Great teachers help create great students.

From the beginning, teacher

educators are interested in understanding the process of pre-service teachers to
become a professional teacher. Most teacher educators expect this process involves
intensive training and teaching practices that may take a long time.
What makes a great teacher?
Teaching is one of the most complicated jobs today. It demands broad
knowledge of subject matter, curriculum, and standards; enthusiasm, a caring
attitude, and a love of learning; knowledge of discipline and classroom management
techniques; and a desire to make a difference in the lives of young people. With all
these qualities required, it's no wonder that it's hard to find great teachers.
Teachers need to meet the requirement to be a great teacher. Great teachers
set high expectations for all students. They expect that all students can and will
achieve in their classroom, and they don't give up on under achievers. Great
teachers have clear, written-out objectives. Effective teachers have lesson plans that
give students a clear idea of what they will be learning, what the assignments are
and what the grading policy is. Assignments have learning goals and give students
ample opportunity to practice new skills. The teacher is consistent in grading and
returns work in a timely manner.
Furthermore, teachers should always be prepared and organized. They are in
their classrooms early and ready to teach. They should present lessons in a clear
and structured way. Their classrooms are organized in such a way as to minimize
distractions. Consequently, the engaging students and get them to look at issues in a
variety of ways. Effective teachers use facts as a starting point, not an end point;
they ask "why" questions, look at all sides and encourage students to predict what
will happen next. They ask questions frequently to make sure students are following
along. They try to engage the whole class, and they don't allow a few students to
dominate the class. They keep students motivated with varied, lively approaches.
Form strong relationships with the students and show that they care about
them are the ways to tackle them. Teachers are warm, accessible, enthusiastic and
caring. Teachers with these qualities are known to stay after school and make
themselves available to students and parents who need them. They are involved in
school-wide committees and activities, and they demonstrate a commitment to the
school.
Teachers are masters of their subject matter. They also exhibit expertise in
the subjects they are teaching and spend time continuing to gain new knowledge in
their field. They present material in an enthusiastic manner and instil a hunger in
their students to learn more on their own. Teacher is the one who communicate
frequently with parents. They reach parents through conferences and frequent
written reports home. They also don't hesitate to pick up the telephone to call a
parent if they are concerned about a student.
The role of the teacher became an even more significant factor in education.
Under the law, elementary school teachers must have a bachelor's degree and pass
a rigorous test in core curriculum areas. Middle and high school teachers must
demonstrate competency in the subject area they teach by passing a test or by
completing an academic major, graduate degree or comparable course work. These
requirements already apply to all new hires. Schools are required to tell parents
about the qualifications of all teachers, and they must notify parents if their child is
taught for more than four weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified. Schools
that do not comply risk losing federal funding.
What is the importance of quality teacher?
UNESCO's International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first
Century (often referred to as the Delors Commission after its chairperson and former
EU Commissioner Jacques Delors) publishedin 1996 its report Learning: The
Treasure Within. In this report they concluded that: ... a greater focus on quality is
desirable everywhere, even in countries where all children are enrolled in basic
education (p.120). It can be noted that quality has since the eighties become a key
concept in the 4 education discussion. Everyone wants to improve the quality in
education. It is relevant to ask why quality has become the focus of so many
educational discussions. There may be at least three reasons behind this. Education
over the last decades has developed towards lower quality. It is an expression of an
increased concern about education, the quality of education and the best way of
spending money in education. The increased focus on education is a part of a
process of restructuring the public sector, cutting public spending and introducing
private solutions.
How to improve teachers quality?
What can teachers do themselves to improve quality? In this section three issues will
be discussed. There are quality awareness, professional ethics and professional
freedom.
Quality awareness and self-evaluation
Of general importance for teachers ability to improve the quality of education
is the ability to reflect on their own teaching, critically examine the methods used and
looking for alternative ways of teaching. To create an increased quality awareness
among teachers and help teachers to improve their teaching methodology and skills
may be of crucial importance to improve quality in education. One major way of
doing this is to systematically evaluate the own teaching and its results. Evaluation is
a general term used to describe any activity where the quality of provision is the
subject of systematic study. There are different ways to organize the evaluation
process in education in various countries. In some countries the main focus seems
to be to evaluate the whole educational system, while in other countries the
emphasis seems to be to evaluate individual schools or even individuals. There are
several risks in relation to present developments in the area of evaluation. One main
risk is that evaluation will be focused too much on easily measurable school
achievement, without taking into consideration the complexity of the reality in
schools. In relation to this, there is also a risk that teachers will be sidestepped in the
evaluation process and made only objects of the process. In order to make
evaluation a tool which teachers can use to improve the quality of education there is
a need to find and highlight alternative methods for evaluation which allow for the
consideration of the complexity of the school environment and which give teachers a
possibility to be part of the process. One concept that is often used is school-based
evaluation, meaning a process by which teachers discuss their own school as a
group of professionals in such a way as to improve the quality of education.


