Practicum Page One

ACADEMIC YEAR 2018 - 2019

TERM TWO

WELCOME TO THE COURSE

INTRODUCTIONS

1. Introduce yourself to the person near to you.
2. Find out why that person embarked on this programme.
3. You say why you are on the programme
4. Now each of you will introduce the other person to the class

DISCUSSION

• Write down your definition of teaching
• Identify tasks that should be undertaken by a teacher
• Following the discussion, check to see if your initial definition needs to be refined

PERSONAL BLOG

You will be guided in the

• creating and maintaining of a blog at wordpress.com or sites.google.com
• completing your Home Page - By Monday, 25th January
• Wordpress: accessing your Dashboard via WP Admin to manage Settings - General, Discussions, Appearance (Widgets - Pages - Blog Pages, Calendar, Recent Posts))
• Wordpress: creating and naming new pages (Dashboard - Pages - New)
• Google Site: Share Page
• Google Site: Settings - Page Actions - Page Settings (Tick all boxes)
• Google Site: Settings - Manage Site - Themes, Colours, Fonts

1. You will submit the URL to me -
3. After each class, in addition to whatever else may be assigned, you will be expected to post a blog entry on
   1. what you learnt and
   2. how that new knowledge contributed to an aspect of your professional development
4. Your blog entries will be assessed / graded at regular intervals. You are therefore strongly advised to keep the blog current.
5. I will indicate which other assignments are to be posted on your blog
6. You will need to create a NEW PAGE for each blog post

TASK / BLOG ENTRY: Becoming a Teacher: - By Monday, 25th January

Briefly describe the factors that were responsible for your deciding to become a teacher.

Post your comments on a new page in your Personal Blog

TEACHER-TRAINING ISSUES

An article which deals with issues related to teacher-training is posted at the end of this page. Read that article carefully and use the information to respond to the questions listed below.

You will be penalized for copying material from the article in your responses

1. According to this article, how should newly-appointed teachers be treated?
2. "I have been a teaching for a long time and my objectives have been achieved. I do not need to participate in professional development sessions." Comment on this statement
3. According to this article, what features should be emphasized in teacher-training programmes?

TEACHING PHILOSOPHY

Definition

A Teaching Philosophy is a reflective statement which includes

• your beliefs about teaching
• vision of what you would like to accomplish as a teacher
• your teaching focus and goals
• your preferred educational practices and approaches.
• reasons for selecting and using your teaching approaches.

PERSONAL TEACHING PHILOSOPHY Due Date: Friday, 29th February, 2016

Create a new page on your blog entitled 'My Teaching Philosophy'

Briefly state

• your beliefs about teaching
• your beliefs about the role of a teacher
• your teaching focus and goals
• your vision of what you would like to accomplish as a teacher

RELEVANCE OF THIS COURSE Due Date: Tuesday, 2nd February, 2016

1. What professional skills do you expect to acquire from this course
2. Do you think that those skills are important? Why?
3. What do your learners expect of you?

Comments are to be posted on BOTH your Personal Blog on the appropriately named page AND in the relevant section of your Booklet

ESSENTIAL QUALITIES

Read the articles accessible as attachments below

View the videos

Article: The Teacher as a Professional

This article listed at the bottom of this page describes in detail what is expected of a teacher in terms of teaching ability, personal characteristics, deportment and general perception of the role of a teacher.

Article: Characteristics of a good teacher

This article can be found in the list below

Video: Students Speak

In this video, Secondary students are sharing their views.

Video: In this video, teachers, parents and learners share their views about the topic.

• What areas are of particular concern to the learners?
• Comment on the classroom climate that is evident when the learners were preparing their comments.

TASK - Discussion and Posting

List the characteristics a teacher is expected to demonstrate, under the following categories:

• teaching ability,
• personal characteristics,
• deportment and
• general perception of the role of a teacher

State HOW, WHEN, WHERE can these characteristics / attributes be acquired

Following the in-class discussion, post findings as a blog entry on an appropriately named new page

VIDEO-BASED TASK

A specific classroom is described in this video

How would you describe the climate that exists in this classroom?

Identify factors that contribute to the existence of that climate

Post your response on your blog, following an in-class discussion