Free teacher resources have always been readily available. Throughout history great teachers have turned to plants, animals and natural features around them for the metaphors through which people learn. Even in the twenty-first century toddlers may turn aside from plastic gadgets with bells and flashing lights and take delight in a stick which, used as lever, may teacher some rules of physics.
Directly opposed to this idea of timeless opportunistic teaching and learning is the lesson plan. Teachers who are employed by educational authorities, or student teachers being trained for qualification need lesson plans far more than their students do. They are needed to convince inspectors, overseers or colleagues that one is professionally competent and worth quite a large salary.
Experienced teachers who know that learning takes place over time as a process of accretion between teachers and pupils often carry lesson plans in their heads with one day's lesson merging into another as a school term progresses. This works as long as students have faith and trust in their mentor. Neither Socrates nor Jesus used lesson plans and neither had the complete trust of their students but the few faithful disciples that they did have spread their teaching through the world for centuries to come.
In some education systems bureaucratic requirements actually prevent teaching. Giving feedback to students and interacting with them meaningfully may be pushed far down the list of priorities with form filling and staff meetings actually consuming the attention and energy of staff. Where educators are faced with this problem they may turn to the Internet for assistance. With a departmental plan in mind lesson plans may be quickly downloaded. Even if real teaching takes place subversively such plans can meet administrative requirements.
In recent decades educational technology has enabled the complete transformation of education. Advances in television and computer technology make Victorian style classrooms built to contain thirty bodies quite obsolete. Libraries can be carried in school satchels and software can replace human teachers, playing havoc with traditional teacher to pupil ratios.
The traditional school library is deeply ensconced in educational tradition but is faced with the reality of a paperless society and the fact that the world's major libraries can be accessed from smart phones. Many people steeped in twentieth century education have great difficulty in adapting to the astonishing developments that have taken place. An irony of the times is that students are often more adept at handling the most recent educational resources than the teachers are.
Another irony of the twenty-first century educational scenario is that whilst some bits of educational paraphernalia have fallen into obsolescence some older principles and practices have come into their own again. For example, language laboratories and 'computer rooms' are expensive white elephants now that wireless connectivity is available through new technology.
Emerging from the tsunami like carnage of educational change some of the universal values of education such as oral interaction are again emerging through free teacher resources available online. It is important that teachers should take advantage of these resources even if it means learning from students how to use them. Wisdom and experience cannot be easily replaced but must be communicated in new ways.
Directly opposed to this idea of timeless opportunistic teaching and learning is the lesson plan. Teachers who are employed by educational authorities, or student teachers being trained for qualification need lesson plans far more than their students do. They are needed to convince inspectors, overseers or colleagues that one is professionally competent and worth quite a large salary.
Experienced teachers who know that learning takes place over time as a process of accretion between teachers and pupils often carry lesson plans in their heads with one day's lesson merging into another as a school term progresses. This works as long as students have faith and trust in their mentor. Neither Socrates nor Jesus used lesson plans and neither had the complete trust of their students but the few faithful disciples that they did have spread their teaching through the world for centuries to come.
In some education systems bureaucratic requirements actually prevent teaching. Giving feedback to students and interacting with them meaningfully may be pushed far down the list of priorities with form filling and staff meetings actually consuming the attention and energy of staff. Where educators are faced with this problem they may turn to the Internet for assistance. With a departmental plan in mind lesson plans may be quickly downloaded. Even if real teaching takes place subversively such plans can meet administrative requirements.
In recent decades educational technology has enabled the complete transformation of education. Advances in television and computer technology make Victorian style classrooms built to contain thirty bodies quite obsolete. Libraries can be carried in school satchels and software can replace human teachers, playing havoc with traditional teacher to pupil ratios.
The traditional school library is deeply ensconced in educational tradition but is faced with the reality of a paperless society and the fact that the world's major libraries can be accessed from smart phones. Many people steeped in twentieth century education have great difficulty in adapting to the astonishing developments that have taken place. An irony of the times is that students are often more adept at handling the most recent educational resources than the teachers are.
Another irony of the twenty-first century educational scenario is that whilst some bits of educational paraphernalia have fallen into obsolescence some older principles and practices have come into their own again. For example, language laboratories and 'computer rooms' are expensive white elephants now that wireless connectivity is available through new technology.
Emerging from the tsunami like carnage of educational change some of the universal values of education such as oral interaction are again emerging through free teacher resources available online. It is important that teachers should take advantage of these resources even if it means learning from students how to use them. Wisdom and experience cannot be easily replaced but must be communicated in new ways.
About the Author:
You can visit the website blog.captaincitrus.com for more helpful information about The Important Role Of Free Teacher Resources Online
No comments:
Post a Comment