Week 02: "Is the Great American Teacher Dead?" 30 April 2020

Week 2: Is the Great American Teacher Dead?

30 April 2020

           

     It is interesting to explore researchers' observations about the educational culture in the US, a few decades ago. What were some obvious factors that were noticed by several anthropologists, "cultural outsiders?"  Students lacked inspiration, good writing skills, critical thinking, complex reasoning, enthusiasm, etc. It was observed that students had little or no progress after they graduated. In such a culture, great changes needed to be made. 

      

    So, how does the teaching method and approach really affect the student? It is proved that an important aspect of knowledge acquisition is input. Teachers should always be aware of how they deliver the material. The delivery part of education plays a vital role in the rest of the process called "acquisition". It affects how students will also receive new knowledge, or if they will be interested in it. What all teachers can do is think and care more about the students. This means having a desire to make a change in them. In order to achieve this, the teacher should first know how it is possible, and therefore needs to change oneself through the process.

      Students already belong to some to culture, they already have the knowledge acquired in the past, they have beliefs and norms, as well as stereotypes. However, for progress, all these need to be challenged. Students need to think and dive deeper into the new concepts delivered to them. How can we, teachers, challenge them to go beyond what they already know?

      How does Invitational Education help out here then? It brings amazing principles that teachers should imply in their classrooms. Some of these are a good teacher-student relationship, using methods that will keep their attention, raising students' self-concept, building on the knowledge that is already there, etc.

    In this time of excessive usage of technology, teachers have innumerable ways to make the classroom a place where students want to stay more. If teachers learn how to wisely and appropriately use the advantage of various tools in the lesson to make engaging content, they will achieve a higher level of making a difference in their students' life.
    
    With all the advantages there, do online teachers and face to face teachers have the same chances for success of being a great teacher?


Mane Mamajanyan