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Methods of Teaching
Art, Science, Profession
Becoming a Professional

Becoming a Teaching Professional

📝 Cheat Sheet

Becoming a Teaching Professional

1. Belief

  1. To learn is to change
  2. Constantly upgrade knowledge
  3. Recognize student realities, strengths, and weaknesses

2. Knowledge

  1. Foundation of Education
  2. Pedagogy Knowledge
  3. Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)
  4. Assessment and Evaluation
  5. Teaching techniques and skills

3. Skills

  1. Lesson planning
  2. Classroom management
  3. Assessment writing
  4. Managing student behavior

4. Values

  1. Commitment
  2. Honesty
  3. Intellectual honesty
  4. Reflection in action and on action
  5. No gap between words and actions

A trainee teacher does not become a professional by completing a degree. Becoming a professional takes work in four areas: belief, knowledge, skills, and values. Each area builds on the previous one. The work continues across a teaching career.

1. Develop the right belief

The first thing a trainee teacher needs is the right belief. The belief is simple to state and hard to live: to learn is to change, and to change is to learn.

Most people upgrade their phone every two or three years. They want new features and better cameras. They expect the world around them to improve. Yet many teachers stop upgrading themselves once they get a teaching post. They taught fifth grade ten years ago. They know everything they need to know.

This belief is wrong. Children today have different realities. Their prior knowledge is different. Their cognitive development sits at a different point. Research on motivation and pedagogy advances every year. A teacher who does not keep learning is teaching last decade’s students.

A professional teacher accepts the discomfort of change. Each new class is a new puzzle.

❓ Pop Quiz
A teacher who taught fifth-grade math the same way for fifteen years insists nothing has changed in the subject. Which professional belief is this teacher missing?

2. Acquire the four knowledge bases

A professional teacher must learn four bodies of knowledge. Each one is a foundation course in a strong B.Ed. Program.

Foundation of Education. This is the philosophy and history of education. What does education mean? What have past educators believed about it? Why do schools exist? Without this base, a teacher acts without knowing why.

Pedagogy Knowledge. This is general knowledge about how teaching works: how to plan, how to question, how to manage time. The course you are reading right now is pedagogy knowledge.

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK). Different subjects need different methods. The way to teach English is not the way to teach mathematics. The way to teach science is not the way to teach Islamiyat. PCK is the knowledge of how a specific subject is best taught. A B.Ed. Program includes pedagogy of science, pedagogy of mathematics, pedagogy of Islamiyat, and so on.

Assessment and Evaluation. A teacher must know what to assess, how to assess it, how to report results, and how to use assessment data to improve teaching. Assessment is its own discipline within education.

Flashcard
What is Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK)?
Tap to reveal
Answer

Knowing how to teach a specific subject

PCK sits between general pedagogy and subject content.

The way to teach mathematics differs from the way to teach English. PCK is the bridge between the two. A B.Ed. covers PCK through subject-specific pedagogy courses.

3. Develop teaching skills

Knowing about lesson planning is not the same as planning a lesson. Knowing the recipe for a cake does not make a person a baker. A trainee teacher must turn knowledge into skill through practice.

Four skill areas matter most:

  1. Lesson planning. Designing a lesson with a clear objective, sequence, and activities.
  2. Classroom management. Setting routines, handling transitions, keeping the room productive.
  3. Assessment writing. Designing tests, rubrics, and rubrics that actually measure what they claim.
  4. Managing student behavior. Responding to disruption, encouraging participation, building a learning culture.

The gap between knowledge and skill closes through repeated practice. The first lesson plan is bad. The tenth is better. The hundredth starts to feel natural. There is no shortcut.

4. Live by professional values

The fourth area is values. A professional teacher carries a set of values that show up in every action.

Commitment. Show up. Prepare. Stay engaged across a long career.

Honesty. Tell students what is true. Admit when you do not know. Mark fairly.

Intellectual honesty. Do not pretend to know what you do not. Do not present your opinion as fact. Be willing to update beliefs when evidence changes.

Reflection. Two kinds. Reflection in action means thinking while teaching. A lesson is not landing. Why? Adjust now. Reflection on action means thinking after teaching. The lesson did not land. Why not? What will be different tomorrow?

The most important rule about values: there should be no gap between what teachers say and what they do. A teacher who tells students to read but never reads is not a role model. A teacher who tells students to be honest but cheats on attendance is not a role model. The lesson students learn is the one the teacher shows in actions.

Flashcard
What is the difference between reflection in action and reflection on action?
Tap to reveal
Answer

In action: think while teaching. On action: think after teaching.

In action: a lesson is going wrong. The teacher notices and adjusts on the spot.

On action: the teacher reviews after class. What worked? What did not? What changes for tomorrow?

Last updated on • Talha
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