Category: Teacher Development

In the simplest way, pedagogy can be defined as the art and science of teaching.

According to etymology, pedagogy originated from Greek and means, “the art of teaching children”.

To be more specific, ‘paidos’ means ‘child’ and ‘agogos’ stands for a ‘leader’ in Greek, and ‘pedagogue’ stands for a teacher.

According to Greeks, ‘paidagogos’ were slaves, given the task of taking boys to and back from school, teaching, and tutoring them.

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What is Pedagogy?

Most often, pedagogy is confused with the curriculum.

The latter means what is being taught, while the former refers to the ways involved in teaching, the theory and practice involved in educating.

Pedagogy is the relationship between an educator and learners, with respect to culture and techniques that are being used for learning. It is formally focused on educator’s belief on how learning should take place.

What is needed most in pedagogy is a healthy classroom interaction and mutual respect between educators and learners.

It focuses on building prior learning and developing skills and attitudes and, for educators to present curriculum in a most appealing way to students, by merging it in a way to suit to their needs and culture.

In pedagogy, materials used don’t matter but the process and strategy adopted by the teacher are counted.

It takes into consideration the context in which learning should take place and the type of students to whom it should be conveyed.

History of Pedagogy

The roots of ‘teacher’ can be traced back to Ancient Greece, with Socrates in 5^th century BC as the cornerstone to what we consider now as modern education.

It is believed that the first schools appeared in England, during 597 AD. The first school was King’s School in Canterbury, Kent.  These early schools have links to churches where students are granted spiritual education

The Academic Curriculum of those days can be divided into two.

• Trivium
• Quadrivium

Trivium comprises rhetoric, grammar, and logic, while the other comprises of geometry, astronomy, arithmetic, and music.

Lessons took the form of lectures, with a teacher leading the students whilst he/she reads and explains the text to students.

As of now, group discussions were conducted. Pupil were given topics to discuss amongst themselves and the final doubts were clarified from their masters.

Why is Pedagogy important?

Having a well-structured pedagogy can enhance both the teaching and learning process and it can be reflected in student’s performance too.

A clear-cut teaching method will help students to have a deeper grasp of fundamental material. As a teacher, you should be mindful of the way how effective you can convey lessons to students and how it helps you better understand and can help students to achieve deeper and valuable learning.

Thus it builds cooperative learning environments. This structured approach paves way for students to think outside the box. As defined in Bloom’s taxonomy, their thinking level can vary from basic memorization and comprehension to complex learning processes like analysis, evaluation and creation.

So, it helps to leverage students learning process in an appealing manner, in a way they wish to learn. It can bring out more positive outcomes in students’ learning as they enjoy learning through this strategy.

Pedagogical Approaches

Teachers will use different pedagogical strategies with respect to the age of the pupil and the content.

They will do research from varying academic disciplines and will choose a strategy appealing to the students in front of them.

For example, a playschool teacher adopting EYFS system may prefer cognitive development research.

The justifications behind these decisions will later become pedagogical principals and every teacher will develop his/her own pedagogical strategies and principals over time.

Let’s see What are the Pedagogical Approaches?

Pedagogical approaches can be broken down into four:

• Behaviorism
• Constructivism
• Social constructivism
• Liberationist

(1) Behaviorism

The behaviorist approach is teacher-centered; it uses the theory of behaviorism. This approach promotes the use of direct instruction and lecture-based classes.

Behaviorist theory was put forward from the pedagogical research by Throndike (1911), Pavlov (1927), and Skinner (1957).  According to this approach, the teacher plays a key role, in delivering lessons.

Knowledge is delivered in a curriculum where each subject is taught independently to the learners.

In a lesson taught using the behaviorist approach, adopts different methods like learning, choral repetition, modeling, demonstration, etc.

All these activities are visible and are led under the direct supervision of a teacher.

However, as the lessons, progress shift may come when it becomes student-centric, and he/she demonstrates a lesson.

