Ideas about teaching

THE 7 BIG MESSAGES ABOUT TEACHING

1.		teachers make a difference, but they don’t make all the difference. Young people need the help of adults to learn, especially in the early years. Teachers can create conditions that can help students to learn a great deal – or to keep them from learning much at all. But we must stop pretending that schools and teachers can do everything. Most learning takes place outside school. Even in school there are limits to what teachers can achieve: they can influence learning but not determine it.
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2.		teaching is a complex activity. There are no simple prescriptions for success. It is not just a matter of technique. To do it well requires a greater level of reflection and awareness than many activities and a willingness to deal with uncertainty and paradox.
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3.		we teach who we are. Teaching comes from within. How we relate to what we are teaching and to our pupils depends on who we are as teachers and as people. Connecting with our pupils means giving a little of ourselves and being prepared to be vulnerable. Developing our practice depends heavily on self knowledge and self awareness.
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4.		good teachers have a sound understanding of what they are teaching. As well as a knowledge about how to communicate their understanding to others, they also care about what they are teaching and have an ability to bring it to life.
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5.		they try to see their pupils as they really are both as people and as learners - what motivates them, how they prefer to learn and what they already know and understand.
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6.		good teachers are good improvisers. They tend to make what is learned the focus of attention, but they don’t deliver a set curriculum to a rigid plan. They are able to develop, refine and reinvent what is to be learned depending on what works for them and their pupils.
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7.		they create a learning community in the classroomwhere there is a high level and quality of action and interaction. They have the skills, the confidence and the energy to talk with children rather than at them, and to encourage debate and dialogue.

Ian Smith

From a really good website

http://www.learningunlimited.co.uk