Teaching is exciting and rewarding. As teachers we have an opportunity to put our ideas and plans into practice. We have a chance to influence learners. But this is not always easy. We face challenging tasks in terms of classroom discipline, motivating students, dealing with special needs students in an inclusive classroom, and assessment and grading. Especially, as beginning teachers we face the fear of ensuring that our teaching practices are effective – our teaching efficacy is put at question as we begin to teach.
In dealing with these challenges, we have found that referring to our teaching philosophy helps a great deal. The philosophy gives us direction and allows us to better understand who and what we want to teach, as well as what we want to achieve as teachers.
Putting that philosophy in practice can sometimes be daunting. In dealing with this challenge we turn to our Metaphor of Teaching. Here we look at the practical challenges, such as the ones mentioned earlier - classroom management, motivation of students, inclusive classroom challenges, and assessment and evaluation. Through the development of a metaphor we can more clearly outline how we expect to deal with such challenges, and improve our teaching efficacy. “Teachers with high efficacy are more enthusiastic during teaching (Alinder, 1994; Guskey, 1984), more committed to teaching (Coladarci, 1992; Evans & Tribble, 1986), and more likely to stay in the profession (Glickman & Tamashiro, 1982) than are teachers with relatively low efficacy.” (O’Donnell, D’Amico, Reeve, Schmid, Smith, 2008)
So, here is a good metaphor: “Teacher as a Builder” (Morton, 2000)
The teacher:
- Builds Students
- Builds Knowledge
- Builds Institutions
- Builds Society
- Builds a Profession
- Builds a Role
- Builds Curriculum
- Builds Methodologies
- Builds Technologies
- Builds Self
Please share your Philosophy or Teaching and/or your Teaching Metaphor in the Comments section.
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