Born in Bangalore, India, Shiva Sagar did his engineering in computer science and started my career as an Educator, teaching Math and Physics, at Christel House India, where he completed his schooling as well. Christel House is an NGO for underprivileged children. Shiva Sagar strongly believes in educating children and help in creating a difference in their lives.
“I am an experienced teacher!”, “I have a stronghold on my subject and great pedagogical skills, and my strategies for lessons are ideal”, “My kids score wonderfully in my subject, then why should I update my skills? I am perfect!”
We would have come across such statements while conversing with teachers.
One must understand a teacher is a package and they come with a variety of skills. It is important these days for teachers to update their teaching skills and pedagogical skills to teach students. A rapidly changing world needs an upgraded teacher! Nobody ever quits learning; not even an educator!
It’s necessary as teachers to unravel and repackage knowledge, skills, pedagogies and learning outcomes, to stay relevant and connected to the future. When everything else is getting updated, it’s important as teachers to get updated with effective pedagogies, new skills, and techniques, including the whole class, structured group, differentiation, and new assessments.
Teachers, as well as students, are convinced to be the two fundamental blocks of an education system. The world is moving, making it important to be a reflective teacher with each passing moment. To provide the best teaching the teacher must know the best, making it mandatory to upgrade oneself to new skills.
Our instruction framework is advancing step by step. From the Gurukul arrangement of training to the web and flip classes, the training framework is rarely stable. Globalization has likewise influenced the education framework, the strategies, and pedagogical skills, which have been seen to witness a rapid change. When teaching can help in changing lives, educators additionally should stay aware of the progressions and transformations. How will teachers otherwise have dealt with these transformations?
Presently, as the realities of education are being shaped by the advancements of technology, the digital era is expecting both teachers and students to be more tech-savvy, also triggering analytical and critical ways of thinking. The idea of team teaching and sharing the best practices among teachers in school meetings, to collaboratively and collectively create change, update their pedagogical skills and content knowledge.
This has collectively made teachers effectively develop their skills and indeed helped in learning and polishing our skills. A simple scenario is when we come up with our ideas for teaching a concept, and how this innovation has become a trend in schools to teach the concepts effectively and sharing the same happiness with other teachers and students, a new path is created to make the learning fun. This one act of a teacher has led to many different ways of learning and creating lessons actively.
For developing and reflective teachers, professional development training are important and the organizations should provide ways to achieve the skills they want their teachers and students to reflect. This is one of the best ways for developing their skills for the organization and the management is awake and mindful providing the skills.
Why should I, as a teacher, update my skills?
- As growing teachers, we need to update ourselves; our skills, content in our subject, confidence, and to have a threshold to the innovations in the field of education.
- To provide a high quality of education and handle questions posed by with confidence.
- Upgrade the teaching ideas by introducing innovation in teaching and learning.
- These changes and updating bring in more efficient skills and self-development ideas, using time and resources effectively and hence, help us understand better ways to teach.
- It’s an important commitment as a reflective teacher.
- To teach them to be more confident and flourishing
- To make ourselves as teachers more effective as well as efficient
- It supports and advances the sharing of information among the different brains
- Ultimately, it helps raise the wellbeing of teachers as well as student
- It needed for a teacher to broaden their perspective towards the field of education
- As students, we are not native English speakers and we need to tackle the world education system, as it becomes even more important to furnish our teaching skills to teach our students so that they have the threshold to face and compete with others confidently.
Why do teachers resist to upgrade themselves?
There are many reasons that we as teachers, fail to upgrade ourselves.
- It is because of our problems and mental state.
- Due to age factors,
- lack of time and resources,
- sheer negligence;
- Lack of interest, as most of the teachers, fear change.
We have to step out of our comfort zone; for this, teachers have to motivate themselves and others. A change has to start with a teacher and only then will the skills spread to the students, school, and society as a whole in the fastest way possible. As individuals, teachers should bring their attitudes and attributes to develop their skills, to support their career development, and raise our standards. We need to embrace the change in our skills that leads to innovations and creativity. Hence, it is very important as teachers to update our teaching and pedagogical skills, to update and upgrade ourselves, as well as our students.