Being Professional

In What's More Professional? From  @DavidGeurin Blog, David Geurin asks,

“Is it more professional to teach in a traditional manner, the way you remember your teachers teaching you? 

Or, is it more professional to teach in innovative ways that might be more relevant to today's world with today's students?”

I remember when I was a student, I had the hardest time learning when the teacher just stood up at the front of the room and lectured. In order to really remember what was said, I used to write out everything the teacher said. At the time, I didn’t worry about understanding anything that was said. Then I would go home and read everything I had written. Today, I realize that I was a visual learner and listening to what was said did not help me. I needed to see the word in order to have an understanding.

It is this reason that I believe teachers need to teach in ways that the student needs to learn, not as the teacher learned the best.

In order to do this, teachers need to take time to investigate the ways that students learn best. If you have a group of students that are auditory learners, then make sure you tell students the information that you want them to learn. If some are visual learners, have graphics, notes, or other visuals to help explain what you are teaching. If some of your students are tactile-kinesthetic learners, have them make something or do experiments to impact their learning.

Teachers need to be flexible with their teaching styles. They need to remember that they are not the students and the students need to be the focus of our teaching.

I always like people’s responses when they are asked, “What do you teach?” and the teachers respond, “I teach students.”  We don’t teach subjects, but we do teach people.

If teachers would remember this, I think it would help them gear their teaching in order to meet the needs of their students.

Teachers and students would be more successful in the classroom.

What would your answer be to David’s question? Please share.

Photo by NeONBRAND on Unsplash