This approach is often described as a traditional teaching style.

(2) Constructivism

Constructivist pedagogy is a child-centered approach, where learning takes place through experiences and reflections.

In this, students are to incorporate project work; inquiry based learning, and sometimes adopt a Montessori or Steiner Method. This approach is also termed as ‘invisible pedagogy’.

The constructivist approach came into existence from the research of Piaget(1896- 1890). According to him, a teacher should incorporate activities to facilitate learning. Younger children work physically whereas, older ones tackle symbolic and abstract ideas.

Lessons might include hidden outcomes, individualization, a slower pace, and less teacher talk. Teachers also engage students with nature and to be outdoors.

This approach is also described as a progressive teaching style.

(3) Social Constructivism

Social constructivist approach was developed by cognitive psychologist, Lev Vygotsky.

He argued at the ideas of Piaget, that learning could happen only in social context and he believed that learning was a collaborative process between a learner and a teacher.

In a classroom setting, a teacher may use group work, but by building smaller groups, and limit the choice of topics. The teachers might include strategies such as questioning, group discussions, individual presentations, etc.

(3) Liberationism

Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire put forward the concept of Liberationist pedagogy. He was the director of the Dept. of Education; he developed an approach where he was able to make illiterate adults to read in just 45 days. He wrote the famous book ‘Pedagogy of the oppressed’.

In this book, he demonstrates learning as a liberationist approach and that democracy prevailed in the classroom.

The mode of learning is child centered and the teacher also becomes a learner and they discover things together.

In the classroom, teacher provides opportunities for students to showcase their learning; they can choose the form of a speech, dance or performance.

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What are the Different Aspects of Pedagogy?

There exist four different aspects of pedagogy.

It includes-

• Social Pedagogy
• Critical Pedagogy
• Culturally responsive pedagogy
• Socratic pedagogy

1) What is Social Pedagogy?

According to social pedagogy, education is crucial to a child’s social development and it continues to support one’s growth throughout his/her life.

Thus education and social aspects must go hand in hand, since students are social beings; they need education for effective communication.

2) What is Critical Pedagogy?

The main aspect to which critical pedagogy looks upon is to break down and deconstruct typical worldviews regarding learning and topics. It often includes radical thinking and critical theories.

The objective is to challenge students to question their thoughts, ideas, beliefs, and practices to obtain deeper insight on things.

Thus resulting in them finding and figure out things in their own ways.

3) What is Culturally Responsive Pedagogy?

In a culturally diverse society, teachers should adopt culturally responsive pedagogy strategies to meet the requirements of all students.

The dimensions such as personal, institutional and instructional norms are put together to recognize the cultural differences among students.

Different methods and approaches to learning are put forward by educators. During certain situations, institutions or teachers have to reform their policies and procedures to encourage more involvement from students.

Conclusion

As pedagogies are constantly evolving, teachers can develop their own with respect to 21st-century learning.

New advancements and innovations in the education field can be collaborated for effective learning to take place.

Pedagogy should focus on the students in front of them; they should be able to relate the concepts back to the real world even to their own lives.

Every pedagogy is different from other, strategies, and approaches used are also different.

A good pedagogy should begin well with the philosophy of your teaching methods by stating your outlines and goals as a teacher, steps involved to relate the work you do in the classroom to professional developments once they move into their career.

Then, try to relate your classroom experience around this philosophy, work with students to choose methods that invoke positive responses in them, and finally examine how you will assess and evaluate their performances.

Also Read: 18 Fun Classroom Activities For Students

It also include how you will integrate technology to enhance learning.

These are the ingredients for a successful and result oriented pedagogy. The more aware you are of your ways of teaching, the more you will get to know what works best for students.

As we all know, teachers are the most influential people in the world, the influence and impact these people make in the lives of our kids are immense, though it often goes undervalued and underappreciated.

