Free AIOU Solved Assignment Code 626 Spring 2024

Free AIOU Solved Assignment Code 626 Spring 2024

Download Aiou solved assignment 2024 free autumn/spring, aiou updates solved assignments. Get free AIOU All Level Assignment from aiousolvedassignment.

Course: Elementary Teacher Education (626)
Semester: Spring, 2024
ASSIGNMENT No. 1

  1. 1 What are specific measures are suggested in respect of teachers professional education and training? Reply in the light of NEP 2009.

According to NEP 2009, some of the most important objectives of teacher education are as follows:

  1. Imparting an adequate knowledge of the subject- matter:

The objective of teacher education is to develop a good command of the subject matter of the assignment given to him in the colleges.

  1. Equipping the prospective teachers with necessary pedagogic skills:

The main objective of teacher education is to develop a skill to stimulate experience in the taught, under an artificially created environment, less with material resources and more by the creation of an emotional atmosphere. The teacher should develop a capacity to do, observe, infer and to generalize.

  1. Enabling the teacher to acquire understanding of child psychology:

The objective is to understand the child psychology so that the teacher is able to appreciate the difficulties experienced by children so as to bring about new modes and methods of achieving the goals in consonance with the reactions of the children.

  1. Developing proper attitudes towards teaching:

One of the major objectives of teacher education is to develop proper altitudes towards teaching as a result of which he will be able to maximize the achievements from both the material and human resources. There is also development of a proper perception of the problems of universal enrolment, regular attendance, year-to-year promotion.

  1. Developing self-confidence in the teachers:

The objectives of teacher education are development of the ability to take care of himself in terms of:

(a) Adjustment with the physical conditions,

(b) Healthy adjustment with the social environment

(c) Adjustment with himself to derive emotional satisfaction with his life.

  1. Enabling teachers to make proper use of instructional facilities:

The objective of teacher education is to develop the capacity to extend the resources of the school by means of improvisation of instructional facilities.

  1. Enabling teachers to understand the significance of individual differences of child and to take appropriate steps for their optimum development:

The objective of teacher education is to know the causes of individual differences as a result of which he will be able to develop the ability to be a child with children, an adult with the adults, a responsible citizen among the community.

  1. Development of the ability to give direct satisfaction of parents from the achievement of children in terms of:

(a) Proper habits of taking care of the body,

(b) Proper attitudes reflected in the behavior of the children at home, in the school, in the streets, at the farms and fields etc.

(c) Progress in the class.

The duties of the teacher is very much relevant in nursery, primary, middle, secondary, higher secondary schools. Hence the scope of teacher education is very vast. The duties of the teacher in different stages of education depend on the foundational general education of the teacher. Emphasis is to be on the practical aspects rather than theory.

The Elementary Education program at the University of Kentucky prepares students to become Elementary Education teachers, and it also lays the groundwork for several other career possibilities in fields like School Teachers, Educational Psychology, Curriculum Design, State Policy, Publishing, Higher Education, and Corporate Training.

Earning a degree from our program means you have proven yourself to be an effective teacher, gained valuable field experience, and forged important connections in the schools where you may one day be teaching.

We encourage you to explore our Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education and our world-class program faculty, as well as familiarize yourself with the resources and engagement opportunities available to our students.

In the PAK College of Education Elementary Education program, students are immersed in field experiences from the moment they enter the Teacher Education Program during junior year. In addition to a full semester of student teaching, Elementary Education students gain over 200 hours of field experience in classroom observations, community-based outreach, school board meetings, and other school visits.

The B.A. in Education degree contains three steps:

  1. PAK Core requirements
  2. Program related studies courses
  3. Professional education component

During the freshman and sophomore years, students focus on fulfilling the PAK core requirements with courses relevant to education majors. Juniors apply for admission to the Teacher Education Program (TEP) and complete the associated requirements. Finally, during the last semester, Elementary Education students are placed in a local school to fulfill the student teaching component.

Below is an outline of the course progression followed by Elementary Education students.

AIOU Solved Assignment Code 626 Spring 2024

Q No 2 Discuss elementary education in Pakistan in the light of different educational policies.

Elementary schools exist worldwide as the basic foundational institution in the formal educational structure. Elementary schooling, which prepares children in fundamental skills and knowledge areas, can be defined as the early stages of formal, or organized, education that are prior to secondary school. The age range of pupils who attend elementary schools in the United States is from six to twelve, thirteen, or fourteen, depending on the organizational pattern of the particular state or school district. While a few, mainly small rural, districts, retain the traditional pattern of grades one through eight, a more common pattern is grades one through six. In most school districts as well as in many teacher preparation programs, elementary education is organized into the following levels: primary, which includes kindergarten and grades one, two, and three; intermediate, which includes grades four, five, and six; and upper, which includes grades seven and eight. A commonly found organizational pattern places grades seven and eight, and sometimes grade six and nine, into middle or junior high schools. When the middle school and junior high school pattern is followed, these institutions are usually linked into secondary education, encompassing grades six through twelve.

In comparing elementary schools in the United States with those of other countries, some distinctions in terminology are necessary. In the United States, elementary education refers to children’s first formal schooling prior to secondary school. (Although kindergartens, enrolling children at age five, are part of public schools, attendance is not compulsory.) In school systems in many other countries, the term primary covers what in the United States is designated as elementary schooling. In American elementary schools, the term primary refers to the first level, namely kindergarten through grades one, two, and three.

