Becoming a teacher
Misconceptions, reasons, and functions
[edit | edit source]It's not difficult to become a teacher. By definition, a teacher is just "a person who teaches". The first question you may ask yourself is "Which subject can I teach?". It's a good question, but being a teacher is not just teaching subjects such as math, science, literature, etc.
The job of teacher contains:
- Educating
- The meaning of educating is to help one develop sufficiently.
- Hence, to be a teacher, the first question is "Who am I?" Considering that, then ask youself "How can I identify myself as a teacher?".
- As the old saying goes, "Ice cannot create fire"-- you have to develop your own inner energy, then use it to light up the student's.
- Teaching
- The meaning of teaching is to transfer knowledge to students.
- To be a teacher is not just to keep teaching, but also to renew knowledge and relearn it.
- Answering
- Answering is to respond to questions and eliminate confusion students have.
- To listen is more difficult than to talk. Teachers without counciousness may easily create a one-way class. More effective classes are interactive.
- Learning
- Teachers must always be open to learn. The process of learning does not stop when you begin a life as a teacher. A teacher must always be open and accepting to the possibility that they will not know all the answers, and excited about the possibility of learning from their students.
Now that you've had a look at what teachers do, take a look at your own life. How about your own childhood? What do you think of when you remember your school-life and past teachers? What are they doing? Some say that we will unconsciously replay our childhood. If you were hit by your teacher, probably you will hit your student! That's one of the reasons why, though everyone dislikes it, authoritarian education is still the mainstream form of education in most countries of the world. We can learn from this: do not replay our story if we don't think it's a good one.
External links
[edit | edit source]Sites related to teaching in the UK
- http://www.gttr.ac.uk/ The official site to apply for teaching in the UK
- http://www.tda.gov.uk/ UK Training & Development Agency