Contemporary Teachers are Managers of a Learning Process

Contemporary Teachers are Managers of a Learning Process

1. Direction

Learning needs direction. Learners need to know what the learning cycle is going to be about and where the learning cycle is going to take them. Learners need to know what teachers expect of them.

Learners also need to know the answers to the many questions they might have about tasks, product development, and assessment. They also need to be told what skills they will need to successfully complete the goals set out for them.

Before any learning cycle begins, learners must be given the opportunity to interact with teachers in an interactive dialogue to remove any questions of mystery that could in any way hinder their sense of accomplishment and success.

Telling learners to turn to chapter 3, page 32 in a language coursebook is not onboarding them to the learning process. How long can teachers do this before their learners get bored, demotivated, and disengaged?

In my personal opinion, there is just no better way to onboard learners to the learning process than to use graphic organizers.

2. Potential

Teachers know their learners and they know their learning context very well. Teachers set goals for learners and outcomes for learning cycles. By using backward design to create learning cycles teachers should take into consideration the potential of their learners.

This means integrating tasks and problem-solving into the learning cycle in order to challenge learners and help them to discover the potential within themselves. We as teachers know our learners and know how far we can challenge them without causing negative stress.

3. Support

Supporting our learners as they move out of their comfort zone is extremely important within any learning cycle. Our learners will gradually develop language skills and competencies at their own pace.

We as teachers must accept that not all learners are alike and respect the differentiation they bring to the classroom. We must support them, within our means, throughout the learning cycle to overcome whatever is holding them back.

Taking our learners to the side and conferencing with them on a 1-to-1 basis is a great way to see where they are within a learning cycle and helps them to create a strategy to meet the learning outcomes, we have set for them.

4. Goal

All learning cycles have a goal, and we as teachers use different words to describe goals. Some of us use the word objective while others use the word outcomes. No matter what language we use, we must always focus on the goals that we have set for a learning cycle. We also need to do everything in our power to help our students to stay focused on the learning goals and support them to reach those goals.

5. Training

Training is not the same thing as teaching. Sometimes we have to take a step back within a learning cycle and train our learners.

Many of our learners might not have the necessary skills needed to successfully complete or reach the goals we have set for a learning cycle.

If our learner's ICT skills are weak, then we must make sure that we train them in the ICT skills they will need to have in order to have success. Same goes for Transversal Skills.

6. Motivation

Maintaining motivation levels is extremely important in any learning situation or experience.

?While we feel that we know our learners very well, the truth is that we may never know what intrinsically or extrinsically motivates a learner to learn - or not to learn.

We can only assume, and hope, that by making learning meaningful to learners and by helping them to reach success will keep them motivated throughout the learning cycle.

Learners will have good days and bad days and motivation levels will go up and down. We have to keep our eyes on our learners and every now and then ask them how they are feeling about learning itself and whether or not they feel they are having success. (Learner Efficacy)

7. Advice

No matter what all those Coaching gurus say - Teachers do give advice. Learners look to teachers for help and support and expect teachers to give them advice on how to improve.

While it is easy to give advice to a group of learners, we must accept that not all individuals within a group learn the same way or at the same pace. This is why it is important to conference with our learners, listen to them carefully, and give advice that is specific and individual to the learner's needs.

Taking the time to integrate formative assessment loops into the learning cycle is extremely important because of the feedback that we will receive.

Take breaks in the learning cycle and ask your learners what they think. Listen to them carefully before dishing out any advice to the group or to individual learners.

8. Success

Every learner wants to have success and every teacher wants their learners to reach success with anything that they do in the classroom. Success needs to be celebrated in steps.

Celebrating success in steps helps to motivate learners and helps them to keep their eye on the goal. After completing extended learning cycles, for example, project-based learning, create a little celebration and acknowledge your learners' accomplishments.

There are many ways to celebrate success, and the sky is the limit when it comes to being creative. You know what is acceptable as a teacher because you know your learning context. You know what is culturally acceptable and use your cultural savviness to be creative in acknowledging your student's success.

NOTE: I took this from a PPT I wrote in 2009 for a talk at a conference.

I feel it is still valid today. These are my words, but I used Artificial Intelligence to create the text. (Microsoft Word function of Voice to Text)