The elementary school curriculum provides work in the educational basics–reading, writing, arithmetic, an introduction to natural and social sciences, health, arts and crafts, and physical education. An important part of elementary schooling is socialization with peers and the creating of an identification of the child with the community and nation.

The European settlers in the North American colonies, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, initially recreated the school systems of their homelands. They established a two-track school system in which the lower socioeconomic classes attended primary vernacular schools and upper class males attended separate preparatory schools and colleges. The primary schools–elementary institutions under church control–offered a basic curriculum of reading, writing, arithmetic, and religion.

Colonial period. While many similarities existed in the colonial schools, there were some important differences between New England, the Mid-Atlantic, and the South. The New England colonies of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire, which were settled primarily by Puritans, were characterized by a strong sense of religious and social conformity. Because of their Calvinistic emphasis on reading the Bible and other religious literature, the Puritans quickly established elementary schools. In 1642 the Massachusetts General Court, the colony’s legislative body, made parents and guardians responsible for making sure that children were taught reading and religion. In 1647 the General Court enacted the Old Deluder Satan Act, which virtually established elementary education by requiring every town of fifty or more families to appoint a reading and writing teacher. Massachusetts and the other New England colonies developed the town school, a locally controlled, usually coeducational elementary school, attended by pupils ranging in age from six to thirteen or fourteen. The school’s curriculum included reading, writing, arithmetic, catechism, and religious hymns. The model of the town school, governed by its local trustees or board, became an important feature of later U.S. elementary schooling.

The Middle Atlantic colonies of New YorkNew JerseyDelaware, and Pennsylvania were settled by diverse ethnic and religious groups. In addition to English, Scots, and Scotch-Irish, there were Dutch in New York, Swedes in Delaware, and Germans in Pennsylvania. The Middle Atlantic colonies’ religious and language diversity had important educational implications. Elementary schools were usually parochial institutions, supported and governed by the various churches.

Monitorialism, also known as mutual instruction, was a popular method of elementary education in the early nineteenth century in the United Kingdom, the United States, and other countries. Two rival English educators, Andrew Bell, an Anglican churchman, and Joseph Lancaster, a Quaker teacher, promoted monitorialism independently. The monitorial method relied heavily on monitors –more advanced pupils, trained by a master teacher–to teach younger children. Monitors aided teachers in conducting classes, taking attendance, and maintaining order. In using this method, the master teacher trained a selected group of older students as monitors in a particular skill, such as adding single-digit numbers or reading simple words. These monitors then taught that particular skill to subgroups of less advanced pupils. Since the monitorial method promised to teach large numbers of pupils basic literacy and numeracy skills, it gained the support of those who wanted to provide basic elementary education at limited costs.

Initially, monitorial schools were popular in the larger American cities such as New York and Philadelphia, where they were typically supported by private philanthropists and occasionally received some public funds. In the early 1840s monitorial schooling experienced a rapid decline and virtually disappeared. By the time that the New York Free School Society, which had operated monitorial schools, turned them over to the public school system in 1853, more than 600,000 children had attended its schools.

The common school. The common school movement refers to the establishment of state elementary school systems in the first half of the nineteenth century. The term common meant that these state-supported public elementary schools, exalted as the school that “educated the children of all the people,” were open to children of all socioeconomic classes and ethnic and racial groups. Nevertheless, many children, particularly enslaved African Americans, did not attend.

The common school movement in the United States paralleled some trends taking place in western Europe in the first half of the nineteenth century. In the 1830s the British parliament, though not creating a state school system, began to provide grants to educational societies for primary schooling. In France, under Guizot, a primary school system, too, was established during the regime of Louis Philippe. These transnational trends, found in Europe and America, indicated that governments were beginning to take the responsibility for providing some kind of elementary schooling. Unlike in France, which was beginning to create a highly centralized national educational system, U.S. public schools were decentralized. The U.S. Constitution’s Tenth Amendment reserved education to each state. The states, in turn, delegated considerable responsibility for providing and maintaining schools to local districts. Even within a particular state, especially on the frontier where many small school districts were created, resources available for schooling varied considerably from district to district.

Other northern states emulated New England’s common school model. As the frontier moved westward and new states joined the Union, they, too, followed the model and passed laws to create public elementary school systems. In the South, with a few exceptions, common schools were rare until the post–Civil War Reconstruction.

A unique feature in the United States was the small one-room school, found in rural areas and small towns across the country. These schools served local school districts, governed by elected boards. Although small one-room village schools existed in other countries, the American ones were local creations rather than impositions of a national government. The American school’s immediacy to its people made the local school a trusted institution rather than an alien intruder into small town life. In contrast, the teacher in France might be suspected as an outsider, a representative of the intrusive central government. Similarly, in tsarist Russia, the zemstvo school, established in the villages, was often extraneous to the needs of life in the countryside. The zemstvo teachers often were not accepted by the peasants whose children they tried to teach or were regarded as rivals of the village priest. In America’s one-room schools, the elected school board determined the tax levy and hired and supervised the teacher. This pattern of local control contrasted with the visiting school inspectors sent to inspect teachers and schools in France or even with the royal inspectors in the United Kingdom.

The pupils enrolled in the local one-room schools, often ranging in age from five to seventeen, studied a basic curriculum of reading, writing, arithmetic, history, geography, grammar, spelling, and hygiene. They were instructed by the recitation method in which each pupil stood and recited a previously assigned lesson. Group work might include writing exercises, arithmetic problems, and grammar lessons that stressed diagramming sentences. The values of punctuality, honesty, and hard work were given high priority.