Professional Freedom
The professional freedom of the teacher is of crucial importance in developing
quality in education. Professional freedom does not mean that the teacher can do
whatever he or she likes, but that the teacher, who knows the students, is the person
best equipped to decide which methods to use in order to create an optimal learning
situation. Professional and academic freedom for teachers is also of crucial
importance in achieving teaching that is independent of any political, economic,
ideological or religious influence, in order to preserve young peoples' right to and
democratic exercise of critical creativity. There has to be a general thrust in the
creativity of the teacher.
How the teaching is done in the classroom should never be prescribed by
persons outside the classroom reality. This does not imply that authorities should not
suggest new teaching methods through in service training, professional development
and other means. For teachers to be given different approaches and models for their
teaching is important and necessary, but it must never turn into a process of
dictating which methods to use. At the same time as decisions concerning budget
responsibilities in many countries are decentralized, in some cases the objectives in
the curriculum are being more precisely and strictly formulated. Some governments
have even tried to prescribe for teachers, which initial reading instructions method
that should be used in the classroom. This can result in fewer opportunities for
teachers to make their own decisions on how to transform curriculum objectives into
practical classroom teaching. A risk occurs in situations where some decisions
concerning curriculum and syllabus are referred to different kinds of local authorities
and school boards, as part of decentralization processes. Local administrators and
politicians might not be aware of the need to respect the professional freedom of
teachers. In their eagerness to use the new rights to take decisions they might reach
conclusions concerning courses, teaching aids, textbooks etc. without the necessary
consultations with teachers and their organizations.
Professional ethics
Another important issue is the professional ethics of teachers. Teaching is
becoming a more and more complex task. Teachers meet a large number of children
and young persons from different backgrounds. In many education systems teachers
have also been given more and more responsibilities. All these developments
underline the questions related to the responsibilities and duties of teachers. This
has also been reflected in a growing discussion on professional ethics among
teachers. In this context it is of special importance to relate the professional ethics of
teachers to the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Several articles in the
Convention have direct implications for the professional ethics of teachers. It is
important that the teaching profession through its organizations discuss and clarify
how the provisions of the Convention should be incorporated into the ethics and
professional standards of the teaching profession. For example, what does it mean
to take full account of the childs best interest in all actions concerning the child, to
protect the child from interference with privacy, to protect the child from
maltreatment, to protect the child from drug abuse or to protect the child from sexual
exploitation?
Teachers deal with professional ethical questions in different ways in various
countries. In some countries the rights and obligations of teachers are expressed in
official documents issued by the government, in others there are agreements
between governments and teacher organizations on such matters and in some
certain professional standards are set by the teachers themselves. One way for
teachers to set standards themselves is to agree within the profession on a code of
ethics. Such a document is usually a set of basic rules for teachers to follow in order
to guarantee certain standards of the profession. Regardless of how these things are
dealt with in a country is it critical that the provisions in the Convention on the Right
of the Child are reflected in the professional ethics of teachers.
Teachers quality issues are not only burden on teachers back. That will be
unfair if only the teachers are to be point when this issue arise. The Ministry of
Education then required states to show how they intended to fulfill the requirement.
Most states satisfied the government that they were making serious efforts, but a few
were told to come up with new plans. education minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin
Tun Hussein has announced that in a bid to "enhance the quality of teachers in the
country", "all teacher training colleges may soon be elevated to teacher education
institutes (IPGs)".
Instead of providing a teacher training course at diploma level, IPGs offered
degree programmes to meet the target of having only graduate teachers in
secondary schools and 50% graduate teachers in primary schools by 2010. It is
laudable that the Mininstry of Education (MOE) have identified the quality of teachers
being one of the key factors in producing quality students and graduates from our
education system. Realistically, not every teacher is a great teacher. Greatness
takes time to develop. By improving teacher quality, they will naturally improve
student quality. Improved input equals improved output. This is an essential
component of school success. Continuous growth and improvement is necessary.
Engaging professional development can improve teacher quality. It is necessary to
note that there are a lot of terrible professional development opportunities. A teacher
need thoroughly at the professional development they are scheduling and determine
if it will produce the intended results. Engaging professional development can foster
dynamic changes for a teacher. It can motivate, provide innovative ideas and gives a
fresh perspective from an outside source. There are professional development
opportunities that cover just about any weakness a teacher has. Continuous growth
and improvement is essential for all teachers and even more valuable for those who
have gaps that need to be closed.
