The Importance of Teacher Development

            One of the most inspiring teachers I have had was my AP (Advance Placement) US history teacher. She truly had a passion for her subject. She also understood all of us which allowed her to make the lessons relevant to each class. Rather than take the same approach to teaching for each class she instead had a lesson tailor made to the students in that class. She focused on helping us understand the meaning of history rather than just memorize facts.

A great teacher is eager to learn and to share with others. However that eagerness does nothing if not coupled with development both professionally and personally.  A new teacher will never become a better teacher if they are unable to find a way to grow and an experienced teacher will never reach their best if they do not embrace change. In order to develop teachers need to be given attention.

Teacher supervisor, Danielle Nyman, feels not enough people in education understand that how qualified a teacher is does not matter if the teacher is not helped to develop their abilities. She says that a promising teacher is bright, knowledgeable, and relates well to student. However it is also vital they are open-mind and enthusiastic in their approach to teaching (Nyman, 2008).

 What I do to better myself and my teaching will not be very effective if I do not have support professional. As a teacher, I will be expected to nourish my students. In turn I will need nourishment in the form of encouragement and guidance. As a new teacher I will need help and feedback; I cannot be expected to figure out everything by myself.

To provide an idea on how to nourish and develop teachers into the best teacher they can be Nyman discussed a few guidelines (Nyman, 2008). These guidelines are primarily meant for supervisor but I also found encouragement and guidance in them. For the rest of this posting I will follow her structure to discuss what I learned from them.

“Recruitment is Key”: Good teachers are rarely found but rather trained (Nyman, 2008). That means that the teachers that have inspired me did not necessarily start out as amazing as I found them to be. For me this means that if I work at it I can be like them.

Teachers pay attention: Good teachers are attentive to their students. They make sure they know about them so they can best teach them. Teachers need the same attention. “Just as teachers work to understand their students’ lives, so too should a supervisor attempt to understand the context of the lives of teachers” (Nyman, 2008).  

“Differentiate:”  Teachers have different ways of teaching. No teacher is the model of perfection (Nyman, 2008). This gives me the freedom to explore and discover what works. While I should take my cues from others I should all not feel stuck with what everyone else does.

“Revitalization is Critical”: “Teaching is a demanding profession.” As such there is a high rate of loss of effectiveness after the first few years. To prevent this “brownout” a good teacher will continually revitalized their lessons (Nyman, 2008). Rather than accepting that the lesson is good enough I should look at it critically before and after teaching it.

           

Teachers should try to be the best they can be. They should be eager to learn and develop. However, teachers should not be the only people devoted to ensuring that they are the best. Supervisors, principles, and other higher ups should be committed to give teachers the supplies and nurturing that they need to stay at a level that benefits the students.

References

Nyman, D. (2008). Nourishing teacher development: A subject supervisor's perspective.    Encounter, 21(2), 41-45. Retrieved February 3, 2011, from EBSCOhost Database.