AIOU Solved Assignment 1 Code 626 Spring 2024

Q No 3 What do you mean by traingular basis of teacher education? Also write down the aspects of teacher education in detail.

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a culturally and linguistically diverse large South Asian country bordered by Afghanistan and Iran to the north and west, China to the northeast, India to the east and the Arabian Sea to the south. The Muslim-majority country was established in its current form after the partition of former British India into India and Pakistan in 1947, and the subsequent secession of Bangladesh, formerly known as East Pakistan, in 1971.

Triangular Basis of Teacher education:

Construction of the relevant knowledge base for each stage of education requires a high degree of academic and intellectual understanding of matter related to teacher education at each stage. This involves selection of theoretical knowledge from disciplines cognate to education, namely, psychology, sociology and philosophy, and converting it into forms suitable for teacher education. Teacher education derives its content from the disciplines of Philosophy, Sociology and Psychology. These disciplines provide the base for better understanding and application of Teacher education. The Philosophical basis provides insights to the student teachers about the implications of- the various schools of philosophy, ancient and modern philosophical thoughts, educational thoughts of philosophical thinkers on education and its various aspects such as curriculum construction and discipline. The Sociological basis helps the student teachers to understand the role of society and its dynamics in the educational system of a nation and the world at large. It encompasses the ideals that influence national and international scenes. The Psychological basis helps the student teachers develop insights into student’s psychological make-up. This enables the student teachers to understand their self, their students and the learning situations such that they are able to provide meaningful and relevant learning experiences to their students. Teacher education is concerned with the aspects such as, who (Teacher Educator), whom (Student teacher), what (Content) and how (Teaching Strategy). Teacher education is dependent upon the quality of teacher educators. The quality of pedagogical inputs in teacher education programmes and their effective utilization for the purpose of preparing prospective teachers depend largely on the professional competence of teacher educators and the ways in which it is utilized for strengthening the teacher education programme. Teacher education, thus, first deals with the preparation of effective teacher educators. Teacher education reaches out to the student teachers by providing the relevant knowledge, attitude and skills to function effectively in their teaching profession. It serves to equip the student teachers with the conceptual and theoretical framework within which they can understand the intricacies of the profession. It aims at creating the necessary attitude in student teachers towards the stakeholders of the profession, so that they approach the challenges posed by the environment in a very positive manner. It empowers the student teachers with the skills (teaching and soft skills) that would enable them to carry on the functions in the most efficient and effective manner. Teacher education therefore pays attention to its content matter.

Currently the sixth most populous country in the world with 232 million people, Pakistan is characterized by one of the highest population growth rates worldwide outside of Africa. Even though the roughly 2 percent rate is now slowing, the country’s population is estimated to reach 403 million by 2050 (UN median range projection). There are more young people in Pakistan today than at any point in its history, and it has one of the world’s largest youth populations with 64 percent of Pakistanis now under the age of 30. Consider that Karachi is projected to become the third-largest city in the world with close to 32 million people by the middle of the century.

If Pakistan manages to educate and skill this surging youth population, it could harness a tremendous youth dividend that could help to fuel the country’s economic growth and modernization. Failure to integrate the country’s legions of youngsters into the education system and the labor market, on the other hand, could turn population growth into what the Washington Post called a “disaster in the making”: “Putting catastrophic pressures on water and sanitation systems, swamping health and education services, and leaving tens of millions of people jobless”—trends that would almost inevitably lead to the further destabilization of Pakistan’s already fragile political system.

Given the poor state of Pakistan’s education system and its already rising youth unemployment rate, such fears are anything but unfounded. According to the Global Youth Development Index published by the Commonwealth, a measure which uses the domains of civic participation, education, employment and opportunity, health and well-being, and political participation to gauge the progress of young people, Pakistan ranked only 154th of 183 countries, trailing sub-Saharan African nations like Sierra Leone or Ethiopia.

Perhaps most strikingly, Pakistan has the highest number of out-of-school children worldwide after Nigeria: Approximately 23.7 million Pakistani children age five to 16—44 percent of this age group—did not participate in education in 2017. As shown in the table below, attrition rates increase substantially as children progress up the educational ladder.

This situation is exacerbated by striking inequalities based on sex and socioeconomic status. Gender disparities are rampant with boys outnumbering girls at every stage of education. According to Human Rights Watch, 32 percent of girls of elementary school age are out of school, compared with 23 percent of boys. By grade six, only 41 percent of girls participate in education, compared with 51 percent of boys. And by grade nine, merely 13 percent of young women are still enrolled in school.

The causes of these gender disparities are numerous. They include safety concerns, particularly in rural areas where students have to walk to school and rape of young girls is sadly not uncommon, as well as child marriage and a culture that has historically undervalued the education of young women. Poverty also plays a major role. Families, particularly those in rural areas, often cannot afford the costs related to education. Here again the results are devastating, particularly for girls, who are frequently kept at home to cook and do housework so that both parents can work to keep the family afloat.

It’s crucial to understand that huge socioeconomic disparities exist in Pakistan not only between rural and urban regions, but also between the country’s diverse provinces. These disparities have a big impact on educational outcomes, including vast gaps in access to education and overall educational attainment. While literacy rates in cities like Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi are close to 75 percent, for instance, these rates can be as low as 9 percent in the “tribal regions” of Baluchistan, Pakistan’s largest and poorest province. Whereas 65 percent of fifth graders in Punjab province were able to read English sentences in 2018, only 34 percent of fifth graders in Baluchistan were able to do the same. The percentage of out-of-school children in the vast province with a small population spread over a large area—a fact that means that there isn’t a school within walking distance for many students—stands at an alarming 70 percent. Conversely, in the urban and more affluent Islamabad Capital Territory, merely 12 percent of children are not in school.

