an instructional manager is much different from that of the teacher as a lecturer. The instructional manager tries to establish an environment in which learning can take place. Instead of doing all the talking, the teacher's primary function is to plan and direct learners experiences. As noted previously, these experiences can involve youngsters with a wide variety of information sources. Through the kinds of learning experiences will vary according to the subjects being taught the availability of resources, the characteristics of the learners, and other things, a common set of instructional planning tasks still faces all teachers who function as instructional managers. More Specifically, all teachers need to
I. Determine objectives
ii. Diagnose learners
iii. Plan instructional activities
iv. Implement programs
v. Evaluate learning outcomesi.Determining Objectives:In planning for instruction, the first task for teachers is to determine the learning objectives.
Regardless of the subject being taught, there is a need to decide precisely what it is the youngsters should be able to do as a consequence of their exposure to the instruction. Statement about what they should be able to do, or "learning objectives," help teachers to plan learning activities that will result in youngsters having the desired knowledge and skills at the end of the period of instruction.Teachers who use learning objectives have a basis for deciding to include or not to include a given activity. If the activity bears some logical relationship to the learning objectives, then a case can be made for including it. If not, probably the activity should not be used. Learning objectives, then, help teachers avoid selecting activities that tend to be little more than "busywork" that bears little connection to what youngsters will be expected to have learned.
ii.Diagnosing Learners:
A second major task that teacher face in preparing for instruction is diagnosing learners individual needs and interest. This function relates to the time-tested dictum that teachers should begin "where the learners are." That is the instructional experience provided should be appropriate for the youngsters being taught. To cite an extreme example, it makes no sense what-so ever to try to teach a group of youngsters how to form the past tense of French verbs if they do not know the patterns of present-tense French verbs. Though this example is a bit extreme, if not downright farfetched, an astonishing number of beginning. teachers still prepare lessons and units that have sparse chance for success because they are inappropriate for the youngsters being taught.
A particularly important aspect of diagnosis relates to the determination of youngsters interests. It is far easier to motivate learners if they are working on a task in which they a have some interest. Clearly not all topics that must be considered in school courses can be framed in a way that responds to the burning interests of the learners, but a surprising number can be adjusted to take advantage of youngster's interest. These interests can be used as entry points for the teacher as he or she attempts to broaden the range of learner enthusiasm when a new topic is introduced.Diagnosis also provides teacher with information. related to the lean ing problems of specific individuals. Some youngsters might have hearing, vision, or other physical problems that influence. their ability to profit from certain kinds of instruction. Others may have failed to acquire knowledge that the teacher mistakenly has assumed all class members to have. For some,. previous learning experiences may have come too swiftly and may not have been accompanied by sufficient concrete experiences to make the content "stick". A variety of circumstances may have played a part in determining the readiness of a given youngster for new learning experiences. By judicious diagnosis, the teacher can make a determination regarding the appropriateness of proposed instructional experiences for individual youngsters in the class-room. Adjustments to the proposed instructional program can be made int light of this diagnostic information,
iii. Planning Instructional Activities:
Once learner objectives have been formulated and diagnostic data about individual youngsters have been considered, the teacher is ready to begin developing an appropriate instructional sequence. In planning an instructional sequence, the following elements must be considered:
1. Motivation of Learn
2.Inclusion of allternative methods o, introducing the material
3.Provision of opportuni 'es for learners to apply new understanding.
4.Description of procedures to be used in giving feedback to learners and in chancing their retention.
The specific instruction l plan developed which varies in accordance with teacher variables, learner variables, and o her situational variables. Certain these broadly defined elements provide a good deal of room for exercising creativity.
iv. Implementing Instruction
Perhaps the most difficult ta k for new teachers is implementing instruction, largely because of inexperience in working with youngsters and, sometimes, faulty expectations of what they can and cannot do. The pacing of instruction is an especially difficult problem for new teachers. Sometimes they find a class grasping a concept thoroughly after only ten minutes time when fully forty minutes had been allotted in the lesson plan. On other occasions, something that appears simple to the teacher will require much more. instructional time than had been anticipated.In general, problems stem from the necessity to lead and interact with as many as thirty or thirty- five individuals at one time. Many situations develop, given this number of "human variables" tha simply cannot be anticipated in the planning
phase of instruction. With experience, teachers get a "feel" for the kinds of situations that develop. They develop a facility for changing and adapting quickly to meet needs that may emerge as the lesson unfolds.For new teachers, development of competency in this area seems to require experience in working with youngsters. These skills are acquired more quickly when a prospective teacher works with youngsters and has his or her performance criticized by a knowledgeable supervising teacher or university student-teaching observer. Out of a recognition that expertise in this area requires actual "hands-on" experience in working with learners, many teacher preparation programs in college and universities are emphasizing extended periods of experience working in public school classrooms. In particular, there has been a trend to get prospective teachers into classrooms curly during their undergraduate careers and to extend the length of the student-teaching experience.
V. Evaluating Learning Outcomes:
A final instructional task of teachers is evaluating the learning of the youngsters in their classes. A central purpose of this assessment is to determine whether or not the learners have accomplished the established objectives. If they have not, they will have a very difficult time succeeding on subsequent material that assumes an understanding of material to which they have been exposed earlier.Teachers frequently use examinations or tests to determine whether leaming objectives have mastered. Formal examinations or test are not the Sonly options available to teachers as they attempt to assess the progress of individual youngsters. In some situations, a teacher might use a checklist to note whether youngsters are exhibiting behaviors that have been taught (for example, how many baskets can a fifth-grader, ake from the free- throw line in three minutes?). On other occasions, learners might be asked to prepare demonstration or construct a project that can be evaluated by the teacher using certain criteria. Although the options available to teachers are. much all responsible assessment requires that some kind of specific evidence be in hand that provides a rational basis for teachers to decide whether individual youngsters have or have not mastered specific learning objectives.