Show Posts
1
Education and Teaching / We need comprehensive, honest-to-goodness teachers' training all across levels
« on: September 04, 2009, 06:19:08 PM »
I'm sorry to say this but the state of education and teaching in the country today has gotten worse. The graduates are not armed with the right and sufficient tools for work. So, we shouldn't be surprised if there are many out there who are unemployable.
I had taught in the University for five years, and the common problem with my students was that they lacked comprehension skills. They could not understand even the basic instructions. I couldn't blame them. Why? When I asked them, how they were taught in high school/grade school, they would go, "our teachers were just mouthing the words written on our textbooks. There was no effort to help us understand or teach us how to understand the lessons."
Can we blame the teachers? Not really. It's actually a vicious cycle. The teachers were not taught how to teach nor they had the knowledge to impart. How can they teach what they do not know in the first place?
To remedy this, I believe in a comprehensive, honest-to-goodness teachers' training all across levels. I even think that a more vigorous training is needed for pre-school, grade school, and high school teachers. The re-training, as others put it, should start with a needs analysis, of course. But if I had to give my two cents on this training, it should be grounded heavily on comprehension skills (What do they know? Do they understand what they know?), then on to the communication skills (How are they going to impart what they know effectively?).
I had taught in the University for five years, and the common problem with my students was that they lacked comprehension skills. They could not understand even the basic instructions. I couldn't blame them. Why? When I asked them, how they were taught in high school/grade school, they would go, "our teachers were just mouthing the words written on our textbooks. There was no effort to help us understand or teach us how to understand the lessons."
Can we blame the teachers? Not really. It's actually a vicious cycle. The teachers were not taught how to teach nor they had the knowledge to impart. How can they teach what they do not know in the first place?
To remedy this, I believe in a comprehensive, honest-to-goodness teachers' training all across levels. I even think that a more vigorous training is needed for pre-school, grade school, and high school teachers. The re-training, as others put it, should start with a needs analysis, of course. But if I had to give my two cents on this training, it should be grounded heavily on comprehension skills (What do they know? Do they understand what they know?), then on to the communication skills (How are they going to impart what they know effectively?).