Problems in Pakistani education are manifold. They range from dysfunctional and dilapidated school facilities that lack sanitation or electricity, to underqualified teaching staff, widespread corruption, and tens of thousands of “ghost teachers” that sap public payrolls by not showing up for work. While most of these problems are worse at the elementary level, where most of Pakistan’s students are enrolled, they have ripple effects for the entire education system and depress enrollment rates at all levels. The gross enrollment rate (GER) in secondary education is as low as 43 percent before dropping down to 9 percent at the tertiary level—an extremely low percentage by global standards. To put these rates into regional perspective, the secondary GER in both India and Bangladesh is 73 percent, and as high as 98 percent in Sri Lanka (UNESCO statistics).

Crucially, Pakistan devotes comparatively few resources to education and trails regional countries like India or Nepal in education spending. In 2017, Pakistan spent only 2.9 percent of its GDP on education—far below the government’s official target of 4 percent. Factors like declining economic growth rates, high levels of public debt, inflation, and budget shortfalls make it unlikely that this situation will improve in the near term and have, in fact, resulted in heavy-handed austerity in the education sector and elsewhere. It remains to be seen if the economic situation will improve in the future and whether Pakistan can defuse its “population bomb” with inclusive economic development.

Pakistan is a significant exporter of international students globally. According to UNESCO statistics, the number of outbound Pakistani degree-seeking students grew by 70 percent over the last decade, from 31,156 in 2007 to 53,025 in 2017. While that number is dwarfed by the more than 330,000 degree-seeking students from neighboring India, consider that Pakistan’s outbound mobility ratio—the percentage of international students among all students—is almost three time as high (2.7 percent in 2017) as that of India (1 percent). This means that it’s far more common for Pakistani students to study abroad and broaden their academic horizons in another country than it is for Indian students.

Further increases in student outflows from Pakistan are expected in the years ahead. The British Council, for instance, expects Pakistan to be among the top 10 growth countries worldwide until 2027, despite an overall cooling of international student mobility on a global scale. For one, the precarious economic conditions and employment prospects in Pakistan are a major push factor for both international students and the hundreds of thousands of labor migrants leaving Pakistan each year. Studying abroad can open immigration pathways in countries like Australia or Canada, while a foreign degree gives those that return a competitive edge on the Pakistani labor market.

Another important driver is the lack of university seats and high-quality study programs in Pakistan, particularly at the graduate level. While Pakistan has created a tremendous amount of new doctoral programs over the past decade, growing numbers of Pakistani scholars are heading abroad to access higher quality education, primarily in fields like engineering and the sciences. To modernize research in Pakistan and raise the qualifications profile of university faculty, the government supports this development with scholarship programs of considerable scale, considering Pakistan’s fiscal constraints. While most Pakistani students are said to be self-funded, overseas scholarship programs have helped thousands of graduate students to pursue studies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Cuba, Germany, France, and various other countries in recent years. Scholarship recipients are often required to return home after graduation.

The traditional English-speaking international study destinations, Australia and the U.S., are currently the top choices among Pakistani degree-seeking students, as per UNESCO statistics. Data published by the Australian government show that the number of Pakistani students grew almost threefold over the past decade, from 3,512 in 2008 to 10,000 in 2019, making Pakistan one of the top 10 sending countries of tertiary students in Australia.

In the U.S., likewise, Pakistani enrollments have generally been on an upward trajectory over the past few years. According to the Open Doors data of the Institute of International Education, Pakistan sent 7,957 students to the U.S. in 2018/19, an increase of 5.6 percent over the previous year, making it the 23nd most important sending country. Around 44 percent of these students are enrolled in undergraduate programs, 35 percent in graduate programs, and 4 percent in non-degree programs, while 17 percent pursue Optional Practical Training.

Other popular destination countries include the U.K. and the Muslim-majority countries Malaysia and Saudi Arabia, the latter also being a magnet for labor migrants from Pakistan. It should be noted, however, that China has emerged as a significant destination as well. China may, in fact, now host the largest number of Pakistani international students worldwide. While UNESCO does not report data for China, and Chinese government figures are difficult to compare,[1] Pakistan is currently the third-largest sending country to China with 28,000 students, per Chinese statistics. As in neighboring India, many Pakistani students flock to China to pursue medical education—an underdeveloped and severely overburdened education sector in both India and Pakistan. Increased political and economic cooperation between Pakistan and China and Chinese scholarship funding likely play a significant role as well. Increasing numbers of Pakistani students are interested in learning Chinese.

In general, Pakistani students have increasingly diversified their international study destinations in recent years. In Canada, for instance, the number of Pakistani students has doubled over the past decade, if on a relatively small scale (4,050 students in 2019). Another notable destination country is Germany, where Pakistan is now among the top 20 sending countries after enrollments jumped by 28 percent within just one year, from 3,836 in 2017 to 4,928 in 2018—a trend likely driven, among other factors, by the availability of tuition-free, high-quality graduate programs in engineering.

The increased demand among Pakistani youths for an international education is also reflected in surging enrollments in transnational TNE program offerings by academic institutions from various countries in Pakistan itself. Examples include the Karachi branch campus of the Irish Griffith College, and TNE programs in accounting offered by the British Oxford Brookes University in collaboration with the Association of Chartered Accountants (ACCA). In 2018, there were 40,230 students studying wholly in Pakistan for U.K. qualifications, making Pakistan the fourth-largest British TNE market worldwide.