Our society does not give much acclaim to the sacrifices teachers do, these scenarios should be reversed. People often have misconceptions and misunderstandings on what efforts were put to become a ‘great educator’.

The Neglected Majority

They make all the difference but still, Are they getting the respect they deserve? Have you ever thought of this?

They enlighten the young minds, leaders of tomorrow- They shape the world that is yet to unfold.

The lessons and stories they convey to their students should be acknowledged, despite the students’ complaints stating in turn.

It takes guts to reach out to the gloomy and innocent child who has depression and shows signs of suicide.

It takes guts to listen to their stories and to help them find a solution.

It takes guts to manage hundreds of kids and manage family life smoothly.

These are some of the things they bravely do every day. They really sacrifice their lives for the betterment of nation, to shape each child grow and blossom into capable adults.

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Misunderstood Profession

A profession often misunderstood by the people.

The masses are unaware of the efforts each teacher takes in the back-end to make teaching effective. They face many challenges every day. It is really a hard time for teachers to cope up with all these situations and stand up rightly in front of students. The efforts of teachers will be appreciated and counted only when the general public understands the real facts about teachers.

Though each teacher is unique in their own way, there are things to relate between their teaching styles and behavior.

Here is a list of Handpicked Interesting Facts about Teacher.

1. Teachers are the bunch of passionate people who enjoys making a difference in the world. They are dedicated to their profession sincerely.

2. Teachers end up in this profession with a passion to shape the young lives of the future citizens.

3. Teachers love to teach when all students attend the class every day. They get more determined to teach them more.

4. Teachers don’t just work during school hours and often they don’t get summer off days. They arrive even before school begins and stay and take back work home.During the summer months, they do research and preparations for the upcoming academic year.

5.  As the teaching methods are changing rapidly, they need to focus on the existing and changing teaching methods.

6. Typically, teachers enjoy to work in groups and in collaboration to each other. It helps to bring out best ideas, new teaching methods and figure out learning strategies.

7. It is a proud moment for teachers when former students get in touch and share things with them.

8. Teachers get frustrated when students with excellent potential do not make any effort to maximize their potential.

9. Teachers respect parents who show value and concern for their child’s education. They appreciate and support teachers for the efforts they take.

10. Teachers are real people just like everyone. They come across good and terrible days. They too make mistakes by chance.

11. Teachers want a supporting school administration and principal who provide suggestions for making changes and value their contributions to school.

12. Teachers are creative and unique. Though they club their ideas, they do things differently, outing their own spin on them.

13. Teachers are always looking for ways to improve themselves. They are searching for better ways to reach their students.

14. Teachers do have favorites. But they may not express. They have natural connection to some students for some reasons.

15. Teachers get irritated with those parents, who does not acclaim that education is an understanding with themselves and their child’s mentor

16. Teachers have plans for everything and they hate when things are out of it.

17. Teachers know that individual student and individual classes are different from each other, so they tailor each class accordingly to cater the needs of everyone in the class.

18. Teachers love to be appreciated. They are happy when students or parents do things to show their appreciation.

19. Teachers dislike social media when they focus on minority of teachers who make mistakes and neglect the majority of teachers who do their part well.

20. Teachers hate when parents try to underestimate or criticize them in front of students.

Also Read: Top 35 Teacher Interview Questions and Answers

21. Teachers are aware of the fact that students face many challenging situations in school and home, so teachers do their maximum to help the kids, regardless of the issue.

22. Teachers often undergo pressure when things cannot be finished on time. They get time- constraints as if time is insufficient in a day to get things done.

23. Teachers hate failing students. They put their maximum efforts to help a child perform well.

24. Teachers become teachers not for the paycheck they receive, but they are sure of the fact that things are going to be underpaid and ignored.

25. Teachers are indifferent to political aspects of education.

26. Teachers enjoy being asked for suggestions by the administration; it gives them a feeling of ownership in the school activities.

