The Other Side of the Desk

Education is an important part of our society. Teachers have a very critical role to play in learning communities; they are essential because of their impact on student learning. Teachers are therefore significant members of teaching and learning communities. As such it is important  for teachers to be qualified to perform effectively in the classroom. It has been a long standing debate that anyone who has been certified in subject-content knowledge can teach but the teachers who are fully prepared and certified are often better rated and more successful at their practice.(Darling, 2000, p. 167). 

            I never started out as a trained teacher, I was trained in a content area and so I applied for every teaching post within my field that was available as soon as I completed my degree. To my surprise, teaching was not as easy as it appeared to be, even though I hail from a  family of educators. Teaching only looked simple; let's not even begin to talk about lesson planning or managing a classroom of 40 students with mixed abilities and challenges. On my first day of teaching I  got a culture shock. The only thing I could say to myself was "What did I get myself into?". Coming from a traditional high school, where the norms and value systems were different, I was floored by the performance of the students I met at this non-traditional institution. Among the myriad of other problems, the teaching and learning aspect was my main concern. How am I going to survive this experience? What am I going to do? When am I going to quit? So many questions came to mind and the feeling of failure started to sweep in. 

 However, it was as a result of my experience of being a graduate teacher I found myself in a position that led me to have an understanding of the purpose of teacher education. The experience forced me to seek training because teaching was not as easy as I had assumed it was before being on "the other side of the desk". And so I moved on to the post graduate diploma in education. This is where the perception I had of teachers, their pedagogical skills and professionalism transformed into something greater. I can confidently say that one of the purposes of teacher education is to provide an avenue for changing misguided perceptions and also to correct these misconceptions of who a teacher appears to be to who a teacher is expected to be.

Without teachers the learning process would be incomplete, as they do not only contribute to the awareness of content material in the various subject areas but the teacher also plays a significant role in the development of our society. In an effort to become a model for your students to emulate; the purpose and role of teacher education becomes extremely important if we are to shape the minds of the future educators, in an effort to prepare them to be an example for his or her students.

Darling-Hammond, Holtzman, Gatlin & Heilig (2005) put forward in their research that since graduate teachers lack the pedagogical skill to perform as effective teachers, they must seek some formal training to be able to function efficiently on the job. They highlighted that strong teacher preparation programs and certified teachers often produce high student achievement. My research has also revealed that teachers perform better once they are well trained, not only for content but also in pedagogy. In light of this view point, Sterling & Fraizer (2011) asserts that the uncertified, untrained, unprepared teacher has a difficult time connecting content to pedagogy which affects classroom practice negatively. This study revealed that without the training the graduate teacher would remain oblivious to the proper methodologies required of them as teachers. Boyd, Goldhaber, Lankford and Wyckoff (2007) argued that the path to certification can be seen as arduous, it may unfortunately reduce the appeal of teaching for some people who could potentially become good teachers. However it has instilled a different attitude and approach to teaching within me. It has improved by ability to plan, utilize different strategies and to better manage my time ; these were some of the incentives of this professional development process.

 The truth is teaching is hard; it is a very time consuming, energy demanding, an emotionally engaging profession. While some people are born to teach, others need to be adequately prepared to become effective teachers. It takes time to learn to be an efficient teacher, even after the formal training process; learning to teach does not end after the cap and gown exercise. It is a continuous process that engages the teacher over the period of time that they spend inside the classroom. Teaching seems so easy when you are a student, but the moment you are expected to fill those shoes you recognize that there are so many things you need to know how to do. Thus, the purpose and role of teacher education becomes a fundamental part of a teacher's life. Try it, you might just end up loving it.

Teacher Pat

#Lovewhatyoudo




Patricka Blake-Dennis is the founder and CEO of PD Educates, a successful teacher of History and Curriculum Coach. She's been invited to train, coach and motivate, students, teachers and young professionals by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Information, Norman Manley Law School, Shortwood Teachers College and Northern Caribbean University.


Follow her @mzpattie11