Given Pakistan’s political instability, weak economy, and the shortcomings of its higher education system, Pakistan is not a significant destination country for international students. That said, there are sizable numbers of international students from Muslim-majority developing countries like Somalia, Sudan, Yemen, and, most notably, neighboring Afghanistan, who pursue studies in Pakistan, where they can access education of higher quality than they can at home.

Pakistan has taken in vast numbers of refugees from war-torn Afghanistan over the past decades and is still hosting some 2.4 million Afghan refugees. While the integration of these refugees into Pakistan’s already overburdened and dysfunctional school system is a huge challenge, Pakistani authorities have undertaken at least some efforts to provide Afghans with access to higher education. In 1999, the Afghan University in Peshawar, known today as Shaikh Zayed University, was set up specifically to educate Afghan students. Most recently, Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission in 2019 announced that it will provide 3,000 scholarships for students from Afghanistan to pursue studies at Pakistani HEIs in fields like medicine, engineering, agriculture, computer science, and business management.

AIOU Solved Assignment 2 Code 626 Spring 2024

Q No 4 What are essential qualities ensured among elementary teachers in USA? Which of those you think to be development among elementary school teacher in Pakistan.

In USA, the following traits are common among the most successful  elementary school teacher.

1. They Understand the Importance of Building Community

Effective school teacher build and sustain reciprocal family and community partnerships and leverage those partnerships to cultivate inclusive, caring and culturally responsive school communities. To build these community networks it is essential that school teacher are visible in their schools and community, develop trust and create a sense of transparency and shared purpose with parents, staff, community members and students.

Megan Tschannen-Moran, author and professor of educational teachers at the College of William and Mary, discusses the importance that trust plays in building communities in her book, “Trust Matters: Teachers for Successful Schools.”

Tschannen-Moran explains, “In schools with high levels of trust:

  • Teachers are motivated and willing to try new strategies because they trust teacher to support them.
  • Students are motivated and connected to the school because they trust their teachers.
  • Families are supportive because the principal and teachers have built trusting relationships with them.”

2. They Empower Teachers and Cultivate Teachers Skills

Great school teacher know that they are not running a one-man show; that they cannot do it all alone. They know that they must surround themselves with great teachers and colleagues and, not only that, they must fully support teachers and staff by encouraging them to continually learn, develop and, perhaps most important, become teacher themselves.

It is no secret that when people are fulfilled and given opportunity for career growth, as well as autonomy and control over their careers, they are more productive, more engaged and more effective overall. In a recent Gallup poll, it was discovered that 33 percent of U.S. teachers are engaged in their work, while 51 percent are not engaged and 16 percent are actively disengaged. These statistics are startling to say the least.

Through offering professional development opportunities and support services to teachers, as well as by creating an environment where teachers are able to experiment, innovate and lead, principals can ensure a healthy environment for educators that will have positive repercussions for students. Another Gallup study found that “highly talented principals on Gallup’s Principal Insight assessment were 2.6 times more likely to have above average employee engagement at the schools they lead three years later.” Gallup has studied the issue closely, even issuing a report titled “Six Things the Most Engaged Schools Do Differently.”

In his book, “What Great Principals Do Differently,” education author and researcher Todd Whitaker wrote: “Great principals focus on improving the quality of the teachers within their buildings. By carefully hiring the best teachers, by supporting their efforts and their ambitions, by holding all staff members to high expectations, and by working to carefully support the individual development of each professional, principals impact student achievement.”

3. They Utilize Data and Resources

Successful school teacher use data, including standardized and school-based assessments, to drive continuous improvement through site-based decision-making for the express purpose of promoting equitable and culturally responsive opportunities for all students. The opportunities that data present are many and the most effective teacher are able to leverage that data to make strategic decisions to benefit their students.

According to educational technology company Illuminate Education, “building a foundation for data-driven decision making” is the first of “Six Steps for School Teacher to Use Data Effectively.”

A report from the Wallace Foundation asserts that: “When it comes to data, effective principals try to draw the most from statistics and evidence, having ‘learned to ask useful questions’ of the information, to display it in ways that tell ‘compelling stories’ and to use it to promote ‘collaborative inquiry among teachers.’ They view data as a means not only to pinpoint problems but to understand their nature and causes.”

4. They Have a Vision and a Plan

The very best teacher are also visionaries. They have a goal that they can unite a team around and a plan to help them get there. Not just that, but they are able to clearly articulate their school vision and goals.

Vision is perhaps one of the most important qualities a leader can have as it provides momentum and direction, not just for the team leader but for each and every team member. Of course, in order for teacher to be successful in pursuing their vision and enacting their plan, they must pair their vision with unrelenting passion. Vision and passion from an effective leader should generate inspiration, motivation and excitement that permeates throughout the school.

According to a “Successful School Teachers” report published by UK-based Education Development Trust, “Effective headteachers provide a clear vision and sense of direction for the school. They prioritize. They focus the attention of staff on what is important and do not let them get diverted and sidetracked with initiatives that will have little impact on the work of the students.”

5. They Create Collaborative, Inclusive Learning Environments

Inclusive learning provides all students with access to flexible learning choices and effective paths for achieving educational goals in spaces where they experience a sense of belonging. The best educators know this and prioritize inclusivity, creating safe learning environments that nurture every student. Teacher that prioritize inclusive learning also typically believe that every person can contribute to the greater learning community and therefore they encourage collaboration between faculty as well as students.