27. Teachers are not always excited by what they are teaching. They may come across contents where they do not enjoy teaching.

28. Teachers hate to grade papers. They do it because it is part of their job even though it is time consuming and monotonous.

29. Teachers often find ways to make students happy. They do many things to make teacher-student relationship healthier.

30. Teachers often spend their money to meet classroom needs.

31. Teachers always want to inspire people around them, including students, parents, colleagues and school administration.

32. Though classroom management is part of their job, it is one of their least favorite things to handle.

33. Teachers always love to engage in activities for making professional development.

34. Teachers want to be role models for all the students. They do things to portray themselves ideally.

35. Teachers enjoy the free time; it is a time for them to refresh and reflect themselves to make effective changes that can benefit their students.

36. Teachers love to see a classroom size to be around 15 to 20 students so that they can pay attention to all students.

37. Teachers want to maintain an open line of communication between students and parents throughout the entire academic year.

38. Teachers understand the importance of school finance and the role it plays in education. They are always bothered to spend it wisely.

39. Teachers want to have a supporting administration, if a parent or student makes a false allegation against a teacher, they want the school authorities to stand along with them and support.

40. Teachers do not like their classes to be disturbed, they respond with flexibility during those times.

41. Teachers put their maximum efforts to help students to be responsible, successful and productive in future.

42. When a student does not perform well, the blame falls on the head of teachers, but there are many factors that are beyond a teacher’s control.

43. Teachers get irritated when their colleagues are lazy and do not perform their part properly.

44. Teachers are often the first to hear a student’s problem in case of difficulties.

45. Teachers are committed to make a difference in individuals, classes and even societies.

46. Disruptions can cause irritations in teachers, but they are flexible and accommodating at times.

47. Teachers always love to learn new technologies and they are ready to implement new methods when properly trained.

48. Teachers often get frustrated for relatively low colleagues who are teachers not by choice but by chance. Those are minorities, not sincere to the job.

49. Teachers dislike those parents who undermine school authorities in front of their students.

50. Teachers wish to meet successful alumni students who became successful citizens in life. Teachers are eager to meet them to applaud them for their big achievements.

51. Teachers spend more time to make a student understand the tough part and are thrilled by the “light bulb” moment when they suddenly understand the portion.

52. Teachers often worry about some of their students outside of the school hours, for they do not have best home life.

53. Teachers hate standardized testing, believing that it is an undue stress on students and teachers.

54. Teaching process is often cyclical. They often teach the same content every year, but to a different group of students.

55. It is being estimated that 46% of teachers leave within the first five years, it is because they are forced to because of the low salary.

56. The job of teachers is compared to be stressful than the jobs of pilots and firefighters.

57. Teachers also need to have some time of theirs. They also want to use social media just like others to stay updated, but often they lack time for themselves.

58. Teachers want her students to write essays. It doesn’t mean they want students to be Hemingway, Shakespeare or E.L. James, but when students write essays in a way to express their thoughts clearly. They must have good critical thinking and should know to convey knowledge to others in an understandable way.

59. A teacher may not know everything under the sun. Don’t blame teachers if they are unaware of some or the other things.

Also Read: 151 Methods in Teaching

60. They are also human beings and can be ignorant of some things.The lives of teachers involve immense sacrifice. As society always want to see them as excellent role models, they need to do a lot of sacrifice in their personal lives. School activities, paper evaluation, research etc. also eat up their time for family and friends.

61. Teachers offer more parenting to students today. Students from broken families find relief and comfort in their teachers.

62. Teachers spend a majority of their income in brightening up their classrooms or buying essentials for students.

63. Teachers too have family and kids. Most of the parents do not think of this and assume teachers should listen to them and their kids’ issues. Be considerate to them.

64. Teachers have to be comical sometimes to make young listeners pay attention to the class. This kind of drama played by teachers makes them real orators.

Now let’s see some surprising stats about teachers….

