Effective teaching: flashing thoughts

doi:10.15406/ahoaj.2017.01.00017

eISSN: 2577-8250

Arts & Humanities Open Access Journal

Opinion Volume 1 Issue 3

Effective teaching: flashing thoughts

Sameerah T Saeed

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Ishik University, Iraq

Correspondence: Sameerah T Saeed, Ishik University, Iraq

Received: November 24, 2017 | Published: December 5, 2017

Citation: Saeed ST. Effective teaching: flashing thoughts. Art Human Open Acc J. 2017;1(3):110-111. DOI: 10.15406/ahoaj.2017.01.00017

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Opinion

An effective teaching is what makes the education process a successful and fruitful one. To achieve a coveted learning outcome, a good command and awareness of various good teaching strategies is required. Good teaching performance incorporates an extensive variety of teaching methodologies that are demonstrated solid from different educators’ perspectives. They are not rules, measures and standards set in stone for what might work for a teacher or a learning setting, might not for another-a thousand teachers, a thousand experience. It is essential that teaching experiences are shared and discussed openly so that the benefits are disseminated and made use of properly in the teaching community. In my opinion, sagacious thoughts and ideas can be detected and be of enormous advantage for all when wrangled about and shared.

As teachers, we all have gone through different teaching environments, have had fairly unique information of strategies and methods of teaching, and in this way have distinctive teaching experiences and perspectives. No two could be indistinguishable whatsoever, and this is certainly due to the different settings, frameworks, systems, techniques and procedures each follows, let alone our different characters and one's unique personality that likely or unlikely gets its stamp reflected in the teaching process.

Effective teaching

Effective teaching entails effective learning outcomes. What's more, effective teaching necessitates mastering the subject matters and presenting them with the right pedagogy.^1,2 One needs to be competent in both of these aspects, otherwise failure is inevitable. In the pre-21st century it didn't actually matter a lot whether the teacher has the ability to design and execute proper teaching and instructional methods and strategies. What mattered significantly is the teacher's repository of knowledge and information. This is not surprising since teacher's role was perceived as the main source of knowledge, information and data at that era. Interestingly, in the present century, 21st century, teachers' role is not any more limited to that, and on the off chance that one still considers it that way, at that point s/he is awkwardly outdated and falls far behind.

Today with the outburst of digital technology and culture, learners have access to a colossal amount of information and data anywhere and anytime which s/he can get within milliseconds through gadgets like portable PC, cell phones, iPad, and through many searching engines, for example, Google, Bing, yahoo, Wikipedia, YouTube, and digital communities, for example, Facebook, Instagram, twitter, and the list goes on. So what is the role of teachers now; what are they expected to do?

Teacher’s role today

What is really interesting and globally acknowledged is that in spite of all these astonishing sources accessible to get to information, the teacher's presence in the learning process is not dispensable. In the developed countries, say, Japan, teachers are still there in the schools and universities carrying out their jobs on a daily basis. What has changed and been altered actually is the part played by the teacher in the whole process. While teachers were the main source of knowledge, they act now more like they guide, direct and lead. Teachers guide learners how to make use of the information they get, comprehend it, classify it, compare and contrast, criticize and evaluate it, assemble it, solve problems with it, generate and deliver. Teachers no more should concentrate on knowledge merely but on skills: to show learners how to search for information and data, how to make use of them in different situations, how to impart the information, and so on. For instance, it is not enough to present a new terminology and memorize it; you need to ask the learners to search for its proper and accurate uses. More or less, while teachers were the centre of the teaching process, learners are currently the centre through having the dynamic role therein. This is truly found in the nature of the international education framework, while unfortunately absent in the greater part of the Middle East teaching-learning context where the learner is still not the core focus.

Recommendations

Effective teaching requires a decent command of the teaching methods and techniques to facilitate and assist the learning process occurring. One compelling strategy is to apply Bloom's Taxonomy when developing the learning objectives, learning activities and assessment tools. Bloom's Taxonomy is an education model which classifies thinking skills as per six cognitive levels of complexity: Remember, Understand, Apply, Analyze, Evaluate and Create.³ The taxonomy, especially the revised version, as I believe, makes it possible to capture all the needs of the 21st century's teachers and learners when applied accurately and professionally.

Added to that is the proper use of the existing technologies and devices, which are the adoration for the new generation, in the correct manner. Keep in mind teachers cannot get away from technology or evade it believing it distracts learners' attention. Technology has made its way as of now into our life and communication, and exploiting it or maneuvering through its tools is the best option. Teachers should take control of it as opposed to dreading it. Technology-based teaching assists in facilitating the learning process, upsurges learners' motivation and engagement, supports teacher-learner and learner-learner communication and interaction, helps keeping pace with the technology revolution and with society and leaners' needs and saves time and effort when used effectively.⁴ Examples of technologies used in the world of teaching to facilitate learning comprise devices, such as laptop, cell phone, iPad and smart board, as well as software programs and apps, such as Google classroom, blackboard, Duolingo, Animoto, Edublogs, Socrative, TeacherKit, Haikudeck, iMovie, Voice Thread, Podcast, Class Dojo, etc. The utilization of the right app relies upon your learning objectives and is subject/field sensitive; what could, for example, work for English language teaching might not for math, physics or biology. Furthermore, for outstanding outcomes you should be completely knowledgeable and skillful in the app and be amped up for it, else it prompts learners' lack of interest and inefficiency. The use of technology in the developing countries education context is still very limited, in comparison to that in the developed countries which witnesses more investments in this respect. To conclude, and as I would like to think, sharing teaching experience and seeking tips and advices is fundamental and encouraging for better teaching career.