One of the solution to develop teachers as the professional, the Ministry of
Education organized a Pro Elt programme. The Primary objectives are to raise the
level of language proficiency of Malaysian primary and secondary school teachers
from B1 to B2 or B2 to C1 on the CEFR proficiency. The second objective is to
support the development of classroom methodology among English teachers. In this
programme, the teachers need to sit for a test. Aptis is an English proficiency test which
discriminates between A1 and C2 on the CEFR scale. It is designed as an English
test for adults, which can be used to assess language ability in all four English skills
(speaking, listening, reading and writing).Teachers will be tested at the beginning as
well as at the end of the Programme so that improvement can be identified and
measured.
The course material is tailor-made to the context of Malaysian primary and
secondary school English language teachers where the focus is language learning
within the context of language teaching. The year-long training is delivered in a
blended mode of face-to-face quality learning provided by qualified teacher trainers
and an equal number of online hours facilitated by certified e-moderators. In order to
accommodate the context of different teachers, the pro-ELT training adopts a flexible
approach to scheduling. Most teachers attend weekly four-hour sessions in their
locality throughout the year while others, who are located in more remote areas, are
brought together in specific locations in their state to do the same amount of training
in intensive four-week courses. The British Council and the Ministry of Education
work hand in hand to ensure that Pro-ELT maintains high standards and meets its
objectives. Apart from internal British Council and MoE continuous project
assessment, external international consultants will also develop a Monitoring and
Evaluation Framework to ensure the quality and success of Pro-ELT.
Besides having the appropriate skills, all teachers need the tools to do their
job effectively. This is the school job to make it smooth. The school able to give their
teachers the resources they need. This can be challenging as we currently live in an
era where educational funding is a significant issue. However, in the age of the
Internet, there are more tools available to teachers than ever before. Teachers must
be taught to use the Internet and other technologies as an educational resource in
their classroom. Great teachers will find a way to cope without having all the
resources they would like to have.
However, the administrator should do everything they can to provide their
teachers with the best resources or provide professional development to use the
resources they do have effectively. They should work smart and get a mentor.
Veteran teachers can provide tremendous insight and encouragement to an
inexperienced or struggling teacher. The headmaster must develop veteran teachers
who want to share best practices with other teachers. They must also build a
trusting, encouraging atmosphere in which their entire faculty communicates,
collaborates, and shares with each other. The headmaster too must make mentor
connections in which both sides have similar personalities or the connection may be
encounter productive. A solid mentor connection can be a positive, learning venture
for both the mentor and the mentee. These interactions are most effective when they
are daily and in going process.
The school environment effected the quality of teachers. The headmaster
should have an open door policy. They should encourage their teachers to discuss
concerns or to seek advice at any time. They should engage their teachers in
continuous, dynamic dialogue. This dialogue should be held regularly especially for
those teachers who need improvement. The headmaster should want to build
engaging, trusting relationships with their teachers. This is essential for improving
teacher quality. Who do not have this sort of relationship with their teachers will not
see improvement and growth. The headmaster too must be active listeners who offer
encouragement, constructive criticism, and suggestions when appropriate.
As a conclusion, quality teachers key to educational boost. Teachers should
attempt to develop their interpersonal and intrapersonal skills. The administration
and community also should stand together and hand in hand to ensure the quality of
our children education is equivalent with other developed country.






































REFLECTION
This issue put me in a mode that made me think of the teachers I had in the
past in a more reflective way. I could even recall the face of many of them, their
movement and aura in the classroom. Interestingly, I felt that I would like to be able
to meet with some of them again now, as an adult, although I dont feel any nostalgia
in the slightest about returning to my school years.
Looking back, I realised that the bad teachers along with the pedagogies of
the time and the hopelessness of changing the bad side of the world, make me as an
adult feel relieved that these school years are far behind.
I should be more reflective for what I have done in my classroom. I should
take the opportunity to take part if there are any courses or seminar that can upgrade
my quality as a teacher. Teaching is hard work and some teachers never grow to be
anything better than mediocre. They do the bare minimum required and very little
more. The great teachers, however, work tirelessly to create a challenging, nurturing
environment for their students. Great teaching seems to have less to do with our
knowledge and skills than with our attitude toward our students, our subject, and our
work. Although this list is certainly not all-inclusive, I have narrowed down the many
characteristics of a great teacher to those I have found to be the most essential,
regardless of the age of the learner. I wish to apply the qualities so that I can be
better and will put as much effort to be the best. I also should follow the latest
technology. Consequently, my lesson will equivalent with the current technology.
Teachers quality matters are not only in teachers back. The administrators
also need to play their part to handle this issue. The cooperation of all individual will
make a great impact to our educational quality.
All in all, teacher and school administrator should take this responsibility as
parents and educationist welcome the implementation of the Malaysia Education
Blueprint (PPPM) 2013-2025.