“Perhaps the most critical role in successful inclusive schools is the role of the principal,” wrote the Inclusive Schools Network. “The school principal’s active participation is the single most important predictor of success in implementing change, improving services, or setting a new course. The school principal is central to facilitating systemic change and leading faculty to adopt new attitudes and new practices.”

Good teachers are life-long learners dedicated to the academic development of students. They typically continue their own education to further develop their methods and skills. In seeking to become a strong teacher, you should look to build and hone the following characteristics:

1. Effective goal-setting

The most effective teachers know how to set clear objectives for individual students, single lessons, their entire class and themselves. Developing goals can assist with gauging academic performance while giving students clear directives on how to improve. Goals are also an important part of setting and measuring challenges, both for the students and the teacher. You can set clear objectives with the following steps:

Check for understanding

Instead of waiting to test students’ knowledge in a test, check for comprehension during each lesson. This process allows you to answer student questions and provide a deeper understanding of the topic for students.

Offer feedback

Feedback allows students to know how their performance matches up with your expectations. Feedback that is timely, detailed and constructive can assist students in understanding academic expectations.

2. Clear communication

Teachers use verbal and nonverbal communication skills to identify student needs and to know when to listen versus when to talk. Teachers also use developed written communication skills to report information to parents and other school professionals. You can develop these skills with the following tips:

Use active listening skills

Instead of preparing how to respond, use active listening skills when communicating and listen to understand the other person’s needs. Give yourself a few seconds after the question to decide how to respond so that you can truly focus on what the student, parent or fellow teacher is saying.

Ask for clarification when needed

If you do not fully understand what the other person needs, ask them to rephrase their question or request. You can also repeat what you understood in your own words to assess what part of their request needs more clarification.

3. Acting as a role model

Setting rules and encouraging certain behaviors is a good step toward student development. Teachers who model the same behaviors they ask from their students are more likely to help students cultivate desirable habits and behaviors. You can be a role model for your students with the following tips:

Be aware of your behavior

Students observe and learn how to speak, act, treat others and other developmental behaviors. Modeling behaviors of patience, understanding, empathy and communication can encourage students to develop these same skills.

Create an environment of honesty

Encourage your students to be honest with one another through mediating open conversations. You can model honest behavior by sharing your intentions behind classroom decisions to help students better empathize with you and your position. This step can translate into students evaluating their own intentions and how they impact others, increasing empathy and honesty.

4. Adaptability and flexibility

Each student comes from a unique background with individual personalities, educational needs and developmental milestones. Teachers find that while one lesson plan or method of teaching works well with one type of student, it does not work well with another student. Good teachers learn how to adjust to meet the individual needs of each student. You can learn to adjust using the following steps:

Celebrate students’ individuality

Create an environment of acceptance by encouraging creativity, freedom of thought and questions in the classroom. Accept students where they are at developmentally and academically. When students feel comfortable and accepted, they also feel more comfortable asking questions and learn.

Identify different learning styles

Good teachers can identify the individual learning needs of their students while also creating lesson plans that cater to their academic style. For example, some students may learn best in a lecture classroom whereas other students are better able to grasp information with hands-on learning opportunities. Consider blending methods in lessons to appeal to more students at one time.

5. Preparation

In addition to learning to adjust to individual student needs, effective teachers also learn to prepare for every possible scenario. Preparation can promote trust and comfort in the classroom, and it allows teachers to create lesson plans that are catered to the individual needs of each student. Use the following tips to become more prepared:

Create intentional lesson plans

The most effective teachers create lesson plans with intention by considering the ways the lesson plan could shift as well as the potential emotions, thoughts and concerns that each lesson plan could bring up with each student. Teachers can also define each lesson’s purpose to ensure students understand why they are learning that specific topic.

Understand strengths and weaknesses

It can also be useful to create lesson plans based on the strengths and weaknesses of each classmate. Getting to know these areas of improvement early on can assist you in creating classroom plans that are catered to the individual needs of your students.

6. Self-reflection

Self-reflection is a person’s ability to reflect on their own needs, desires and interests that can lead to self-acceptance as well as academic success. Teachers who are reflective of their own strengths, weaknesses and characteristics as a teacher and are intentional about improvement are better able to encourage the same level of self-reflection from their students. You can encourage this in your classroom with the following tips:

Designate time

Designate a time each day to focus on self-reflection activities. Encourage students to evaluate their own progress for the day and come up with ways they can do better tomorrow. Promote self-evaluation with the focus on improvement by having self-reflection time after a big test or near the end of the semester’s class.

Offer privacy

Some students can be hesitant with self-reflection, so good teachers encourage students to share when they are comfortable and allow them to remain private when they are not. Journals can be a great way to encourage self-reflection without requiring students to share their insights with the entire classroom.

7. Life-long learning

Teachers are often required to complete continuing education courses and encouraged to pursue professional development opportunities to best serve their students. Teachers can employ their continuing education in the following ways:

Prepare for the changing classroom

Courses in child psychology allow teachers to keep up to date as emotional development strategies change. Technological courses help teachers make the most of the new tools in the classroom.

Encourage personal and professional development in the classroom

Continuing education classes allow you to develop your teaching skills, which can demonstrate to your students that you value self-improvement. You can also use the same study techniques you teach your students to prove how impactful they can be.

8. Promoting a love of learning

Good teachers also make learning enjoyable by educating students in a way that is engaging and appeals to students’ interests. When students enjoy learning, they are more likely to participate in the classroom, perform better academically and value continued education. You can instill positive feelings in your students in the following ways:

Use alternative methods of teaching

The best teachers aim to try something new to make any topic more entertaining. Turn a lesson into a game, performance or music. This step can help students want to learn and even promote creativity, critical thinking and collaboration skills they can apply outside the classroom as well.

