In recent decades, though, the forms and extent of diversity have increased. Now more than ever, teachers are likely to serve students from diverse language backgrounds, to serve more individuals with special educational needs, and to teach students either younger and older than in the past.
Take the case of language diversity. In the United States, about 40 million people, or 14 per cent of the population are Hispanic. About 20 per cent of these speak primarily Spanish, and approximately another 50 per cent speak only limited English United States Census Bureau, The educators responsible for the children in this group need to accommodate instruction to these students somehow.
Part of the solution, of course, is to arrange specialized second-language teachers and classes. Classroom teachers must learn to communicate with students whose English language background is limited, at the same time that the students themselves are learning to use English more fluently Pitt, Since relatively few teachers are Hispanic or speak fluent Spanish, the adjustments can sometimes be a challenge.
Teachers must plan lessons and tasks that students actually understand. At the same time teachers must also keep track of the major learning goals of the curriculum. As you gain experience teaching, you will no doubt find additional strategies and resources Gebhard, , especially if second-language learners become an important part of your classes. Another factor making classroom increasingly diverse has been the inclusion of students with disabilities into classrooms with non-disabled peers.
In the United States the trend began in the s, but accelerated with the passage of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act in , and again when the Act was amended in United States Government Printing Office, In Canada similar legislation was passed in individual provinces during the same general time period.
The laws guarantee free, appropriate education for children with disabilities of any kind—whether the impairment is physical, cognitive, emotional, or behavioral. The laws also recognize that such students need special supports in order to learn or function effectively in a classroom with non-disabled peers, so they provide for special services for example, teaching assistants and procedures for making individualized educational plans for students with disabilities.
As a result of these changes, most American and Canadian teachers are likely to have at least a few students with special educational needs, even if they are not trained as special education teachers or have had no prior personal experience with people with disabilities.
Classroom teachers are also likely to work as part of a professional team focused on helping these students to learn as well as possible and to participate in the life of the school. The trend toward inclusion is definitely new compared to circumstances just a generation or two ago. It raises new challenges about planning instruction such as how is a teacher to find time to plan for individuals? The diversity of modern classrooms is not limited to language or disabilities.
Just as important, though, are the educational and philosophical issues that early childhood education has brought to public attention. Some educational critics ask whether preschool and day care programs risk becoming in appropriate substitutes for families.
Other educators suggest, in contrast, that teachers of older students can learn from the flexibility and open-ended approach common in early childhood education.
For teachers of any grade level, it is a debate that cannot be avoided completely or permanently. The other end of the age spectrum has also expanded. Many individuals take courses well into adulthood even if they do not attend formal university or college. Adult education , as it is sometimes called, often takes place in workplaces, but it often also happens in public high schools or at local community colleges or universities.
Some adult students may be completing high school credentials that they missed earlier in their lives, but often the students have other purposes that are even more focused, such as learning a trade-related skill. The teachers of adult students have to adjust their instructional strategies and relationships with students so as to challenge and respect their special strengths and constraints as adults Bash, But it may also mean that they have significant personal responsibilities—such as parenting or a full-time job—which compete for study time, and that make them impatient with teaching that is irrelevant to their personal goals or needs.
These tools have greatly increased the amount and range of information available to students, even if their benefits have sometimes been exaggerated in media reports Cuban, With the Internet, it is now relatively easy to access up-to-date information on practically any subject imaginable, often with pictures, video clips, and audio to accompany them.
It would seem not only that the Internet and its associated technologies have the potential to transform traditional school-based learning, but also that they have in fact begun to do so.
Teaching enables the teacher to discover what one thinks about the subject being taught. Schools are upside down: Students should be teaching and faculty learning. After lecturing to undergraduates at a major university, I was accosted by a student who had attended the lecture.
This difficult question required some thought. You mean to say that everything you have taught in more than 50 years was not taught to you; you had to learn on your own?
The student had it right; what most faculty members are good at, if anything, is learning rather than teaching. Recall that in the one-room schoolhouse, students taught students. There are many different ways of learning; teaching is only one of them. We learn a great deal on our own, in independent study or play. We learn a great deal interacting with others informally — sharing what we are learning with others and vice versa.
