Roles_and_Responsibilities_of_the_Teacher

The Roles and responsibilities of the teacher. What does it mean to teach', what are our aims and objectives when we embark on the practice of teaching' This essay is to help understand the criteria with which we better understand the "roles and responsibilities of the teacher". “The mediocre teacher tells.  The good teacher explains.  The superior teacher demonstrates.  The great teacher inspires.”  ~William Arthur Ward 1a. Identifying specific roles The primary role of any teacher is to create an environment conducive to learning; under this umbrella there are many things to consider. Who are your students' , what are their individual needs, how do they learn' Create a safe and stimulating learning environment and to set realistic aims and learning objectives so that your learners understand what is required of them. To nurture and support students, to develop learning tools to inspire and motivate, to understand and facilitate different learning styles. 1b.Identifying specific Responsibilities To work within the boundaries set by the specific place of learning and its governing bodies, To be aware of the individuals specific needs and requirements i.e. dyslexia, adhd, and any other additional needs. To create activities, and methods of teaching that compliment the different abilities and learning styles of the students. 1c. After observing the classroom environment it is clear to see the underlying “roles and responsibilities” of the teacher, it seems however that there are certain teaching models which although invaluable to a certain point, need to be organic in their nature, malleable, and ever changing to the specific needs and attention of individual students. To apply steadfast rules seems to dampen the very role of the teacher. The most active and engaging environments I have witnessed, appear to me when there is a class dynamic, of inclusion and participation of the group as a whole, steered with a line of questioning that pre empts a thought process, to actually reflect and consider what has been learnt. Within the learning of photography there is off course technical aspect, a skill set, crucial to a greater understanding of the medium, but personally I feel there is and should a greater emphasis on the “self” i.e. “why have I made this image”, “what is it about this picture that appoints an emotional response in me.” In short to understand your own self, to formulate opinion, to better comprehend the subject. Just as Maslow considered,  Humanists do not believe that human beings are pushed and pulled by mechanical forces, either of stimuli and reinforcements (behaviourism) or of unconscious instinctual impulses (psychoanalysis). Humanists focus upon potentials. They believe that humans strive for an upper level of capabilities. Humans seek the frontiers of creativity, the highest reaches of consciousness and wisdom. This has been labelled "fully functioning person", "healthy personality", or as Maslow calls this level, "self-actualizing person." Conclusion. I believe that in order to facilitate learning we need, as teachers to initiate and encourage free thought and the formulation of the individuals opinions, to react to an organic environment of discussion, and dialectic to better understand the self in order to learn, the fundamental reason to teach. Bibliography Maslow from Psychology - The Search for Understanding  by Janet A. Simons, Donald B. Irwin and Beverly A. Drinnien West Publishing Company, New York, 1987 William Arthur Ward from Who's Who in American Education