AIOU Solved Assignment Code 626 Autumn 2024

Q No 5 What type of teachers we need to make Pakistan a peaceful and progressive state in the current world scenario?

Joseph Axelrod describes two types of teaching as “the didactic modes, employed by teacher-craftsmen, and the evocative modes, employed by teacher-artists” (p. 5). Didactic teaching implies passing on traditional knowledge or lore, or teaching how to do something. Teachers use lecture to inculcate knowledge or demonstration to model actions, after which students demonstrate they have learned what was taught either by reciting or writing the material or by repeating the demonstration, as in a science class experiment. Much state and national testing relies on rote recall of material. In this context, learning means being able to reproduce what has been taught or demonstrated. For example, students should recall key facts of American history such as the order of the American presidents. Emphases are often on learning facts and conditions, not on understanding complexity and drawing conclusions.

Early in human history, most teaching was didactic. Poets recited ancient myths and stories and a few listeners learned them by rote. Individuals acquired skills by observing their elders who were fishers, artisans, lawyers, or anything else, and emulating what they saw. Seeing teaching as a process of passing on knowledge has persisted. Paul Woodring argues that “The oldest form of teacher education is the observation and emulation of a master. Plato learned to teach by sitting at the feet of Socrates. Aristotle, in turn, learned from Plato” (p. 1).

Much observation and emulation still go on. In The Teacher Educator’s Handbook, Sharon Feiman-Nemser and Janine Remillard note that “Like much of our society, prospective teachers believe that teaching is a process of passing knowledge from teacher to student and that learning involves absorbing or memorizing information and practicing skills. Students wait like empty vessels to be filled and teachers do the filling” (p. 70).

Most teaching in early America was highly didactic. Teachers taught both the processes of learning to read and the morals attendant to a proper life through moralistic texts. Children learning their letters in the early nineteenth century read in the New England Primer under the letter A, “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all”; under the letter F, “The idle fool Is wipt at school”; and under the letter J, “Job feels the rod Yet blesses God” (pp. 12–13). Students thus simultaneously learned their letters, religious lessons, and injunctions about behavior.

Not all teaching in the past was didactic; not all learning was rote. Socrates relied on the relationship between himself and his students to arrive at truths of human existence; he was, in Axelrod’s sense, an evocative teacher. Socrates corrected occasionally and enjoined his students, but rarely taught didactically. The Socratic, or evocative, method places responsibility for knowledge growth on the students.

Using the evocative method, social studies teachers might teach geographical lessons from which they expect students to describe how communities develop relative to the natural world surrounding them. Teachers might present students with a computer program describing an environment near a river, with large forests, good soil, and a moderate climate. Students would then describe how they believe a community might evolve, given these circumstances. The teacher’s role is to elicit conclusions, probabilities, and hypotheses from the students and have them assiduously pursue the most likely correct answers. Learning means being able to gather and assimilate data and evidence and draw conclusions based on sound thinking.

Neither didactic nor evocative teaching alone will suffice because learners vary widely in how they learn. Some individuals learn material effectively when teachers present it sequentially or chronologically; others may learn better when teachers present material thematically. Some learners have an affinity for concreteness while others prefer abstraction. Teachers require tolerance and understanding for these and other differences in learners. Although some learners may master a variety of ways of learning, teachers more often than not appeal to what they discern to be the learner’s most comfortable way of learning. Ideally, teachers attach neither special praise nor stigma to different ways of learning. They recognize not all individuals learn in similar ways. However, in many classrooms, teachers fail to teach a variety of ways of learning. This can frustrate many learners.

Didactic teaching and evocative teaching are merely two modes of instruction among other related ways teachers teach and learners learn. Little exists to suggest one mode is superior to all others. Nearly all teachers use a variety of modes of instruction as they go about their daily teaching tasks. Teacher education must provide opportunities for prospective and practicing teachers to master a range of teaching modes.

In his biography of John Adams, David McCullough points out that in colonial America, teaching was something men did if they did not have anything better to do. He notes that in 1755 John Adams, not having the money for the fee to apprentice to a lawyer, although “untried and untrained as a teacher, immediately assumed his new role in a one-room schoolhouse at the center of town” (p. 37). It is interesting that McCullough uses the phrase “untried and untrained.” The fact is there was no training for teachers in 1755. The first formal teacher preparation began in the 1820s with the establishment of “normal schools” in Vermont and Massachusetts.

The establishment of normal schools became a movement later in the nineteenth century; almost every state had at least one of them. The normal schools’ purpose was perfectly straightforward: the preparation of teachers. Cities were desperate for teachers. By the early 1900s, nearly every city with a population of more than 300,000 had a normal school, often tied in with the high schools. Normal schools were technically oriented toward the practice of teaching. Modeled on earlier established European institutions for teacher training, these schools provided very specific training. In The Salterton Trilogy (1986), Robertson Davies pro a fictional but accurate picture of what transpired in many normal school classrooms. “They [normal school teachers] taught howteach; they taught when to open the windows in a classroo when to close them; … they taught ways of teaching children withtalent for drawing how to draw; they taught how a school could be formed and trained where there was no instrument but achpipe … they taught how to make hangings, somewhat resembling batik, by drawing in wax crayon on unbleached cotton, and pressing it with a hot iron” (p. 79). These examples illustrat didactic mode of teacher education in which prospective teachersrn how to do things, not how to thinkabout the and wherefores of doing things. Didactic teacher education treatsching as craft. It suggests that individuals can acquir essential skills to impart knowledge, facts, and even abilitiesough lecture and demonstration. By contrast, the evocative as applied to the education of teachers, suggests that teaching is an emergent art in which teachers evoke from students what they already know and lead them to the acquisition of new knowledge and skills. By the 1940s, most normal schools had expanded, into four-year state teachers colleges or liberal arts colleges hasizing teacher education, and then, during the higher educ expansion in the 1960s and 1970s, into state universities. For example, by the 1960s, the three former normal schools in Vermont had become four-year liberal arts colleges with new campuses and diminished teacher education programs.