We learn a great deal by doing, through trial and error. Long before there were schools as we know them, there was apprenticeship — learning how to do something by trying it under the guidance of one who knows how.
In the educational process, students should be offered a wide variety of ways to learn, among which they could choose or with which they could experiment. They do not have to learn different things the same way. There are two ways that teaching is a powerful tool of learning. One aspect of explaining something is getting yourself up to snuff on whatever it is that you are trying to explain.
This is a problem we all face all the time, when we are expected to explain something. This is one sense in which the one who explains learns the most, because the person to whom the explanation is made can afford to forget the explanation promptly in most cases; but the explainers will find it sticking in their minds a lot longer, because they struggled to gain an understanding in the first place in a form clear enough to explain.
Without that skill, I can only learn from direct experience; with that skill, I can learn from the experience of the whole world. Thus, whenever I struggle to explain something to someone else, and succeed in doing so, I am advancing my ability to learn from others, too.
This aspect of learning through explanation has been overlooked by most commentators. And that is a shame, because both aspects of learning are what makes the age mixing that takes place in the world at large such a valuable educational tool. Younger kids are always seeking answers from older kids — sometimes just slightly older kids the seven-year old tapping the presumed life wisdom of the so-much-more-experienced nine year old , often much older kids.
The older kids love it, and their abilities are exercised mightily in these interactions. They have to figure out what it is that they understand about the question being raised, and they have to figure out how to make their understanding comprehensible to the younger kids. The same process occurs over and over again in the world at large; this is why it is so important to keep communities multi-aged, and why it is so destructive to learning, and to the development of culture in general, to segregate certain ages children, old people from others.
What went on in the one-room schoolhouse is much like what I have been talking about. In fact, I am not sure that the adult teacher in the one-room schoolhouse was always viewed as the best authority on any given subject!
Long ago, I had an experience that illustrates that point perfectly. When our oldest son was eight years old, he hung around and virtually worshiped a very brilliant year-old named Ernie, who loved science. Students today are heavily focused on the end result — achieving that high ATAR score, receiving a distinction in class, acing those tests. Education of the future will prove what you have been told many times before: results do not define you. Grading is a waste of time if its purpose is solely to point out who is at the top and who is at the bottom.
Assessments in the future will be evidence based, using measures that allow learning plans to be drawn up and personalised. Do exams really prepare us for this future? In light of a shift towards a more personalised learner experience, teachers of the future must be prepared to be data collectors, as well as analysts, planners, collaborators, curriculum experts, synthesizers, problem-solvers and researchers.
RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business. RMIT Australia. RMIT Online.
Search field. The future of learning and teaching: Big changes ahead for education As the world we live in changes to embrace tech futures, how and what we teach in our education system will also be reshaped to keep up to date with the growing demands of the 21st century.
Always remember that positive energy is contagious and it is up to you to spread it. Don't let other people's negativity bring you down with them. This is the fun part and absolutely important for being an effective teacher! Get to know your students and their interests so that you can find ways to connect with them. Don't forget to also tell them about yours! Also, it is important to get to know their learning styles so that you can cater to each of them as an individual.
In addition, make an effort to get to know their parents as well. Speaking to the parents should not be looked at as an obligation but rather, an honour. In the beginning of the school year, make it known that they can come to you about anything at anytime of the year.
In addition, try to get to know your colleagues on a personal level as well. You will be much happier if you can find a strong support network in and outside of school. Do your job for the love of teaching and not because you feel obligated to do it. Do it for self-growth. Do it to inspire others. Do it so that your students will get the most out of what you are teaching them.
Never give up and try your best - that's all that you can do. That's what I tell the kids anyway! Never fall behind on the marking or filing of students' work.
Try your best to be on top of it and not let the pile grow past your head! It will save you a lot of time in the long run. It is also important to keep an organized planner and plan ahead! The likelihood of last minute lesson plans being effective are slim.
Lastly, keep a journal handy and jot down your ideas as soon as an inspired idea forms in your mind.
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