65. More than 65% of teachers used to buy food for their students.

66. It is estimated that 1 in 3 teachers have purchased mittens, coats and other warm clothes for their students.

67. On a real basis, every US public school teacher spends up to 1,000 dollars for classroom supplies.

68. Nearly 1 in 3 teachers have purchased basic hygiene products such as soap, toilet paper for their classrooms.

69. More than half numbers of educators have spent their own money for field trips for students who couldn’t afford to pay.

70. Researches show that 44% of teachers have said salaries at their schools have been frozen.

71. Teachers are of the opinion that, donating funds for classroom supplies or donating classroom supplies is the best way to help their schools.

That is all about teacher stats; now let’s move to the other interesting facts on teachers:

72. A teacher makes personal connection with students; it helps them to relate to what is being thought. Teachers and students have some things in common.

73. Teachers encourage students to take risks. Because they know adulthood can be competitive and teachers inspire them to overcome difficult situations.

74. A great teacher is a continuous learner. He/she knows that there are things to be learned from everyone, from colleagues, parents, students etc.

75. Teachers plan their lesson plans creatively in a way to stick with students now and for the years to come.

76. Teachers are able to live without immediate feedback. Teaching and learning process is much like nurturing a garden. It takes time and dirt to grow.

77. A successful teacher knows when to listen to students and when to ignore them. Avoiding their opinions and agreeing their opinion every time will make a teacher fail ultimately. So, a teacher should be able to know when to hear them and when not.

78. The majority of teachers are women. Nearly 77% and more than 54% of school principals are also women.

79. As the pay scales of teachers are low, most teachers have part-time jobs to meet their daily needs.

80. Great teachers identify ambitious goals to improve the effectiveness of their teaching.

81. Good teachers deliver top-notch education in their classroom, despite the outside forces of poverty.

82. Teachers focus on student learning and increase the value of class time.

83. Teachers adjust teaching strategies and lesson plans to cater their student’s needs.

84. Most teachers spend summers by taking private classes and teaching in summer schools.

85. Most of the teachers used to work an average of 50 hours a week.

86. Teachers work more than 400 hours of overtime every year.

86. The profession of a teacher is one of the most admired professions in the world.

87. On average, teachers affect more than 3,000 students during their career.

89. Only 18% of teachers get 8 or more hours of sleep per night.

90. Teachers make 14% less than people in other professions that require similar level of education.

91. Most teachers have a lot mugs, frames and stuffed animals which they have received from their students.

92. The model age of retirement of teachers is about 59 years old.

93. Teachers have heard it all! Kids dish on their parents’ secrets all time including money, politics, family clashes etc.

94. A teacher affects eternity as they cannot tell where their influence stops.

95. A teacher contributes more to the future of our society than any other profession.

96. In the recent times, teachers use social media platforms like twitter chats or Facebook groups to make students participate in discussions outside classrooms.

97. Typically, teachers do not enjoy having to grade assignments. It’s time-consuming and repetitive, but a necessary part of their job.

98. Teachers may have disagreements or personality conflicts with some, just as in any other profession.

99. Teachers are just like everyone else: they have good days as well as bad and they’re not infallible.

100. Teachers are always grateful when their students show appreciation for the impact, they’ve had on them.

So, these are some of the interesting facts about your teacher.

Today is the perfect time to appreciate your teachers for all the things they have done, to all the care, sacrifice, love, concern etc.

Hesitate not, whether you are a student, an alumni or an intern, take some time to thank them.

Believe me, they do appreciate this!!!

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Peer teaching is one of the best ways to master a particular subject. It is a method of teaching, where a student instructs another student, wherein the former will be an expert and the latter a novice.

This paves the learner student to learn without depending upon the teacher, and the teacher-student to revise the topic again, on the belief that “To teach is to learn twice”(Collins).