Teacher education is a discipline and sub sector of education with its distinct pre service and in service forms. It equips prospective and in service teachers with information, knowledge and pedagogical skills to help reform their attitudes and behaviour to the profession of education. The key objective is to facilitate the transfer of knowledge (cognitive, affective and psychomotor) to students and to build their character and personalities. In other words teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviours and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the school and classroom. (Wikipedia, 09) [2] According to Sheikh M.A (1998), teacher education encompasses acquiring all that knowledge, skills and abilities which are relevant to the life of a “teacher as a teacher” It reshapes the attitudes, remodels the habits, and develops the personalities of teachers.

Teachers’ general education and professional training both require utmost care and attention, as whatever is acquired by them is transferred to their students with high multiple effects. The present has witnessed and is still experiencing a rapidly but positively changing scenario of processes and procedures of teacher training. New innovative methods are continuously being added to the already practiced traditional pedagogical techniques. Acquainting with these developments to the point of mastery is needed for the promotion and maintenance of good teaching learning standards. Good quality teacher education about these key elements paves the way of the development of the education system in the long run.

Teachers are the layers of the foundations of future citizens, hence need to be educated with futuristic perspective, so that they can develop the personalities of their students, not only as per present requirements but also for the years to come, accommodating the new trends from the global outlook. This is very important as teacher is one of the key agents of change in all communities and a service provider as per needs of the future. Changes are taking place not only at national but also at international level. With every passing day distances are shrinking and communities are coming closer to each other affecting each other’s practices of life.

The purpose of teacher education primarily is to equip prospective teachers not only with suitable aptitudes for teaching but also with appropriate skills and abilities required to make them effective and efficient professionals. Through different theoretical and practical activities, they are helped to understand not only the philosophical, psychological, and sociological basis of teaching, but also the relationship of education with the society and its values through teaching and learning processes.

The process of formal teacher education can help the prospective teachers minimize the troubles and save the students from the wastages of hit and trial. Appropriately rendered teacher education, provides ample opportunities to would be teachers to understand the nature of teaching; to envisage responsibilities of a teacher; to discover that to be a teacher is much more than learning by heart the philosophies and theories of learning; and to comprehend the practical implications of the pedagogical strategies. It is learnt that the profession of teaching is in fact facilitating the acquisition and retention of knowledge, values, skills and right attitudes for successful life that can initiate and promote positive changes in the society.

Keeping this in view teacher education, through teacher-preparatory years focuses on the development of abilities and skills that would not only make them capable teachers but will enable them to discharge duties effectively, take initiatives, motivate students and facilitate learning. With the belief that practice makes one perfect, students during teacher education phase are given the opportunity to teach or instruct and receive constant guidance and encouragement during practical delivery, in order to strengthen good habits and to overcome the pedagogical weaknesses.

Farrant, J. S. (1990)[3], observed that since the dawn of the twenty first century teacher education in developed countries remained divided into three phases:

1) Initial Teacher Education

2) Induction

3) Continuing Teacher Education

1) Initial teacher training / education

This education pertains to the training that is undertaken before formally starting the teaching profession. It is a pre-service course done before entering the classroom as a fully responsible teacher. It is usually provided in education colleges and education departments of universities where the student teachers are introduced to the knowledge and skills needed to be professional teachers. The students are formally taught the important components of this profession including aims of education, history of education, perspectives of education, modern approaches to learning, assessment and evaluation of learning and basics of curriculum development, educational psychology, philosophy and pedagogy. It also provides first hand experience of the practical aspects of the teaching profession. It usually takes a year or so and culminates into a certificate or a degree.

2) Induction

This informal phase begins when a student teacher changes from being a part time, visiting student teacher to a full time adequately responsible professional. Basically induction refers to the process of providing on the job guidance and support to the teachers during the first few months of teaching or the first year of the professional career. In countries like UK, during induction the teacher is on probation, and receives guidance and supervision formally by the teacher-tutor, and informally from all other colleagues & head teacher. The work load during this phase of education is reduced in order to provide time and opportunity for guidance, reflection and grooming. This is a transitional phase from being a student to being a full time teacher.

3) Teachers’ continuous professional development

It is an in-service process for professional refinement of practicing teachers. It is a life long process in which efforts are made to improve and polish up the potentials of the teachers. It includes professional trainings like workshops, short courses and seminars. This is usually formally arranged by good schools or can be self directed through reading of professional books, discussions with colleagues, benefiting from on line courses, or attending training workshops, conferences, and symposiums.

With the passage of time, all institutions have started to value in service training of teachers more and more; and are regularly arranging training programs of different durations for their teachers. These trainings are sometimes general in nature for the improvement of the overall teaching methodologies, and sometimes focused on improving specific subject-teaching skills, enabling teachers master innovative concepts recently incorporated in the existing curriculum. Such in service trainings are usually taken up in anticipation for the expected promotions.

 

 

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