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Through the direct interaction between students, peer teaching promotes active learning as well as participation within themselves. Student teachers enhance their own depth of knowledge in the topic by instructing others.

Benefits of Peer Teaching

Peer teaching is not a novel concept, as it was seen right from the time when the system of Gurukula education prevailed in our society.

Since then, it was an effective method of teaching as well as learning. And now, peer teaching is quite popular among students of all ages.

Here are some of the Main Benefits of Peer Teaching:

• It enhances the student’s level of creativity in expressing ideas as well as in grabbing new concepts, as the student may not feel hesitant to clear his queries. This will also uplift his knowledge limit and thus allow a greater level of his understanding. Feeling at ease with a peer tutor, allows a student to concentrate better on the tasks of the lesson, which may transfer into higher achievements in the future. To an extent, the student will start questioning his own doubts, and will later find a way to resolve it himself, which will enable the student to improve his critical thinking.
•  Peer Teaching involves direct interaction between the learner student and the teacher-student, this will help them to promote the active learning along with interpersonal skills, with which they can actually bid adieu to the so-called boring lectures and classes.
• It will ease the teacher’s burden of responsibility because she is sharing her duties with her kids which are beneficial to them. But on the other side, it will increase the teacher’s role in monitoring and administering the students.

Disadvantages of Peer teaching

1) Amateur student

In spite of the fact that the teacher shares her tips and guidelines with the students, it won’t build an expert teacher (student).

There are also chances of a communication gap within the student and the teacher, which may often lead to the failure of assigned activities.

2) The Reluctance of Students

The toughest responsibility that lies upon the shoulders of a teacher is the reluctance of students to initiate the assigned duty.

Just like the two sides of a coin, there may be students who are actually willing to teach and on the other side, there may be students who are hesitant to work out of their comfort zone. Hence, this becomes a challenge for the teacher.

3) Annoyed parents

When the parents come to know about peer teaching, there may be chances for them to misinterpret the concept of peer teaching.

Parents may take it in a derogative manner that their kid is being taught by some other kid of the same age and that the teacher is sitting idle.

So, there may be complaints from the side of the parents until and unless they are completely given the justification behind the concept of peer teaching.

Types of Peer Teaching

1) One way peer teaching

This way of peer teaching provides only the trained tutor to teach, whereas the child with some kind of disability will remain passive.

This method will be more useful for teaching students with severe disorders like autism, visual impairment or cerebral palsy.

Also Read: 16 Innovative Ideas to Make your Teaching Methods More Effective

The main merit of this method is that the teacher, as well as the student, will be well aware of their roles throughout the entire teaching and learning program

2) Duplex or reciprocal peer teaching

This is a two way or bidirectional teaching process where a student with a disability is paired with a student without disability to form a dyad (pair) and both of them will get chances to teach and learn.

This method is more useful to bring the activeness in children with moderate disabilities.

The main advantage of this method is that every individual will get a chance to play the role of a teacher as well as that of a student simultaneously.

3) Class-wide Peer Tutoring

This methodology of teaching involves grouping the entire class into pairs, and peers mentoring each other by giving prompts, error correction and helping each other.

This method is incomparable because every student is given cue cards for the task to keep them focused on the goal of the chapter and then the tutor takes the cue cards and marks the skills mastered by the particular student.

The main benefit of this approach is that no student is singled-out and that every student has to participate regardless of their disabilities

4) Crisscross or Cross-age peer tutoring

Cross-age peer teaching is a method of tutoring when children in different age groups and ability levels are paired together to work for a task.

The elder or the student with a higher level of intelligence will be assigned as the tutor whereas the other will be the tutee. This method will help them to improve their interpersonal skills too.

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In short, peer teaching is all about teaching peers and learning from their peers, which involves learners and teachers of the same or different, age groups or levels of intelligence. This assisted teaching helps the students to enhance their teaching skills. In addition to this, they get a platform to perform what they know which will pave them to drive away from the stage fear within themselves.